Frog by Mary Calmes (read along books TXT) 📗

“Dr. Benning just left his laptop at home and asked me to run it on over here right quick.”

She was a very attractive woman, and the sudden smile she gave me made her dimples pop as she flashed me rows of perfect, white, even teeth. “I see.”

I waited.

She studied me.

“Ma’am?”

“And the boys belong to who?”

“His sister.”

“He has a sister.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She nodded. “Could you have a seat right there in those chairs, and I will page him right away.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at her, herding the kids with me.

Micah and Tristan each had a Nintendo apiece, and Pip had something that looked similar but was chunkier and had a camera built into it. He already had lots of pictures of rocks, tires, clouds, and a blurry one of my ass.

As we sat there, I could not help but notice that the nurses’ station was beginning to draw a crowd. There were a lot of people in scrubs, a lot of white coats, and even one guy in a suit.

“Uncle Cy!” Pip shrieked and leaped off the seat beside me, streaking around the chairs and charging across the floor to him.

Cy bent and caught the little boy easily, kissing him and patting his back as chubby little arms were wrapped around his neck.

I got up, Tristan and Micah trailing after me, and met him halfway.

“Sorry it took me so long to get down here.” He smiled at me, his eyes warm and soft.

“No, we know you’re busy,” I assured him, holding up his worn leather bag. “I like this.”

“What’s that?” He smiled at me, reaching for and fiddling with the collar of my dress shirt under the sweater I was wearing.

“This bag. It’s nice. It reminds me of a briefcase my grandfather had when I was a little boy.”

“Well, there you go. They said it was vintage when I bought it.”

I smiled at him.

He took a breath and stepped closer to me, his hand sliding around the back of my neck. “So, I have a fundraiser to go to tonight that I completely blanked on. You want to meet me here and go with me?”

“You didn’t forget. You told me you had an event to go to while I was here.”

“No, that’s the annual Christmas party, and there are a few others as well, but this one never even made it into my calendar.”

“I see.”

“So?”

I squinted at him.

“I want you to go with me.”

“Oh hell no, Doc. You can go stag, and I’ll wait up for ya.”

“I would prefer if you came with me.”

I grinned evilly. “Not if ya paid me.”

“Please, Web.”

The eyebrow waggle I gave him made him curse under his breath.

His eyes narrowed, and I snickered. “You’re just—”

“Get home soon as you can. Me and the boys are makin’ stroganoff for dinner for their mama and we thought for you as well.”

“Oh, that sounds so good. Save me some, all right?”

“We’ll try.” I smiled at him. “Now put that boy down; we gotta go.”

“No, stay and have lunch with me.”

I laughed at him. “We ain’t eatin’ no hospital food. We’re goin’ to the wharf to get us some clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls before Micah’s appointment with his shrink.”

He made a face. “Kids don’t eat clam chowder.”

“You wanna bet?”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“Whatcha wanna bet?”

He smiled slowly, shaking his head. “I’m not going to bet you. Just… they won’t eat it.”

I shrugged. “Put your money where your mouth is.”

“Fine.” He laughed at me, putting Pip down before he leaned in close, hand on my chest. “I have this fundraiser tonight, but when I get home, if they ate, my ass is yours. If they didn’t, yours belongs to me.”

I scoffed. “Oh, you’re so under me the second you walk in the door.”

His breath caught then, and our eyes locked together like they did sometimes. I could stare at the man for the rest of my life, and he seemed of the same mind.

“Dr. Benning?”

It took a minute, but he turned and looked at the man there in the same kind of white coat Cy had on. The difference was, my doctor was wearing green scrubs under his, and the man had on a dress shirt, tie, and slacks.

“Could I get an introduction?”

Cy seemed confused, and when two other men and four women were suddenly there, all in white coats, clustered around us, he started scowling.

I felt bad; I didn’t want to embarrass him. That had not been my intention.

“We should go,” I said quickly, turning to the boys.

“No,” he snapped, arm sliding around my waist, anchoring me there, holding on. “Weber, this is our chief of surgery, Dr. Harold Swan. Chief, this is my boyfriend, Weber Yates.”

I didn’t swallow my tongue, which was really impressive. When I looked at Cy, the lift of his eyebrows, the steadiness of his gaze, all of it daring me to confront him, correct him, anything… there was no way. He’d said it. I let it lie.

“Weber.” The chief smiled at me, and it was not a little smile. It was huge. He was much more than simply pleased to meet me. He was stupidly happy. “Very good to meet you. It’s such a pleasure.”

I shook the man’s hand as Cy’s pressed into the small of my back. There were a lot of people then, meeting me, meeting the kids, asking questions, all of them looking at me like I was some amazing new species of animal at the zoo. When it was time for us to leave, when the chief ordered everyone back to work, they all said again how nice it was that I had come by. The man in the suit walked up then.

He turned out to be Donovan Allen, one of the hospital administrators, a man who sat on the board, and surprisingly, he too was thrilled to make my acquaintance.

“What the hell?” I asked Cy as he took hold of my hand with his right and Pip’s with his left and led us back toward the elevators.

He was laughing.

“Your boyfriend?”

“That’s what