None of that seemed like a good idea. Not happening, thank you very much. "But look at you! I mean,youdon't have a pudgy belly!"
"Am I supposed to be attracted to myself? I really don't think that's the way it goes. Bad logic, Shap." He dragged his lips from the ball of my shoulder up to my neck. "I am attracted to you. So attracted to you that I can't think when I see you. Can't even speak. All I can do is stare while you walk by with those nerdy t-shirts and thighs like a fucking wet dream and that chaos bun."
"You called it a chaos bun," I said to myself, laughing. "And you're not wrong. Dammit, you arenotwrong."
"How do you fit all this hair into a scrub cap? I have been dying to know."
"I order them from a creator on Etsy," I replied, hiding my grin in his bicep. "I get them custom made. The chaos bun special order."
He passed his fingers over my lower abdomen. "I love this, Sara. I fuckin' love it." He shifted to trace the line of my leg from my hip to my knee. "But I don't have to if it's going to stress you out."
I lay there, my head swimming with rebuttals because this could not be true. It could not be. No one would ever choose to love this.
"What time do you have to leave for the conference?"
With my fingertip, I drew circles on his arm. "The presentations start after a keynote lunch, but…" I glanced up at him though I couldn't catch his eye since he was still busy with my belly. "I don't have to go today. Tomorrow is essential, but I can get out of today without issue."
"But you're a grade A geek. Why would you skip it?"
"The content doesn't line up with my interests," I said. That was the most mild, generous way I could say it.
"Then…what are you doing here? Did you actually orchestrate this? Did you get my itinerary from Acevedo's wife? Did Erin tell you where to find me?"
"Erin had no part in this, and listen, I can barely mastermind my way through a day. Forget about international travel," I said with a laugh. "It's a plastics conference, but it's geared more toward cosmetic surgery than anything I do."
"Let me ask you one more time: What are you doing here?"
"It's a whole long story that I don't want to deal with right now. I can promise you I didn't orchestrate this. If anyone orchestrated anything, it was probably you."
"Me? Hardly. A couple months back, Erin wouldn't leave me alone about taking time off. She made me hand over a credit card when I was at their place for dinner one night and booked this whole thing. She and Nick came here with Hartshorn and his wife last winter. I didn't even know where I was going until two hours before I left for the airport." He kissed the side of my neck, drew a small shiver from me. "You're going to ditch your conference and hang out with me today?"
"Unless that screws up your vacation vibes."
"My vacation vibes consist of sitting on the beach, rereading a book I don't like, and debating if it's too early to order a beer. You would be a substantial improvement to those vibes."
"What are we going to do?"
"We'll figure it out," he said. "Can I ask you something weird?"
"This is going to be exciting," I said flatly.
He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, his brows drawn together. "Do you ever use leeches?"
A laugh hooted out of me as I rolled away from him.
He crawled over me, flattened me on my back with his knees tight against my hips and his hands planted beside my shoulders. "Is this what I get for asking about your practice? You laughing your ass off? It can't be that strange a question."
"Strange, no. But you've spent two months side-eyeing my work and now you want to talk about my methods of addressing microvascular congestion. No, that makes perfect sense."
He bent down, nipped at my jaw. "Will you tell me the next time you use them? I've never seen it."
"Never? How is that possible?"
He tucked himself into the space between my ear and shoulder. "They don't let me out much. I've spent the past fifteen years parked in emergency and trauma." He sucked at my skin, growling deep and low like it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. Then, "How do you feel about breakfast?"
"I am the pickiest eater you've ever met and eating with me will make you miserable. You'll never want to go anywhere with me again."
"Seeing as I'm miserable as a baseline, let's go up to the restaurant. They have a huge breakfast buffet. I ate enough for five people yesterday. You'll find something you like. Then I'll decide where I want to go with you."
