by Melinda Minx
I can’t see his face because it’s hidden behind his mask, but I smile at him. Then I realize I’m wearing a mask, too. We leave the operating room, and he helps me “disinfect.”
After what feels like washing my hands five hundred times, we get to go back out into the corridors.
“Can we leave yet?” I ask, totally exhausted. “You must be so tired.”
“It’s what it is,” he says. “I’m used to it. I have some paperwork to finish, then we can go.”
I sit with him as he enters a bunch of information into a computer. I guess there’s no real paperwork anymore.
“You were amazing,” I say.
“So amazing you fell asleep,” he says, laughing. “Sleeping Beauty.”
“I fell asleep because just watching you made me exhausted! But the way you handled that bleeding thing...I would totally fall apart under the pressure.”
“We train for that,” he says. “And besides, when you’ve bet $10 million on a single hand of poker, you’re used to staying cool even under the highest stakes.”
I smile, but I feel a little inadequate next to him. I’ve never even had a job interview before. I’m guessing I’ll totally freak out under that pressure. Kaden’s day-to-day is so much more intense than anything I’ll probably ever do in my life. If I learned anything from today, it’s that under no circumstances do I want to be a brain surgeon.
“I’m not exactly tired,” he says. “But I am starving. Want to get something to eat on the way home?”
“Yeah,” I say. “What do you feel like?”
“Barbeque,” he says, grinning.
We go to a place I’ve never seen before, and when I see the “Since 2011” painted on their wall, I realize why I’ve never been there before. I was asleep.
“These guys came from Georgia,” he says. “It’s really authentic. Wood pit, slow-smoked barbeque.”
I’ve never really had barbeque, but it sounds good.
He leads me toward the counter, and I can see them preparing the meat, as the kitchen isn’t walled off and is open concept.
“See that,” he says, pointing to a guy holding a syringe.
“It looks like...brain surgery,” I say.
He laughs. “Don’t think like that, or you’ll lose your appetite.” He points to the syringe. “They are injecting apple juice into the meat. They rub that nice dry rub deep into the skin, and then they inject even more flavor.”
“Why inject?” I ask.
“Only salt can really penetrate the skin usually, but if you inject marinade into it, it pumps it full of even more flavor.”
My mouth starts to water, as I can already see and smell the other meat that has finished cooking and is being sliced right in front of us. It’s a deep, rich mahogany color, like marbled wood. When the cooks slice the meat, it’s so tender that it falls right apart.
“Smoked in a wood pit for over twelve hours,” Kaden says. “You can taste the smoky flavor, it’s like nothing else. What kind of meat do you want?”
I look at the menu, and I don’t really know what to pick. “What do you recommend?”
“Brisket,” he says.
“What’s that?”
“It’s beef, and it’s the best. Trust me.” He winks.
“I trust you.”
He orders us both an order of brisket with a side of beans and one of mac and cheese.
“This place also has killer mac and cheese,” he says.
He gets us each a bottle of beer, and we find a quiet table to sit down with our food. He just smiles at me and watches me.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” I ask.
“You first.”
I go to slice the meat, expecting to have to really cut at it, but it just melts right apart into nice flakey chunks with almost no force from my knife. I put a forkful into my mouth and chew. The smoky flavor hits me first, and then the taste of the meat itself. Then an explosion of other complex flavors explodes in my mouth, dancing all over my tongue.
“Woah,” I say, still not even done chewing.
Kaden smiles wide. “I just popped your barbeque cherry.”
I swallow and laugh. “That’s two cherries in a row.” I blush, but he just grins and shovels a huge chunk of brisket into his mouth.
I try the mac and cheese next, and it really is good. Nothing like the microwaved junk I used to eat.
I really devour the brisket. This is like some art form of cooking I’d never heard of before. I can’t imagine letting something cook for twelve hours, and in a wooden pit? It’s the kind of food you can only really get at a restaurant, which is always the best-tasting food.
Home-cooked meals can be nice, but I’ll take a restaurant that is really damn good at one thing over my half-assed attempt at cooking it any day.
We get another round of beers, and just as I’m starting to really relax and get a good buzz going, I see Dr. Meiner walk into the restaurant.
My face goes white, and my eyes widen. Kaden turns around, and when he sees him, I see his fists ball up.
I grab his arm from across the table. “Don’t, we’re in public.”
He stands up, and I dig my nails into his muscular forearm. “Seriously, Kaden, he can’t do a thing here.”
He walks right up to us. “Sit down, both of you.”
I sit down in my chair, but Kaden stays standing. He towers over Dr. Meiner, his fists bunched so tight that every vein on his arm pops out.
“Dr. Prince,” he says. “Sit down.”
“Or what?” Kaden asks.
“Or you won’t know why Rose is falling back asleep.”
I feel my blood turn cold. “What?”
“I’m not here to threaten you,” Dr. Meiner says. He pulls a device out of his pocket. “I’ve already hit the kill switch.”
“You’re full of shit,” Kaden says. “You told me it was active for—”
“Yes,” Meiner says. “But I managed to get my kill switch working. As soon as I walked in here, I hit it. The device has been completely burned out. Rose won’t feel it for a while, but she probably has only hours left.”
“I’ll kill you,” Kaden says, his teeth clenched.
The restaurant is so loud and crowded that no one can tell what is going on. I feel denial hitting me hard. Dr. Meiner must be bluffing. I feel fine, so he’s got to be lying. I can’t go back to sleep, it’s not an option.
“Kill me,” Meiner says, “and hope that Dr. Bell and her team of quacks can actually produce another device within the next two or three years. Did you ask her what exactly she bought?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“She bought my research,” I say. “The only working prototype was in your head, Rose. I’m doing you both a favor, really, because I’m sure Dr. Bell would have found a way to get it out of you sooner or later, to reverse-engineer it.”
“You’re full of shit,” Kaden says.
Dr. Meiner’s nostrils flare in anger, and he jabs a finger at us. “You trust that woman? How could you? Just because being nice to you two—for now—worked into her plans, you don’t think she’d stab you both in the back if it even marginally benefited her?”
Kaden twitches with anger, but I can’t deny that Meiner is probably right.
“Here’s what will happen,” Meiner says. “I realize you both hate me for doing this, but it will all work out for the best. Once Rose falls back asleep, it will be a PR nightmare for Bell and Pittsburgh Memorial. Everyone is going to start asking why her research failed, and since she pretended it’s hers and gave me no mention at all, she’ll find herself in a serious bind.”
“Dr. Meiner,” I say. “I can’t sleep again. I need to wake up, you can’t—”
“I can! You and your boyfriend have forced my hand!” Meiner says. “Dr. Prince can save you. All he has to do is convince Dr. Bell to bring me onto their team. As leader. I will produce another device—it should take me only a few months with a good team—and you’ll be awake aga
in in no time, Rose.”
“A few months,” I say. “You say that like it’s—”
“It’s much shorter than the years Dr. Bell will need without me. Don’t be greedy, Ms. Dorner.”
Kaden trembles with anger. He’s still standing up and towering over Meiner. “What if she doesn’t agree?”
Meiner shrugs. “I’ve already hit the kill switch. Either you convince her, or you don’t, but I believe you’ll have very good incentive to do everything in your power to convince her. Unless you preferred Rose when she was your Sleeping Beauty.
“I’ll convince her,” Kaden snarls. “Now get the fuck out of my face.”
17
Kaden
Rose begs me to stay with her. She doesn’t want to be alone when she falls asleep again.
I bring her back to my house, and I try to keep her mind off what is going to happen. I still hope that Meiner is lying, or that even with the device fried, that Rose is cured and won’t fall back asleep.
“I’m afraid,” she says, panic in her voice. “I don’t want to go to sleep tonight.”
“Even if you do fall asleep,” I say, not wanting to give up hope that it’s all a lie, “I’ll fight harder than I ever have to get you to wake back up as soon as I can. You’ll be up again in no time. It will never again be like before. Never again will you sleep for years, Rose.”
Her lip trembles, and I kiss her.
We kiss long, hard, and deep, and soon she’s straddling me. She tears off her shirt. “I want to keep moving...to stay awake as long as I can.”
“So you want to be on top then,” I say, smiling.
She gives me an evil grin, though there’s a real sadness in her expression.
I can’t keep my eyes off her breasts, which are right in my face when she leans down. I grab for the clasp on her bra and undo it, and her perfect tits pop right out, her nipples already hard.
I pull her down until my lips press against her soft breasts. I suck her nipple into my mouth, and I massage her other breast. She moans and squirms on top of me, though she’s still fully clothed below the waist.
I force her down onto her back and pull her belt off.
“I wanted to be on top,” she says, pouting.
“You will be,” I say. “Once I get your pants off.”
I tear off her pants and panties and throw them aside, and then I go ahead and shed all my clothes, as well. We’re soon both naked, and I pull her up so she’s on top of me again.
My cock is semi-hard, but as soon as she straddles me, she rubs her wet pussy against my shaft. It hardens instantly, and she keeps grinding against my girth, giving me an evil smile as she does.
I reach up and cup her breasts, and her grinding lathers her hot juices all over my hard shaft.
“How’s it feel to be on top?” I ask.
“I like it,” she says. “Though I still like when you’re in charge.”
I twitch my dick, and it presses up harder against her. I see her eyes widen at the movement.
“I never knew guys could do that,” she says.
“How long are you going to tease me?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says, bending down toward me.
She licks my nipple, and then bites it between her teeth. Not hard enough to be really painful, but just enough to sting.
I lean back, feeling my cock throbbing against her wet outer lips. She nibbles and bites and licks me, and I flex my whole body in anticipation. I’ve put the negative thoughts out of my mind—I’m going to enjoy the time we have left together. I won’t let what Dr. Meiner did cast a dark shadow over the light that Rose and I create together.
“I’m so horny,” she whispers into my ear. “I can’t wait any longer.”
“You don’t want me to go down on you?” I ask, grinning.
She bites her lips, seemingly deep in thought. Then I feel her hips gyrate, and she says, “Not after feeling that thick dick pressed up against me. I need it inside me, Dr. Prince.”
“Then ride me, Rose,” I say, putting my hands behind my back.
She raises herself up, and her tiny fingers pull my cock off my abs so that it’s standing rigid and upright. She positions herself over me, and then lowers herself down until I feel my head pressing against her slick opening.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “That looks good.”
“It will feel even better,” she says.
I feel her tightness clench against my rock-hard shaft as she lowers herself down. Her cum slathers my dick, and her warmth envelopes me.
I flex my stomach and pull my shoulders back as the sensation overwhelms me, and Rose lowers herself down and down and down. I finally feel her thick ass pressing against my legs, and I feel her warm flesh flush against my balls. She’s taken in my full length and girth, and she’s just sitting on top of me, while I’m buried inside her.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” she says, voice heavy.
I buck my hips slightly, so that my cock slides a bit inside her. She lets out a gasp, then she smiles and runs her hands up and down my powerful abs.
“Do the thing now,” she says.
“What thing?” I ask.
“The thing that I didn’t know guys could do,” she says.
“Oh,” I say.
I flex my cock within her, pumping even more blood into it. It stiffens that much more, and the head and shaft swells. Rose’s eyes roll back into her head, and her hips start to buck against me.
She starts to ride me hard, bouncing up and down on my throbbing cock. I feel her insides tightening and squeezing me as she rides, and her thick ass slaps hard against me each time she bounces down onto me.
And her huge breasts bob up and down gloriously as she rides me. My eyes lock onto them, captivated. I reach up and squeeze them, pinching and tweaking her nipples.
She rides me for a good ten minutes, until we’re both drenched in sweat and breathless. Her skin feels slick against mine even where I’m not buried inside her, and I’ve had the urge to come three or four times, but I’ve held it back, not wanting this to end.
She finally pulls herself off me, and turns her body so she’s facing in the opposite direction.
“Oh,” I say, grinning.
She lowers herself back onto me, her ass facing me.
“God,” she says. “Your dick is hitting me just right, Kaden.”
“Yeah,” I say, too overwhelmed to get out anything witty or eloquent. “Fuck.”
She starts to ride me again, slower this time, as she catches her breath. I grip her waist and squeeze her ass as she rides me rhythmically up and down, and I look in wonder at my cock as she slides up and down on it, drenching it in her thick white fluid.
She picks her pace up steadily, until soon I’m watching her ass slap against me. Her back cuts a striking profile, the curves of her hips and waist tapering out and in. Her breasts are so large that I can see them from behind, jutting out on either side, and bouncing wildly as she rides me.
My cock begins to shudder. I won’t be able to last much longer.
I reach up and cup her breasts, squeezing them. I slam my hips up and down against her, maximizing the friction. Rose gasps and whines. “Fuck, doctor, I’m coming!”
Perfect timing. Her pussy squeezes me as she reaches down and furiously fingers her clit. I buck my hips in and out of her as she gyrates on top of me, and I feel her pussy pulsing and tightening air-tight against my cock.
As my balls tighten up, her gritty screams and moans send me over the edge. The exhaustion from the surgery and everything else that has happened today feels like it’s pulled out of my body and right down into my balls, and when the first load explodes out of me, all the stress and tension goes with it. In its absence, there’s an intense surge of adrenaline rushing to my head. As I hear Rose gasp and scream, my love for her grows even as my cock blasts load after load of my thick seed deep inside her.
Her pussy gushes wet as I fill it up, soaking my cock
with our combined juices. I feel her dripping out of me as I pump her too full, and soon she’s stopped moving. She’s just sitting on my cock, holding its full length inside her. She quivers and twitches on top of me, and my cock pumps out its last load before beginning to soften.
“Holy shit,” I whisper. “How could it be better than the last time?” I ask.
“Maybe I’m just really good at being on top,” she says, panting.
I get up in the morning to see Rose asleep. We both fell asleep after we fucked, even though she said she wasn’t going to. I go to wake her up now, but she doesn’t react.
God. It’s really happening. Dr. Meiner wasn’t bluffing, and that last hope of denial is melting away.
“Rose,” I say, shaking her more forcefully. “Can you hear me?”
Her eyes open ever so slightly, and they lock onto mine. “It’s like last time,” she says in a faint whisper. “But now I have so much more to lose.”
“I’ll get you back,” I say, my face pressed right up against hers. “You’ll be back in no time.”
“Just watch over me like last time. Be my doctor still,” she says.
“More than that,” I say. “I love you, Rose. I’ll watch over you no matter what.”
Her eyes fall shut. I’m not even sure she heard me, but I have to believe she did.
I spend most of the morning breaking the news to everyone. Dylan didn’t take it well, but he believed me when I said I’d do everything in my power to bring her back.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Dr. Bell shouts.
Her door is closed, but I’m pretty sure everyone within a hundred feet or so can hear her shouting.
“What do I tell the fucking press?” she asks.
I tighten in anger. Every muscle in my body flexes, and my fists ball up. I try to contain the rage, but it’s hopeless.
I tear her monitor off the desk, ripping the cables out, and I throw it as hard as I can onto the wooden floor. The glass smashes apart, and I slide everything off her desk into a pile on the floor.
I get right up in her face. “The woman I love is in danger, and your first thought is the fucking press?” I point down at the mess on the floor. “I’ve just cleared your schedule, so now your new and top and only priority is getting Rose back. Do you fucking understand me?”
