Like Lovers Do - Tracey Livesay
Chapter One
Dr. Nicole Allen leaned back on the lounger and let the sun warm her bikini-clad body. Clouds dotted the blue sky, and though her lounger occupied prime real estate next to a pool, she could still hear the crashing of the waves fifty yards away on the beach.
She exhaled and every inch of her body, from the top of her curly bun to the tips of her bright orange-painted toes, gave in to gravity and relaxed into the chaise. Two days into their four-day vacay and she’d finally relegated all thoughts of surgeries, the hospital, and her upcoming fellowship from her mind.
Well, okay, they were still on her mind, just simmering. On the back burner.
It was the best she could do. Her work was never far from her thoughts. She lived, ate, slept, and fucked medicine. She was a doctor. And not just any doctor. An orthopedic surgeon. She’d worked hard for the coveted status, was unashamed to admit it defined who she was. But the privilege came with heavy responsibilities and not a day passed where she wasn’t mulling over a possible diagnosis or upcoming surgical procedure.
Which is why she needed this vacation and, more importantly, time with her girls.
The soft whoosh of the sliding glass door—leading from the four-story beach house where they were staying—sounded behind her.
“There you are!” Caila Harris strode into Nic’s line of sight, lovely in a bright yellow coverup that looked striking against her dark skin. “Did you enjoy your massage?”
“It was amazing. I haven’t had one since our last vacay.” It was a luxury Nic couldn’t afford to spend money on more than once a year. “How was yours?”
“Magical. And essential. Last month I traveled back and forth between Virginia and Chicago four times!”
Even so, Caila had seemed more tranquil than usual. She still worked hard, climbing her way to the top of the corporate ladder, but she looked happier than she had during their vacation last year. Caila would probably attribute it to meeting the love of her life seven months earlier.
“Did you just finish?” Nic asked, shifting in her seat.
She and Caila had started their massages at the same time but Nic had been done for a while. She’d appreciated the downtime. Caila tended to stuff as much as possible into the vacays she coordinated.
“I finished right after you, but Wyatt called. I was talking to him.”
The aforementioned happy-maker.
Caila’s beloved grandfather passed away last year, leaving her grief-stricken and distraught. She’d made some mistakes at work, and, to avoid losing her job, had agreed to be sent to a small town in Virginia to close down a factory that happened to be the town’s biggest employer. In the midst of the chaos, she’d fallen in love with the town’s mayor, whose family was practically Southern royalty. She kept her job, got a promotion, and landed herself the man.
Leave it to Caila to overachieve when it came to finding love, too.
“Aren’t you glad we still did this?” Caila asked.
Nic lazily rolled her head to the right to see her friend lifting her face to the sun, her arms outstretched to the side. Just to be obstinate, she wanted to disagree with her, but she couldn’t.
“Maybe,” she said, one corner of her mouth lifting at her slight accession. “How’s work?”
Caila slid out of her sandals. “It’s going well. We’ve completed modernizing the factory in Bradleton. By the middle of January, we’ll be able to manufacture products in-house.”
All of her friends were smart, successful go-getters. They’d followed different paths after their time together in college: Caila had attended business school and been offered a job with a Fortune 100 company, Ava had gone to law school, and Lacey had pursued her dream career in dance. But of her three friends, Caila was the most like her. Both were driven by this internal need to succeed that no one else understood.
That similarity was also the reason why they always seemed to clash.
“And you and Wyatt?”
Caila lowered herself to the edge of the pool and slipped her feet into the water. “I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it work, I just knew I wanted to. But it’s been wonderful. It’s exceeded all of my expectations.”
She couldn’t deny the happiness she saw shining in Caila’s eyes or heard in her voice, but Nic wasn’t sure she believed her. Caila’s job had been her life. Climbing the corporate ladder had excited her more than any relationship. Which is why she and Caila had always been