Page 19 of Sweet Heart

Her eyes shoot back up to meet mine, and the muscle in her jaw ticks as she swallows. I don’t stop there, though. I need to know.

“But I doubt you pulled my record in the middle of the night. Meaning you already—”

“I needed to know if you were okay, as your treating physician.”

“Except you cleared me.”

She clenches her teeth so hard that I can see her jaw work. Her fingers twitch at her side, and her eyes narrow slightly. She inhales deeply through her nose, making her nostrils flare. Her eyes are nearly blazing. I instinctively raise my hands, my open palms facing her.

“Listen, I am glad that you did. I wanted you to.”

She keeps staring at me, her expression frozen in place.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have texted you back. So… we’re good, right?”

Catherine nods slowly, a storm quietly brewing behind those dark brown eyes. Oh, how I wish I could look inside her mind.

“It was a silly question, but in my defense, I did warn you.”

I flash her a bright smile and chuckle softly. It sounds awful to my ears. Strained, high-pitched, and forced. It makes me flinch. She halts at that, and it takes me a step or two before I realize what is happening.

I frown and turn to face her. Her eyes are closed, and her hand is resting on her stomach, but even now, with her posture so rigid, she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. My lip starts to tremble, and I have to sink my teeth into it to stop the movement. Goosebumps erupt all over my arms, and a shiver runs down my spine. Her eyes are unreadable when she looks up, but something in them pierces me right in that spot as she slowly draws closer.

“I needed to know that you would be okay. Not… not as your… doctor.” The word is almost inaudible, and her brows are drawn together as she wrestles with her admission. “I needed to know as me. As Cat.”

Her words trickle down my spine and settle somewhere inside my chest. The way she says her shortened name means something to her. It creates an itch deep inside my brain, trying to tell me something, but the moment passes so quickly that I barely have time to register any of it.

Catherine blinks and shakes her head as if she is stepping out of a haze. I straighten slightly now that she is nearly toe-to-toe with me, and I stare up at her expectantly.

“Why?” I whisper.

“Do you really need to ask?”

The certainty in her voice fires off a bolt of electricity in the pit of my stomach, and my heart flutters so fast that I feel lightheaded for a moment. Her fingers brush my elbow, making my head reel and drawing a soft whimper from my lips. The corner of her mouth tugs up, and she nods.

“That’s what I thought.”

***

07:41 p.m. – Katherina

Thank you for the coffee and the walk. It was pleasant.

07:46 p.m. – Mary Mary

Pleasant? Really?

07:46 p.m. – Katherina

It was not pleasant?

I chuckle at my phone and shake my head. Today, I got a glimpse of the woman behind the mask. Catherine wears her position as armor, hiding behind it to create a certain distance. It probably helps her make tough decisions in the OR and regulate her emotions when something she can’t control happens to a patient, but it also makes her act like a stuck-up bitch. Which, I have to admit, is kind of hot in its own way. But now that I’ve seen her smile, genuinely smile, I know I want to see more of that. Addicted from the very first hit.

07:47 p.m. – Mary Mary

Are you even a real human, or am I just yapping to a computer right now?

07:48 p.m. – Katherina