by Virna DePaul
She was smart and sexy and strong. And she fucked like a fucking goddess of the deep. My horniness was the least confusing feeling coursing through me as I opened the lobby doors of the hospital and waited for the elevator.
As the doors were about to close, I heard someone shout, “Hey, hold that elevator.”
I wedged my hand just in time to let in a tall, middle aged man with dark hair and gray at the temples.
“Floor?” I asked.
“Four.”
The man swiped through his phone without a second glance at me. I shrugged and watched the floor numbers flash by on the screen. When the doors opened on the fourth floor, I held my arm out to indicate he should go first, but he shouldered past as if it was his intention regardless of me. He turned right and I stuffed my hands in my pockets, because I, too, was heading right.
He glanced over his shoulder and frowned when he found me behind him.
“Cute ass,” I said.
He stopped. “Excuse me?”
I held up my hands. “Chill, man. I’m just going in the same direction.”
We awkwardly walked along the same path till we were both standing outside of Marcus’s office. I was there because he wanted to check in on how things were going after my first week with the hospital and with Lauren as my attending surgeon. Why this guy was there, I had no idea.
“Doctor Pierre is just stuck in a little traffic, doctor,” Judy, Marcus’s assistant, told the stranger before she turned to me. “Ryan, if you don’t mind waiting?”
I shook my head. “No problem.”
“Coffee?”
“That would be great, thank you.”
Judy turned to the dark-haired man. “Doctor?”
His eyes remained fixed to his phone. “Is it still that same shit from that filthy ass pot?”
Judy’s jaw clenched. “We used the department’s overhead to get a new operating table, not the latest espresso machine.”
The man didn’t miss a beat. “Then no.”
I mouthed ‘dick’ to Judy and she winked before disappearing around the corner. I took a seat across from the asshole and drummed my fingers on my knees. “You used to work here then?”
He looked up, clearly annoyed. “And you are?”
I grinned and pointed to my name tag stuck to my white coat. “Ryan Castle.”
“Yeah, I can read. I mean what are you doing here?”
“Oh, me?” I asked, playing dumb. “I’m waiting for Marcus.”
He rolled his eyes and returned to his phone. Judy returned with a coffee in a small plastic cup.
I glanced over at the man to make sure he wasn’t looking and then pointed over at him, mouthing ‘Who is that?’
She held up a finger.
“Let me get you a napkin,” she said aloud.
I saw her scribble something behind her desk and the napkin she handed over the counter read: Samuel Decker - surgeon, left after big thing with nurse, Dr. L’s ex, ASSHOLE. I crumbled the napkin and shoved it in my pocket. I studied the man across from me, surprised that Lauren would ever be interested in such an asshat.
Just then the elevator down the hall dinged and a moment later Marcus and Lauren appeared around the corner, chatting and clearly oblivious of the two of us sitting there. I saw the smile on Lauren’s face fall the very moment that her eyes landed on her ex, Samuel. She paled and for a split second, looked like she was going to faint. Instinctively, I almost got up to go to her but she met my gaze and subtly shook her head. Then she whispered something to Marcus who shook his head.
Lauren marched past the small waiting room and straight into Marcus’s office, closing the door after her.
“Samuel,” Marcus said, approaching the man. “I thought we said Tuesday morning?”
Samuel stood. “Your assistant told me Monday.”
Marcus turned to Judy, who quickly explained, “Doctor, your email said to arrange the interview for Monday morning. Maybe I entered the time wrong in your calendar or—”
“No, no, Judy, I’m sure you did everything right. I’m just getting old,” Marcus smiled. “There’s a reason I’m retiring after all.”
Samuel did not laugh with Marcus. He didn’t even crack a smile. Marcus cleared his throat and patted the man on the shoulder. “Give me five minutes with Doctor Decker—er, Lauren. We have a tricky surgery scheduled for this afternoon. Then I’ll be right with you.”
Samuel threw his hands up in obvious frustration. “Shit, Marcus, you’re going to make me sit here and wait for you?”
“Five minutes,” Marcus said, already closing the door to his office.
“Marcus,” Samuel started, but the click of the door interrupted him leaving him standing there fuming.
Almost immediately, we all heard Lauren’s voice. “He’s here to interview for your position? Why didn’t you warn me, Marcus?”
Judy and I exchanged worried looks even as Marcus responded, his voice indistinct. Lauren must have lowered her voice as well, because although we could hear the talking, their words weren’t decipherable.
I glanced back at Lauren’s ex, wanting to punch him when I saw the satisfied smirk on his face. Obviously sensing my gaze, and probably the hostility behind it, he looked at me and cocked a brow. “You might want to come back later since Marcus will be busy interviewing me for a while.”
I gave him a tight smile. “Thanks, but I’ll wait until he’s done speaking with Dr. Decker.”
His gaze sharpened. “You know Lauren?”
“She’s my attending.”
“Since when?” He looked at Judy, obviously demanding an explanation. Judy looked at me, which made me smile, because I knew the fact she wanted my okay before explaining things to this Dr. Decker would piss him the hell off. “By all means,” I said.
Judy turned back to Lauren’s ex. “Helen Lewis left so there’s a chief resident position open. Graton’s is extremely interested in recruiting Dr. Castle, which is why he’s here for a month to shadow Dr. Decker. To see if he’s interested in accepting the position.”
Lauren’s ex turned back to me and snorted. “To see if you’re interested? You’d be a fool to turn it down. Graton’s is the best teaching hospital in Denver, and will be the best in the country after I take over as Chief of Surgery.”
“Assuming you get the job,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
I quickly changed tactics, wanting to punch the asshole but deciding to play with him instead. “I mean, of course you’ll get it. After all, you’re Dr. Samuel Decker, aren’t you?” I widened my eyes and leaned forward in my chair. I’d actually never heard of him, but if he was being considered to take Marcus’s position, he had to have impressive credentials. “Wow, I mean, wow, I read about you in the Harvard Medical Journal.”
Samuel nodded and puffed out his chest like a cartoon rooster. “I’ve heard that a lot.”
I willed my eyes not to roll. It was a struggle, but I somehow managed even though I think I might have strained something.
“I hope that one day I can be half the surgeon that you are, sir.”
He shrugged. “I’d already saved fifty lives at least by the time I was your age, but yeah, sure. Study hard or something.”
“I’d really love the opportunity to speak with you sometime and get some of your wisdom.”
“I’m really busy.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure, I’m sure. But I’d love just a few minutes. I could meet you at your hospital maybe? I’d bring coffee. The good shit. On me.”
Samuel seemed to consider my offer as he chewed on the inside of his mouth. “Well… I do like the coffee shop on 15th. And I’d be interested in hearing how you’re finding it working with Lauren. Who you must have guessed by now, is my ex-wife. But no worries. We’re keeping things professional between us.”
“Sure, sure,” I said, trying to make my eagerness sound sincere.
“I’m really doing you a favor here,” Samuel said as he pulled out his phone ag
ain. “A cappuccino double pump caramel almond milk, steamed, and tell them to swirl the hell out of it.”
“Got it,” I said even though I hadn’t been listening. “When works for you?” I stood up and crossed the space between us. He was scrolling through his calendar as I leaned over him.
“I don’t know, kid. I’m pretty full.”
I bit my tongue at the use of the word ‘kid’ and pointed to an open slot. “How about then?”
“Where?”
I moved closer and accidentally, absolutely, positively, cross-my-heart it was accidentally, tipped my coffee cup a little too far over his lap. He leaped up as the full contents of the cup poured over his phone. I swear I didn’t purposefully aim to hit the tiny speaker at the top which would lead straight into the central components of the phone. I swear.
Samuel tried to wipe the phone off with a medical magazine on the table as he swore at me. “You fucking idiot! What is wrong with you?”
I put my hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, Samuel, man. Dude, I swear it was just an accident.”
“It’s fucking Dr. Decker to you, you little piece of—”
The door to the office swung open and the confused faces of Marcus and Lauren peered out.
“Dr. Decker, what the hell is going on?” Marcus clipped out.
Samuel, red and puffy in the face, pointed a shaky finger at me. “This fucking kid spilled coffee on my phone.”
Lauren stepped forward. “That kid is Dr. Ryan Castle and Graton’s wants him as its new chief resident.”
Samuel rounded on her with a sneer. “Defending your pupil, Lauren? So loyal of you.”
I could see it was on the tip of her tongue to say it. To say, I am loyal, unlike you, you cheating dirt-bag, but before she could, Marcus interjected.
“Samuel, please come into my office. We both know you could afford a hundred new phones.”
Samuel glared at me and then finally walked past us into Marcus’s office. The door closed and then it was just me and Lauren and Judy, who was trying and failing to hide her giggles. I grinned and looked over at Lauren.
But it was abundantly clear that she found none of this funny.
“Dr. Castle,” she said, her tone clipped. “May I speak with you in private?”
After a last glance at Judy, I followed her down the hall like a puppy about to be disciplined for chewing up a shoe.
“Lauren, I—”
She whirled on me as soon as we got inside her office and she shut the door.
She pointed a finger into my chest, causing me to back up into the wall. Anger was written all across her face. “I do not,” she hissed. “I repeat, I do not, need you to fight my battles.” She paced in front of me like a wild tiger thrust into a cage. “I’ve built a respectable career for myself long before you arrived in a wailing bundle on my doorstep, okay? Do you think this is the first male asshole I’ve had to deal with in twenty years? Do you?”
“No, but—”
“I can deal with Samuel by myself, too. You and I aren’t together because we matched on some stupid dating app. We aren’t a couple just because we”—she lowered her voice to a whisper—“drunkenly fucked one time. We aren’t a thing because of one regrettable night.”
“I wasn’t drunk and neither were you,” I shot back.
She stopped pacing and stared at me, and I crossed my arms over my chest, daring her to repeat that what had happened between us on Friday night had been the result of too much alcohol rather than an irresistible desire.
Her shoulders slumped.
“No,” she said, rubbing at the back of her neck. “You’re right. We weren’t drunk. Granted, I’d been drinking, and the whole reason I’d gone to that club in the first place was because Samuel had called and said some ugly things but—”
“Great guy, making sure he upset you even before he shows up to interview for Marcus’s job. He didn’t deserve you, Lauren.”
Lauren sighed. “Be that as it may, Ryan, you don’t know me.”
“No, but I’m getting to know you, and no one has to know you very long to understand what an incredible woman you are. You’re such an incredible woman that even with the way you keep pushing me away, I don’t regret what we did Friday night. Do you? Really?”
She stared at me, pleasure dancing in her eyes, before she shut it down. “I made a mistake Friday night. It’s an unavoidable fact that you are a resident in my hospital. It’s an unavoidable fact that you are a decade younger than I am. It’s an avoidable fact that I should regret what we did together but…”
I no longer felt like I was standing in her office in a public hospital. It felt like I was back in the entry hallway of my rental apartment, in the dark, standing across from Lauren, her eyes on me, on me and me alone.
“I don’t. I don’t but we can’t do it again.”
Her eyes fell to the ground and she turned and without another word, she walked out of her own office.
Chapter Eight
Ryan
Chance held up a nerf gun the size of his arm and grinned at me like a child on Christmas morning. A week had passed since Lauren and I had sex, and while things between us had come to a screeching halt personally, Chance had apparently met a woman he’d not only had one date with, but three. On date three, he’d found out she had a kid. To my shock, Chance was undeterred.
“How old did you say this woman’s kid was again?” I asked, lowering the gun before he shot someone’s eye out.
“Um, two?”
“Two?”
“I think that’s what she said.”
I cleared my throat and took the nerf gun from Chance’s startling firm grip. I displayed it for him so he could see it in its monstrosity.
“You’re getting a gift for the two-year-old child of this girl you just met to impress her,” I said, slowly enough that dear, dear Chance could understand, “and your first thought was a gun the size of the baby?”
Chance looked between me and the nerf gun, the nerf gun and me.
“So,” he started slowly. “I should get a smaller one?”
I laughed and grabbed his shoulder, steering him down the aisle after hanging back up the toy and mentally reminding myself to keep an eye on any of my friend’s future offspring.
“I think we’re in the wrong section, buddy.”
“Fuck,” he said, giving one last glance back at the ten-year-old dreams of his past. “When are kids old enough to play with that stuff? Three?”
I shook my head.
“You plan on sticking around with this chick for another year?” I asked.
Chance shrugged. “I don’t know, man, I like her. She has a kid and a mortgage and, like, real adult responsibilities, but, I don’t know, it’s nice. We spent our last date just putting child safety shit all around her house and, I don’t know, it was nice.”
I glanced over at him in suspicion. “No jello shots?”
“Not a single one.”
“No belly shots?”
“Nope.”
“No wet t-shirt contest?”
He tilted his head back and forth. “My shirt got a little wet doing the dishes after dinner.”
I stopped dead in my tracks right next to a rack of multi-colored plastic ponies in the toy section of Target.
“Chance Bradford did dishes?”
Chance rolled his eyes and shoved me away. “What about you?” he asked. “What about your lady?” Chance held up a Barbie with a doctor outfit on and waved it in my face. “Huh, Ryan, pal? How’s your sexy lady doctor boss friend complicated sort of a thing not really a thing lady, huh?”
I snatched the Barbie from Chance and tossed it back on the shelf. “Her name is Lauren and aside from our professional relationship, absolutely nothing’s going on there. Unfortunately.”
“You know she’s karma for your pre-Callie shenanigans. She’s payback for all the females you’ve loved and left, all chicks you’ve bed and not wed, all the ladies you’ve banged and not ra
nged,” Chance rifled through the Ken dolls. “How come there are no dude chefs?”
“She sees me as her subordinate,” I said “She sees me as a cocky, young resident. She sees me as a player and a fuck boy and a typical twenty-eight-year-old who thinks with his cock.”
I quickly checked behind me to make sure there were no children I’d just corrupted standing right behind me. Thankfully, the aisle was empty save for us two assholes.
Chance gave up his search for a Ken doll who owned a BBQ food truck and rounded the corner. I followed after him, wandering past Clue and Monopoly and Hungry, Hungry Hippos.
“She just doesn’t know you yet,” Chance said. “You’re different from the old, tired, boring guys I’m sure pop up on whatever dating app she’s on. You’re new and people sometimes just take a little time getting used to new.”
I stared at my friend with more than just a smidge of amazement.
“You should keep seeing this woman you’re seeing,” I said.
He grinned at me over his shoulder. “Pretty mature, right?”
“Sort of, yeah.”
“Jenny said if people aren’t open to change, they’ll find any excuse to avoid it. Like shrugging you off as a fuck boy.”
I nodded. “I guess that could be true,” I said. “I mean I’m a doctor. Not one with as much experience as she has, but it’s not like I’m fresh out of school. I’m twenty-eight years old. A damn man…” My eyes fell on a bright yellow box with a cartoon guy lying on a table: Operation.
Chance turned around at my silence and I held it up for him to see.
“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head, “that’ll help with that misconception.”
“Yeah, I shouldn’t get it.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I shouldn’t.”
Chance laughed. “But you’re going to.”
I pulled one from the shelf. “Hell, yes.”
* * *
That night was my first night shift and I hid the game under my arm as I quickly crossed the lobby of the hospital. I headed to the elevators and up to the fourth floor. As I approached her office, I could hear her through her office door, which was ajar.