Darren placed her hands on her waist. “I’m the best person to listen to. I’ve known you forever, and don’t you tell him what I said, Brooklyn.”
I placed Brooklyn behind me, playfully protecting her from Darren. “Yeah...yeah...yeah. We’re about to dance and head out. We’ve been here for a while. What time do you want me to stop by and bring the gifts on Christmas? My mother will be with me.”
“We’re home all day, and E is spending the night. Come over anytime. Would love to see your mother.” Darren smiled at Brooklyn. “You’re more than welcome to come with him and have dinner with us.”
“I have to work on Christmas. Hazards of being an ER doctor.” Brooklyn genuinely sounded disappointed, which buoyed my spirits. She then looked at me. “Another time?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
The four of us hugged again, and I led her away to dance with me.
She slid her arms underneath mine, rested her chin on my chest, and gazed up at me. “I didn’t expect your ex to be so nice. Even her husband seemed cool. That you can spend time with them and your children together is the ultimate sign of maturity. My parents hate each other, and his new wife can’t stand me. Maybe my father would’ve been more in my life if the parents in my scenario had put aside feelings for the sake of their child.”
“Darren and I worked at it because we’d hurt our children enough with our past actions. And even if I hated Grey, which attimes I did, no one could keep me from my twins. I used to make excuses for my father until I became one and recognized that he didn’t deserve any consideration I’d given him. Children didn’t ask to be here, and they come first.” I swayed with her to the old-school music playing. “My, my, my, you sho’ look good tonight.”
“You sound good, baby.” The love she hadn’t professed stared back at me.
Instead of declaring my love, I thought of the next best thing. “I know it’s our first New Year’s Eve together... thinking I want my children to spend it with us since you can’t be with us on Christmas. E might have plans, but I can convince him to stop by for a little while. Elle and Sekani are more homebodies, so they’ll spend the night.”
“The first time I saw you in the ER three years ago, you were frantic with worry because of Sekani. I started to like you for the man you are and not the athlete I’d known you to be. To know all of you means to accept that you come with children. I would love to meet them whenever and wherever you want me to meet them.”
I grinned and boasted, “Oh, so you’vebeenchecking for me?”
She buried her head in my chest. “You weren’t supposed to ever know that.”
“Too late. You already know I noticed you four months ago.” I tilted back to see her face. “In this short period of time, you’ve become a part of me.”
Brooklyn’s smile faded. “And you’ve become a part of me.”
I held her to my chest and closed my eyes, treasuring this dance and this woman who seemed made for me.
Her voice echoed in the quiet hall. “It wasn’t at the station. No one has been in that room...fine, but I know your jacket isn’t there. Why is there a ‘do not enter’ sign on this room?”
I chuckled at the annoyance in her voice that I rarely heard because we were too enamored with one another. I glanced around the room one last time, pleased with the strings of white lights that crisscrossed the vacant hospital room and the red linen-covered table covered with white and pink roses and a meal of lamb chops and potatoes that I prepared for a late dinner on Christmas Eve.
Brooklyn pushed open the door impatiently and yelped when she saw me standing beside the table, facing the door, waiting for her. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she held her arms to me. I quickly hugged her to me. She sobbed on my chest, and I rubbed her back and consoled her, “I didn’t want to begin my Christmas day without you.”
She sniffed and admired the room. “You did this?”
“Yeah. Got here about an hour ago. Cleared it with Denise yesterday to make sure there was a room for me to do this. How much time do you have?”
She checked her watch. “I can disappear for about twenty minutes.” Brooklyn kissed me. “Sorry, baby. I know you wanted tomorrow with me.”
“I will have tomorrow with you. This bed works. I’ll sleep until you get off and drive you home so we can nap, watch Charlie Brown, eat French toast, and open one gift. Then I’ll have you back here by nine. After that, I’m spending the rest of the day with the fam.”
Brooklyn wiggled her shoulders. “My Christmas tradition.”
“We have to add something else to make it uniquely ours.”
Brooklyn pushed down her scrubs before pushing me on the chair to straddle me. “Sex.”
“And that’s why I love you.” I gazed into her beautiful face, ready to accept whether she said it back now or later.
Her eyes sparkled as she ran her hand over my hair. “I’m so glad you said it first. Wanted to say it to you last night at the gala. Thought it might be too soon.”
“What? Because you still haven’t said it.” I slid my hands up her waist to the side of her breasts. My thumbs toyed with her rigid nipples. Her hips started rocking against me, begging for my dick. “What do you have to say to me?”
Instead of answering, Brooklyn unzipped me and, within seconds, slid down my erect manhood until our bodies connected. She slowly kissed me as she rode me to the same rhythm of her tongue. We continued to kiss while she took complete control of my body. I kept my hands tangled in her hair that she still wore straightened, allowing her to physically tell me what she wasn’t quite ready to say aloud.
