"Dr. Delicious? What the hell? And why are you laughing? I take my skills very seriously. You could bruise my delicate male ego."
Still giggling, Taylor replied, "Oh yeah, right. I am not laughing at you. I am just not very good at sexy talk. And besides, it is not like you don't know you are an incredible kisser."
"Incredible kisser? Wow, where were these compliments last night when I could have done something with them?"
"Trust me, you did enough with them. You sent me to my room, remember? If I had given you these compliments last night, we would have gotten carried away, and neither of us wants that."
"You're right. But I have to be frank here. November is a long way off. I can't promise that I can wait that long. You may have to hurry the old Ken doll up a little."
"Would you stop with the Ken doll? He is really a great guy. But, as far as hurrying up the process, I gave him my word. I won't be the reason he loses out on a national appointment. However, he said that he might resign and step back. If he does, that would certainly speed things up. If not, it will actually be closer to January. The election has to finish, and then he would have to be confirmed before we could file for divorce."
"First, I can call him a Ken doll if you can call me. What was it, Dr. Delicious? Secondly, we are not waiting until January to be together."
"I call you that because you are so delicious to look at and to taste."
"You are trying to distract me so I will forget about how far away January is. But you make a good point. Speaking of tasting, I can still taste you on my tongue. I want to do much more than that as soon as possible. Any idea when he might make a decision about dropping out?"
"I don't know. I know Poppy doesn't want him to drop out, either. She is afraid that he will resent her later if he does. As longas he is still in, we have to remain married, and you and I must put whatever this is between us on hold. But I like talking to you and spending time with you. This was the best weekend I have had in years."
"Me too. Just so you know, I am serious about this, seeing where this can go. You are an amazing woman; I want to know you inside out. I am determined to see this through. But I have to be honest, I would prefer it if the physical side of the relationship were not delayed any longer than absolutely necessary."
"Duly noted, Dr. Delicious. I will let you know the minute my situation changes. Until then, when are you scheduled to return for another medical mission?"
"Not for another four weeks."
Taylor groaned as if in pain. "Wow, that is a long time."
"Yep," replied Greer, irritation evident in his voice.
"That is way too long," replied Taylor. "Do you think you could maybe fly down before then? Or I could come there?"
There was a long pause, and he said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way because there is nothing I would like more than to spend more time with you."
"Oh, I didn't mean to push you or anything, I just—"
"Whoa, slow down. You are jumping to the wrong conclusions here. I like you. I mean, I really like you. I want us to be together and spend as much time with you as possible. But the more we are together, the more likely we won't be able to stop. I don't want you to regret being with me for any reason. I especially don't want to make love to you, and you walk away feeling ashamed or bad about yourself.
"When we are together again, and make no mistake, we will be together again; I want you to wake up the next morning as happy about it as you were when you laid down with me."
Taylor was silent for a moment, and she said, "Yes, I know exactly what you mean. And thank you for respecting me enough to protect me even from myself. Because you are right. The more we are together, the harder it will be to hold back. So, how about this? Let's plan to see each other again four weeks from now. Hopefully, by then, I can better understand how the election business will go and have a firmer timetable for the divorce."
"That sounds like a grand plan." At that moment, Greer got a text from the hospital. "Hey, I have an emergency, so I have to run. Have a great night, and I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay, tomorrow. Bye," Taylor hung up, feeling happier and lighter than she had in years. As she lay down that night to go to sleep, she remembered what Joules had said about getting your trigger tripped. She laughed because she realized that Greer so tripped her trigger, and he could do it from two hundred miles away.
Chapter 19
Taylor’s Apartment
Miami, Florida
July 2012
As promised, Greer called Taylor every night around the same time, even on the nights he was on call at the hospital. They would talk about their day, what they were eating for dinner, and what they were watching on television. It was always mundane and inconsequential, but those conversations made Taylor's day.
After a few weeks, she realized she was living for them. Hearing his voice was the high point of her day. A couple of times a week, if they had about an hour to talk, they would Skype. Taylor loved being able to see Greer as she talked to him. Several times, they put the same movie on and pretended they were in the same room watching it together. They called these times their movie date nights. The only thing Taylor didn't like about them was there was no good night kiss at the end.
A few times, Greer had halfway jokingly suggested they try sexting. He reasoned that if you were not in the same room, it couldn't be considered adultery. Taylor had laughed along with him. But she told him that if he was looking for a girl to get naked with on the computer, she was not it. He would always say that wasokay; he had found the girl he wanted, just as she was. Taylor hoped that was true because she realized she was falling in love with Greer more with every phone call.
