About time, p.17
About Time, page 17
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After two hours with Jerica, June convinced her to go home and to take at least a week or so off work. She wasn’t sure how long that would last, but she knew she’d be back early in the morning to check on her sister. She’d seen Elle randomly through the night as she went in and out of rooms, checking on patients.
June stuck with Jerica until she walked her to her car and sent her on her way. Savannah had counseled the rest of the family until they felt they were calm enough to think straight. The police had finished their initial questioning and had left the hospital. It was one in the morning, and calm was finally starting to seep over the floor.
Finding herself some burned coffee, June sat at the break room table and downed half the cup. She’d need the rest of it to make it home without running into anything. When Elle had woken her up that morning, she hadn’t shared she’d been up most of the night, which was why she was still asleep when she never was.
Sighing into her cup, June jerked when the door slammed open. Elle gave her a stern look and raised an eyebrow.
“I thought you were going home.”
“I did. Dinner was excellent, by the way.” June raised the half-cup of coffee in a salute to Elle.
“What are you doing back?”
“Jerica.”
“Oh. I think her sister will be fine at least. She might lose her leg still. Did lose an arm.” Elle leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. “The husband, on the other hand, he did a lot more damage and…well, I don’t know if he’ll ever be the same again.”
June nodded. She’d heard it all from Jerica already, but she knew the importance of sharing, so she kept her mouth shut.
“Hey. Come with me. I want to show you something.”
“Is it going to take long? I really want to get home and maybe get some sleep before I have to be back here.”
“Just a minute. I promise.”
Elle’s bubbly attitude was kind of annoying. How anyone could be that awake and that happy in the dead of night was beyond June. She slowly stood up, leaving her cup of coffee where it was, and followed Elle. They wound their way through the halls, Elle waving her badge to get through a few doors before she came to a stop outside the on-call room.
June curiously looked up at the door and bit her lip. “I am not sleeping the night here.”
“Wasn’t thinking you would.”
Elle flashed her badge at the door, and it clicked open. She pushed her way in, tugging June by the hand until they were both securely inside. Not waiting, Elle pushed June against the door and pressed their lips together.
“I know you’re tired,” Elle whispered against June’s cheek. “But I have literally been thinking about this all day and night.”
June let out a whine before Elle’s mouth covered hers again. She reached out and gripped Elle’s sides, clenching the fabric of her scrubs tightly and holding her still. Heat blossomed under Elle’s clothes and brushed June’s knuckles. Elle pressed a hand to June’s breast, rolling her thumb along June’s nipple.
June arched her back, pushing her body into Elle’s. Elle grinned and nipped June’s lower lip. “Have I mentioned how much you in this thing”—her finger circled June’s collar—“is such a turn-on? Every time I see you in it.”
Humming, June closed her eyes and tilted her head back while Elle pressed kisses up her neck and along her jaw. June reached behind Elle and gripped her ass, tugging her in closer so their hips rocked against each other. She didn’t know what to say; all she could think about were the sensations Elle caused to ricochet up and down her spine.
“You never said anything before,” June managed to get out before Elle’s mouth was against hers again.
Their tongues entwined, and June moaned, the vibration moving down her neck to her pulse where Elle’s thumb pressed in lightly. June tilted her head to kiss Elle more fully only to be disappointed when Elle pulled away.
“I didn’t want to tell you. I was scared you’d run away.”
With her lips slightly parted, June nodded. “I can understand that.”
“We’re friends.”
“Sure, we are,” June replied. “Friends who fuck in on-call rooms.”
Elle paled. “I—I wasn’t planning on that, but if…”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just…well, I mean, we’re getting close to that at this point, aren’t we?”
Elle shrugged. “Maybe. I just thought I could kiss you senseless before I ended up getting called back.”
June nodded. “Mission accomplished.”
Threading her fingers into Elle’s dark hair, June pulled her in and kissed her. Kissing she could handle. Anything else she’d want to have a talk about it first. They had kind of jumped from not liking each other, to being friends, to whatever they were now, and she wanted to make sure this was right.
Elle let out a squeak when June pinched her nipple, then reached behind her to grip her ass tightly. June wasn’t going to let up until she had to, knowing the PA speaker in the tiny room could call Elle back at any time. She was just sliding her hand up Elle’s back, under her shirt, when the speaker above them went off.
“Doctor Vasquez, please report to the Emergency Room.”
Sighing, Elle slowly pulled away and pressed her forehead to June’s. “Looks like the devil found me.”
June snorted. “Or both of us.”
Elle grinned when she backed away. June left the room first and walked her way toward the Emergency Room, ready to finally maybe catch a few hours of sleep before she began another long shift at work.
Chapter Eighteen
She’d slept a few hours, maybe, if she counted the time she laid still under her covers and pretended to sleep to try to trick her mind. June was still exhausted, but when she pulled herself from the mattress, she felt rejuvenated. All she had done was think about what happened in the on-call room.
Once again, they had bypassed talking, but it had been worth it for that small exchange. Every time her lips tingled, she found herself reaching up to touch them, and every time her chest tightened, she pressed her fist between her breasts. Whatever was happening between the two of them, it was setting her on edge.
Pleasure and hope for the future surged into her. She’d known something had changed that day Kevin had visited. Something in the way Elle looked at her when she held little Abbie piqued her curiosity. That was why she’d gone to Elle’s room to talk to her, why she’d laid down on her bed in hopes Elle would get the hint. They’d touched, hands and fingers, arms and wrists, like they always did, but it hadn’t gone any further.
June cleared her head as she started the coffee pot in the still dark house. She sauntered back up the stairs to her room to grab her things for a shower. That would help clear her mind even more. Under the hot spray, June washed her hair and thought about everything changing between the two of them in the past few weeks.
When they had started their tentative friendship, June had been under so much stress in her personal life she hadn’t even dared to think or wonder if Elle could be something other than a friend. She hadn’t needed or wanted it then. All she’d needed was someone to talk to, someone who would listen, someone who was compassionate. Elle had been all of that for her and more.
Smiling, June dipped her head under the shower spray again to rinse out the shampoo. She ran her fingers through her thin hair, making sure all the suds were completely gone. She jerked straight up once she realized it had been a full two days since she’d thought of Lydia.
She rolled her eyes and finished rinsing her hair. Lydia. That had been a fiasco in and of itself. Their relationship had pretty much been over well before it was ended, and it had never been one where she felt completely comfortable in it, not like how she felt with Elle. The two women were completely different. Lydia used her beauty and body to get what she wanted. Elle did not. Elle used her heart.
As beautiful as Elle was, more beautiful than Lydia, she used her body for the good of others. She used her hands, literally, to heal others, her brain to solve problems for others. Lydia probably hadn’t ever had a thought about another person that didn’t also involve what she could get out of it herself. Sighing, June squirted out the conditioner into the palm of her hand.
That was just another one of their stark differences, and June knew one of the reasons why she felt so drawn to Elle in the first place. Both she and Elle had their share of pain in the past, but they were always willing to change and try something new for the better of themselves and others. She’d seen that alteration in Elle’s personality after she had been unable to hold her tongue that one night a couple of months ago.
Elle had changed. She’d slowly become the person June had once known to walk the halls of the ER when she’d first started her residency at the hospital. Elle was the one everyone had looked toward, but that had changed rapidly. Now she knew why. She’d been hurt. She’d been broken. Just like June had.
Rinsing out the conditioner, June bit her lip and closed her eyes. If only they could figure out how to be together, how to make the time for each other. It was hard enough with their current schedules to find a meal here or there they could spend together, or even run out to grab coffee. That had been a constant since they had started hanging out and had only worsened in the past few weeks.
Add in a relationship on top of it? Would they really be able to do it? Would they be able to push past the outside influences, the work, the struggle of being pulled in so many directions and make their relationship work? June wasn’t sure, and that perhaps scared her more than anything, more than the possibility that she liked Elle, more than the fact she was once again living in a woman’s house without her name on anything and could very well end up tossed to the curb again.
Leaving the shower, June toweled off her body and wrapped her hair up tight. She finished getting ready for her next shift at work and went down to start on her never-ending stream of coffee. She wondered, on occasion, just how much coffee she could drink in one day before it would be considered too much or if the coffee even affected her anymore.
Shoving that thought to the side, June grabbed a mug and started in on her first cup of the day. Coffee was life to her, and it didn’t matter whether she drank too much to feel the effects of the caffeine. She loved it. With a glance to the clock, she noted she had thirty minutes before she’d have to leave. Elle was normally driving home right around the time she was driving in, depending on how much charting she had to do. Based on what she’d seen of the ER last night, Elle was very likely to still be at the hospital when June arrived for her day.
June decided to make Elle breakfast and bring it with her; that way, she wouldn’t be starving on her drive home. Swallowing, she pulled out the fixings for a breakfast sandwich she’d bought the previous week and never made. She put together four of them, and when she checked her watch, it was time for her to run. She packed up the containers and was about to head to the garage when the door opened and Elle walked in.
June grinned. “You’re home sooner than I expected.”
Elle looked exhausted. She brushed her hair out of her face and dropped her keys onto the countertop. “I skipped charting. I’ll do it tonight.”
“You never do that.”
“I know. But…I just had to come home.”
“But I have to leave.” June pointed at the door and the lunchbox in her hand. “I was literally about to walk out the door.”
“Just my luck,” Elle muttered. She stalked forward toward June, and June remained rooted to her spot. Without hesitation, Elle cupped June’s cheek, tilted her chin up, and pressed their mouths together in a long-welcomed embrace. “I’ll see you tonight then.”
“Uh…yeah…tonight.”
“On your way.” Elle’s eyes crinkled in the corners as she tried to smile. “There will be more of that when you get back.”
“Okay.” June smiled. “You sleep. You look exhausted.”
“Uh-huh.” Elle waved her off and grabbed the container next to June’s lunch. “For me?”
“Yes.”
“Smells amazing.”
June still stood rooted to the spot. Elle chuckled and took her hand gently and started to walk backward toward the garage door.
“You have to go to work,” Elle whispered.
“Right.” June grabbed her jacket and flung it over her shoulders before she slipped out of the door and headed into the office.
Sometimes, Elle managed to catch her off guard; well, a lot of the time Elle managed to do that. This time, though—June licked her lips and tasted the leftover hospital coffee from Elle’s mouth—this time she hadn’t wanted to leave. She’d wanted to call in sick, skip out on her shift, play hooky so she could spend just a little more time with the woman she was finally getting to know and opening up to.
Hopefully, her day would be relatively fast-paced, and she’d be able to head home as soon as five struck the clock. That way, they could have a few hours together before Elle needed to return to the Emergency Room. Once again, the tug and pull of their jobs weighed on her. June pushed the tension from her mind’s eye and focused on her patients. That was why she was there, to help them, to spiritually guide them, to offer comfort and peace.
★
Elle crashed hard as soon as her head hit her pillow. She slept most of the day, waking up just in time for the afternoon sun to be starting its way down back to earth. She rested in her bed in the quiet of the house for as long as she wanted, taking in the warmth.
June had brought so much to the house. Elle turned to stare out of the window into her backyard. It was the little things, and she knew June was resisting fully moving in. She didn’t have any of her own decorations there. She barely left anything downstairs except her jacket and boots, but Elle could still see her and feel her in the house. Even if there wasn’t much to show for it.
The house was a home, probably for the first time since she had moved in and bought the place with Logan. They hadn’t been able to make it a home no matter how hard they tried, yet somehow, June did, even without them being in a relationship. Elle watched the sun reflect off the blanket of snow outside. They’d only known each other—really known each other—a couple of months. Before then, she’d just known who Chaplain Smart-Mouth was by reputation. They rarely interacted while at work, though they had seen each other on occasion.
Smiling to herself, Elle rolled onto her back and stared at her ceiling. She had taken the risk to try to make a friend, something she had gladly crossed off her list she kept in her nightstand. She also crossed off “go on a date,” which she had been less than enthusiastic about. Yes, she had been on a date. Several. But they had not been good dates. The last one hadn’t ended well at all, but she had been on a date. She was taking risks and putting herself back on the line to potentially meet someone.
But she’d already met her. They’d been in each other’s presence for years, and neither of them had noticed the other until the day June couldn’t hold her tongue. Chuckling, Elle shook her head. June had looked like she was going to pee herself after she’d let her mouth run that night. Elle hadn’t known what to say back; no one had ever dared talk to her like that.
June, however, continued to be a centering person for her, someone who could bring her back down to reality, who could set her on the right path again. She only hoped she did the same for June with everything going on. Even when she’d gone on those few dates with Lydia, she’d known she didn’t want to be there. She wasn’t interested in her. She wanted June.
There was no getting around it. June was the one she wanted; the one she loved. Elle forced herself out of the comfort of her bed. She pulled the sheets and comforter until her bed was made, then slipped into the hallway and down to the living room and kitchen. She emptied the half-full coffee pot and restarted it, then she perused the pantry and fridge to try to figure out what to make for dinner.
She wanted to make something healthy, but also something sinfully good. Her abuela had once taught her to make posole and churros. Finding most of the ingredients she needed, Elle set to work. She wanted to take care of June. Something about her made Elle want to protect her and show her everything new under the sun she could.
They’d found a sweet companionship together, and while there was a certain fear in exploring more, Elle was beyond ready to see if they would work together as a couple rather than just as friends. She didn’t want June to leave or move out until they figured out just what they were doing together in their relationship. It was hard enough to find time together now, but with June out of the house, it would feel near impossible.
Elle just finished setting the Dutch oven on the stove top with all the ingredients inside to simmer when June came through the garage door and let out a sigh. She turned her head up in June’s direction and smiled.
“That was the longest day of my life.”
“Yeah?” Elle asked with an eyebrow raised.
June rolled her eyes. “I didn’t sleep much the last couple nights, so it feels like two days rolled into one.”
Chuckling, Elle nodded. “I know those days. You talk to Jerica at all?”
Nodding, June shucked her jacket and her boots by the door and moved over to Elle. “I did. She’s hanging in there. Whatever you’re cooking smells amazing.”
“Abuela’s recipe, just don’t tell her I stole it and changed some things.”
“How dare you!” June teased and trailed a hand along Elle’s shoulders as she moved around her and through the kitchen to the living room. She plopped down on the couch and grabbed the blanket off the back to cover her legs.
Elle joined June on the couch, lifting her legs so June could rest on her. Trailing her fingers up and down June’s thigh, Elle asked, “Why didn’t you sleep?”
