Chapter 3

The next week, on Saturday at lunch, AJ sat at the dining room table, his eyes glued to his plate. But all he could see was Katherine’s face, the first night they were together, and the last time he had held her in his arms.

Her eyes were what had drawn him to her. The way she tossed back her long blonde hair, threw her head back and smiled. The first moment he saw her was caught in a picture in his mind. He could almost kick himself for not recognizing her. He stabbed his steak with his fork in frustration; his brow creased; his jaw clenched. But it has been two years, he told himself, nodding in agreement at the excuse he had allowed himself. I’m an intern at the hospital, I’ve worked long hours, bedded tons of women. How was I supposed to remember one girl?

But Katherine Henry wasn’t just a girl. He had been put off by her when she shot the blond guy beside her a smile. He had waited, stalked her even, until the man left. And then he’d pounced shamelessly, like a hyena scavenging for a lion’s remains. He had always promised himself never to take seconds. But AJ told himself the dude hadn’t been able to seal the deal. It was a college party with loads of girls. But most of them were paired up or in large groups. AJ never hunted in a pride of lionesses.

Katherine Henry should not have been the one to be forgotten, her strange grayish blue eyes, her killer smile, and the important fact that he was her first.

SHIT!

AJ pushed his chair back, kicked it to the floor and sent his fork sailing into the air and through his mother’s favorite crystal. Can this day get any worse? He groaned as his mother whimpered at the sound of her expensive treasure shatter into millions of pieces. He shrank back at his father’s disapproving glare and brushed off his sisters’ cheeky yet curious gazes. There was only one other person at that table who understood him, and he was glad Lisette had managed to keep him around this long. That night, fate had sealed their destinies. Lisette had met and fell in love with Reno, and he had met and deflowered Katherine. Then he had forgotten her.

“Reno, I find myself in need of your counsel,” he grumbled.

“So formal,” Reno teased.

“Why not me?” Adrian senior piped in. “I am your father, and older, wiser and royally pissed off at what you did to your mother’s crystal.”

AJ walked around the table to where his mother was sitting. “Lo siento, Mama.”

“It’s all right.” She patted his cheek as he kissed hers. “I just want my little boy to be all right.”

AJ smiled; glad that she still saw him as the six-year-old boy she was charged with taking care of all those years ago. “As for you, Dad, you married your high school-college sweetheart, then had me, then you married my mama. You have as much experience as Catalella has with men. By the way, where is that no good bas—” AJ caught himself before his spite and rage for his baby sister’s husband ran away with him.

“He’s…” He could see Catalella shrink within herself as she tried to lie for a man who had been absent from the marriage since the second, they’d said ‘I do.’

“It’s fine, peanut, you don’t have to explain.”

“I still say she should have let us throw him in the ocean,” Reno grumbled.

“He misses another lunch, and I might just join you boys,” Adrian Senior pitched in. “But I think we should take the jet to the Seychelles on the way.”

“Only you would make a trip out of a murder, Dad.” AJ rocked back on his heels, using his head he gestured toward the gazebo, away from his mother’s garden lunch.

“Oh, right, you need my wise words. But why me?” Reno grinned.

“Because, apart from me, you are the greatest player who ever lived.”

“Former player!” Lisette called after them. “If he ever tries something on me, I will cut off his balls, cook them, and then feed them to him.”

“Mija, you don’t have to be so crude at the table,” Rosalinda chastised.

“She’s just saying the truth, sweetheart.” Adrian Senior emphasized with a bang of his steak knife on the table.

“Yikes!” Reno cringed, his hands instinctively covering his crown jewels.

They walked in silence until they reached the stone benches covered with green vines and brilliantly colored flowers. AJ gestured for Reno to take a seat.

“This must be serious.” Reno chuckled as he sat down. “Tell me, little brother, what’s up?”

“First, I would like to start off as saying that you are in fact like a brother to me. I would hate to dump your body alongside Michael Mathew’s.”

“Point taken. Besides, Lisette is the love of my life. And if it wasn’t for your rule to wait until she is twenty-six—which is twenty-three months, three days and a couple of hours away—I would have married her and put a baby in her belly by now. But we aren’t here to talk about my fantastic relationship with your sister.”

“I know you were my sister’s first—”

“I don’t think—”

“I don’t want particulars.” AJ groaned. “Actually, I do want a few. How did you deal with the emotional responsibilities?”

Reno studied him for a second, then said, “I thought the cardinal rule was never to be a first.”

“I know. I know that” he bellowed it out. “But I didn’t know she was a virgin. I kind of found out when I was already in there. Then I just couldn’t stop loving her. She was perfect in every sense of the word. Her body, the way she said my name, how she responded to me. She gave me chills.” AJ’s body trembled. “I had to go on a binge to get her out of my system. But now, since I’ve realized Katherine at work is my Katherine, I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind.”

“Note that I am a good listener. Make sure you tell your sister that. Talk me up before I ask her to marry me on her twenty-sixth birthday,” Reno rushed on at AJ’s frustrated growl. “I heard what you said, but I don’t think you did.”

“How’s that?”

“You said you loved her. You never use the L-word, AJ. And now she’s in your system? And what do you mean you just realized that she was your Katherine?”

“We made love—I mean we had sex, two years ago. She’s been working with me at the hospital for over a year now. Don’t laugh, but I’d kind of forgotten her.”

“What?”

“I only just remembered yesterday when she was lying in my arms!”

“You forgot her!”

“Reno, don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“It is a big deal. If I forgot an item off your sister’s grocery list, she would ‘feed me my balls’ as she fondly puts it.” Reno leaned back and let out a deep breath. “Does she remember?”

“I think she does. She’s been giving me attitude since we started talking. I didn’t even know we were in the same hospital until three days ago.”

“You have cut her deeply, AJ. You need to make amends. Talk it out with her. Being someone’s first a lot of responsibility. That’s why I held off with Lisette until I was absolutely sure.” Reno got on his feet and slapped his large palm on an equally large shoulder. “I’m not the one you should be talking to. You need to be talking to your Katherine. Make sure you use your heart on this one, your head is no good in this scenario.”

“You are the brother I always wanted. I’m glad Lisette has you.”

AJ went to the hospital apprehensive and scared—two emotions he had never felt in his life alongside insecurity and fear. He knew he had to find Katherine, he had to apologize for forgetting her. But what was the proper decorum for that? “Oh, I know now, I rocked your world in the back of my truck. You were great, too. Sorry, but I forgot I stole your virginity.” He hadn’t stolen it. AJ had never had to convince a woman to his bed. But he felt like an ass for not making Katherine special. He felt like he should offer her a re-do. It was a ridiculous thought but one thing he knew he had to do was apologize.

AJ saw her blonde hair swinging behind her head and rushed to her side. They walked into the morning meeting and in the throng of staff he missed his chance. AJ followed her until he secured a spot behind her.

“We need to talk.” AJ leaned down to whisper into Katherine’s ear.

“No, we don’t.” Katherine took a step away.

A spark of annoyance at himself lit up inside AJ as he firmly held onto Katherine’s elbow. It was his fault she wasn’t talking to him. He had ignored her for the better part of the week—ducking into doctor’s and patient’s rooms whenever he saw her come round a corner, leaving the on-call room whenever she entered. She was hurt, but he hoped she noticed his bare arms today. There were no women hanging off them.

He would have to tell her there, in the midst of twenty other interns.

“I remember you.”

“What?” She hissed over her shoulder.

“I was your first. I remember you.”

* * * *

I was your first, I remember you. Katherine never thought she would be haunted by a statement. She had always longed for the day that AJ would finally realize or remember who she was, but now that he did, she wished he hadn’t. She knew why he had been dodging her for the past week.

Now she was the one doing the dodging, although she had given him notice. Immediately after the meeting she had run out and he had rushed out after her. He dragged her into the on-call room, and they stood in awkward silence for a while. Then out of nowhere he kissed her.

Katherine had asked for some time. She needed to get her head in the game and her heart out of it. She needed to destroy the memories of that sweet night by tarnishing them with AJ’s reputation. He was a womanizer; she didn’t allow herself to forget that. But could she forget that kiss, deep passionate and toe curling? She didn’t think so. AJ had respected her wishes so far, but she could see he was slowly growing restless.

She needed to beat him at his own game. Become the master, use her head instead of her heart. And who could teach her that better than AJ himself? Shaking off the last bit of nerves she marched up to him, her fingers in a deathly grip on her pen.

“I think we should talk.”

“Finally!” He drew a deep breath. “I know it was wrong of me. I was a jerk and I just wanted to tell you, that night—”

“…shouldn’t be any different from all the others you’ve had, and the ones I’ve had after you.” She stared him down, hoping he couldn’t see her brazen lie.

Who else could have made her feel the way AJ did that night? Katherine didn’t think anyone could, so she hadn’t been with anyone else. She didn’t want the disappointment. What was worse, she didn’t think she could ever be with anyone else.

“We were two consenting adults. We had fun and there is no reason we shouldn’t have more fun.”

“What?”

Her statement came as much a surprise to her as to him, if not more. Stiffening her spine and continuing her journey down the road to self-destruction, Katherine let her hormones speak for her once more. “There is no reason why we couldn’t continue having fun. But exclusively. I don’t want whatever diseases these nurses have.” To make a point at how nonchalant she was about her proposal, she winked at a passing intern who gave her a surprised look before his lips curled into a disgusting smile.

“Are you up for the challenge? It would be kind of a monogamous relationship. But don’t think of me as your girlfriend. Think of me as your—”

“…mattress? Bed? You just want me on top of you, then to roll off when I am done?”

Katherine saw his jaw tighten, a dark shadow loom over his face and his expression close. She had over stepped.

“It’s exactly what I do with my bed. I lie on top of it, and once I am rested and satisfied, I roll off.” He hissed through clenched teeth. “You want me to treat you like my bed.”

“You didn’t just lie on top of these other women, and then roll off.” She could feel her embarrassment burn in her cheeks. “I want the whole show.”

“Then pay for a ticket.” AJ bit back before he stalked off.

Katherine ran after him determined to get in the last word. “What’s so different about me? You sleep with everything with a vagina, but not me. Is it not good enough for you anymore? What’s so different about me?”

“A lot of things. But the sad thing is, now you’ll never know.”

“AJ!”

They both looked up at the older man, a smile on his face and a spring on his step. Katherine always wondered why the head of neurology was always happy. Maybe he found a way to tune his mind and had left the whole medical community out of his discovery.

“I don’t want to interrupt anything. I know you are pretty much set on trauma. But your fellowship isn’t in another year.” He rattled on without taking a breath. “What I am trying to ask is if I could woo you to my side, for the afternoon at least. I’ve got this major brain bleed, complicated by a tumor—”

Katherine could see AJ make up his mind. He wasn’t up to being enticed to join a different team. But the severity of the surgery was making his mouth water. Just then it hit her, what was the case again? “If it’s that bad, why are you here?”

“I want AJ Ross.” The neurologist spat out. “She’s a twenty-six-year-old girl. Just finished law school, after touring Europe for a year. She’s got her whole life ahead of her. I want you to come helps me make sure she’s going to live it.”

Katherine jumped when she heard AJ grunt. “Looking into the mind of a woman. How could I pass that up? Maybe while I’m there I can finally figure out how their minds work.”

Katherine refused to make eye contact with AJ. She was afraid to. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the intense white hot, anger burrowing through her skull. Before she knew it, she was alone and without an answer.

* * * *

“Katherine Marie Henry!”

Her spine stiffened, and her body froze under the weight of her father’s angered bellow. Slowly and in doubt, Katherine turned her weary body toward her father, a weak apologetic smile on her face. “I know father, I missed breakfast and brunch again.”

“Let’s not forget lunch, and your grandfather’s memorial dinner.” He was roaring at her even as he strode out of his office.

“I seem to remember you missing some dinners, birthdays and my recital. You sure as hell didn’t go to any of Duke’s football games. I wonder, maybe that’s the reason he turned out to be such a stick in the mud.” The second the words left Katherine’s lips she regretted them. The exhaustion and crazy hours had finally gotten to her. She had been robbed of her sanity. Being crazy is the only way she could justify standing up to Harry Henry Senior, the seventh, and badmouthing Harry Henry the eighth, also known as Duke.

But she had already started, and she felt the impulse to finish. “Most parents ask their children how they are. Especially if they just walked into the house, in the middle of the day, from a thirty-six-hour shift. Especially since she has to go back to work in four short hours.”

“You chose your profession.”

“And you chose yours. I don’t work for you. I don’t have to answer to you—”

“You live under my roof, and you have to do what I say.”

“Maybe I’ll just move out.”

“With what money?” he sneered.

“What do you mean with what money?” Katherine let out a nervous laugh. “The trust fund grandfather left to me has already been released to me.”

“That won’t last you long.”

“Not everyone needs a private chef and a million workers in the house to actually live.” Katherine knew it was true, but she didn’t know how true it would be for her. She had spent twenty-four years living in a house with an army of staff. Everything she had wanted had been given to her. She didn’t have to exert herself or think ahead about what she needed. Everything she had needed and wanted was always there for her, even before she asked or thought of it.

Panic slithered into her heart and settled there. Maybe she should take back the challenge she’d just dealt her father. She thought about apologizing and almost did, but her father cut into her thoughts.

“If you think you can make it on your own, so be it. You can move out before your shift. I’m sure your brothers won’t mind helping you.” Harry began walking away but stopped to deal his final blow. “Your allowances won’t change. But there will be no moving company to help you. My realtor will also not be helping. Don’t take the Evoke, it belongs to me. And please don’t disturb Duke with your problems. That stick in the mud is running a multi-billion-dollar company.”

* * * *

“She asked me to sleep with her.” AJ barked out a strangled laugh.

“Is that a problem?” Reno looked at AJ over the rim of his glass, hoping it would hide how absurd he thought AJ’s problem was. AJ shot him a look of disbelief that urged Reno to say something else, something useful. “Maybe she just wants to move past that awkward phase of your relationship. Try it, if it doesn’t work out, at least you would have had some fun.”

“I don’t want fun. She’s different. I don’t know why or how, but she just is.” AJ shook his head in disbelief. What exactly did he want? His tone low, barely a whisper, afraid that the world would hear him, afraid that he would hear. “I want what you have with Lisette, what Dad and Mama have. I want someone to call me every ten minutes, just to tell me they love me, or to check on me. I don’t want to sleep alone, or with so many different faces. I just want one body next to me, the same smile to greet me each morning for the rest of my life.”

“AJ, are you saying that you want a happily-ever–after?” Reno mocked him.

“The reason you can laugh is you already have what you want.” AJ looked down at his buzzing phone and saw a number he didn’t recognize. He let it ring, sure that the person on the other end was a woman whom he didn’t want to talk to. He was going to ignore the phone once more when Reno picked it up.

“Hallo? What?” Reno’s puzzled face drew him in. “AJ, it’s for you. It’s Katherine Henry.