Page 36 of Careless Whisper (Modern Vintage Romances #11)

Elias

S ex in my apartment wasn’t bad, but it could be…logistically challenging.

The ceiling fan rattled like it was held together with hope and a prayer.

The water heater wheezed if we flushed the toilet.

And the bed was small for me alone, so when we were together, I’d taken to sleeping curled around Reggie like I was protecting her from falling off.

Which, to be fair, I was happy to do. But it also wasn’t sustainable.

Neither was tiptoeing around her parents’ house like teenagers, trying not to get caught making out during Thanksgiving.

Reggie rolled over one morning, hair messy, T-shirt askew, and said, “If I have to slide into another supply closet just to steal five minutes with you, I’m going to scream.”

“I thought you liked supply closets and on-call rooms,” I offered, smirking .

She gave me a look that could stop a heart faster than a clot. “That was then . We’re grown-ups now.”

Speaking of now —we were happy here, but we weren’t settled. We were in limbo—loving each other but not sure where we’d land. My six-month sabbatical from Harper was ticking down, and we both knew it.

It was just a question of who would say it first

She said it over grilled corn in her parent’s backyard. They were gone for the weekend, so we’d taken over their house. It was nice to have a full-sized bed and a proper shower.

“I think I want to go back.”

I blinked, fingers pausing mid-husk. “To Seattle?”

Reggie nodded. “To the OR. To my life. I miss it. The chaos, the urgency, the team.”

“You’ve built a great place,” I reminded her gently. I didn’t want to take her away from the clinic if that’s what she wanted.

“I have,” she agreed. “And I’ll always be grateful for it. It gave me space to breathe. But I became a nurse because I wanted to make a difference in acute care. And…I finally feel strong enough to go back without flinching at shadows.”

She didn’t look at me while she spoke, just focused on the corn, like she was bracing for me to disagree. I reached over and covered her hand.

“Then we go back.”

She looked up, cautious hope softening the lines of her face. “Just like that? ”

“I’ve already got one regret tattooed into my soul,” I said. “Not making the same mistake twice seems like a good life goal.”

“You think I’ll have a job at Harper Memorial or do I have to look for one?” She sighed. “Luther closed my apartment. Everything is in storage and?—”

“Let me take care of the logistics.”

“Then what will I take care of?”

I gave her a salacious look. “I have a few ideas.”

“Men,” she muttered, but she was smiling.

Dr. Cabrera picked up on the first ring. “About time,” he said. “I was beginning to think you’d decided to become a tequila distiller.”

“Tempting…but maybe as a second career,” I joked.

“So?”

“So, we’re ready to come back. Reggie and I, both.”

There was a pause.

“Together?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the best news I’ve had in a long time.”

I let out a slow breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “She was worried she wouldn’t have a job.”

“ You should’ve been worried,” he scoffed, “not her.”

“What can I say, Dr. Cabrera, you’re a very encouraging kind of boss,” I drawled and got comfortable in Ignacio’s chair in his study.

“Yeah, I am,” he declared and then added, his voice serious, “I thought you’d want to know. Dr. Loring’s contract was terminated last week.”

“That took a while.”

“It takes the time it takes when you have to investigate delicate matters. But we put her on leave a month ago—we just finally sacked her now.”

I tried to look into myself, to see how I felt about Maren and I realized that I felt nothing . No sense of victory or loss—just blank space. She wasn’t important, she’d never been. I’d just refused to see it.

“What’s the mood in my department like?” I asked.

“I’ve been running the department, so you know how it goes!”

“The beatings will continue until morale improves?” I deadpanned.

“Exactly,” he guffawed.

I rubbed my forehead. “I didn’t think they’d actually fire Maren.”

I had thought Maren would find a way, she always did, and I’d have to navigate having her in the hospital and making sure she didn’t hurt Reggie.

This was good news and a relief.

“Had no choice. That little ethics investigation you kicked off? Turns out it had legs. And teeth. Some skeletons from previous hospitals surfaced—patterns and reports that were buried. Nothing illegal, but a hell of a lot of unprofessionalism.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“And Elias?”

“Yeah?”

“How’s your ability to handle conflict coming along?”

I grinned. “She’s coming home with me.”

“Good job, son.”

I told Reggie about Maren that night as we walked to get paletas from the cart by the church.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “She got fired? I really thought she’d get away with it.”

“So did I,” I admitted. “Cabrera says the review board practically drafted a dissertation on her toxic behavior.”

Reggie let out a short laugh. “I’m glad. That woman should not be practicing medicine. Not with how vindictive she is. She could hurt patients…hell, she already has.”

“And she hurt you,” I reminded her. “I let her.”

She reached over and linked her arm with mine. “Yeah, but I survived. And I’m going back stronger. And didn’t we talk about how your need for self-flagellation is getting a bit much?”

I looked at her then—sun-warmed skin, fierce eyes, steady hand in mine—and felt a quiet, seismic shift inside me. We weren’t just surviving. We were living. And, against every odd, we were still walking forward—together.

“I love you, you know,” I said.

“I know,” she replied like it was the most natural thing in the world, which made my heart swell.

“I love your generosity, your sense of humor, your big heart, the way you love so hard.” I paused and kissed her nose and then added, to lighten the mood, “I also love your tits and pussy.”

She looked at me with mock indignation. “You men think about other things besides sex?”

“Yes.” I slung an arm around her. “I think about your tits, your ass, your pussy.”

“Which is thinking about sex,” she pointed out.

“No, Gigi, those are parts of your anatomy. I thought you knew that since you’re this bigshot OR nurse,” I teased.