by Marie James
“You paged me?” I remind her.
“Yeah.” She clears her throat, lifting a stack of already neat papers and tapping them on the desktop. “Mr. Donovan here needed to speak with you.”
“Mr. Donovan?” I hiss, turning in his direction.
Do not think about how good he looks in those jeans. Do not think about how good he looks in those jeans.
“Hey, Cam—Dr. Davison.”
“I’m doing rounds. What do you want?” I don’t bother to keep the irritation out of my voice, but for some reason, it only makes him smile wider.
“I need a consultation.” How he manages to say that with a straight face, I’ll never know.
“A consultation, huh?” I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the high station. “You realize I’m an obstetrician, right?”
His grin falters for the briefest second before he grins even wider. “But you are a doctor, correct?”
“Right now I wish I wasn’t,” I mutter.
“I can page one of the general surgeons if you want, Dr. Davison.”
I look over at Emily. I know she’s trying to be helpful, and it’s clear that whatever Samson is looking for in me he can easily find in Emily, but forgetting that she was there, even for a split second makes me irrationally hostile.
“Appointments are normally required and a referral from your doctor, but since you’re a friend of Dr. Davison’s, I’m sure Dr. Woodrow would be happy to help you, Mr. Donovan,” Emily continues.
Just the mention of Janice Woodrow makes me uneasy. No doubt the doctor by day man-eater by night woman would love to help out Mr. Donovan.
Even in my head, I say his name like a snarky woman competing for his attention. I’m boiling hot by this point, shooting daggers at him, and wondering why even though Emily is speaking to him, he hasn’t taken his eyes off me. Refusing to get lost in his topaz blue eyes, I lift my hand, snapping my fingers in front of his face. The action doesn’t faze him.
“What do you want, Samson? I’m busy.” It’s not the whole truth. I’ve finished my rounds, and it’s actually my lunchtime. Since I never know when I’m going to get another page that will prevent me from eating until I get off shift in six hours, I seriously need to grab some quick food while I have time.
“Did you want me to—”
I grab his arm the second Emily starts talking again. I don’t have to drag him along because he follows me willingly when we leave the nurse’s station. I don’t look back at Emily as I stick my head in an empty patient room and pull him inside with me.
“Why are you wasting my time?” I close the door with a snap and turn to see him watching me.
“I wouldn’t say I’m wasting yo—”
“So help me,” I warn.
“Since you’re a doctor, I need you to look at this.”
Without missing a beat his large hands go for the front of his jeans. I’m transfixed for a second, observing just how well the denim clings to his muscular thighs, but the rasp of his zipper pulls me out of my trance.
“What the hell are you doing?”
His grin is wide when he reaches behind his dark boxers.
“You seem to think I’m a child. I wanted to prove you wrong. I’m one hundred percent ma—”
“If you don’t get your hand out of your pants.” His hand freezes and a chill runs up my back. “Right now, Samson Lee Donovan.”
The goosebumps spread from my back and down my arms with the slow drag of his hands. The movement makes the dark line of hair below his bellybutton visible, and it’s impossible to pull my eyes away.
“You sure you want me to stop?” The needy rasp of his voice is liquid sex, and unexplainably I take a step closer to him when his erection jerks behind his boxers. “You look hungry, Dr. Davison. Want a taste?”
The use of my professional name snaps me out of whatever spell he’s been able to put me under.
“You’re disgusting,” I spit, finally able to pull my eyes from his crotch to look at his face.
His blue eyes sparkle down at me, and he doesn’t show an ounce of regret. Movement registers, but I lock my eyes on him until I hear the whisper of his zipper as he pulls it up.
“Do you honestly think coming in here like some frat boy and exposing your penis would change my mind about you?”
The blasé shrug of his shoulders is the last straw. “I didn’t figure it would hurt.”
“Do you have any idea how many penises I’ve seen?”
His eyebrows raise, and a small frown turns down his mouth. “Don’t talk about seeing other guys’ dicks, Camryn.”
“It’s Dr. Dav—” I snap my mouth shut and pinch the bridge of my nose. “The point is, I’m a doctor. These immature antics don’t work with me.”
“But I—”
I snap my hand up, and surprisingly, he stops speaking. “Grow up.”
Turning away from him, I rip open the door but turn in his direction before I leave.
“Don’t ever show up at my job again.”
With that last parting shot, I leave the room, arrowing toward the stairwell. Once the heavy metal door closes behind me, I can finally take a breath. Thank God, Charli isn’t here to witness what just happened. I’d never live it down, and I’m afraid after I reiterate to her that Samson is just an immature boy with sex on the brain, she may try to go after him. I don’t have the time or the energy to understand why that thought alone makes me angrier than stopping him before he pulled himself out of his jeans did.
I head to the cafeteria and try to eat a BLT, but the images of that dark trail of hair keep invading my brain.
I didn’t lie to him. I have seen more penises in my life than I ever thought possible. You can’t do an ER rotation without coming in close proximity to men who have gotten themselves stuck in inanimate objects, plus clothing is often cut away in haste in order to find injuries and wounds. We try to maintain dignity as much as possible in the medical field, but the patient’s health is number one. It’s no big deal. We’re professionals, after all.
My pause in that room upstairs, the fifteen seconds or so that I watched Samson reach into his jeans without stopping him was not professional. The way my mouth watered before I got ahold of myself was not the way I should’ve responded.
And the hope that he doesn’t heed my warning about never coming back to the hospital keeps me unfocused for the rest of my shift.
Chapter 5
Samson
“Game,” Tug claims before the white ball strikes the eight. The sound of it falling into the corner pocket echoes around the normally quiet room.
“I’m next,” Scooter says, so I hand off the stick to him and practically fall onto the couch beside Griffin.
He’s been going to appointments at the hospital twice a week for the last two, but I haven’t gotten the courage to step foot back in the place. I think about Camryn’s rejection all the time, and I can’t believe that even after a couple of weeks, I’m still ridiculously embarrassed with the way I acted.
“Are you still moping?” Griffin asks, but he doesn’t pull his eyes from Ivy.
She’s playing air hockey with Kid and Khloe’s son, Landon.
“You know that voice in the back of your head that tells you things are a bad idea and doing them will have disastrous outcomes?” Griffin nods, his lips flat when Landon wins a game and runs to give Ivy a hug. “I don’t think I have that voice.”
Griffin snorts his agreement.
“Seriously, dude. Why would I think pulling that shit at the hospital would be a good idea?”
“Because the chicks at college would’ve dropped to their knees and swallowed you whole?”
“Maybe,” I muse as the sound of the balls being racked at the pool table fills the silence.
Landon and Ivy have started another game, and I can’t help but smile when the thirteen-year-old taunts his opponent.
When Griffin doesn’t say anything after a while, I chance a look in his direction, fi
nding him glaring at them while they play.
“What?” I nudge him with my shoulder. “You better watch out for Landon. I think he may be pushing up on your girl.” I chuckle light-heartedly.
Griffin snorts at the absurd warning.
“I’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Really?” I smile, loving that the teasing is making his nostrils flare. Talk about super possessive. “He watches her the way she watched you all those years ago. You may have a little competition on your hands in a few years.”
His lip twitches before a full-blown smile spreads across his face. “I have nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah?” I reach to the side table and grab my can of soda. Before tipping it up to my mouth, I ask, “And why is that?”
“She loves me.” His words are simple, yet hold more meaning than anything else he could’ve said.
I let the sweet liquid sit in my mouth before swallowing. Griffin is only about a year and a half older than I am, but his level of maturity is through the roof. I guess war will make a man grow up quickly, but that’s not all. He’s always been the reasonable one in the group, always calculating, assessing outcomes before he makes even the simplest decisions. The man has been grown since he was ten, but he’s not acting very mature right now when Ivy wins the next game, and Landon stares at her with his mouth hanging open when she bounces around in celebration.
I don’t look at Ivy the way a man would look at a woman. I’ve known her too long for that. As my sister’s best friend, she’s been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember, which makes her as close as a sister to me. What I do understand is the way that thirteen-year-old is watching the way her body moves because it’s exactly how I felt every time Camryn was around. I memorized everything about her, unable to pull my eyes away when she was close. I remember begging my parents to call her to watch us when I was fourteen. They laughed me off and told me I was old enough not to need a babysitter. I’d only caught glimpses of her since then. It’s been a long seven years, and I went and blew that two weeks ago at the hospital.
“Kid is going to need to have a talk with that son of his. He should have better manners than staring at her. Is that drool on his chin?”
I grab Griffin’s arm when he begins to stand, no doubt to force some respect into the hormone-riddled teen. “How did you make her fall in love with you?”
His eyes narrow as he looks my direction. “What?”
“You said she loves you. How did you make her do that?”
“Is this about Camryn?”
“No,” I answer too quickly for it to be anything short of a lie.
“Sure it isn’t.” My friend rolls his eyes, but he settles back on the sofa.
We watch as Ivy loses the next game and Izzy steps up to take her place. Landon is just as enthralled by Hound’s oldest daughter as he is with Ivy. Seems the young man isn’t very selective, and I understand exactly why when Izzy bends over in her tank top. Her tits jiggle uncontrollably when she hits the puck with her striker. The boy doesn’t take his eyes off her chest as the buzzer sounds, and Izzy celebrates.
“Why didn’t we have an air hockey table growing up?” I ask and look over at Griffin. His eyes are already watching Ivy walk across the room, heading to the kitchen. “I bet you would’ve noticed Ivy years ago if we had one.”
He huffs out a laugh and nods his head in agreement. “No doubt.”
“But seriously,” I say bringing up our previous conversation, “how did you make it happen?”
“I can’t name one specific thing, Samson. I think she’s always cared for me. When that turned from thinking she loved me to actually being in love with me? I don’t fucking know, but man am I a better man for it.” His tongue rolls over his bottom lip, and I can tell he’s biting the inside of his cheek. “I don’t deserve her or her love. I ignored her when we were younger, and I treated her like shit when I got home.”
His hands work over the top of his head, and I wonder if I’m pushing him too hard. The last thing I want is for him to have a setback.
“She just stuck it out,” he continues, his eyes coming alive when she exits the kitchen and begins to make her way toward us. “She’s absolutely amazing, and I plan to spend every day for the rest of my life making up for the times we weren’t together.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Ivy asks as she settles beside Griffin on the couch.
“How much I love you,” Griffin confesses with a wide smile on his face.
Ivy blushes, swatting at his chest like she doesn’t believe that we were just talking about that very thing.
“We were also discussing how Landon couldn’t take his eyes off you while you were playing air hockey,” I add to lighten the mood.
All this talk of love and forever makes my skin crawl. Every person I grew up with had amazing relationships, but I never longed for the same thing. I want freedom, excitement, and an array of women to keep me happy. At least that’s what I thought I wanted until all my close friends started pairing off and looking as crazy and in love as my dads did when we were younger.
“Whatever,” Ivy says with a quick laugh.
“Look,” Griffin urges with a nod of his head toward Landon and Izzy.
She scores another shot, and I’ll be damned if his head doesn’t move with the same jostle of her breasts as she dances around.
“Oh, My God!” Ivy hisses. “What is his problem?”
“Tits,” I say simply.
Griffin’s growl in my direction makes me issue a quick apology to my friend. Talking one way with the guys doesn’t mean it’s acceptable when a lady is around. Jaxon would box my head if he heard me talk like that in front of a woman. I don’t even want to think about what he’d do if he saw how I behaved at the hospital with Camryn.
“He’s mesmerized,” Ivy says as she lifts her hand to the top of her shirt.
Izzy is packing double what Ivy has, and that boy is in hog heaven.
“Landon!”
We all turn our heads to see Kid walking toward the air hockey table. At least the boy has the wherewithal to look ashamed.
“Go home and wait in your room. We need to have a little talk,” Kid tells his only son.
“Sorry, Izzy,” Landon apologizes before hightailing it from the clubhouse.
Kid shakes his head before following his son out of the room.
“What just happened?” Izzy asks, looking around the room for an answer.
“I think you should cover up a little better when you’re around him,” Tug says in passing as he walks around the pool table.
“What?” she screeches, her cheeks turning pink when she looks down at her chest as if she’s just now noticing the lack of coverage.
“Not funny.” Ivy swats at Griffin a little harder this time when he starts to laugh, but it doesn’t stop the smile on his face. Then she turns her attention to Tug. “Her clothing is just fine. Men and boys for that matter should know how to control themselves and not be struck stupid by a pair of breasts.”
“Teenage boys are perverts,” Tug says with a shoulder shrug before he leans over the table and lines up his next shot.
Izzy’s eyes grow wide as she looks in our group’s direction. “I didn’t mean to do—”
Ivy holds her hand up to silence her. “You did nothing wrong. Dustin will straighten that boy out.”
I hide my grin behind my can of soda because I know exactly what’s going to happen. I don’t know how many times my dads had the same talk with me before I was able to actually control my eyes when I was around a pretty girl.
Izzy disappears down the hall, but by the time she rounds the corner to the hallway leading to her room, she has tears brimming in her eyes.
“Great,” Ivy says as she stands. “Now I have to go explain to her what’s going on. I think people do a real disservice by putting their children in all-girls and all-boys schools. They don’t know how to act when they’re tossed into the real world
.”
She brushes her lips against Griffin’s and disappears in Izzy’s direction. I don’t bother speaking until she’s out of sight, knowing Griffin doesn’t have the ability to concentrate on anything while she’s still in the room.
“You should date her,” he says once his woman is gone.
“Izzy? No fucking way, dude. Hound would kill me if I even looked in her direction. That’s too much trouble.”
His boisterous laugh startles me, and it takes a long moment for him to calm down. “As much as I’d pay to see you try, Izzy is way too young and inexperienced for the likes of you. I was talking about Camryn.”
“Camryn won’t give me the time of day.”
“Your approach is wrong. I don’t know many women who would be down for a guy trying to pull his dick out while she’s working.”
“You obviously don’t go to Denver very often,” I mutter.
He laughs again but nods his head in agreement. “Denver is too fast for me. Why don’t you invite her to the BBQ? It’s public, and she won’t be cornered. Plus, women get all swoony over fireworks and great food.”
“She told me to stay away from her job, man. How the hell am I supposed to invite her somewhere if I can’t see her?”
“Shoot her a message on social media.”
“She doesn’t use social media,” I say too quickly, which earns another laugh out of my friend.
“Then get creative but keep your dick in your pants.”
“Forever?” I ask with surprise in my voice.
“Or until she takes it out for you.”
He grins wide, but when I look over my shoulder, I see Ivy is walking back toward us. The conversation is over because his only focus settles right back on the couch beside him.
Chapter 6
Camryn
“You’re a bum.” It’s hard to say that to Charli with a straight face even though she’s laid out on the couch surrounded by various snacks while pointing the remote at the TV.
She just came off a double shift, but her last couple of hours were spent in the operating room helping with an emergency c-section. Relaxing after something as awesome as being in the operating room is always difficult, especially after almost losing a patient and their newborn. Losing either means no sleep for days and a constant stream of questioning one’s ability to even be a doctor. Thankfully those days are few and far between.
