Page 240 of The Doctors Will See You Now

I shook my head and touched my lips to hers. “What other women? Do other women exist?”

She smacked me on the chest and rolled her eyes at my theatrics, and only then did I remember what had brought me down the stairs in the first place.

“Now, what is it you’re looking for? A schmoodle? Or a hot s’more? I’ve got no fucking clue what you were saying.”

“Oh.” She laughed. “Yeah, I was just making up words. I knew you’d come down if I kept it up long enough.”

“Oh yeah? Did you miss me or something?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She nodded and rubbed the tip of her nose against the tip of mine.

“What part of me did you miss most?” I asked softly, the succulent skin of her lips tickling the nerves in mine as they skimmed together.

Her eyes widened, almost comically because of our proximity, and I laughed at the words she didn’t have to say.

“Yeah, I thought that might be your favorite.”

“I was thinking about your brain,” she lied.

I nipped at her lips and then skated my own down the silky skin of her neck. “Sure you were.”

“I was! I’m starting medical school tomorrow, and I could really use your knowledge. Can you take all of my tests for me?”

I laughed and squeezed her hips, scrunching my nose. “I don’t think that’ll help you actually treat patients. And since you want to treat kids—”

“And kids are your weakness,” she finished for me with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, I get it. You don’t want my incompetence to kill them. It’s really selfish of you, but I guess I understand.”

My phone buzzed on my ass and made me jump.

It took some work to shift Harlow enough to get to my back pocket to retrieve it, but somehow, I managed—not that Harlow helped at all.

She laughed when she got a look at my exasperated face. “What? I’m more important than your phone.”

She had no idea how right she was. Lips to hers, I parted the seam with my tongue and showed her.

Our breathing was noticeably heavier when we broke apart—at least at the mouth. Our bodies were still a tangle of limbs.

“You’re the most important. This phone call could be the President of the United States for all I care.”

Of course, it was more likely that the call was actually from my mother. A week we’d been gone, and she already thought living on opposite coasts was the worst thing ever to happen to her and called me at least once a day to remind me.

Harlow’s face softened into a thoughtful frown. “Are you going to miss New York?”

I lifted my hand to her jaw, stroking the apple of her cheek with my thumb, and shrugged. “I don’t know, doll. But I’m fine as long as I don’t have to miss you.”

She sighed. “I love you, Scott.”

“Frances,” I started, causing a playful frown. I wiped it away with my thumb. “You have no idea.”

One year later…

“I promise to love and honor you in all the ways that count,” she recited from the small, worn piece of paper in her hands.

Her vows. I’d watched her rub them nervously all morning, so much so that the paper felt soft to the touch. I could tell by the way she rubbed at it to steady all of her shaking nerves.

It was a big day.

Maybe the biggest. And I’d been expecting it since that first night at Kinky Boots.