CHAPTER 8
The bar was heaving with people but somehow they had managed to find a seat. It was not the kind of bar that Jessie usually went to, but she was enjoying herself nonetheless. She and Abby were busy trying to advise Susan on the best course of action to take with her boyfriend, Chuck. She'd been dating him since they'd got divorced (did anyone do anything the right way round anymore? Jessie wondered) but Susan was feeling restless and bored. Jessie had only met Chuck briefly when they'd passed in the corridor outside her apartment, but he seemed like a nice guy – although a little stocky for Jessie's tastes.
"Men are all idiots," Abby muttered, as she sipped her orange juice, "although he might be the exception to the rule!" she gestured subtly in the direction of a tall beautiful man leaning against the bar.
"He looks like Dr Kovac" Jessie pointed out.
Abby and Susan exchanged grins.
"Abby used to date Luca," Susan whispered, conspiratorially.
Jessie's eyes widened, and she turned to Abby.
"Wow, I'm impressed!" She said. "He is HOT. Makes my Spanish class quite a challenge, I can tell you! I want to spend the whole hour just staring at him." She sighed. "I suppose he's got his own issues though. No-one's perfect." She smiled at Abby. "Apart from him over there, of course!"
The girls giggled and toasted each other. Abby leaned back in her chair and pulled out a packet of cigarettes from her bag. Susan tutted with mock disapproval, and passed her the ashtray. Abby offered the pack to Jessie who, after a moment's hesitation, accepted one.
"Oh God, don't tell my mother" She groaned. "I haven't had one of these for ages!"
The conversation continued, and as Jessie smoked her cigarette, she began to relax. She started to think about Romano and what had happened earlier that day. She deliberately hadn't told Romano that Emily was leaving. She knew that it would upset him. By paging him, she'd wanted to let him know that if he needed someone to talk to, she was free. She hadn't imagined he would actually come back.
Jessie had almost tuned Susan and Abby out, when she heard Abby mention Romano.
"… I think that little girl really had an effect on him," Abby said.
Susan smirked.
"Do you think he might actually have a heart?" she asked.
"Hmm, no, I don't think it went that far!" Abby deadpanned. "He's still an insufferable jerk!"
The two women stifled a laugh and Susan turned to Jessie.
"Have you seen evidence to the contrary, Dr Rhodes?" She smiled into her wine glass. "Does our miserable boss have a caring side?"
Jessie's mouth twitched with laughter. She knew the truth of course, but was not going to reveal Romano's secret.
"Hmm, well I mentioned it was my birthday soon, but he didn't seem to take much notice, " she mused, "and I pointed out that my friend's dog died recently, but I think he only grunted." She looked at the girls, her eyes twinkling. "He did make me a cup of coffee today though!"
Susan shrieked with laughter, while Abby feigned amazement.
"Oh my God – I don't recall anyone saying that he made them a cup of coffee before! I think he likes you!" She smiled at Jessie, and nudged her, nearly spilling Jessie's cigarette ash on her jeans. "I reckon you're in there!"
All three laughed uproariously at this statement, and the handsome man at the bar turned to face them, raising an eyebrow quizzically. This set them off again. Jessie extinguished her cigarette, comfortable in her surroundings. She mused idly on what Abby had said about Romano. It hadn't crossed her mind that he might find her attractive. He'd never given any indication of any feelings other than mutual respect and courtesy. Maybe he thought of her as a friend. That would be okay, she thought. It's nice to make friends. Like these two. Here were two people she could enjoy spending time with. Susan was so nice, and she had warmed to Abby during the evening. She noticed that Abby didn't drink, and wondered if there was history there. There usually was a reason why someone didn't touch alcohol.
The evening continued in much the same vein, and it was the very late by the time Susan and Jessie unlocked the door to their apartment building.
"See you soon, Jessie," Susan whispered as they reached Jessie's door.
"Sleep well," Jessie whispered back. After three attempts, she managed to get her key in the door.
She closed the door quietly behind her and kicked off her boots. Padding across the apartment, she closed the curtains and turned on a couple of lamps. She felt reasonably sober considering the amount of alcohol that she had drunk. It had been an excellent evening. She poured herself a glass of water and grabbed a couple of biscuits. Sitting on her sofa, she flicked on the TV. The usual rubbish. Jessie flicked one of the music channels on and sat back against her sofa. Closing her eyes and munching her biscuits, she thought about the evening. It had been a lot of fun. She had discovered lots of interesting gossip, plus little snippets about what some of Romano's colleagues thought of him. She smiled at the thought of Romano giving away his teddy. He was a good guy, underneath all that superficial bullshit, she thought.
Jessie got to her feet, wincing slightly as she felt a twinge in her right knee. Okay, okay, I know, she thought. Time to go to bed. Getting too old for all this. She put the glass in the kitchen, turned off the TV and went to bed. It had been one hell of a day.
…………The knock on the door makes Jessie look up from her desk with a start. She frowns. She hasn't booked any sessions this afternoon; she wants the time to catch up on her notes and her plans for future sessions.
"Come in!" Jessie says.
The door opens and Dr Romano walks in. He is wearing a long sleeved shirt in a blue so dark it's almost inky black. He's also wearing jeans and, as Jessie looks down she can hardly believe her eyes, cowboy boots of the softest suede. Romano in cowboy boots? Jessie frowns again, not sure what's wrong, but knowing something is a bit suspect. She's never seen Robert like this before. He looks as if he's glowing with… with what? Wow, Jessie thinks; Romano looks hot! How did that happen?
Without saying a word, Robert walks towards Jessie, round the back of the desk, where the patients don't usually go. Jessie stands up in astonishment. She's never seen this look on Robert's face before. Grabbing her by the wrist, Robert pulls Jessie to her feet. His prosthetic arm snakes its way around her waist, and Robert pushes Jessie against the desk, squeezing his body up to hers. Stunned by this move, Jessie starts to speak but Robert raises his right hand and tenderly presses a finger to her lips.
"Don't say anything," he whispers, tracing the line of her jaw with his fingers, "We both want this too much."
Jessie nods and Robert winds his hand through her hair. He lightly cups her head and tilts her neck back slowly. Jessie can't believe what is happening. She only knows one thing: she wants Romano to kiss her. Her heart pounds and her body tingles with desire. Robert lowers his head and their lips meet.
The kiss is sensual and sexy and Jessie loses herself in the moment. She can hear a pager going off, and wonders fleetingly whether it's hers or Romano's. She can feel Romano's body pressing against her and she twitches her hips against him. Robert moans softly. He untangles his hand from her hair and moves it down her shoulder, on to her waist. Pausing only briefly, it continues to move, down her thigh, to her knee and the hem of her skirt. Somewhere in the depths of her brain, Jessie registers the hand moving slowly up the inside of her thigh, but she's powerless to do anything about it. In fact she doesn't want to. Damn, this feels so good! she thinks.
Romano's kiss moves from sensual to hungry and Jessie responds with a passion she's forgotten she had. The pager is getting louder but Jessie soon discovers that she doesn't care as Robert's fingers find silk and lace. Jessie lets out an involuntary sigh as Robert's fingers slide past the lace but all she can hear is the pager, which is now so loud, she thinks that maybe it's not a pager after all. Maybe it's …..
……. the alarm clock awoke Jessie with a start. Damn, I was enjoying that! she thought. Massaging her neck gently, she tried to recall the dream fully. Suddenly, realization hit.
"Oh no," Jessie muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. She sank back down on to her pillows and covered her eyes with her arm. "I hate it when that happens! Damn!"
Lying there in the early morning sunshine, Jessie struggled to remember exactly what happened in the dream. It had been a while since she had dreamed about any of her patients. If on the rare occasions she did dream about them, it was usually in harmless situations like meeting in a shop or walking their dogs. She had only had one erotic dream about a patient before. The patient in question had been a quarterback at the local university, a few years Jessie's junior and particularly sexy. After the dream, she had found it impossible to look him in the eye and suggested that he see someone else. She didn't want her license revoked for leaping on the patients and removing their shirts: it was safer to send College Boy away.
Musing on this theory, Jessie took a shower, trying hard not to remember just how much she'd been enjoying the dream. How much she'd wanted Romano to touch her. She'd not considered him in that light, not really.
vvvvvv
"This is ridiculous!" Jessie scoffed to herself, as she fixed herself breakfast. "I don't fancy him! He's a jerk… he's not my type at all! What do you think, Rochester?" She addressed this last question to the sleek black cat which sat washing himself on the little balcony outside Jessie's living room window. The window was open, and the cat looked up briefly at the sound of Jessie's voice. Jessie could have sworn she saw him shrug before he resumed the task at hand.
vvvvvv
"Oh, come on, of course I don't fancy him - I'm his doctor!" Jessie protested, as she vacuumed the living room. The black cat was comfortable on the sofa, seemingly oblivious to the noise. He leaned forward, resting his head on his paws and gazed at Jessie with unfathomable eyes.
Jessie turned off the vacuum cleaner and sank down on the sofa next to the cat. Slowly getting to his feet, the cat stretched and gently assembled himself on her lap. Jessie began to stroke him gently, listening to his purr and the rhythm of the traffic outside. She was unaccustomed to this strange feeling she'd had all morning.
"Listen, Rochester. I'm telling you. He's horrible. He's not the sort of guy I go for at all. Not just the way he looks - although he's certainly not ugly – I mean, bald can be considered sexy, but I usually date men with hair. And I like to wear heels sometimes, you know." Jessie grinned, in spite of herself. "He does make me laugh, though. Not that that's any basis for a relationship. I mean, we don't have anything in common. Well, apart from the whole arm thing. And I guess we both like movies."
Jessie leaned back and shut her eyes, trying to block out the source of her disquiet. Romano was mean, nasty. He was rude to his staff. He'd not been particularly rude to her, admittedly, but that didn't mean he wasn't ever going to be. Just because she found him interesting and funny, didn't mean that she fancied him, surely?
"Come on, Rochester, help me out here. Romano's not for me. I like guys who are clever. Not that Romano's stupid, I don't mean that! I just mean… " Jessie paused; that line of defence wasn't leading anywhere.
"Well, anyway," she continued, "I like men who are strong-willed and independent. Hmm. I suppose you could say Romano was strong-willed." Jessie frowned and looked down at Rochester, stretching out on her lap. This conversation wasn't going the way she was hoping, and try as she might, she couldn't blame the cat.
"And don't forget Craig!" Jessie stated, triumphantly. Then she stopped smiling. "Like I just did." She'd forgotten all about Craig until that very minute. She'd spent the whole morning wondering whether she'd fallen for Romano, and hadn't even considered the fact that she'd been dating someone else.
Jessie thought back over the last few months. She'd felt more comfortable with Romano than she had with Craig. She'd been able to be more honest with Romano. She'd told him more about herself. And, she realized, she'd enjoyed spending time with Romano. Craig was sexy, sure, and interesting, but he'd been hard work. And Jessie knew he couldn't deal with her injuries – he'd not once tried to take her to bed.
But Romano was different. He didn't judge her. He'd been through similar experiences. He was a fighter. He was attractive and interesting. He challenged her intellect and made her laugh. And he didn't have a problem with her disability.
He was, Jessie realized, just the sort of man she'd been looking for.
"Oh God," she moaned. "Of all the people…why him?" She shook her head, despairingly. This was not what she needed at all.
"So what the hell am I going to do about it?" Jessie asked aloud. On her lap, Rochester continued to purr.