TARA POV
I scowl in the hospital mirror as I try to pinch some color into my ghostly pale cheeks. I guess the nerves from moving from my hometown to an extremely small town and starting a new job are getting to me after all.
Today is my first day as an attending at Saint Thomas Hospital in Charming, California. I'm not even sure why I let Jace talk me into moving here. I would have made so much more money in Seattle, I just wouldn't have him.
Jace Crawford is my boyfriend. We've been together since high school and went all through medical school together. We're lucky, most people don't get to stay at the same hospital as their significant others but somehow we managed to. We call it fate.
"You okay?" Jace asks, tucking my hair behind my ear. "You look like you're going to vomit."
"Just a little nervous." I reply. I don't know he does it. He's lived in Seattle all of his life too but when an opportunity for two doctors came open, he jumped at it.
"You're a great doctor. You're going to be fine," He wrapped his arms around me, "stop worrying so much." He dropped a kiss to my forehead and walked away to get started. He actually started a few weeks ago so he's already in the swing of things so it's easy for him to say 'don't worry'.
"Tara Knowles?" I spin around facing a girl about my age. This was better than expected, I was expecting the Doctor I was following to be an old crabby lady to be my guide for the week.
"Yes." I nod.
"Hi. I'm Donna Lerner-Winston. I'm going to be showing you around this week. You ready to get started?" She smiled politely at me. She had this odd way of making me feel at ease, I don't know she did it but I was grateful nonetheless.
"Yep. Let's get to it." I follow behind her as she shows me where everything is. This hospital was bigger than I had originally thought but still nowhere near as big as Seattle.
"So what are you specializing in? They didn't tell me." She questioned.
"Pediatrics."
"So the new guy Jace is your boyfriend?" She asks. This girl was definitely chatty, she barely lets me answer her first question before she asks something totally different and off-topic from the original.
"Yeah we've been together since high school." I smile proudly. I know how lucky I am to have him. He's got it all, the looks, the career, the personality. Things aren't always easy, we both have tempers, but he's worth the effort.
"That's awesome." She leads to me to a table in the cafeteria. "I've been with my husband since high school too."
"Wow. You really don't hear of relationships lasting that long these days. Is he a doctor too?" I take a bite of my spaghetti, my nerves have calmed and my appetite is back. I'm starving.
She laughs, "No. Not even close." She shakes her head, still chuckling, "He's a member of the Sons of Anarchy MC."
I'm at a loss, I have no idea what she's talking about.
"It's the mother charter of a motorcycle club here in Charming." She explains, my face must have given away my lack of knowledge on the subject.
"Ah. That's different." I smile. "…But interesting." I add so she didn't think I was rude.
"Yeah, it's definitely different. Not your typical marriage," She sighed, "the doctor and the biker. There's definitely people here who don't understand or agree with it." She frowns, it's pretty obvious that people have been giving her a hard time about her marriage.
"Fuck them." I cover my mouth instantly. That slipped out. "Excuse my language but if he makes you happy and he's good to you then who cares what anyone thinks." I gaze fondly at her. A broad smile took place of the frown.
"Thank you. You're right. Fuck 'em." She giggled. "I'm glad you're here. I have a feeling we're going to be great friends." She winked.
For the first time since Jace and I arrived here, I'm thinking this place isn't going to be so bad and I owe that all to my new friend, Donna.
The rest of the day went by relatively quickly. I had been hoping to run into Jace in the halls but he already got pulled into a surgery so he was nowhere in sight.
"Well that's it for today. You headed home?" Donna asks pulling on her jacket.
"Nah, I'm probably going to head over to the diner for dinner. Jace said he's going to be pulling an all-nighter again so I'm definitely not cooking for just me." The annoyance from hardly getting to see him even though we live together and work in the same hospital coming out a little stronger than I intended.
"You should come with me. Gemma-my husband's best friend's mother is cooking for everyone tonight."
"Oh, I don't wanna intrude. The diner is fine." I unlock my car door.
"Hang on." Donna holds up a finger and starts dialing on her phone. "Hey Gem, do you mind if I bring a friend over for dinner tonight? Cool. Thanks. See you soon." She shoves the phone back into her pocket and smiles up at me. "She said you can come, so see no intrusion. Get your butt in the car."
I laugh at her bossiness. Now I see why they had her 'in charge' today. "Yes maam." I do as she ordered and climbed in her car and send Jace a text so he wouldn't be worried if his surgery ended sooner than expected.
My stomach turned a little when we pulled in a drive way that was filled with motorcycles, clearly she was kidding about a motorcycle gang. Club. Whatever it was.
I follow her inside and there is people in leather vests with reapers on the back and girls hanging all over them everywhere.
"Hey babe." Donna jumped into her husband's arms. He was huge but he had this teddy bear vibe going instead of being scary. I'm almost positive if I ran into him out on the streets, he might come off as a little scarier, but here being all lovey-dovey with his wife fear just wasn't what I was feeling.
"This is my friend Tara. She's the new doctor I was showing around today." Donna introduced me after they finished making out. "This is Opie."
"Hey." Her husband nodded down to me.
"Hi Opie. Nice to meet you."
"You going to introduce me to your friend?"
I was mesmerized by the new person standing in front of me. He was gorgeous- long blond hair, muscular, and blue eyes that looked like they could see right through me.
"This is my friend Tara from work, and FYI she has a boyfriend." Donna glared in him but he didn't pay her any attention, his gaze was fixed on me.
"Nice to meet you Tara," he held on his hand to me. I placed my hand in his and he pulled it up to his lips and kissed it softly. "I'm Jax."
I'm at a loss for words, my brain feels like I'm in a fog. The moment his lips touched my hand, my whole body was on fire, wanting and needing more. I pull my hand away, this isn't right. "Get a grip, you're just feeling this way because it's been so long since we've been home for long enough at the same time to have sex."
I nod at him, still unable to speak, I'm grateful to Donna who pulls my arm to come sit down beside her at the end of the table.
Jax sits directly across from me, with a smile playing on his lips. Butterflies filled my stomach, my heart is hammering against my chest, my hands feel sweaty, muscles clenched down deep in my stomach. 'Breathe, he's just messing with you Knowles.'
I turn my attention to Donna and away from the hot biker who has the ability to make my body feel things it hasn't ever felt before with just a look. If I don't get a grip, this man is going to cause trouble-trouble I don't need or want.
By some miracle, I'm able to get through the rest of dinner. He didn't make it easy, he seemed to enjoy watching me squirm in my seat.
"I need to be getting home. Thank you for dinner Mrs. Teller. It was delicious. See you tomorrow, Donna." I smiled politely at everyone in the room and glanced at Jax one last time before turning away.
'You rode here with Donna, you don't have your car. Shit.' I walk back into the dining room, "Sorry to interrupt but my car is still at the hospital."
"I'll give you a ride to your car darlin." Jax chugged his drink and stood up.
"I can take her." Donna interrupted, climbing out of Opie's lap.
"Jax can take her babe, he'll be on his best behavior, and you need to come in here with me.." Opie trailed off and leaned in and whispered something into her ear. I had a feeling the sexual tension had been getting to her to by her response.
"See you tomorrow, Tara. Jax—behave." She warned and waved at us.
I guess I'm riding with the man I was in a hurry to get away from and on the back of bike no less.
He handed me a helmet and climbed on in front of me. He took my arms and pulled me closer to him, "You need to scoot up close and hang on tight darlin." My body tingled again down low in response to the close proximity.
By the time we pulled up by my car, I could feel the dampness in my panties. I had to get out of here before I did something I would regret.
"Thank you for the ride, Jax. I appreciate it." He helped me off the bike and I handed him his helmet.
"My pleasure. I'm happy to help anytime you need a ride." He winked at me but his smile seemed genuine.
"See ya." I climbed into the safety of my car. I gripped the steering wheel tightly and breathed heavily.
When I pulled in at home, Jace's car was in the driveway. 'Thank God.' I stripped out of my clothes, hoping he'd not tell me he was tired from an all-day surgery if I was naked. I ran into the bedroom and started kissing him and stuck my hand inside of his boxers stroking him.
"What's got into you?" He asked.
"It's been a week. You're home before midnight. I miss you." I answer before kissing him again.
"Babe. Not tonight. I've been in surgery all day. I'm tired. I've got to be back in at 6:00 in the morning." He kissed me but pulled my hand from his boxers and rolled over.
All of my hope was deflated. I was floored. I know he's tired, surgery drains you, but it's been a week for him too.
I run a hot bath, deciding to soak my frustration away. Jax's scent feels my mind, the burn from his lips on my skin, and before I know it my fingers are inside of me, taking care of myself. I envision his fingers caressing my skin, his lips kissing down my body.
"Tara." Jace's voice pulls me from my fantasy. "Open the door."
I sigh, climb out of the bath, wrap myself in a towel, and open the door. "What?" I ask a little ruder than I intended.
"I wanted to apologize. I'm just stressed out and exhausted. I didn't want to go to sleep before I made sure we're okay." He took the towel from me and dried me off. "…and I heard you moaning in here, so I wanted to see what you were up to."
"Moaning? I wasn't moaning. I was humming." I lie. It must have been convincing because he let it go, which I was grateful for. I felt horrible that I was fantasizing about another man. I've never done that before, Jace has been my object of love and lust for as long as I can remember. This thing was Jax felt all new, foreign.
"So are we good?" He asked again.
"Of course. I know you're tired." I stand on my tip-toes and kiss him quickly before pulling away, feeling guiltier about my bathtub activities.
"Tomorrow evening, I'm all yours." He winked and crawled back into bed and held the sheet up for me to crawl in next to him.
His arms felt nice around me but I couldn't help picturing Jax behind me instead of Jace. 'Forget about him. You have a good man. Don't fuck this up.'
As much as I fought thinking about him, I couldn't stop him from filling my dreams. This is going to be harder than I thought.