by M. O. Kenyan
“I’m going to go that way,” Katherine said.
“I’ll come with you,” Christian offered.
“I’d rather you didn’t. The last thing I want is my face on the side of a milk carton. These girls would literally kill me to be close to you. So I’m going to go before one of them challenges me.” She was obviously teasing, but Katherine had been dodging “evil eyes” all night. If looks could kill, she would have been dead the instant she’d stepped onto the sandy beach with her brothers.
“Well, we’d rather be with you,” Christopher put in.
Katherine gave her baby brother a slanted look then chuckled, “Yeah right, lady-killer. Like you want your big sis chasing away all the willing females.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Christopher looked around the crowd as if he were scouting for danger. “I’m more concerned about the jerks who are going to try and make a move on my sister.”
“With the two of you here, no one would dare. You could scare the hair off a cat. No one would dare approach me,” she’d joked.
“Well not now,” Christopher leaped on a beer keg and called the crowd to attention. “This beautiful blonde here is my sister.”
Katherine shrank back as Christian climbed on another keg, “We wouldn’t want to get to know anyone of you too closely. If you know what I mean.” He punched his fist into his palm.
“God help me,” Katherine moaned. “Get down here, you idiots.”
“Now, no one will mess with you,” Christian said.
“I can hunt in peace.” A kiss on the cheek and Christopher waved goodbye.
Katherine walked through the crowd alone. She could see boys retreating. “Oh great, now I’m going to finish medical school, single and a virgin.”
Katherine walked to the car park, accepting her night had gone to the dogs. There was no reason for her to stay anymore. But just as she was about to get into her car, a black Range Rover Sport drove up.
Beautiful. That was the first thing that came to mind. His dark skin, brown eyes and wicked smile…it was a miracle she could see all that, and he hadn’t even stepped out of the car. And when he did, there were no words to describe the insanity going on in her body. His T-shirt hugged his biceps, pronouncing his pecs and a shadow of the six-pack abs he had. He bit down on his jaw and the veins in his neck popped.
“Dear God,” she moaned.
He seemed to have heard because he turned around and smiled at her, and the devil was in that smile. He turned back to an approaching car and when the occupants alighted he went across to the driver. He towered over the other man, his finger pressed against his chest.
All hope deflated from Katherine’s chest, of course the exotic girl clinging to his arm was his girlfriend. She was exotic looking and definitely his type. As for Katherine, she’d always thought of herself as rather plain, with blonde hair and eyes with an identity crisis—they seemed not to know if they were blue or gray. The girl walked away with the other man, leaving the chocolate god behind. Katherine was getting into her car when a velvet baritone echoed in her ear and tortured her body with promises.
“Going home already?” He leaned over her, trapping Katherine between the hard metal frame of her car and his sexy body. The man was built like bricks. She tucked her hands behind her, just in case one of them decided to go rogue and feel him up.
“I’m AJ. And you are?”
Dead, she thought. AJ smiled, slowly and sexily. “Katherine,” she cleared her raw throat and tried again. “I’m Katherine.”
“You are beautiful, so is your name.” AJ’s lips quirked. “Don’t tell me you’re here alone.”
She could tell him she had come with her brothers, but then he probably wouldn’t talk to her again. AJ didn’t seem the kind to be intimidated. In fact, Katherine thought he would find her brother’s over protectiveness a bit juvenile. “Yes, I’m here alone.”
“I’d offer you a drink, but it looks like you are driving.”
“Yup, but if you want one—”
“No, none for me.” He gave her a bawdy wink. “I know something we could do that is just as intoxicating.”
He wants to have sex with me. I’m not that easy. But I am definitely not finishing this school year a virgin. He seems like he knows what to do, and besides…that body—
“Would you like to include me in that conversation?”
“Oh!” she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. “I was just wondering what exactly you have planned for me. We’ve known each other for, I don’t know, five seconds, and already you are making promises.” Play it cool, smart but slutty. Not too slutty though, you need to seem like you are in control.
A wolfish grin claimed his lips. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” His voice was deep, his smile sexy as if they shared a secret.
AJ closed her car door and took her hand. He pulled her behind him to his car. He opened the boot and flattened the back seat, making his car interior look like a big bed. “After you,” his said. “Are you sure, because once I start—”
“I’m sure. The question is are you?” Katherine could hear her heart thumping in her ears. She could only hope that AJ didn’t hear it too.
“It’s the perfect night to be bad.” His voice dropped an octave.
AJ helped Katherine lay back on the car’s carpeted interior. “Perfect night,” he repeated.
“Be gentle with me.”
* * * *
“Wake up ‘Doctor Do Little’.”
Katherine groaned as she covered her ears against the assault. Just when the memory was getting good
“Leave me alone.” She could still feel the echoes of his caresses as if it had happened yesterday. But they were just a whisper of yesterday.
She woke up with a yelp when she felt the force of two bodies slam onto her bed, almost bouncing her off it. “Damn those bloody birth control pills.”
“Hey! That’s not a nice thing to say,” her brother protested.
“If they had worked I wouldn’t have two monsters nagging at me when I’m trying to sleep.” Katherine fought to pull the covers back over her head but it proved to be a waste of time when her brothers pulled back. Unwillingly she opened her eyes and stared into the faces of blue-eyed blond twin boys, two years her junior. She growled at the identical grins they flashed at her.
“Mom!”
“Christopher, Christian, get out of your sister’s room!” their mother yelled back.
Katherine wondered how their mother had managed to tolerate the terrible twins misbehaving and the yelling that followed. She promised herself she wasn’t going to have any children. She needed to move out. Sure, she wouldn’t be able to keep a maid, but a room in a house without her brothers sounded like paradise to her.
“How long did you work yesterday?” Christian’s brow furrowed in concern. That was the way she told them apart. Christian was the sensitive one, the one concerned for others. Christopher wasn’t that noble. But the two balanced each other out.
“I got in at around six a.m.” Katherine looked at her clock and groaned. It was noon, she needed to get up and get to the gym. “Could you guys give me a second? I’ll come down and have lunch with you. By the way—why aren’t you at school?”
“Its Saturday, you loser.” Christopher put in.
“Saturday. That means—” Katherine buried her face in her pillow. She had known she would lose some time working as a doctor. Unfortunately it meant she didn’t always have time to prepare for the weekly brunch with their father. It was noon—that meant she had missed it. She expected Harold Senior would be sitting in his study, waiting to reprimand her.
“Is he pissed?”
“His face turned red, and his gigantic head looks like it’s about to explode.” Christopher teased. “You’d better get dressed and get ready to be served.”
“You might get lucky, Uncle Ethan and the black sheep just left. Dad may have too much on his mind to focus on you.” Christian re
assured.
Katherine stared at both her brothers in wonder. Physically they were so alike, but everything about them was different. Even in their perfection they still managed to mess up in ways that took the attention from her. She felt sorry for Ethan Junior, an only child with no mother. She shivered when she remembered the times when their fathers tried to fix them up. Ethan Junior was too much of a play boy to focus on one girl.
“Ethan is just misguided.” Katherine muttered.
“No. He’s foolish.”
Katherine stiffened, and saw her brothers freeze. The booming, commanding voice at her door meant her father had not waited, but come to find her. She forced her lips to move and managed a smile, in spite of how she felt.
“Good afternoon, father.” She jumped out of bed and gave him an unwelcomed hug.
“Why weren’t you at breakfast or brunch?” His face was a study of dark fury. It meant his meeting with the McCreeys didn’t go well. “Ethan was here to see you.”
“I got in early this morning. I had to sleep. I’m sorry I missed it,” she rambled quickly.
He leveled a glaring gaze at her. His tone low and cautionary, he said “You will call him and meet him for lunch. Better yet, dinner. You will be nice with him, and before long—”
“Before long what, Father?” Katherine’s fingers dug into her thighs and grabbed a fistful of her jersey jokers, which she clenched to channel her fury. “We aren’t giant pandas. You can’t throw us together in a cage and expect us to mate. Ethan and I barely speak to each other. He acknowledges me with a nod as if I am one of the guys. Do you seriously think we can move from a nod, to him dropping on one knee and us living happily ever after with a bunch of babies?”
“Yes,” he replied unapologetically.
“I don’t even know if I want kids.” Katherine felt her breath hitch in her chest at that revelation. As a child she had pictured the white dress, the picket fence and the baby room. But as she grew up she discovered all she ever wanted was to be her own person.
Now, the one thing she couldn’t live without was a scalpel in her hand and the feeling of someone’s beating heart in her palms. Sure, it sounded kind of serial killer, psychopathic, but she wanted to save lives more than she wanted to bring lives into the world.
“I want to be a cardiologist. I want to save lives. I don’t want to be the wife of a spoiled little rich kid who’s never done an honest day of work in his life. You cannot make this decision for me.”
“That’s what you think.” Harold’s tone didn’t rise. It maintained the same low calmness, but shouted volumes. He had made his decision and Katherine knew no matter how hard she tried to fight his will, he would win in the end.
Her mouth opened and closed, lost for words—not knowing how to put her determination across in a manner, which he would hear and respect her. But her strength, courage and resolve began to buckle under the weight of his intense stare. Before she could shrink back, her pager went off, saving her from further silent assault.
The 911 read clear on her screen, which meant she needed to run. Katherine chanced a sniff at her armpits. The smell wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t hygienic either. She decided she would take a shower at the hospital. Moving away from her father’s imposing glare, she shoved a pair of clean clothes into a duffel bag and shot out of the room without a backward glance. As soon as she got into her car she was glad to be away from her father. But the worry of what awaited her at work began to set in.
* * * *
AJ stood in front of the hospital’s Medical Board of Staff Educational Development. He could kick himself. He muttered an oath under his breath as he shuffled his weight from one foot to the other. He tried to force himself not to feel intimidated.
What was it that his father had said? Back straight, shoulders firm and head held high. AJ was determined to take his punishment like a man. He wasn’t going to let this little mistake break him. Most importantly he wasn’t going to let them see how terrified he was. He had made a mistake last night. Actually Katherine had made the mistake after he had been the one to urge her on.
AJ wanted her to gain confidence in her craft, just as much confidence as he had managed to amass in the past few months. But now they were calling him cocky, arrogant and un-teachable. They claimed his arrogance had rubbed off on the other interns.
Why else would Katherine Henry not double-check her work and make sure her sutures were tight enough? Sloppy, is what they had called it. But AJ called it an honest mistake a second-year intern should be allowed to make. So she missed one loop, the patient had barely bled into his heart, and he had been able to fix it. Why were they focusing on the negative?
“Sir, I just want to say—”
“You are arrogant,” Kenneth Lyle cut him off.
AJ bit down on his jaw. He wouldn’t do or say anything that would jeopardize his attachment. He held his hands together at his back, his lips pressed shut as he looked over Kenneth’s head.
“You made Katherine go cowboy on that patient. That is the only reason she didn’t double check,” Kenneth prodded. “It’s your attending’s fault—letting you go solo on cases. By the end of today, the department heads will not be climbing over each other to get a piece of you.”
“Actually I’m still interested,” the Head of Neurology piped in.
“He was born for the emergency room,” his attending Dr. Hunt said. “Let’s not forget, Lyle, it was your girl who made the mistake. My guy had to fix it. AJ should not be standing here, Katherine should.”
“Thank you, sir, but I should have been watching what she was doing. I saw her looking toward her attending for support, but it seemed as if he wanted to see how she would do on her own,” AJ pointed out, leaving out the accusatory part of his statement.
He remembered Katherine had flashed Lyle terrified looks, labored with doubts. It was a cry for help that wouldn’t have been any louder if she’d leapt on the table and wailed at him. But Lyle had stood back, a smirk on his face. Lyle had wanted to see Katherine fail for some reason, but AJ couldn’t let that happen.
But he didn’t seem to have helped her much. He should have waited to see her knot the last loop she made. One stitch had them in hot water. But he had wanted to give her some space, show he had confidence in her.
“The thing is the patient did not die. But you need to know how serious this is. One mistake, one minute longer and his heart would have flooded and he would be dead now.” AJ bit back his retort and let the chief of staff speak. “You are talented, but you aren’t God. You need to know when and where to draw the line. You still have two years before you pick a specialty, and I suggest you familiarize yourself with other departments. You might be the rising star, but you need the knowledge to keep you great.”
“Thank you, sir.”
* * * *
Katherine’s head whipped from side to side, as she watched the nurses lined up along the hallway on each side, staring her down. She felt like a lamb walking to the slaughter. It was clear the nurses wanted to chew her up, but she wondered why. Finally she’d had enough. Katherine stopped and turned around meeting each accusing gaze.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?”
Finally AJ’s redhead stepped forward. “If he gets fired, it’s your fault.”
‘AJ,’ her mind echoed. He was the only reason the nurses would be up in arms. But what had she done that had got him into trouble? She turned and ran toward the chief’s office, ready to throw herself at his feet for mercy, and save AJ. But when she got there he was walking out. He glanced at her for a second, his expression closed and unreadable, before he turned and walked away.
Katherine thought of turning on her heels and escaping before she met with whatever end AJ had. But Lyle appeared at the door, a scowl on his face, making his otherwise beautiful face as ugly as Hades.
“Come in, Miss Henry.”
Katherine felt her body shiver as the coldness in his voice slithered through her body.
She took a cautious step inside the office and was met by five other doctors, assembled as if they were the Supreme Court. Whatever she had done was wrong and she was about to find out how much it was going to cost her.
* * * *
Katherine had taken a shower, changed into her scrubs and was now in an empty OR, practicing her suturing skills. She had been there well over four hours, and her shift was about to start. Stitches ran all over the pig’s body. She was never going to make the same mistake again. She felt like a hypocrite. That afternoon she had crowed to her father how important it was for her to save lives, and she had almost killed a man because she was not paying enough attention. The powerful high she had felt handling that repair on her own had clouded her judgment. She had wanted to prove she was just as good as AJ, if not better. It was the cocky race to the finish that had brought her to this low point.
Katherine looked around and admitted it wasn’t AJ who was suturing a pig, it was she. She had made the mistake and AJ had been the ever-so-gallant super surgeon who had saved her bacon. Katherine looked at the pig in front of her and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Wow! Has the dementia started to set in?” A deep baritone echoed on the sterile walls.
Katherine almost dropped her tools to the ground as she whirled around to stare into the face of her pest, and for a time, her gallant knight. He was leaning against the wall. He was comfortable enough for her to think he might have been there for a while. But the way he studied her, the intensity in his eyes…She bit on her lower lip as she stared at the bulged biceps of his arms crossed over his chest. She became aware she had been probably staring for a while and should say something, before he thought her an idiot as well as careless. “Thanks for taking care of my sloppy work,” she said making sure to quote Lyle.
