Chapter One

Author's Note: So, I feel like I should warn y'all, I don't know how to write a smutty scene. I just don't like writing it. Sigh, I guess I'm that shy.

By the way, Luna is Max's younger sister in this story.

Max

The sound of cars moving at this hour of the night only proves one thing to me; New York is the city that never sleeps. Of course, I barely sleep too seeing as I am a doctor who always prefers night shifts to morning shifts because let's be real, I don't really have anything to look forward to at night. Maybe that's how my life is supposed to be in the long run, what with all the responsibilities I added to myself this evening.

I signed as the new medical director of New Amsterdam, the oldest and probably the busiest hospital in the whole city.

My phone rings just as I'm about to push the doors to the tavern I'm supposed to meet my sister, Luna, for a celebratory drink –her idea, not mine.

"Hey, I'm at the door right now, sorry I'm late."

"Shit, Max, I'm so sorry." She says into the phone and I can hear her giggling slightly. Of course, she's with her fiancé. "I know I'm a bad sister, but I can't make it. Edgar and I got stuck in traffic-"

"Um, Luna, I'll believe the book club story more than the traffic one right now." I chuckle while scratching my brow. "And no, you're not a bad sister; I just think Edgar ought to let you see the sun once in a while."

"But it's 9pm." She points out and I roll my eyes. Nothing I say is going to get her out of there to The Tavern anyway. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I'll just get a beer I'm probably not going to be able to drink up anyway."

"Aww Max."

"Hey, I'm fine. Enjoy whatever it is you and Edgar are doing, hanging up now." I do as I say and sigh while I push the door and enter the place that's bustling with energy. Just as I approach the bar, I look beside me and see her. The woman I saw a few hours ago in New Amsterdam. For some reason, she looked pissed and she doesn't look any better now. She's probably a patient that got some bad news and decided to come and drink up her sorrows.

Helen. That's her name. I remember because I heard the guy she was standing with, an English-Indian guy calling her to stop but she didn't. Against all my better judgment, I feel myself walking up to her and she immediately looks up at me with those dark brown eyes, something stirs up inside of me and then, she rolls her eyes and mutters something incoherent under her breath.

"I didn't really catch that." I say as I take the seat directly beside her. This is about to get interesting.

"If you're looking for a booty call tonight, you'd be the last guy I'd pick." Her voice is the definition of calm and mean at the same time. I couldn't hear anything past that British accent though. "Hell, I wouldn't even pick you."

"That's um-" I start but when she sets her gaze back on me, I clear my throat before continuing. "That's not the reaction I normally get out of women."

She scoffs "Oh, how does it feel to not be treated as the egotistical white male you are."

Well, if that doesn't hurt. "I have a feeling there is a deeper issue here." I chuckle. "Anyway, I'm not trying to get you to sleep with me, you look upset and your energy is radiating and rubbing off on everyone in this bar, just wanted to see if you're okay." A look of guilt flashes across her face as she sighs and turns back to me.

After a few seconds of silence, with her eyes closed like she's trying to regain her calm, she speaks up "I'm sorry." She admits and I lean my elbow against the cold marble of the bar top. "The last time I was this mean to somebody was when my best friend decided to jump in bed with my boyfriend and that was seven years ago." She lets out a throaty chuckle. "Um, you don't deserve this."

"I don't." I shrug "But your ex-boyfriend was an idiot."

"Or I'm the emotionless bitch he said I was."

"You're being emotional for at least ten people tonight; you're doing okay so far." I nod jokingly and she smiles genuinely for the first time.

God, she is beautiful.

"Are you a therapist?"

I shrug "More or less." She rolls her eyes. "So, I'm guessing your ex is not why you're here tonight."

"Nope, you're the picture reminder of the bad thing that happened to me today."

"Ouch."

"Sorry, you asked for it." She shrugs and I nod, urging her to continue. "I lost a position I was supposed to get at work today to a white man, who apparently is dreamy and everything the girls that work there likes. Which is just sexist and racist because I mean, why give it to me when there's some dreamy man out there that's going to save the whole place." She exhales "That's why I was mean to you, I'm sorry once again."

"I can see how that must be upsetting." she shrugs and mutters 'yeah' under her breath as she takes another swig of her drink. "Who's the guy? Do you know him or-"

"No. I didn't stick around to find out more, I left in a hurry because I had an appointment somewhere else, thought that would be more fun than getting to know who the guy is." She's definitely a patient at New Amsterdam then, she must have had that appointment there.

"I'm sorry." I tell her.

"Shit happens…" Of course she doesn't know my name.

"Max."

"I'm Helen."

"Helen." I repeat and the name rolls of my tongue perfectly. "Well Helen, you can do one out of two things, first is to not dwell on the fact that someone got something you deserve, he probably deserved it too- sure, it might be a sexist and racist decision like you said but it probably isn't. I mean, something tells me no one would dare try to do something that stupid to you."

She chuckles and shakes her head softly, something constricts inside of me as I find myself just watching her, wanting to know just everything. "What's the second thing?" I feel my face heats up because I probably was staring deep into her soul and I made her uncomfortable.

"Or you can let it affect your relationship with your new colleague who you know nothing about but what you heard from others." I shrug. "I prefer the former for you."

"Thank you." She says sincerely.

"So, you think I'm dreamy?' I waggle my brows playfully at her.

"What? No, I uh-" she's at a loss of words and I have never seen anything more cute than the sight of her all embarrassed and in denial.

"Come on, apparently I'm the picture remind of your dreamy colleague which just means."

"Ugh, you're insufferable." she says. "But I still feel bad for being rude at you and calling you egotistical, you don't deserve it."

"You said that." I smile.

"I'm buying you a drink."

"No, I'm not here for anything-"

"No, Max, you lightened up my mood which is something that doesn't happen often when I'm in one of my moods, I'm probably never going to see you again in this city so I should thank you." She deadpans. "I'm buying you a fucking drink, it's only one drink. It's not going to do any damage."

If only we both knew at the time.

One drink turns into two and two into three. We are at the flirting point, palms on knees, looking into each other's eyes and never letting go, laughing over something silly about my childhood and Helen telling me stories about her embarrassing parents and how they never let her catch a break when they know she's dating someone.

"There was a time my dad decided to come visit me in school." Her palms move immediately to cover her face, horrified about the story she is going to tell. "How he found out my dorm is still mysterious to me and there he was, standing in my room while I was practically half naked with my boyfriend at the time."

"No." I laugh.

"Yes." She cries and uses her palms to cover her face in embarrassment. "And then he was like 'Helen Rose! Is this what I sent you to do in school?' And I knew it was serious because he used my second name, he even faked a heart attack and if I didn't know any better at the time, I would have gotten a heart attack too."

"That's absolutely horrifying; I think you win the round of embarrassing family members." I say as I lift my glass at her and she does the same proudly.

"Nobody deserves it more than I do." She downs the rest of her drink in one go. As she rubs her palms together and look back at me. "Do you live nearby?"

Is she suggesting what I think she is suggesting? No, it can't be possible. I'm the last guy she said she'd pick here and- I realize she's still waiting for my answer so I clear my throat and nods "Yeah, just a few miles away."

"Good." She says silently as her gaze falls to my fingers, as if checking to see if there's going to be something that'd stop her.

"Don't worry, I'm not married or anything."

"Good." She says yet again.

"I cannot remember the last time I had anything serious to do with-" I stop, she doesn't need to know all that, but she looks like she's waiting for me to say more. "My job is demanding." I say lamely with a shrug.

She scoffs "Max, we're never going to see each other again."

I down my drink in one go and stand up "Okay then, I guess we should get going."

We walk out of the bar together, hand in hand, not saying anything to each other and definitely not looking at each other. The last thing we'd want is any of us to change our minds, so when we reach the walkway, I let go of her hand and hail a cab while she takes out her phone and starts typing away.

"Any problem?" I ask her, she looks so lost on her phone that she doesn't know that the cab is already waiting in front of us. "Do you have to go?"

"No, a colleague needed help with something." She says as she tucks away her phone in her back pocket. "My job is… demanding." She steals my words with a mischievous smile on her face and I shake my head as I open the door for her and let her enter. "Thank you." She says silently and I nod as I get in after her.

"So, the last thing I need to wake up with tomorrow is a hangover." She starts, because the silence is deafening and I'm pretty sure all I was doing was staring at her. Like, who's this woman? And why am I being comfortable with her?

"Don't worry; you won't wake up with one." She cocks a brow at me and before I get to reply her, we arrive in front of my apartment complex and I pay up the taxi driver, I'm not about to let her pay for anything more.

Helen takes a look at her environment before following me up to the steps and into the foyer, we move silently to the elevator and I can hear her even breathing because the place is too silent to hear anything else. I press the number to my apartment floor while I wait patiently and watch the numbers go higher and higher to my advantage.

When we reach the floor and the elevator door opens, Helen hesitates a bit before following me out "Having second thoughts?" I smirk and she shrugs.

"I mean, serial killers in NYC are only ninety percent all white males in their thirties." She shrugs innocently with a cock of her brow and I laugh out loud.

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

"Well, I was moving permanently to NYC without a single knowledge of what I'm getting into. Of course, I turned to the internet for advice." She says. "Did you know that on 28th November, 2012 not a single violent crime was reported for the entire day?"

"You don't say." I feign ignorance but she sees right through me and punches my shoulder lightly.

"You can't blame me!" her soft voice echoing in the hallways as I unlock the door to my apartment. "Everyone was freaked out about me moving out here permanently, some were wicked enough to supply me with newspaper clippings about all the crimes that happened in the city."

"How long have you been here?"

"Six years." She shrugs as we move inside the apartment and I've never been happier that I'm not a slob until right now. Not that I always bring women back here but I love my space more when it's neat. I can see that she looks impressed but refrained from making any comment, so I move to the kitchen cabinet, got her a glass of water and two pills to swallow.

"You're basically a New Yorker." I hand her the pills and she inspects them before taking them. "They're multivitamins."

"You don't say." She repeats and this time around, I find myself laughing harder than I did before.

"You keep doing that."

"You keep saying things that I find fitting for our conversation." She shrugs nonchalantly as I take the glass cup from her after she downs it and move them to the kitchen. "So, Max, what were you doing drinking alone in The Tavern?"

"My sister bailed on me at the last minute, it was even her idea in the first place." I turn around to see her removing her coat, she's wearing a white blouse and a mango patterned knee length skirt underneath it. To say she looks incredible is an understatement. "She always does that when she is with her fiancé."

"I mean, why are you single?" she asks bluntly as if hinting that I wouldn't need to rely on my sister all the time if I had someone. I move to where she is now sitting down on the couch and take my seat next to her. Incredibly close to her.

"Why are you?" I ask her.

"Who said I am?" she shrugs mischievously with a hint of teasing in her voice as she leans in to kiss me and my hand immediately moves to pull her closer to me. I'm practically a school boy as she moves on top of me and continues kissing me, her slender fingers cradling my face and damn me, I don't remember the last time I feel this good being with a woman.

"Uh, should we move this to the bedroom?" I say in whispers as I kiss her neck and she nods frantically while moaning.

She wraps her legs around my waist as I move us effortlessly to the room and closes the door behind us.

The next morning, the sound of a phone ringing wakes me up. Helen's phone.

I quickly sit up and see her sleeping peacefully beside me, last night after our late night shenanigans, we both got hungry at the middle of the night and I had to make sandwiches for both of us. Being all domestic with Helen stirs up something inside me and got me hopeful. I thought I would probably be able to have a relationship as I watch her in my oversized shirt that was showing her thighs, sitting on my kitchen counter with her hair a mess.

It was a sight could get used to.

After the midnight breakfast, I gave her a sleeping mask because she was still worried about waking up with a hangover and right now, the sleeping mask is still over her eyes as she sleeps serenely with her breaths even.

"Helen." I say softly as she murmurs deep in her sleep. "Do you need to answer your phone?" I ask as I caress her face.

"What time is it?" she asks as she takes off the seeping mask and sits up. "Ugh."

"It's 6:30, hangover?"

"No, I'm just tired." She says, not looking at me. "I guess I should get going." She rips the blanket off her body and I can't help but stare at her perfect body only in her underwear and bra. "Why don't you take a picture?" she teases as she picks up her blouse and starts getting dressed.

I chuckle "It won't help me a bit." I move to where she's standing and make a move to kiss her but she quickly pulls back.

"Um, morning breath." I roll my eyes because she is obviously just making excuses.

"Right."

"Can I use the toothbrush I used last night?"

"Yeah." She hesitates a bit, probably because of my one worded answers but makes a beeline to the bathroom. A minute later, she emerges and I'm still standing where she left me.

She moves to me and places a chaste kiss on my cheek "Thank you for a really good night, Max." she smiles, she is clearly saying goodbye and I don't know why my heart feels heavy because I want to get to know her. I don't want this to be a onetime thing but she made it pretty clear this was a onetime thing. I might as well get on board with it.

"I don't suppose we could try this some other time-"

"Max-"

"I mean, we could bump into each other at The Tavern or Central Park, this is an incredibly small city when it comes to things like this…" I trail off because shit, I'm not on board with this and she looks amused.

"I don't go to Central Park." She says.

"And you're probably going to avoid The Tavern because of me." I state when I realize I'm starting to sound like a stalker. "Right."

"But-" oh, there's a but. But her damn phone starts ringing again and she takes it quickly. "Dr. Sharpe." Now, where did I know that name? "Oh hey, are you okay?" the caller says something and her eyes widen a bit. "I'm on my way." She sounds worried as she moves to the living room and I follow her quickly. "Don't hang up, talk to me." She takes her coat from the couch on the living room and moves quickly to the door. "Yeah, you're doing okay. Tell him to call an ambulance." Just as she reaches the door, she turns around and locks eyes with me; she smiles apologetically before giving me a small wave and moving out.

Shit.

I keep replaying the name Sharpe in my head, trying to remember where I heard it. And then after what feels like an hour of thinking, I thought back to New Amsterdam and it clicks, Dr. Helen Sharpe! Head of Oncology. Realization settles in my stomach and I swallow hard because, well shit.

I was the reason she was at that bar yesterday and I'll be damned if I know how I'm going to face her in just one hour.

…

So is it interesting enough? Next Chapter will be in Helen's POV. And I decided to give her a middle name, Rose! Hence the title, Roses and Good Wills.

Tell me what you think in reviews. Reviews are love. Xoxo