Sure, the stakes were higher, but I trusted her never to reveal this to anyone and to keep mine and Aiden’s arrangement under lock and key. She would never do anything to hurt me.
I licked my lips.
Stephanie’s eyes widened, and she pointed an accusing finger at me. “You did more than kiss him, didn’t you?”
“No. I—”
“Yes, you did! I can see it all over your face. That’s why you were so pissed at me for wanting to go after him. It all makes so much more sense now.” Her grin was so wide, I wondered how her cheeks managed it. Then her smile fell, and her brows drew together. “Wait. You two could get into serious trouble for this. What exactly happened between you two?”
“We… well, we fooled around a bit.”
“And?”
“And I might have spent the night in his bed and not on his couch, like I said.”
Stephanie rested her chin in her hands and stared at me in wonder. “My girl Elizabeth, getting that hot-doctor dick. I’m proud of you.”
“Stephanie,” I scolded her crudeness. “Don’t say stuff like that.”
“Is it not true? Does he not have that hot-doctor dick?”
I buried my face in my hands as my cheeks burned. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“Did he fuck you right?”
That was an easier question for me to answer. I giggled nervously. “Yes. He definitely did.”
Stephanie slapped the table and rocked back in her chair. “Amazing! I can’t believe this. Damn you. I’m so jealous. I’ve been throwing myself at Parks, and the dumbass is none the wiser. You’re getting what I need. Tell me everything.”
I told her some things but not everything. I told her about how things went after the gala and how I ended up spending the night. I left out the fact that I’d sucked him off in his office the other day while both of us were working, and I also left out how that led to him slipping a hand into my scrubs and teasing me until I was putty in his hands. I told her only the bare bones of what she needed to know, and then I begged her not to tell a soul.
Stephanie shook her head seriously as our food arrived. “I would never say anything. I promise. Your secret is safe with me. Although…”
“What?
“I feel less bad asking for you to keep helping me with Parks.”
I rolled my eyes as I sipped my coffee. “All right. All right. I’ll try to steer him in your direction, okay? But I’m not a matchmaker.”
She beamed at me. “No. You’re a sugar baby.”
I groaned.
Steph snickered. “Hey, it’s not all bad. Some extra money and getting to share a bed with Dr. Crawford? Girls would kill to be in your shoes. Literally kill. Like Dr. Vant. Can you imagine if she ever found out?”
My heart leapt into my throat at the thought. “She’d ruin both of us.”
“Probably.”
I suddenly didn’t have much of an appetite, and I stared down at my plate, disenchanted by the eggs and hash browns.
Stephanie nudged my shin under the table with the toe of her sneaker. “Hey, that psycho isn’t going to find out you’re getting your jollies with Aiden, okay? This stays between us. And Aiden, of course. But I won’t even let on to him that I know. Okay?”
“Okay,” I muttered.
Stephanie nodded confidently at me. “Good. Now eat your food. We have a long day, and we don’t waste food. Right?”
I sighed. “Right.”
22
Aiden
“Scrub out, Dr. Crawford,” the nurse at my side said. “We’ll take it from here.”
She’d been a rock star through Gary Lowde’s bypass surgery, and having her at my side made the process a hell of a lot easier. She was quick on her feet and inquisitive. I hardly had to give her any instructions. She hopped to each next step with ease, and now it seemed she was fully aware of how long I’d been on the clock.
I’d just passed my twelve-hour mark. The surgery had been a three-and-a-half-hour procedure that was high risk but went smoothly. Gary had a blocked artery in the right ventricle of his heart, and had he not caught it early, his story would have ended a lot differently. And a lot sooner.
Two and a half months ago, he’d experienced shortness of breath and chest pains while walking down his driveway to put his garbage at the curb. His wife, a sweet but firm woman, had laid down the law and dragged his ass to their family doctor, who ran some tests and took steps to set him up for surgery as soon as possible.
Luckily, there was no damage to his heart.
He had little risk for further complications. Heart disease ran in his family, but he didn’t have many of the other symptoms the other men in his family did. He was healthy. Fit. Active. He didn’t have diabetes or high blood pressure. All the variables were stacked in his favor, which made my job infinitely easier in the OR.
I thanked the nurse at my side, who was already working with the other doctor to put Gary back together on the table. His wife was likely sitting in the waiting room outside.
“I’ll tell Mrs. Lowde her husband is moving into recovery.”
“All right.” The nurse didn’t look up from her work as I headed to the door.
I scrubbed out, washed my hands, and slipped out into the waiting room to cast my eyes over the mint-green chairs in search of Gary’s wife. I spotted her in a corner seat. She had a magazine flipped open in her lap and her elbow resting on the armrest of the chair. Her cheek was crushed against her palm, which caused her glasses to lean crooked and creep up one side of her face.
I smiled to myself.
This was a good part of the job. Delivering happy news always made a long shift worthwhile.
I crossed the linoleum of the waiting room and stopped in front of Mrs. Lowde. In the time it took me to get to her, her chin had dipped even lower toward the strands of gold and silver beads glittering around her neck.
“Mrs. Lowde?”
The woman in the chair didn’t stir. The magazine inched closer to the edge of her knees, and her cheek became even more smushed. I smiled to myself as I slid my hands in my white coat pockets.
“Mrs. Lowde?” I spoke a little louder.
She woke with a jerk. Her eyes snapped open, and she righted herself. The magazine slid to the floor, and as I bent to pick it up, she straightened her glasses and blinked at me. “Doctor?”
I straightened up and placed the magazine on the small end table beside her chair. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you. Your husband is out of surgery. Everything went brilliantly, and he’ll be moved to recovery in about twenty minutes.”
She pressed a thick-fingered hand to her chest and sighed with relief. “Thank heavens. When can I see him?”
“Soon.” I checked the time on the clock above the doors to the OR. “Give the nurses some time to get him settled, and one of them will come out to get you. You have time to grab a bite to eat or a coffee from the cafeteria, if you like. I know you haven’t left this chair since your husband was rolled in. And they’ll need at least half an hour.”
She nodded. “All right. Thank you, doctor. Thank you so much.” She got to her feet and clasped my hand with her shaking ones. “I don’t know what would have happened had you not added Gary’s surgery to your schedule. We are so very grateful.”
I knew what would have happened. He would have suffered a major heart attack while doing some mundane activity, like changing a tire or unloading the dishwasher, and he would have dropped dead. Done. Over. Just like that.
I squeezed her hand back. “It’s the least I could do.”
Mrs. Lowde fixed her glasses upon the bridge of her nose before shuffling around me to disappear down the hall, following the signs hanging from the ceiling that would point her in the direction of the cafeteria two floors below our feet. Once she was gone, I retired to my office to take fifteen minutes to myself before I had to be back out in the halls and doing patient visits. I had four patients to see in the cardiac unit and an
other two in intensive care who were recovering from emergency surgeries performed within the last thirty-two hours.
I expected a lot of questions from family members. There always were.
It left little room for me to show up looking as exhausted as I felt, so being able to lock my office door and drop down into my chair to put my feet up on my desk was a welcome moment of silence and stillness.
“Four more hours,” I told myself, knitting my fingers behind my head and leaning back. My chair squeaked in soft protest beneath me.
Four more hours and I would be home.
And with any luck, Elizabeth would join me there.
My fifteen minutes of solitude were interrupted by a knock on my office door. I kicked my heels down from my desk and called for them to let themselves in.
The door opened a crack, and Elizabeth poked her head in.
The fatigue that had rested heavily on my shoulders mere moments before slipped away.
“Hi.” She closed the door behind her and clasped her hands behind her back. Her hair was drawn up in a tight coiled bun atop her head, showing off her face shape and the little diamond earrings winking in her earlobes.
I smiled at her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes today.”
“Rough shift?”
“Long.”
She nodded sympathetically and moved closer to my desk. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Coy little minx.
I braced a hand on the desk and pushed myself to my feet. “I wish we had the time.” I moved around the desk and leaned on the front of it. Elizabeth took a step toward me, and I reached out, took her wrist, and pulled her into me. “We have rounds to make. Patient visits. I want you to pay attention and follow my lead. Can you do that?”
“Of course.”
“What time are you on the clock until?”
“Two in the morning.”
I nodded and slipped a hand into the pocket of my coat, where I fished out a single gold key. I pushed it into her palm. “This is for you. Come to my house when you’re done tonight. Let yourself in.”
Her big brown eyes swept up to me.
“Is it too much?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
Her tongue darted out and ran along her lips. “No. Not at all. Thank you.”
“I’ll make the trip out to me worth it.” I winked.
She giggled softly and pushed at my chest. “I would expect nothing less.”
Coy and cheeky. A sexy combination.
Elizabeth stilled when I reached up and grazed her cheek with the back of my fingers. “There’ll be more money in your account by tomorrow morning.”
She drew her bottom lip into her mouth. “Thank you.”
“Is it helping?”
“Of course it is.”
“Good.” I nodded and slid my fingers under her chin, lifting her face to mine so I could press a soft kiss to her lips. The kiss deepened. Elizabeth’s fingers tightened in the front of my coat, and a little moan escaped her lips.
I forced myself to pull away. It wasn’t easy. Her lips and the curve of her hips called to me. All I wanted was to sweep an arm across my desk to clear the surface so I could lay her down on it and have my way with her. Hard and fast and rough and wild.
But this was not the place. And we had all night for such things.
Elizabeth moved back and blushed. “I hope I’m worth what you’re paying.”
I grinned and moved around her, squeezing her ass as I went. “Don’t ever doubt yourself. Not with me and not in this job. Got it?”
She followed me out of my office and into the hall. Her footsteps were silent as she came up beside me and held her chin up. “Got it.”
We started with the hard visits first in the ICU. Elizabeth stayed by my side through every conversation with the children and spouses of patients, who asked a dozen questions in a matter of minutes and hung on every word I said.
“How long until he can leave the hospital?”
“Can we bring him food to eat that isn’t shitty cafeteria food?”
“Where’s the closest place to have a smoke?”
“What medication is he on?”
“We’ve been waiting for over an hour. Are you sure he’s getting proper care here?”
“You have to pay for television?”
“Is there a parking discount for immediate family members?”
“How much does this medication cost?”
“Does he have to stay on these pills for life?”
“How bad is the scar going to be?”
By the time we moved on from the ICU to go to the cardiac unit, my head was pounding, and all I wanted was to sleep.
Or find a quiet place where I could pull Elizabeth into my lap and have my way with her.
We rode the elevator up to the cardiac unit. Elizabeth watched me out of the corner of her eye. “So, was that normal?”
I smirked. “You mean the torrent of questions they could have asked literally anyone else?”
She nodded.
“Yep. Quite normal.”
Elizabeth sighed. “How irritating.”
“Part of the job.”
“Still irritating.”
I chuckled as the elevator doors slid open. We stepped out and pushed through the doors to the cardiac unit. “You’ll come to expect them. When people are flustered and have suffered trauma or grief, they tend to focus on the things that don’t matter as much.”
“Like parking?”
I shrugged. “For those who can’t necessarily afford it, it’s a valid concern. Unfortunately, it’s entirely out of my hands. I deal with the patient on the operating table and the aftermath. Not the convenience of coming to see them.”
We paused in front of the first room we were visiting. I could hear muffled voices of visitors chatting quietly with their family member in recovery. It was a better sound than tearful grief.
“These ones will be better,” I said, and then Elizabeth and I slipped into the room to greet the family of a man who was recovering from open-heart surgery yesterday afternoon.
23
Elizabeth
The day weighed heavily on me as I changed out of my scrubs in the hospital locker room and slipped into a comfy pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. I pulled on a pair of tennis shoes, pulled my hair out of its messy bun, shook it out, and slapped a bit of lip gloss on.
It was just after two in the morning, and I was ready to get the hell out of here. I fished Aiden’s house key out of my scrub pockets and twirled it in my fingers.
“What’s that?” Stephanie asked, sidling up beside me to pop open her locker.
I dropped the key in my purse. “Nothing. New key to my mom’s place.”
Close call.
“Are you heading home?”
“Maybe not right away,” I told her.
“Well, I still have another couple of hours to go. I’ll see you back at the apartment later?”
“Sure. Gotta run, Steph. Have a good rest of your shift.”
I grabbed my things out of my locker before locking it up and hurried out of the women’s locker room to hail a cab in the parking lot. I gave the driver Aiden’s address as my stomach swirled with excitement at having time alone with him.
His words had been running through my mind all night. I craved his touch and his bed and the heat of his breath on my neck.
The cab dropped me off at his place, and I made my way up the drive, slid his key in the lock, and let myself in.
It was an odd sensation to walk through his silent house in the middle of the night.
I’d hoped he would have waited up for me. But the stillness suggested he was already asleep. I supposed I couldn’t blame him. He worked hard, and he’d pulled a long shift. He needed rest.
I found him in his bedroom.
He was lying on his back with the blankets resting lightly over his stomach. His chest was exposed, showing off taut muscle that made my mouth water.
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For a moment, or a couple of beats longer than a moment, I considered crawling into bed beside him and letting him sleep. It would be nice to drift off sharing the warmth of our bodies beneath the blankets. It would be nicer still to wake up next to him.
But that was something a real girlfriend did. Not a fuck buddy.
Maybe I wasn’t necessarily a fuck buddy, but I felt closer to that than a girlfriend. This was an arrangement, not a relationship.
And he’d asked me to come here for sex, not to cuddle.
I shook my head at myself. At some point or another, I was going to have to stop getting caught up in these romantic ideas that this could be more than what I’d offered: access to my body.
I slid my bag off my shoulder and placed it gently upon his dresser. Then slowly and silently, I stripped out of my clothes, folded them neatly, and set them down in a neat pile beside my bag. Then I proceeded to tiptoe across his bedroom, pull the blankets back on the empty right-hand side of the bed, and slide under them. The mattress creaked softly, comfortably, and I curled onto my side to face him as my skin prickled at the coolness of the sheets.
I nestled closer to him, resting my knees lightly against his hip to feel some of his warmth. He was naked too.
My heart fluttered with anticipation as I reached over and ran my hand over his chest. I felt a little guilty as I prepared to wake him. Like me, I was sure his day had been long and tiresome. Perhaps he needed sleep more than he needed me.
I licked my lips and propped my head up on one hand. It didn’t matter. He’d asked me to come here. This is what he wanted. And it was what I wanted too.
Desperately.
So I kissed his bare shoulder and worked my way across his chest before gently pushing at him. “Aiden.”
He drew a deep, sharp breath as his eyes fluttered open.
I smiled up at him. “I considered letting you sleep.”
He wrapped an arm around my waist. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
Between The Sheets Page 14
