Cry to Me

“Dr. Hammett, when you get a chance, I need to talk to you about something.”

Dulci was in the middle of looking over an x-ray when Savannah popped her head around the doorjamb. She needed a break.She’d been looking at the x-ray for ten minutes trying to figure out where she wanted to start medically treating her current patient.To start, the dog was an uncontrolled diabetic, probably Cushingoid, and most likely had pancreatitis.She couldn’t seem to communicate to the owner enough that without regulating the Cushings disease, the diabetes wouldn’t regulate because of the insulin resistance associated with Cushings from the increased cortisol levels, and the pancreas was angry because it can’t properly regulate blood glucose levels.The dog also had an enlarged liver and an elevated calcium level among others that had her wondering if the dog had cancer.She couldn’t understand why people who had the financial means to regulate diabetes would let it go uncontrolled to the point where their dog was seriously ill.And yet, the dog was on it’s second day of hospitalization and the owners had no problem paying for the variety of tests Dulci needed to run to fix their pet.At that point, she was hungry, tired, and needed a break from the x-ray to find Savannah.

“What’s up?”

Savannah simply looked at her with a “don’t say anything” expression and subtly motioned Dulci to follow.

“I heard Dr. Harrison and King talking about you inconveniencing them by having Sam in the doctor’s office all day. King doesn’t understand why she can’t have her wretched dog at work while you bring a friend’s dog and it’s ok.Just giving you a head’s up,” Savannah whispered before leaving the storage room.

Dulci felt like she was planted into the ground in that spot. She’d done everything Dr. Harrison had ever asked her.She worked overtime, worked emergency even though she wasn’t originally hired for it, and covered for multiple doctors who were on vacation or sick.She’d never called out, worked when she was ill, and had the most returning clientele.She felt like she couldn’t win.The moment she turned to exit the storage room, Dr. Harrison found her.

“Dulci! There you are!I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your ACL surgery from Monday.I’m sure you are aware, but we can’t have employees, professional staff or not, having their clientele’s pets at the hospital on a daily basis…”

“I don’t mean to interrupt, Dr. Harrison, but Sam is my dog. She’s only here because I’ve been keeping her moderately sedated because of her energy level.I’m keeping her at home starting tomorrow.She wont be an inconvenience any longer,” Dulci explained coolly before leaving to see another appointment.

----

It had only been two days since Dulci operated on Sam. She'd already destroyed her cast bandage because she was a Houdini, managing to pull her Elizabethan collar off twice, leaving her full access to chew at her bandage. Originally, Sidney was supposed to take her immediately after the procedure, having been off for a couple of nights, but ended up doing hours of interviews, photo shoots, and promotions between practices and workouts. If Sam were at Sidney's house, she would've destroyed the entire incision and Dulci didn’t mind taking care of her. While she was stubborn, Sam was a sweetheart and Dulci missed having a dog.

She was taking Sam for a short walk around her cul-du-sac when she saw familiar headlights pulling into her driveway. Stopping behind a couple of trees, she watched him get out of his car holding grocery bags and a bottle of what looked to be either champagne or wine. He knocked a couple of times. She snickered watching him fidget in front of her door with his baseball hat sitting low over his eyes. She could tell he was getting annoyed when he pulled out his cellphone, body language getting visibly tense and rigid. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, Sidney obviously calling her. She decided she would mess with him and ignore the call, letting it go to voicemail after two rings. Walking to the foot of her driveway slowly with Sam gimping next to her, she laughed silently before committing to the rude gesture.

“Christ,” Sidney muttered dryly after hearing the whistle. This is why he hated waiting outside of Dulci’s door.She lived in a busy neighborhood and everyone knew what type of car he drove and he wasn’t a stranger to getting unwanted attention; overtly flirty introductions, passing napkins with their number on them, worn thrift store wedding dresses with proposal signs at games, stuffing underwear in his pockets at clubs. No one has ever cat called at him before. That was something guys did to girls, not the other way around. He contemplated acting like he didn’t hear the whistling and hoped Dulci would answer her door.It wasn't until he heard a familiar giggle that he turned to find Dulci with a guilty grin and Sam walking up the driveway.

"Sorry. I couldn't resist," she admitted, letting go of the leash as Sam pulled to run to him. Dulci watched in awe as Sam and Sidney greeted each other with hugs and kisses, obviously excited to see one another. She very much appreciated a man who adored his pets, cat or dog. It was an added bonus that Sidney was incredibly attractive. Sam eventually gimped over to Dulci's front door where she sat and waited patiently for Sidney and Dulci to follow.

"I guess she's ready to go in. She's not going to want to come home." Sidney turned quickly to Dulci, pulled her into an embrace, and gave her a steamy kiss before adding, "I can't say I blame her for wanting to stay."

Dulci couldn't help but smile at the comment. Looking down at his feet, she was curious to what he brought.

"What's in the grocery bags?"

"It's a surprise." He took her hand and walked her in to the house. When she closed the door behind them, she turned to find Sidney staring at the entry table with a smirk on his face. When he looked at her, he simply said, "Nice entry table," and walked toward the kitchen, leaving Dulci to reel in the memory of their first kiss. Following his foot steps, she watched as he started pulling various ingredients out of the bags: feta cheese, quinoa, spicy Italian sausage, yellow and orange bell peppers, an onion, and tomato paste.

"I'm making you dinner," Sidney said proudly.

"That's very nice of you. What are you making?"

"Well, I thought I'd make stuffed peppers." He reached above his head to grab the frying pan hanging about Dulci's kitchen island, causing his shirt to ride up, showing a hint of his stomach. Her mouth went dry. Since she had a taste of what he could do, she wanted more, and she hoped it could be tonight.

"Stuff peppers, huh? I thought you said you couldn't cook?" While she was over the moon that he was going to try and cook for her, stuffed peppers wasn't something a first timer should attempt, not to mention that they took forever to cook.

"It's not that I can't cook, it's just that I don't do it often. It's my mom's recipe. She said it was easy and fail proof." He took the recipe out of his pocket and set it on the counter. It was an email with instructions and it was probably the cutest thing Dulci had ever laid eyes on. His mother added pictures for every step to make sure he didn't "botch the dinner."

"And besides, if I screw it up, I have a great cook by my side," he finished as he kissed her cheek.

Dulci pulled out all of the utensils he would need to cook, including a large muffin pan, earning herself a puzzled look.

"It's for the peppers. It's easier to assure they stay upright this way when they cook," she demonstrated, placing an uncut pepper into one of the muffin cups. Sidney just nodded.

"You know all the tricks, don't you?"

"Hardly. When I'm stressed or unsettled, I like to cook and try new methods. Needless to say, in vet school, I cooked and experimented a lot," she explained taking a bite out of a pepper top she'd just cut.

Placing the sausage in the pan, Sidney talked about how he handled stress, mainly by watching tape or spending extra time practicing or skating. As he was explaining, Dulci tried hard to let him cook by himself, biting back smile after smile as he tried to break up the sausage links with the spatula without success.

She handed him a filet knife, getting another confused look in return.

"You have to cut the casing off first, then you can crumble it," she looked at him reassuringly, trying not to sound patronizing.

"I probably should've picked something easier," he huffed, embarrassed at his lack of culinary experience. She knew he was trying to impress her, so she thought of an idea she thought might ease his mind.

"You're doing great. We'll make them together," she offered as she took the cutting board and started chopping the onion.

Dulci manned the quinoa as the two fell into a light conversation about the weird things clients would ask or say.

"Best inappropriate question," Sidney suggested as a topic.

“How much time do you have?” Dulci asked as she took a sip of champagne.

“All night,” he returned with a sexy smile.

"Oh, there are really too many to repeat, but the funniest and most disgusting was probably when a woman asked me why her dog was eating the crotch out of her teenage daughter's underwear," she snorted as she remembered the horrified look on the daughter's face.

She had never seen Sidney laugh so hard. He was doubled over on the island, body shaking with his high-pitched laugh. She couldn't understand anything he tried to say, which made her fall into a fit if laughter as well, tears streaming down he face. His laughter was definitely contagious.

"How'd you answer," he asked when he was finally able to breathe.

"I think I just changed the subject. Oh!Here’s another good one and this just happened this morning.No joke.A teenage girl asked me ‘why her dog been eatin his bafroom after he go.’I had to walk out of the exam room so I didn’t laugh in front of her.I once had a puppy with cropped ears come in for an exam and the owner asked when her dog’s ears would grow.She didn’t know that he puppy’s ears had been cropped, and also didn’t know that dogs are born with ears.I spent a lot of time with that owner trying to educate her.”

She turned her attention back to the quinoa as Sidney shook his head in disbelief, started fluffing it, took the pot off of the burner, and dumped it all in the trashcan. Sidney watched her, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I burnt the quinoa," she exhaled as she walked to her cupboard and pulled out a box of instant brown rice to make instead.

"Ruining my dinner," he joked under his breath.

"You're distracting," she admitted while turning her back to him, refilling the pot with water.

"I'm distracting?" he asked as he moved behind her.

"I'm not the one who is wearing a low cut sweater that buttons from behind. It's begging me to take it off," he said seductively, his breath tickling her neck.

"Why do you think I wore it?" When she turned to face him, she had to grab the edge of the counter for balance. Their pelvises were already touching as he pinned her to the counter with his hips, and their faces were only centimeters apart. She could smell the mixture of his soap, cologne, and aftershave. It was intoxicating. Just as they were about to kiss, Dulci's stomach growled so loud that she could hear Sam's collar tags jingle as she perked her head up looking for the source of the offensive noise. Dulci had always been embarrassed at how loud her stomach sounded whether she was hungry or sick. Sidney just looked down at her stomach with a goofy expression on his face.

"Sorry," she blushed looking down.

"I'm just happy you're hungry for my experimental cooking," he smiled, softly pushed her chin up and kissed her lips.

After the peppers were finished, the two at dinner on Dulci's couch, watching hockey. Dulci was fully invested in the game when she was interrupted.

"One of my team mates is having a get together this weekend. Would you like to go with me?"

"I'd loved to, but I'm working all weekend." She’d completely forgotten about the conversation with his teammate’s wife about the cookout. When she looked at him, she noticed a hint of disappointment in his face.

“What exactly does ‘all weekend’ entail? I was going to ask if you’d come to the game on Sunday.”

"I work 8am to 8pm both Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch parts of the game between appointments,” she said somewhat abruptly as if to justify her excuse. Taking an uneasy bite of her food, she wondered if every other girl he’d ever been dropped their entire schedule for him whenever he asked.While she would love to go to games or team gatherings, she couldn’t change her schedule on a dime and she hoped that one day he would understand.This moment was the first time Dulci actually felt like her schedule would get in the way of her social life and she was worried that he would find a more accommodating girl to spend his free time with.Consumed in her thoughts, she didn’t notice she was pushing around her food, or that Sidney was in the process of taking her plate and face her body towards his.

“I keep forgetting you have a demanding schedule. I would like for you to go to as many games as your schedule allows.”Sidney pulled Dulci’s body into his as he wrapped his arm around her.

“I’d love to go to another game. It was a blast.I just hope you don’t hold it against me that I have an uncompromising schedule and that occasionally my evening plans will change depending on my workload that day.You’ve already experienced that once in the short time we’ve known each other.”

“I’ll admit, it’s different to be with someone who has their own schedule, but, with you, I don’t mind. I like that you have your own commitments and obligations.I like that you’re very work motivated and independent.It’s refreshing and admirable, and there’s nothing sexier than an intelligent woman who is passionate about what she loves, especially when she’s passionate about helping something that is extremely important to me,” he confessed as he held her hand, soothingly rubbing his thumb over the back of it.Dulci could only smile brightly in response.

“I’m going on a four day road trip starting tomorrow and my parents are going to take care of Sam. Can I tell them to call you if needed?”

“Of course. I mean, if I’m working I wont be able to get to my cell phone right away, but they could leave a message.Obviously if it’s an emergency and I don’t answer, they should have the hospital’s number.”All of a sudden, she felt restless and uncertain.She’d gotten used to hearing from him either in person or by phone.How did the road trips work?Should she expect to go four days without hearing from him?Should she call him or wait for him to call her?And worse, they never talked about their status.Were they dating?Would he go out and sleep around?Was it too early to ask?

“I’m going to get Sam ready to go,” Sidney broke her out of her thoughts with a quick kiss. As he leashed her and walked toward her front door, Dulci picked up the dirty dishes and took them to the kitchen.After she was done cleaning up, she walked into her bedroom to get ready for bed.She thought for sure they would have had sex, especially if he was leaving for a couple of days, but when he was gone for longer than fifteen minutes, she figured he left to take Sam home.Throwing on a tattered Virginia Tech tee sweatshirt and a pair of mesh shorts, she climbed into bed.He’d been gone for almost a half an hour.She turned off her light and settled into her bed, alone, without Sidney, and sighed loudly before closing her eyes, opening them back up when there was a knock at her door.

“Why’d you lock me out?” Sidney asked when he closed the door behind him, undoing Sam’s leash.

“I… I thought you left. I mean… If you leave tomorrow, you probably have to pack and…” He silenced her instantly by kissing her, slowly walking them into her bedroom.

“I meant it when I said I had all night,” he mumbled between kisses to her chin and neck. “I wish you wouldn’t have taken that sweater off. I wanted to take it off of you,” he continued as he quickly took her sweatshirt off, tossing it somewhere in her bedroom.

Dulci was just as eager to remove his clothes. She removed his shirt and went to unbutton his jeans, successfully pushing them down before he stopped her.

He picked her up, her legs wrapped around his hips, and sat himself on the foot of her made bed. Holding her tight, he scooted the two of them back towards her mound of pillows, never breaking the kiss. His hands roamed her entire body, not like he hadn't already explored her, but as he lightly trailed his fingers up and down her back, softly kneading as she rocked against his lap, he couldn't get enough of her or the goose bumps he was giving her. He slowly but purposefully brought his hand to her chest to squeeze her breast. She moaned lightly into his mouth, gyrating her hips harder against him with every squeeze, and when he concentrated solely on her nipple, she flung her head back, eyes drunk with arousal, inviting him to feast on her neck. He licked from her collarbone to her ear lope, remembering every fragrant and flavor of her skin. She smelt like brown sugar and roses, her hair smelt like the ocean, and her skin tasted mildly salty from perspiration.

Taking a hand to her hair, he gently gripped a handful to keep her head tilted. He wanted to hear her, every moan, whimper, and pleasurable sob. His other hand traveled from her nipple down her stomach until he felt the elastic of her underwear. He knew she was turned on, but he didn't realize how wet she'd be for him, and he exhale loudly when he felt how slick and engorged she was. Taking two fingers, he gently plunged them into her, getting the lubricated before taking them out and slowly rubbed her clitoris as she pushed her vagina onto his fingers.

"Oh my god yes," she sighed as she took both of her hands to touch her own nipples, rubbing, stimulating, pinching.

"Fuck," Sidney whispered as he watched her touch herself to help herself along. Eventually he pulled her hair back further so he could replace one of her hands with his mouth. When he succeeded, she moaned loudly before doing something he didn't suspect. She took one of her hands to his pants, unbuttoning them, before taking her empty hand and subtly spitting in it. He didn't have long to think before her lubricated hand was in his pants, firmly gripping his dick as she started stroking. His enclosed lips stifled a long groan as he sucked her nipples, switching back and forth between the two as she moved her other hand into his pants to help. To say he was impressed with her technique was an understatement. Her hands were stacked one above the other, both stroking up and down together, but twisting in separate directions, and it felt incredible, so much so that he hand to stop her before he came. He could tell she felt confused by her sudden stiff body language.

"It feels too good," he kissed and licked between her cleavage, before running his mouth along the underside of her breasts, gently biting the skin below her areola, making her breathing hitch.

"Lay back." He helped lower her into her back, her upper half between his legs, her lower half on his thighs, keeping his occupied fingers steadily working her clit, only stopping to slide off her underwear. Soon, his two fingers made their way inside as he licked his other thumb to rub her clit. He watched as she writhed on him, clenching her stomach when he stimulated her g-spot until she was vocally panting, digging her nails in his clothed calves. He almost came in his pants for the second time as she came on his hand, arching her back off of the mattress, so much so that he couldn't see her face, only the small mounds of her breasts, moaning obscenities. He didn't give her a chance to come down as he pulled her upper body back toward him, holding her lower half up, and sliding her onto his penis all the way to the base, staying in that position for a few moments. She held onto his for her life, arms around him gripping his back as she finished coming.

He didn't give her much time to think before he kissed her, taking her breath away as he sucked her bottom lip as he took his fingers back to her clit, making her involuntarily tremble on top of him.

Dulci wasted no time riding him, slowly at first, but eventually catching speed as he met her halfway. She had never been so aroused. She couldn’t get enough of the determined look on his face as he fucked her, the sweat beading on his body and face from the exertion, the sound of his hips slapping against her ass, the squeaking of her mattress, but the best noises were those coming out of his mouth, the heavily breathing, the moaning and groaning.

Dulci's hands were planted to Sidney's chest, one of his on her hip while the other stayed between her legs. While he knew he was fucking her brains out, he wanted to try something he hoped she'd like.

"Turn around," he leaned up and whispered in her ear before taking the lobe in his mouth. She wasted no time as she turned around, facing away from him and sinking back down onto him. Both moaned at the new position. She made use of one of her hands by stimulating her own clit, using the other arm for support. Sidney watched as she rode him in reverse, loving the new sight. He gently squeezed her ass as she did the work on her own. Once he felt her getting close, he sat himself forward, took both of her wrists, and held then behind her with one hand as he reached around with the other and rubbed her clit with all he had as she bucked on top of him. He knew he had her when he started thrusting into her, using her wrists as leverage.

"Oh my god I'm gonna come," she cried, her voice bouncing like her body. When it happened, she fell forward, ripping her hands out of his grip, grasping the comforter as she cried into it, letting him take the reigns, gripping her ass until he slammed into her, motionless as he came harder than ever.

Notes