“You mind telling me why I just had to hear from your sister that you were dating someone?”

“Well it wasn’t a secret,” I told her. I saw the heads of the other nurses turn to hear our conversation. I did not want to be the juicy piece of gossip that had all my colleagues talking. “We’ll talk about this at lunch,” I whispered to her as I looped my arm through hers. “Do you care if I go a little early?” I asked Charlene, the head nurse on duty that day.

“Go on,” she said with an all knowing smirk. Charlene was like a mother to all the nursing students so I shouldn’t have been surprised when she sided with my actual mother. “And, you better answer your momma,” she added.

“I will,” I agreed, leading my mother away from the prying ears of the bored nursing staff. The hospital had been slow that day. Not that I’d say it out loud. The second you mentioned not being busy in a hospital, the doors were bound to fly open, patients would flood in, and every single thing could go wrong would. “So Nora opened up her big mouth, huh?”

“Not on purpose,” my mother said as we boarded the elevator. I pushed the button for the cafeteria floor. “She’d assumed that you had already told me. It’s not like it’s a big deal or anything,” she added with a shake of her head.

“I know I should have told you, but it’s all so new. I didn’t want to jinx it.”

“Honey,” she said patting my arm. “I’m just pleased as punch that you’re actually putting yourself out there. I know the last few years have been rough.”

I nodded. My mother had had a front row seat to everything my entire life. I knew she worried about me.

“So tell me about him.”

“He’s amazing,” I gushed. “Southern. Charming. Dangerously so. You’ll love him.” Our conversation stalled as we filled our trays with hospital food. By the time we took a seat in a corner booth, I could tell she had come up with a hundred questions about Brett.

“Brett Sallinger,” she said his name, so I knew my sister had already told her more about him than she was letting on. “He’s a rider? Like Reid?”

“Kind of. He doesn’t race. He’s a freestyle rider,” I explained.

“So he does flips and stuff.”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “Something like that.”

“Does this mean you are going to pack up and leave like your sister did?”

“No, Mom... well... I don’t really know,” I confessed. “It’s all so new, and I need finish school and pass my boards.”

“It’s okay if you do, honey,” she reassured me. “I mean, I’ll miss you and drive you crazy with phone calls, but as long as your happy.”

“I know that. I just don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.”

“When will I get to meet him?”

“Next time he’s here. I promise.”

“Okay, I’ll quit interrogating you.” She smiled. “Now we can talk about your sister and this rush job wedding she’s wanting to pull off. Did you know that she wants to have the wedding in February? Like three months away February?”

“I hadn’t heard that news yet, but I’m not surprised. They took a little longer to figure out that they were supposed to be with each other than most.”

“True. I just hope that we’re able to get everything done in time.”

“I’ll help you,” I told her. “I have a little experience in the subject.” The truth was, I’d planned out my entire wedding with Jamie. I knew in my closet there was a list of local vendors and venues that I hadn’t been able to throw away. Seeing how frazzled my mom was at planning a wedding for my sister who was MIA at the moment made me glad that I’d kept it. “I think I know the perfect place.”

“That would be fantastic,” my mom said. I could see the question her eyes. Silently asking if I was really okay with that. I nodded. I was okay with it. I was more than okay with it.

“Hey baby,” I said the second I saw her face appear on my iPad screen—as beautiful as ever. Her hair still damp from a shower and her body covered by the soft white rob that I knew usually hung on the back of her door. Her headboard was behind her so I could tell she was sitting on her bed. What I wouldn’t have given to be lying there next to her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“I’m sure,” she laughed, “I’ve only been trapped in a hospital for the past eight hours. Not to mention I had lunch with my mother today that included her interrogating me about you. She can’t wait to meet you.”

“Oh mothers love me,” he assured me. “You have nothing to worry about there.”

“Is that right?”

“Yep. I’ll have her wrapped around my little finger,” I said, holding up his pinky and twirling it. “Speaking of women I have wrapped around my finger... how are you today?”

“That’s cute that you think I’m the one who’s whipped,” she teased. She was right. I would have done anything for her, but I wasn’t going to admit it out loud. I was far too manly for that. “I’m good. Glad that I can see you. I wish you were here.”

“Me too,” I confessed.

“I got used to having you in my bed,” she said with a wicked grin. “It’s lonely here now.” I could see her patting the pillow next to her and my brain immediately associated that with sex. My cock throbbed.

“You shouldn’t talk about being in bed,” I told her. “That is, unless, that’s what this is. Are you trying to have video chat sex with me?”

“Maybe?” She played coy, before slipping her robe off her shoulder. There was no sign of pajamas, or even a bra for that matter. She’d come to play tonight and I was grateful. I wasn’t expecting her to want to. I was pretty good at keeping myself satisfied, but nothing beat the real thing. Or at least the virtual real thing. Seeing her and being able to imagine touching her was better than just my recollection of her.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” she hesitated. “You’re alone, right?” She quickly covered her shoulder.

“Yes ma’am.” I grinned. I was staying in the dormitory style building the Wilsons had built on the edge of the property. It was a twelve-bedroom facility with a locker room style space in the center. It was usually used for riders staying only the weekend for a riding camp, but until my Airstream arrived with Georgia and Nora, I was calling it home. Luckily, it was midweek so there were no other tenants. It was just me, a single twin bed and my iPad. “All alone. Like you in that bed right now.”

“I don’t know,” she said. Her teeth pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, which sent another rush of blood straight to my dick. “I thought I could, but—”

“You can,” I assured her. “You’ve already got the ball rolling with your little shoulder tease.”

“Really? That’s all it takes?”

“That’s all,” I admitted. “You gotta cut me a little slack. I went from having you every single day—twice some days—to nada. I’m easy to please at this point.”

“Three times the day before you left,” she reminded, leaning forward to flash her cleavage at the camera.

“You’re killing me, Georgia.” I groaned as I shifted in my seat and reached down to take the bend out of my hardening cock. I could see the hesitation in her eyes. She’d become a little more sexually adventurous with me, but I knew this was out of her wheelhouse. It didn’t bother me that she was a little inexperienced. I enjoyed the hell out of teaching her. “We don’t have to—”

“No, I want to,” she cut me off. The determined look in her eye was cute. “If we are going to be apart, I don’t want you to be unsatisfied. I know you’re used to having sex whenever you feel like it.”

“I don’t have to have sex all the time.” I understood what she was saying, but it stung a little to think that she thought I was dependent on sex. “I’m not that guy anymore.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I just... I don’t want you to... I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy. Happier than I have ever been,” I clarified. “All I need to know is that you love me and you’re mine. That’s more than enough. I can manage without sex just fine.”