Chapter 7

Sam

“I guess I didn’t realize we were competing over who could get the most gropey during class today.”

The glare I sent my brother should have shut him up for the next week. Will was still on thin ice. Instead, he kept grinning.

“Yeah, this is a nice place, Sammy. We’ll lose our customers if you start feeling everyone up,” Conner chimed in.

Most of the class was packing up or already heading towards the doors and Lainey had disappeared into the locker room a few minutes ago. Thank fuck. When Will and Connor started riffing off each other, they were insufferable. Especially when it was directed at me.

“I didn’t grope her.”

I had groped her.

Maybe it didn’t count as groping in the traditional sense, but I’d gone three years without so much as brushing past her in the hallway. My fingers on Lainey’s body had felt indecent.

It didn’t matter that I’d barely touched her or that I’d kept everything above the waist and completely professional. Her ass had been about two inches away from my dick and she’d been sweating. The simple connection of my fingertips with her torso had nearly sent me over the edge. It all had made me think much too deeply about other ways I wanted to be behind her while she panted and I told her she was perfect.

Shit. What had I been thinking? I avoided my reflection as I wiped down the medicine balls. I knew exactly what I’d been thinking.

That the last time I’d taken a risk and opened up to her, it hadn’t crashed and burned as badly as I thought it would. I’d been thinking about how gorgeous she was and how she’d asked yesterday if it was weird that she’d been staring at me during rounds.

It hadn’t been weird. It had been glorious. Demoralizing, really, how much I’d liked it. But I cut myself some slack. Ever since we’d met, I’d been the one to sneak furtive looks in her direction. It was nice to be on the receiving end for once.

By the time she’d hinted that she would be open to working out together again, I’d been ready to buy this whole place out from under my brother’s nose and gift it to her as a token of my affection. I sighed, tossing a towel into the laundry baskets by the front desk. Being around her did stupid things to me to begin with. Now that I had her attention? I was certifiable.

Didn’t matter, I told myself, finally squaring a stern look in the mirror. We weren’t dating. That wasn’t even on the table. I needed to keep my hands to myself.

“Hey, great workout today!” The woman Lainey had been talking to earlier—Meery, I think—exited the locker room with Lainey and the blonde on her heels. I hadn’t caught her name.

“You put in some nice work. The vibes in here were on point today.” Will nodded to Lainey. “I think I’ve got you to thank for that.”

“I take no responsibility for the vibes. You should just know for future reference that my competitive streak cannot be silenced. No challenge can go unmet.”

I nearly grinned. I’d seen that competitive streak in action every day since I’d met her. The rivalry between her and Jones was like something out of a Shakesperean tragedy. I’d caught her practicing her stitches in an empty OR once, hours after a nurse had complimented Jones on his needlework. She’d cranked out nearly five hundred sutures before her hand had cramped up.

“Noted for next time.” Will winked as he grabbed a pack of gum off the counter. I wanted to punch him in the face. I settled for leaning over and pinching the shit out of his arm under the desk until he gave me a piece.

“Fuck's sake, Sam,” he muttered, shuffling over a few feet. He’d felt like shit when I told him Lainey had overheard his comment about asking her out. So guilty, he’d been my first call last night after Lainey had asked to work out together again. I think he’d been as relieved as I was at the turn of events. He was still on my shit list, though, and he’d have to rein in the flirting if he wanted to get off it anytime soon.

“Don’t be so modest! You have a gift.” Meery looked at him with unfiltered interest. “Do you do any private sessions?”

Will’s face transformed from genial to distant in a second. “Sorry, no. Groups only. We don’t get into the personal side of personal training.”

“That doesn’t seem to be stopping them.” Meery’s head tilted to where Lainey leaned on the counter in front of me. Far enough away to be civil, close enough to be…distracting.

I froze, but Will jumped in before I could fumble something up too badly. “He doesn’t work here. He was just helping out during the rush today.”

I cleared my throat. Now I felt bad about pinching him.

“They can get up to whatever they want.”

Nevermind.

“You don’t work here? Are you a trainer somewhere else?” the one with the purple in her hair asked softly.

“I work at Cedar.”

She blinked, seeming to expect more, but I wasn’t sure what more there was for her to know.

“The hospital?” she prodded.

“Yes. We work together in the cardiac unit,” Lainey chimed in. “Reese is one of the best educators in our program.”

I blinked down at her. I didn’t know she felt that way.

“But you did pretty well today,” she continued. “I didn’t realize you’re such a fitness buff.”

“I—”

Conner butted in. “He is. Worked as a trainer through college. Studied kinesiology before he went to the dark side with the heart thing.”

Lainey whirled on me. The movement whipped her ponytail around, wafting the scent of her floral shampoo into my face.

“Kinesiology? Not pre-med? Or Biochem or something?” She continued listing common medical majors, apparently not satisfied with my nod.

“It’s actually a good story. You should tell her over coffee, Sammy,” Connor butted in. “Molido has the best cold brew in town. Definitely worth the walk across the parking lot.”

“There’s always a crazy line,” the purple-haired one whispered, peering to look at the café that shared R 3 ’s lot.

“Right? I tried to go there once after work and they said they were out of milk. I was gutted.” Lainey eyed the people waiting outside. “I’ve always wanted to go, though.”

“Sam can get you in, no line,” Will offered. No doubt payback for the pinch earlier. Asshole. He was barking up the wrong tree, anyway. Lainey didn’t do coffee. Or relationships. But despite these things, she looked up at me with those brown eyes, brows quirked.

“Can you?” She seemed… intrigued. Was she? Being a heart surgeon was usually enough to snag someone’s interest at a bar if I was out with friends and open to some company. That obviously wouldn’t fly with Lainey. But somehow, having an in at the coffee shop next door seemed to do the trick.

“Sure.” I pulled out my phone and nodded at the group around us before tapping it to life. Lainey’s goodbyes took slightly longer as she and the blonde talked quietly about seeing each other at the next Thursday class. I batted out a text while I pointedly ignored my brothers and their barely hidden smirks.

I followed Lainey out of the gym, both happy and tortured with the way her ass looked in her leggings. Habit made me look back at my brothers as I headed out the door, and I immediately wished I hadn’t. Will was air humping to some rhythm only he could hear while Connor flexed his arms, silent-screaming in a spot-on imitation of some pumped up wrestler entering the ring. I flipped them off as Meery burst into a fit of giggles and her friend blushed.

“Like I said, line out the door.” Lainey looked back at me, so sweetly unaware of the jackassery being conducted at her expense just a few feet away. I hustled her a little faster to ensure she didn’t see any of it. “I’ve been wanting to try this place forever. I have heard the cold brew here is insane. I swear, every time I open my Instagram I see a Molido cup with, like, a maple bacon cream latte or something. Have you had anything like that from here yet?”

“Hmm.” I shook my head, unable to put into words how little a maple bacon cream anything appealed to me. Despite my affection for this place, I had my limits. My phone buzzed in my hand. Thank God. It gave me something to focus on while she dropped her gym bag into the trunk of her car. She bent down—God help me—to pluck her phone and wallet out of the outer pocket.

“It must be good if it’s so popular. I was hoping they’d be able to do something crazy with a cold foam tea latte or something.”

I tapped out a response and pocketed the device. “We’ll see in a minute,” I muttered, stopping at the back of the line. It snaked around the parking lot. Lainey snorted.

“It’ll take more than a minute,” she shrugged, shielding her eyes from the sun. I stepped to the left to cast her in shadow. “It’s okay. I don’t have anywhere to be today.”

Not until her shift started later tonight. But revealing I knew that information qualified as creepy in most contiguous U.S. states, so I refrained. Something about her assertion nettled. “You don’t think I can get us in?”

She had the grace to look guilty. She probably thought it was far-fetched for her oatmeal attending to have a hookup at the most viral coffee shop in the city. My eyes narrowed.

“I can get us in.”

“It’s really okay. I’m sure you—”

“You’re not the only one who’s competitive, Lainey.”

Surprise registered on her face. I relished being the one to put it there, especially when it morphed into consideration. That feeling crept up on me again—that she was really seeing me, instead of just looking through me. “Are you?”

“Just because I don’t jostle for first dibs at an OR doesn’t mean I’m not competitive.” Lainey had a renowned reputation for jostling. Or bribing. Or doing pretty much anything she needed to get into whatever procedure she wanted. That wasn’t really my style, but growing up with two brothers and limited resources had made me plenty competitive. Slow and steady just happened to work for me more often.

Case in point, I was standing in the longest line imaginable with Lainey Carmichael, and she seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. Miracle of miracles.

“Samuel Rodriguez Reese! What the fuck are you doing in line?”

Lainey, and everyone else in the parking lot, turned to see Santiago standing on the porch of the cafe, hands on his hips and scowling.

“Just come inside, for fuck’s sake. I don’t have time to chase you around the parking lot, you inconsiderate ass!”

“I didn’t want to assume.” My hand on Lainey’s back propelled her forward with me amid a mix of curious glances and frowns. People didn’t really look kindly on the fact that I could skip to the front while they stood for over thirty minutes in the sun.

He ushered us through the doors to a tiny table by the pastry case. The scent of coffee and melted butter greeted us the second we stepped in.

“Tiago, we could have just grabbed something to go—”

“Literally shut all the fuck up. You think you can just come to mi café and wait outside in the elements like a common peasant? And with a lady friend, no less? I’m ashamed of you. Sit.”

He bent down to swipe a kiss across my cheek when I complied. My best friend was a touchy-feely kind of guy. It still didn’t stop me from giving him shit.

“My middle name is not Rodriguez. And you shouldn’t seat us here with all those people waiting outside.”

“Of course I can! You’re family, you ass! I’m done with you now. You’re not even going to introduce us, you fucking Neanderthal.” He pivoted to smile at Lainey, curly hair falling across his forehead. “I’m Santiago.”

“I’m Lainey. It’s nice to meet you.”

Anyone else would have missed the split-second when he froze, his long, black-polish-tipped fingers barely twitching when their hands clasped. Lainey likely didn’t catch the quick flicker of his eyes to my face, then back to hers. But I did. I met his eyes again when he looked at me, silently pleading for him to be cool.

His teeth glinted. “Sit. Stay.” He swept away. As soon as Lainey’s back was turned, his head whipped around and he mouthed holy shit, holy shit, what the fuck at me. I ignored him, opting instead to watch Lainey gawk at the shop.

I’d been coming here since before it opened, and sometimes even I was still impressed. Colorful paper and bronze lanterns crowded together on the ceiling. White stars and moons swirled across the indigo walls. Tiago had spent several very late nights informing me exactly what all the various runes and astrological bullshit were, but I didn’t remember them now. Once I’d painted one, I just moved onto the next.

Outside, colorful umbrellas strung together to make a massive, whimsical patio cover. Jordan and I had nearly come to blows over that one. Believe it or not, umbrellas aren’t the most ideal material if you’re trying to build a sustainable roof structure.

“This place lives up to the hype.” Lainey swept her eyes around the pastry case, stuffed with a dizzying array of Cuban, French, and American confections. “Does he own it?”

“Yes.”

Her eyes widened. “When you said you could get us in here, I didn’t think it’d be because you know the owner. Dang. They even know your order.”

Tiago’s hand appeared, placing a cup and saucer in front of me. He scoffed. “Of course I do. Not that it’s hard to remember.”

“Coffee. Black. Pretty standard for a doctor.” Lainey rolled her eyes along with Santiago. She knew my coffee order, too. I took a sip to hide my smile.

“He takes it with sugar here. Classic Café Cubano.”

“Not like I’m allowed to have anything else,” I grumbled.

“Anything except plain black, Amor . You need to spice things up. You”—he swiveled on his way to the back, pointing at Lainey—“little miss decaf iced tea and ‘something cool with cold foam.’ You good with spice?”

“Ah, yes?”

He clapped twice and whirled through the beaded curtain to the kitchen. I sipped my drink, savoring.

“You gave him my drink order?”

“Are you impressed yet?” Our eyes met. Held. Warmthspread in my chest and turned molten. The table between us was the size of a postage stamp. Our knees bumped underneath it.

“Yes.” A thousand thoughts rattled around in the back of my head. Like how we’d just endured the workout of the year and I probably smelled like the men’s locker room. That she was most likely starving, like me. I was wondering whether or not Tiago was going to play it cool now that he knew exactly who sat across from me. But it faded to the background; her eyes like a tether, reeling me in closer and closer the longer she looked at me.

“Pardon,” Jordan’s voice rumbled somewhere above us. His arm descended over the top of the pastry case to deposit a plate of baked goods. He gave Lainey a slow smile. “I’m Jordan. Tell me what you think of these two.” He pointed to two pastries on top of the pile before ducking back behind the case.

I leaned back in my chair, not entirely sure when I’d moved towards her. Lainey likewise pushed her shoulders back in her seat, looking lost and staring at the plate before us. A faint flush touched her cheeks. “They drop pastry out of the sky here? Is this heaven?”

“Jordan runs the kitchen.”

“He talks as much as you do.” Her nose wrinkled at me, teasing.

“It’s my curse to be surrounded by large, silent men. I have to carry on all the conversations around here.” Santiago managed to Tetris the plates to make room for—I’m not kidding—a whole fucking platter of iced tea drinks. He presented them to Lainey like she was a queen. “For you, a flight. We’ve got the floral Rooibos with the dreamsicle cold foam. Lavender hibiscus with the honey foam. Decaf earl gray with coconut caramel. And chai with habanero brown sugar.”

Tiago smirked at me, batting his eyelashes. I shrugged. “You lost me at dreamsicle.”

“You have flights of tea here?” Lainey gaped at the colorful glasses as if he’d offered her a selection of jewels.

“We don’t. But you’re a VIP.”

Lainey bit her lip, looking up at Santiago with stars in her eyes. “I think I’m in love with you.”

“Oh, Honey, that’s sweet, but I’m taken. My friend’s single, though.” He patted my shoulder and swept off to buss a table. It was a challenge to stop myself from glaring after him. Thankfully, Lainey seemed too entranced by her tea to have noticed his wing-manning.

“Okay. I’m impressed now.”