“I know, but I did, anyway.” Nudging the box closer to him, she said, “Here. Open it.”
As he unwrapped the gift, she grinned. What had she gotten him? The box top came off, and he lifted the tissue paper.
“A tie. Perfect. Wait, I know that word.” He took his two middle fingers and touched them together with the rest of his hand in the P shape.Perfect.
The tie was red with white hands outlined in black showing the American Sign Language alphabet.
“This really is perfect,” he signed as he spoke. He wished he could do it faster and not so clumsily.
“It’s not the only gift. Look in the box.”
Under the tie was a black t-shirt. Holding it up, he noticed more signs on the front. “What does this say?”
Carli pointed to the second picture and tilted her head.
“Wait. That saysdoctor. The D on the wrist taking a pulse. I know that one, but what’s that first word?”
It had to be embarrassing, because she was biting her lip and glancing away.
“I had it specially made for you. Maybe I won’t tell. It’ll be your homework to figure it out.”
“Homework on a weekend? Come on, Teach. That’s not fair.”
“I can’t give you all the answers.”
“I thought you said the answers are always twenty-seven.”
Her laugh echoed through the open room. “Maybe notallof them.”
He clasped her shoulders and pulled her closer. “I could make you tell me.”
“Really? How would you do that?”
He wanted nothing more than to hold her like this all the time. Gliding his hands across her shoulders, he caressed along her neck, then lowered his mouth to follow. The sound that erupted from her mouth got him hot and bothered.
“I’ll keep doing this until you tell me.” Nibbling, sucking, licking, kissing, he couldn’t get enough of her sweet skin.
Her voice was raspy as she spoke. “I’m pretty sure I could resist this kind of torture for quite a while, so do your best.” She twined her arms around his waist and her fingers crawled up his back. Heaven.
Then, his phone went off.
No. He had her exactly where he wanted her.
Easing back, he said, “You got off easy for now. We’ll finish this interrogation later.”
His phone was on the coffee table in the living room, so he picked it up and swept the screen. He wasn’t on call today. The nurses, however, had instructions to notify him if any of his patients had problems. Instead, it was his mother.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Darling, I wanted to call and say happy birthday. You got the package I sent, correct?”
The package Maria most likely sent. “Yes, I did. It was waiting in my mailbox when I got home last night. I meant to call and thank you for it, but I got caught up in a few things today and haven’t been able to break away.” Hadn’t wanted to break away from Carli in his arms.
“Well, I noticed you didn’t have a nameplate on your desk when I stopped by last month, so I ordered that one for you.”
“It was an excellent idea, Mom. Thanks so much for thinking of it.”
“Have you had dinner yet? Maria’s serving at six thirty, and if you hurry, you’ll be here in time.”
