by M. O. Kenyan
Katherine arched with each powerful stroke, as she tried her best to hold her orgasm off.
“Stop it!” AJ’s commanding voice rang in her ears. “I’m in control now, let go.”
“I want it to last—” Katherine swallowed a gasp when she felt AJ pinch her clit, at the same time biting down on her tit. A punishing, unforgiving climax thundered through her. Katherine felt her body squirm, trying to get away from AJ. She felt her toes curl, as a scream bubbled in her belly up her throat, but it never got out. AJ flipped her over and had her on her belly, taking her from behind and he had managed to ensure her mouth was buried in the pillow. She felt the walls of her pussy clench around AJ in a death grip, his body tremble and then the heat of AJ’s release inside her.
“Give…me…a…second.” AJ breathed out. “I’ll get off you in just a second.”
“I don’t care if you never leave me.” Katherine hoped she had said it as clearly as it sounded in her mind.
She was smiling, basking in the remnants of AJ’s warrior-like lovemaking, when the cold engulfed her. AJ had left her body. He grabbed his shirt from the floor and toweled her dry. Flipping her back over, he worked on her front, his eyes never leaving her body, his hands never faltering in their charge. Katherine was sure she had died and gone to heaven.
“You’d better put some clothes on, or—” AJ didn’t finish, instead he swallowed hard.
Katherine wanted whatever his mind was thinking up. But a knock on the door, told them it was time for the surgery. She dressed in silence and watched as AJ dried his sweaty body and dressed. He took their discarded clothes and shoved them into the bag that had carried the clean pair of scrubs.
“This is going to be hard—trying to perform surgery, all the while knowing you don’t have any underwear on. You’d better stay on your side of the table, or I’ll take you on top of the patient with the surgical staff and the entire gallery as an audience.”
“Promises, promises.”
Who said dreams couldn’t come true.
Chapter Six
AJ felt like his whole body was about to break apart. Lyle had it in for him. He had gone from successfully practicing extracting a tumor from a simulation to doing a bypass. But the only positive thing that came out of it was that Katherine had insisted on staying by him. He could see the exhaustion she was fighting in her eyes. Lyle was there watching over them, waiting for them to fail. But they had proved him wrong.
Katherine’s forty-hour day was done when the last surgery was over. But AJ still had to check on his trauma patients and the neurology patient. He was finally done when he dragged his feet toward the staff lounge. He wasn’t even going to change, he was going to grab his gear, grab his girl from the on-call room and go.
AJ’s feet froze. He had just called Katherine his girl. And in a way she was. He was on his way to the on-call room when he realized there was no way he would be able to drive them both home without killing them. He went to the nurse’s station and called for a cab. He sat behind the nurse’s desk, hiding from any attending who would want his many skills on their next surgery. When the cab arrived, he went to the on-call room. But when he opened the door he had to blink a couple of times first. He was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He expected Katherine to be as exhausted as he was. He never expected to find Katherine on the same bed he had just made love to her—with Lyle on top of her.
“Katherine?”
She didn’t respond, but Lyle got off her, his eyes darting from Katherine to AJ nervously. “What do you want, Ross?”
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” AJ still didn’t see any movement from Katherine. It looked like she just didn’t care.
“I’ll go.”
“No, I should leave.” AJ began when a sigh from Katherine stopped him. He looked at her closely. Moving toward her, he saw her turn, her arm falling lifelessly off the bed. She sighed again, and this time AJ realized she was fast asleep.
His insides lurched as anger boiled within him. He turned toward Lyle but all he could see was his lab coat as he made his escape. But AJ wasn’t going to let him get away with whatever he was doing. He didn’t even want to think about what Lyle was doing. He chased after Lyle in a murderous pursuit. In just a few strides his large arm knocked Lyle down to the floor.
The fear and panic in Lyle’s eyes fed AJ’s anger and hunger for blood. He picked him off the floor only to drive him back with a punch.
“What were you doing?”
“Nothing!” He squealed as he crawled away.
“I know what I saw.”
“And what was that?” Lyle challenged him. “I was just checking she was all right.”
“You were on top of her.” He growled through clenched teeth.
“Maybe she just wanted me and you are jealous.”
“She’s asleep!” AJ watched Lyle scramble to his feet. He threw a punch and his fist landed squarely on Lyle’s jaw. He smirked and growled his approval of the sight of Lyle’s bleeding lip. He put another punch on Lyle’s nose. The sight of blood drove his ruthless anger, and he wanted to rearrange his pretty face.
Just as he was about to launch another assault, AJ felt the weight of three men on him. He threw them off and stalked his prey. But the sight of the chief of staff halted him. AJ watched as a victorious smirk twisted Lyle’s mouth. He wasn’t going to win this time.
“Sir, I found Dr. Lyle—”
“Dr. Ross is jealous about my relationship with Dr. Henry,” Lyle cut in.
“That is why I hate in-house romance!” The chief of staff bellowed “I don’t care who is screwing who!” With more control, he continued, “Dr. Ross, you need to get home and get some sleep. Those hands are for performing surgeries, not for beating up people. Soon they are going to be the most expensive hands in this hospital, so you take care of them. I don’t want to see you here until Monday. You can pass the message to Dr. Henry. You two did a great job, and you make a great team.”
“Yes, sir.” AJ managed to mumble a reply.
When the crowd dispersed there were just him and Lyle. AJ could feel the urge to kick his ass come over him again. But he couldn’t. Somehow he was going to get Lyle kicked out of the hospital…he just didn’t know how.
“If you tell anyone what you saw, I’ll kick Katherine off my rotation. I’ll make her seem so useless no one in this hospital is going to touch her. She won’t get a fellowship and her career will be in the toilet.”
AJ didn’t put it past him to kill a patient to get his way. The past two days were proof enough. He had put two surgeons in back-to-back surgeries, endangering the life of at least one patient. AJ made a mad rush to the on-call room. He didn’t bother waking Katherine up. Instead, he gathered her in his arms and headed for their waiting cab.
When they got home, AJ couldn’t master the strength to put Katherine in her own bed. Instead he changed her out of her scrubs and into one of his T-shirts. He put on a pair of cotton pants and lay next to her. He pulled her body into his, and molded his to the curve of hers. With his arms around her he slowly drifted to sleep.
“I’ll never let anyone hurt you,” he swore to her.
* * * *
Katherine opened her eyes to a different world. She was happy, and how could she not be. Her fingers traced the thick vein on AJ’s arms. He had trapped her against him, holding her tight around her waist while his other arm cradled her head. She turned in his arms and came face to face with his strong chest. She like feeling so tiny compared to him. It made her feel protected and somehow, almost loved.
She rested her hand on his chest, and when that wasn’t enough, she kissed him. That earned her a sigh and a smile. Her fingers traced his thick lips, his closed eyes and his strong, defined jaw. There was a lot of him for a girl to love.
Love.
That word had come to her mind twice already. Katherine didn’t believe in fairytale endings, but she didn’t ignore them completely. Living with
a man as hard as her father, she had learned how to draw boundaries on what was realistic and what was a fantasy. Harry Henry was a hard man, but her mother seemed more in love with him each day. To each his own.
But, AJ? Katherine was convinced he was a sweet man, capable of loving someone even through the hard times. But now, her biggest challenge was proving to him that she was enough for him. He had his blonde and that would have to be enough for him. No more red-heads or brunettes, especially one named Lisette.
“I know you are awake.” AJ said his voice heavy with sleep.
“I am, but I guess you’re still sleepy.”
“Uh-huh.” AJ cleared his throat and planted a kiss on her forehead. “We have the weekend off.”
“That’s great. AJ, how did I get out of my scrubs and into your T-shirt?” Katherine knew she was bare from the waist down, when AJ’s hand released her waist and smoothed over her naked thigh.
“I might have had something to do with that,” he replied with an unrepentant grin.
“What else did you do?”
Just then he shifted irritably on the bed, and the smile dropped, his face had a look of annoyance. Katherine didn’t know what she said that set him off. “I won’t mind, if you did something, creepy and totally inappropriate.” She was teasing him, to make light of the mood..
AJ didn’t laugh, instead he asked. “How much of yesterday do you remember, I mean, after the bypass.”
“I went to the on-call room and passed out. The next thing, I wake up in your arms. Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing.” He forced a smile. “While you were sleeping, I was doing rounds. Do you think I could get a few more hours of sleep? I promise you, once I am totally rejuvenated, I will show you how grateful I am.”
Katherine shivered in anticipation as he nibbled on her ear. She could be totally selfish and ask for her prize now, but, expectation was what made the sex even better. “I’ll do laundry while you sleep.”
“Uh—sure.”
Katherine left AJ’s room chastising herself. She shouldn’t have offered to do laundry. That said ‘relationship’ and she knew AJ wasn’t ready for that. The moment of panic in AJ’s eyes, no matter how short it was, told her she had crossed a line. Hopefully, asking to wash his underwear didn’t put him off.
In a matter of minutes, Katherine had turned into Susie House Maker. She dusted, mopped, and cleaned. She had a gnawing need to make this space hers, too. Once she was done with the tiny apartment she started arranging her clothes in the closet. She hid the suitcases under the bed—out of sight, out of mind. Not having them within view told her she was here to stay. And maybe, just maybe, she would be moving her stuff to the master bedroom.
By the time she was done, the second hour had clocked by. How much longer did AJ need to sleep? She settled on making herself a vanilla scented bubble bath. Besides being in need of a shower, she knew AJ wouldn’t be able to resist the sweet scent her skin would be radiating. She sank into the hot water, the bubbles covering her up to her neck. She lay her head back on the head rest, and played some music from the built in overhead stereo. Her room back at home didn’t have these luxuries.
Katherine just had to press replay on the song Twilight by Cover Drive. She felt as if it was written with her and AJ in mind. How the words of a song could hit each and every truth she felt in her heart amazed her. She sank deeper in the tub, the bubbles popping around her nose, and fantasized about singing it to AJ. She could imagine him smiling at her, kissing her, holding her and maybe, if fantasies could turn into reality, him dropping on one knee and asking her to be his princess.
Katherine opened her eyes from her day dream to find AJ leaning on the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest, making the muscles in his arms, chest and shoulders bulge. But the thing that got her the most was the wolfish grin he flashed at her.
“I love this song,” he said as he moved toward her, his eyes never leaving hers. “The words especially. What do you think?
“Uhmmm, it’s great.”
“Is there room in there for two?”
She nodded, unable to trust her voice as a flush of heat swept through her. AJ was staring at her as if she was the last drop of water in a desert. He strode toward her, dropping his pants and stood before her intentionally. He wanted her to appreciate what she was getting and she did. AJ was eight inches and a brain. Katherine could have the best of two worlds, an intelligent conversationalist and a dedicated lover. She hooked her leg on the mouth of the tub, her creamy skin glimmering in the lights. She saw how his eyes roamed her body and felt the heat of his gaze as if it licked her body. His eyes started at her toes, down her calf to her thigh. He pointedly looked at what was hidden beneath the millions of tiny little bubbles. Unconsciously Katherine stroked her inner thigh, and AJ responded the only way he could, with a full salute.
* * * *
AJ was asleep when he was woken up by the insistent buzzing of his phone. It was Saturday and he knew it was either his parents or his sisters asking him why he wasn’t at the family lunch. AJ didn’t think he could drive all the way to the Hamptons. He would have to call them back and make his excuses. He was relying on his mother’s need to baby him, to help with his dad. Adrian Senior would just send a helicopter to pick him up, but having this weekend with Katherine alone would help him get their relationship going. So he wouldn’t call them now. He was going to pretend he hadn’t heard his phone and maybe they would think their son was elbow deep in surgery.
AJ flopped back and closed his eyes. He was staring at the back of his eye lids, replaying the surgery he’d had that day. He liked doing that at the end of each day, try to reflect on everything that could have gone wrong, that did go wrong and a better technique to reduce the risk to the patient.
But lately all he could think about was caressing Katherine’s beautiful needy body. He could feel it call to him. Or that was just his insistent libido telling him to take her. His stomach always dipped at the sensual attraction that echoed from her to him and back again.
Just as the thoughts of Katherine filled his mind, her unmelodic, tone-deaf singing filled his ears.
“I’m glad we agree on that.” AJ said on hearing the lyrics. He’d jumped off his bed and headed toward the cat being skinned. And now he wasn’t standing before a cat, but before the most beautiful woman in the world, his woman. AJ knew now he had been the only man her creamy thighs had cradled, the only one her most intimate secret had invited in. Katherine was his, unsoiled by any other man’s hands, undefiled by any idiot’s attentions. She was perfectly made for him. A man of medicine and science, AJ rarely acknowledged God for much, but this time he had to say the big man in the sky had done a good job molding Katherine.
AJ titled his head as amused as he was curious, but definitely more aroused. The tug toward her was stronger than anything he had ever felt. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting on you,” her voice dripped with honey and a ravenous need that had his stomach doing flips.
“Are you sure you want to invite me in there.” His voice was deep and husky even to his own ears. AJ gazed directly into the hard silver lightning in her eyes waiting for a flicker of doubt.
“I don’t think you have a choice.” Katherine stared pointedly at his groin and he had to chuckle.
“Don’t you think I need more convincing?” AJ definitely did not. The question was more for her than it was for him. But the fire that lit in her eyes when he held her gaze as he moved closer to her, told him that she was ready for him. Katherine was definitely not the same girl from the bonfire. He liked this confident side of her, the ‘I get what I want and what I want is you.’ AJ stepped around the bathtub and urged her forward so that he could slip in behind her.
AJ put his hands on the sides of the tub, teasing her and at the same time restraining himself. She rubbed up against him and he bit back a curse. He took a deep breath trying to steady himself but Katherine seemed determined to drive him
nuts. So he gave into his untamed desire.“Have you ever done it in a bathtub?”
There wasn’t a surface known to man that AJ hadn’t had sex on. But he wasn’t about to tell her that. Instead what he said was, “Don’t think about anything else but the two of us. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you don’t forget this experience. Ever.”
Chapter Seven
Katherine stared at the number as AJ’s phone rang. She wanted to grab it and let this Lisette girl know that AJ had already been taken. But just as her fingers reached for it, AJ walked into the room, a towel riding low on his hips while he used another to dry his hair.
“Is that mine?” he asked.
“Yup, it’s been ringing for a while.” She watched him pick it up, waiting for the guilt to register on his face. But—nothing. Instead he answered the phone with a sweet ‘Yes sweetheart.’ She stared at him, frustrated and steamed.
Katherine leaped off the bed and stalked to her room. Her heart pounded so hard she was surprised it hadn’t flown out of her chest. She couldn’t remember being this angry. She had spent the whole weekend with AJ; they seemed to be in a love bubble. But it was Sunday night, and it looked like it was time for Cinderella’s carriage to turn into a pumpkin. She should have known AJ’s attention and adoration had a time limit. How else did he fit in the hordes of whores in his busy medical schedule?
She could feel the tears sting her eyes. And no matter how much she told herself AJ wasn’t worth crying over, her heart couldn’t stop weeping. It was her fault, she was the one asked to be ‘roommates with benefits.’ She was just getting what she asked for. She quickly swiped the tears away when she heard AJ’s approaching footsteps.
“Hey, it was just my sister. Apparently since I missed Saturday lunch, I have to make up for it by having lunch with her tomorrow.” He half snorted a laugh.
“I think we should be ‘roommates with benefits,’” she declared.
