Open Heart (Dr. Love): A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  I ring the bell.

  Nothing.

  I knock.

  Still nothing.

  If I had her number, I’d call. Thinking on my feet, I reason I could call the hospital and get her contact details.

  But I’m right here if only she’d just open the damned-

  “What are you doing?” I hear her ask from behind the solid wood door, knowing it’s me as much as I know it’s her on the other side without even seeing her.

  “I just wanna talk, Evelyn. Let’s not fight. I was an asshole back at the hospital,” I tell her truthfully.

  “If you want me to tell you about me and your dad, I will. I didn’t mean to jump the gun by asking you to Bermuda, either. I know it’s a hard time for you… I just…”

  I just can’t spill my guts to a door is what I think I’m really trying to say.

  Feeling my hand ball into a fist I hesitate to knock one more time, I feel relief when I hear the lock click.

  Evelyn’s sweet face peering around the edge of the door. Her eyes red and puffy with tears still.

  She’s opened just enough to show herself but hasn’t opened the door all the way.

  “Hi,” I murmur, feeling like a school kid in front of her.

  “Hi,” she rasps, sniffing a reply and looking past me before studying her feet.

  “Can I come in?” I ask, but really wanting to take her away from this place.

  Take her home, where I know she belongs.

  She shrugs and steps aside, letting the door open with a silent invitation as she moves into the kitchen.

  Following her curves I close the door silently behind me, saying an equally silent thanks for her giving me a second chance.

  A chance I don’t intend to let go of.

  Once in the kitchen, I see her hugging her elbows and shifting on her feet like she’s unsure.

  “I wish I knew what to say, Evelyn,” I tell her. “Wish I knew I could tell you how much you mean to me, even though we only just-”

  I can feel my emotions rising, my feelings getting the better of me.

  Sounding more like a lunatic than someone who’s only searching for three words.

  Too scared to tell her in case it scares her off for good.

  She turns quietly to set some coffee brewing, my hand reaching for her before I decide to pull it back.

  “I… I…” I stammer, sounding like a moron instead of a man who knows what he wants and has come to claim it.

  She’s just so perfect.

  So beautiful.

  I can’t even think what my life would be like if she suddenly wasn’t in it. But before I can make an even bigger fool of myself, she helps me out.

  Offering me two words in place of the three I feel on my lips.

  “Where’s Bermuda?” she asks, turning with a half-smile, sniffing back some more tears before I feel her in my arms again.

  “It’s just an island,” I explain, suddenly feeling my hands in her hair, running down her back and over as much of her as I can manage in a few seconds as we embrace.

  “We don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to either,” I remind her.

  Reminding myself not to rush things with her, and even with her dad.

  “Bermuda sounds nice,” she purrs. “But maybe just for a little while. Until dad gets better?” she says, looking up at me with a small smile.

  A smile I bring closer to mine before I kiss it like I’ve never kissed her before, lifting her up until she squeaks.

  Her whole body pressed against me.

  Mine again.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Evelyn

  What’s upset me isn’t that Mark would keep anything from me.

  His history with my dad is his own business, I tell myself on the drive home after I take a deep breath and actually start to calm down.

  The pressures of the past day finally catching up with me is what pushes me to the point I lash out at Mark.

  As if he’s done anything wrong except save my dad’s life and give me the greatest night of my life so far.

  And didn’t he say something about taking care of the hospital bill himself?

  I feel nothing but relief when I hear him at the door, hoping it really is him, my heart leaping once I see his car parked outside across the street.

  He must’ve followed me straight here from the hospital.

  I want to know more about Bermuda though.

  Want to know if Mark’s serious about actually taking me someplace for a few days.

  Someplace special I know where I could give myself to him a hundred percent, because I know that’s what we both want.

  And god knows, the longer I’m in his arms, the more I feel like I need it.

  Dad’s in the hospital and will be for a while yet. And if he’s going to pop a valve every time he sees Mark, maybe it is better to leave him to recover, just for a few days before anything else, it’s not like I can help him recover faster. At the hospital, he has all the care I can’t give him.

  I’ve never traveled further than a few miles from home for what feels like my whole life.

  I got a passport a year ago but didn’t tell my dad.

  Didn’t want him getting upset with me, asking me what the point of that would be.

  Mark seems more interested in checking out some of my dad’s photos though, which is a little bit odd.

  “You mind if I just take a look?” he asks, walking back into the hall and plucking one from the wall, dismantling the frame before I can even ask why.

  I have to admit, my curiosity gets the better of me and by the time I hear Mark having his “aha!” moment, I know I’m hooked.

  “What is it?” I ask him, struggling to crane my neck past his huge body as he turns away for a second, unfolding the photograph.

  “He didn’t cut me out,” he adds with a tone of surprise.

  “I thought he would’ve cut me out after what happened.

  I have no idea what he’s talking about until he passes me the folded photograph I must’ve walked past ten thousand times before I even knew who Dr. Mark Love was.

  Before I even would have thought the photo was folded to keep him out of the picture.

  The fold is deeply creased and probably about as old as I am, but there’s no mistaking the two people.

  The faded half is my dad, proudly holding up a fish in front of an unfamiliar lake.

  The recently uncovered part is definitely Mark. His arm around my dad’s shoulder, but neatly folded out of view until just now.

  “What happened?” I ask him. Not mad anymore, just confused and a whole lot curious.

  Why would my dad keep something like that from me for so long too? He’s always ranted about how much he can’t stand the great Dr. Mark Love, but he’s never said why.

  “We were in medical school together,” Mark sighs, thumbing the crease in the photo as if he can heal the rift with his surgeon’s hands.

  “Your dad and I go back way before that though, state boy’s home. But I’m not sure if you knew,” Mark says quietly

  I feel my head pumping a nod.

  “I knew my dad had a tough upbringing, that he was in state care,” I tell Mark who’s nodding with reflective thought.

  “Not too tough,” he smiles. “Just lonely. Your dad and I were more like brothers. The closest thing to family either of us ever had, and not something I thought would ever-” he says, breaking off.

  Keeping the photo in his hand, but putting the frame on the side table, Mark leads me into the living room and sits down with me on the couch.

  “Your dad was going to be a surgeon too, we had our chosen fields once we both won scholarships. He was always the smarter out of the both of us,” he adds, frowning down at the photo.

  I suddenly feel like maybe I don’t want to know what happened.

  Seeing how much hurt is on Mark’s face, I know it’s not gonna be a story with a happy ending because it ends with the story of my life so far.
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  Probably with the reason my dad’s so bitter at his core, especially when it comes to Mark who I never even knew was friends with my dad until today.

  “That lake,” Mark smiles. “We went there every chance we got when we weren’t in school. Used to drive up on Fridays and then back late on Sunday night so we never missed class.”

  Without him having to even say anything, I know something happened at that lake.

  My dad’s next biggest phobia apart from Dr. Mark Love or insurance companies is water.

  Like, lake-sized bodies of water.

  “I did what I had to do,” Mark says suddenly, taking a sharp breath of air in through his teeth.

  “It wasn’t like I had a choice. It was either move your dad or let him drown. What was I supposed to do?” he asks the photograph like he’s talking to my dad himself.

  “What do you mean?” I ask, my hand clutching at his forearm, dying to know now.

  The thought of anything life-threatening involving my dad is disturbing.

  But Mark explains, he was my dad’s savior more than once in this life.

  “We used to do this thing… dive off a ledge that was right above where the water pooled. It was like a natural rip, really strong currents, an undertow,” he explains.

  “Your dad and I were young, fit, and strong. A little stupid when it came to risks, but hey,” he says.

  I feel my throat tighten as I struggle to swallow, somehow just knowing where this is all leading, even though I don’t know the details.

  It’s something my dad’s certainly never spoken about but I have no reason to doubt Mark either, it’s like he’s reliving the event as he tells me.

  “Your dad jumped, even after I told him not to. It was way deeper and stronger in the water than any other time we’d done this. But your dad being your dad, relished the chance to show me he was a better swimmer as well as a better brain.”

  Mark’s pause is almost unbearable, and I relax my grip on him, understanding he needs to take his time if he even still wants to tell me at all.

  “…So, your dad dives in anyway. I watch him go under, waiting for him to come back up but he doesn’t.”

  “But he did,” I hear myself counter. “He must have.”

  Mark nods slowly.

  “Yeah, well… Me being me, I jumped right on in after him when he didn’t come back up,” he says gravely. “Could’ve been two bodies up there instead of two buddies.”

  His serious tone registers with me, but I still don’t know why my dad would bear a grudge against this man.

  I still don’t understand how-

  “I found him, down there,” Mark drawls. “Blue as bathwater with his head under a log…”

  I hear myself gasp, gripping Mark tighter by his arm again.

  “What else was I supposed to do? I yanked him outta there. Dragged him up to the shore and resuscitated him. I did my job,” he adds defiantly.

  “But?” I ask, venturing towards the unhappy part of the story.

  “But nothing,” he says firmly. “Your dad would’ve died and I did what anyone would do given the chance.”

  I feel a shiver run through me, not feeling like he’s told me the whole story, but knowing enough to understand how Mark saved my dad both then and now.

  Mark sighs heavily.

  “Its ancient history, Evelyn, but you need to know. The reason your dad hates me so much is that he lost his place in the surgical intern program. He was in the hospital for weeks after the accident,” he explains.

  “Lucky to be alive but no use to himself or any college or hospital other than as a patient. He recovered in time, but he never forgave me for pulling him out.”

  I don’t believe what I’m hearing.

  “This is before your dad met your mom,” Mark says, patting my hand.

  “He never forgave me though, always said I should’ve left him there, and accused me of trying to cripple him as well as ruining his career, which was never the case. He could’ve finished his surgical major, his internship. But it was like a part of him just… gave up that day.”

  “Did you know my mom?” I ask him, noticing how quickly he shakes his head.

  “No. After that day, once your dad was in the hospital, he never wanted to see me ever again. Told the staff to stop me from even trying to visit or contact him even.”

  That sounds like my dad.

  Maybe he should’ve been a lawyer instead of a doctor?

  “But you did save him though,” I remind Mark. “You saved him then and you saved him again yesterday. You saved me too, by coming here today. Telling me the truth. Even though I feel stupid for running now,” I tell him honestly.

  “I love you, Evelyn,” he says with an intense look, making me gasp. “I loved you the second I saw you and I won’t ever let you go again.”

  I melt into his huge hug, feeling my face brush against his hard body as it flexes naturally under his clothes.

  Not understanding what an older guy as perfect as Mark could ever see in a younger curvy girl like me, but grateful to have the chance.

  Grateful to have a hero in my life too.

  The man who saved my dad twice and now rescued me from a lonely life.

  “Tell me about Bermuda,” I hear myself asking again, my hands clutching at him as his body shakes with a chuckle.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Mark

  It’s a weight off my shoulders, but I know I still have a way to go yet.

  We both do.

  I’ll need to have that conversation with Evelyn’s dad myself. Need to ask him to finally let it go, to forgive me for saving his sorry ass in the first place.

  Just doing what anyone would do for a brother.

  But not yet.

  Once he’s strong enough and well enough I will sit him down and spell a few things out.

  For now, I think it’s clear Evelyn has forgiven my little secret, her intrigue about her dad’s history with me clearing the way some. How the hell can some twenty years go by and somebody still hold such a grudge?

  It doesn’t really matter now, telling Evelyn how I feel and knowing she knows I mean it. That’s all that really matters from now on.

  Hearing myself tell the only one I’ll love that I actually love her and having her ask in the next breath to tell her about Bermuda sets our plans in motion.

  At my suggestion, Evelyn looks up Bermuda on her phone while I reschedule our flight using mine.

  Watching her eyes grow from a look of curious uncertainty to excited, the sound of her voice getting higher and more intense once she finds out more, lets me know it’s not such a bad choice for a quick vacation spot after all.

  Would be shit on my own, but I’m not going alone anymore.

  Not alone anymore. Never again.

  Hospital director Carmichael gets his wish, her dad has a reconditioned heart and I get the girl.

  I don’t think a two week break is appropriate for the moment with her dad in the hospital, the weekend should be long enough.

  I don’t want Evelyn thinking I’m trying to keep her from seeing her dad so soon after his operation, but he’ll most likely be sedated for at least the next couple of days yet after his debut attempt at waking up.

  Plenty of time for us to get to know each other better outside of our own little worlds.

  Plenty of time for her dad to get his blood pressure stabilized so soon after surgery too.

  The thought of taking Evelyn home, to what I want to be her home too is pleasing enough. The memory of her in my mouth last night even more so.

  But I want our real first time to be special, like a gift. The same special gift I know she’s aching to give me as much as I am to give her.

  She’s trying not to interrupt me when I’m on the phone but her excitement gets the better of her as she starts listing off all the things to see and do.

  In Bermuda? Okay.

  I’ve arranged the flights and space at the airport to park for a few da
ys, and am about to call the college next to explain her situation when I see her face fall.

  “What is it?” I ask, putting my phone down and going over to her.

  She looks crestfallen and I wonder what could have changed her mood so quickly.

  Glancing at her screen, there’s a bright image of younger people smiling and laughing. Playing half-naked in the sun on a beach.

  Like some people do at beaches, I guess.

  “Lots of beaches in Bermuda, too,” she says, almost groaning.

  “You don’t like the beach?” I venture, not minding if she doesn’t. I’ve never been a fan of all the sand that gets into everything but it is good for my tan.

  “I love the beach. Just don’t have a beach body,” she says softly, looking down at the floor.

  “What’s a beach body?” I ask, figuring she might be someone who burns easily in the sun.

  Her face screws up, and she shakes her head from side to side.

  “Girls like that,” she whines, tossing her phone onto the table and I watch the colors and shapes of people on a white sandy beach spin into a blur.

  “Bodies like… yours,” she adds, and I feel a stab of self-consciousness in my chest.

  “Do you really want to be seen on a beach with me?” she asks, her lip trembling a little as she flushes red.

  “Do I really want to be seen in a swimsuit on a beach?” she muses to herself, throwing her hands up in a shrug before slumping down into a chair, her head in her hands. She murmurs something else about not even having one that would fit, but I’ve heard enough.

  That someone so beautiful, so perfect could be so down on themselves worries me.

  Because it’s Evelyn, it alarms me.

  I sit down next to her and take her hand in mine, giving it a gentle squeeze.

  “Where we’re headed,” I tell her, “It’s a private house, with a private beach.”

  Her eyes lift to meet mine, softening instantly. “Really?” she asks, sniffing back her tears before they take over.

  “Really,” I remind her firmly.

  “But it makes no difference, Evelyn. I just want to be wherever you are. I don’t care if the whole world’s there. As long as I can have you all to myself.”