Worth the Wait (McKinney_Walker #1)(25)
“I promise.”
* * *
ANOTHER MONTH PASSED, THEN it became three. She still discouraged him from going to Boston, saying he should enjoy any downtime, spend it with Hannah, not traveling. That she wouldn’t have any time at all, not even for coffee, working all weekend, always crazy busy.
A few weeks later, he thought, Screw it. If all he could do was kiss her, then that was what he was going to do.
He went by the hospital first and saw firsthand the crazy and the busy. Loud and hurried. “Excuse me.” He stopped one nurse as she tried to rush by him.
“Hi.” Her eyes met his and brightened. Wherever she was going was suddenly not so important. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Mia James.”
“Of course you are.” Her happy demeanor fizzled, and she started away. “She’s on break.”
“Wait. Where is that? The cafeteria?”
“I think she went out. The cafeteria coffee sucks.”
“She went to the Griddle with Adam,” a passing nurse added. Was there something in her eyes? A knot began to form in his gut.
The woman he’d stopped first looked even more unhappy. “With Adam? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Very.”
“Figures,” the first nurse muttered. “Okay. So I guess she’s at the Griddle.”
He waited. Was it not obvious he needed to know where that was? That he’d come to find his Mia and he wasn’t just going to walk out without her? Or did they expect the news of Adam to explain more than it obviously did?
“And where is that exactly?” His tone had lost any friendliness it might have held before.
He got the directions: out the ER, down a block on the corner. Dodging the incoming, he went back out into the cold and sloshed his way down the block. Please let her be alone. Please let her be alone.
She wasn’t alone. She was sitting right by the window, as clear as day, having coffee with another man. Adam. The one she’d studied with in med school more than once, who’d recently helped her move into her new apartment. The same one who’d been in the bedroom that he had not.
His palm slapped against the glass door hard enough to sting, and he pushed inside. God, he could hear her, the sound of her laughing, and it went straight to his heart. It swelled and then hurt when he saw her smiling face aimed at another man.
He walked right up to their table. “Hey.”
“Nick! Oh my God!” Mia’s eyes went wide with shock.
With hard eyes, Nick watched as Adam reached across the table and covered Mia’s hand.
And something inside him snapped. He could feel it coming apart.
Mia was still staring at him. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
His jaw was clenched almost too tightly to speak. “Surprise.”
Mia tugged her hand from under Adam’s. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“No. I can see that.”
She moved to stand, but Adam got out first, angling himself just enough that Mia couldn’t jump into his arms if that’s what she was about to do.
He stared deep into Adam’s face, thinking of all the ways he could and wanted to hurt him. “We need to talk.” It was long overdue.
“Okay,” Mia said. “I have to get back to the hospital, but—”
“Not you. Him.”
“Is there a problem?” Medium height, blond, clean cut, Adam looked exactly like you’d expect a gentleman who came from old money and rowed crew for Harvard.
“Nick.” Sensing the fury rolling through him, Mia touched his arm. “Don’t do this.”
“You don’t have to watch.”
“Shall we go outside?” Adam asked.
So civilized. He was feeling anything but civil. And he was no gentleman.
He followed Adam out, went a few steps so he didn’t block the door. “I guess I haven’t made myself clear. Or maybe you’re not too bright. Or maybe,” he took a step forward, “you’re just the type of guy who makes moves on unavailable women.”
Adam had the balls to glance at Mia with what any man would recognize as pure want. “She didn’t seem unavailable to me.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Adam!”
Nick barely heard Mia’s exclamation, didn’t take the time to think about her obvious shock before he struck. His fist connected squarely with Adam’s mouth. The guy didn’t go down, but he did stumble back.
Adam wiped at his split lip, and Nick stepped close, clenching his fist. “You have coffee with her, you talk doctor stuff, but you do not touch her.” Nick jabbed his finger in the shorter man’s chest. “And listen, because this is important. You don’t even think about touching her. And if I have to come up here every fucking day to remind you who Mia belongs to, I will. I’ll be happy to.”