Amy Ruttan - Navy Doc On Her Christmas List

Oh, God.

“Well, if it’s any consolation I think that your mother’s parties were a touch more popular than my mother’s parties ever were.”

She cocked a finely arched blonde brow. “How so?”

“Your mother’s parties were never filled with barely controlled hatred between your parents. Passive aggressive digs at infidelity. Pinched and forced smiles. Awkward.”

Ella chuckled. “Oh, the polite fight, you mean? And they weren’t always. Before...”

“You mean before it came out my father had an affair and a secret love child?”

Ella blushed. “Yes, before that. Before Miranda. Your parents were happy.”

Zac sighed. Yeah there had been a time his parents had been happy, but it was hard to remember the way things used to be. And he wouldn’t trade Miranda for anything, but trust had been shattered after that and the family dynamic had changed.

And Zac had lost respect for his father and become ever more determined to forge his own way in this world.

“True, before that came to light they were happy.”

“My parents aren’t perfect. There have been many of those polite fights. ‘Henry, dear, perhaps you shouldn’t wear that color to the dinner, it clashes with the carpet.’ ‘Sylvia, dearest, what I’m wearing is fine, it’s all that plastic surgery affecting your eyesight.’”

They both laughed at that.

“How are our mothers friends again?” Zac teased.

“It’s called frenemies, I believe. They’re frenemies.”

“That’s it.” Then he yawned.

“Tired?”

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” he said.

“You’ve been working hard since you came on board,” she said.

“Look who’s talking.”

“True, still you really do look beat.”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Though you just came off a long shift. I really shouldn’t be complaining.”

Ella scooted over. “Come on, the floor can’t be comfortable. At least you can be slightly comfortable as we wait for our rescue.”

* * *

Ella didn’t know what she was doing. She should just leave him on the floor, but he was suffering.

A part of her was glad that he was, but it was small. It was just that vindictive part that she had. The bitter part that still remembered the humiliation he’d doled out to her.

“When are you going to pop the question to Ella Lockwood, Davenport?”

“Pop the question?” Zac asked.

“Yeah, you hang out a lot with her.”

“She’s going to medical school. We have that in common,” Zac said dryly.

“Come on, Davenport, it must be more than that!”

Zac laughed. “I have no interest in ever marrying a pampered society princess.”

Ella shook that internal dialogue out of her head. It was dialogue that had always eaten away at her. For years and years. It was her own personal demon she had to fight. Zac had utterly humiliated her in that moment.

After that stolen kiss she’d wanted more from him, but he’d broken her heart. Still, his dismissal of her had caused an awakening.

That night she’d discarded the clothing her mother had picked for her and had done her hair and makeup to her liking and not her mother’s. She mostly preferred to go without makeup and forgo the hideous designer dresses. For the first time in her life she’d felt like the person she’d always been hiding.

The person she’d been afraid to show.

His dismissal of her had given her the drive to excel. To prove to him and the rest of the world she was more than a pampered society princess.

To be more than the world her parents moved in, expected of her. She hadn’t wanted to be a society wife and mother.

She was going to be the best surgeon she could be. She was going to be respected. Opening yourself up to people just put your emotions, your heart at risk. So she kept herself safe by putting others at a distance.

Under the blonde, curvy, short stature she was a force to be reckoned with when it came to her residents.

When Ella Lockwood told you to move out of the way, you moved out of the way.

Still, another part she’d buried long ago wanted to be a wife and a mother. To have a family, friends. She was lonely, even if she didn’t want to admit it. The problem was she just didn’t see that happening any time soon.

Now, with Zac’s return, there was a shift in her confidence and she didn’t like it much. She’d promised herself that she would keep him at a distance. Give him the cold shoulder and let him know that she didn’t give a damn about him.

Of course, that was rather hard to do when she’d seen him in an instant so vulnerable and broken.

When she’d seen that weaker side to him. When she’d seen the side of him she’d thought existed all those years ago, until he’d cruelly dismissed her.

They didn’t say anything, but she could see the exhaustion etched on his face. And as they sat there in the darkness, with only one dim emergency light in the room, Zac fell asleep. Then he shifted and laid his head in her lap.

Wake him up.

Only she couldn’t make herself do it. There had been so many times that summer when they’d connected where they’d been studying and he’d drifted off like this. Where they’d passed out together.

When they had been children, they had been nap buddies. Ella’s nanny would place them in the nursery, her in her bed and him on the floor in a trundle bed. In the darkness, while their parents had had parties downstairs, when the raucous laughter of the adults would wake her up and frighten her, Zac would always wake up and climb into her bed.

Suddenly, she was tired.

Her shift had started at five in the evening yesterday and now it was seven in the morning. She should be at home, sleeping, before she was forced to go to her mother’s that night.

Of course, the storm had stopped all that.

Since they were stuck, she shifted slightly and curled up beside Zac. Just like they had done so many times years ago.

It was comforting. She’d forgotten how comforting it was.

This is dangerous.

And that was her last logical thought before she drifted off into her own fitful slumber.

CHAPTER THREE

“GET OUT OF HERE, JERK!”

Zac woke with a start, disoriented, but he was painfully aware there was a soft body pressed against his. And as his eyes adjusted to the light he could see that it was Ella, curled up against him. She was lying half on her side and half on her back. Her wavy blonde hair was spread out on the pillow. Long eyelashes brushed against her pink, round cheeks and those pink lips moved as she murmured utter nonsense in her sleep.

And he couldn’t help but smile. He’d forgotten that she tended to be very vocal when she slept.

She’d talked in her sleep a lot. There had been one time, after studying for anatomy, when they had both fallen asleep on the couch and she’d shouted out something about dissecting elves with pizza. He’d cared about her so much back then.

What about now?

“Zac,” she whispered, his hands still on her face, their lips mere inches from each other’s. Her breathing was heavy, just as his was.

“Shh,” he whispered. “Just breathe.”

And he brought her lips to his again. It felt so right. It burned his soul and he wanted more.

His blood heated, because he remembered what it was like to kiss her.

Her body shifted and she tossed a leg over him and moaned sweetly in her sleep.

Oh, God.

He closed his eyes and tried to get control.

“You idiot,” she murmured.

He laughed quietly to himself and then gently shook her. “Ella, you’re dreaming. Wake up.”

She curled up closer to him.

He took a deep breath, because her curling up closer to him made his blood heat even more. He had to extract himself from this situation.