“I heard about the whole Owen thing,” Hayes said as Goodson took her seat across from the two seated men. “Good for you, girl.” He gave her a playful wink. “Lord knows what you saw in him.”
“If you ever need to talk-“ Roberts began, leaning toward Goodson, his dark eyes sincere.
“Speaking of talking, how about discussing our new patient,” Hadley interrupted quickly. While Roberts seemed incredibly charming, he was incredibly single and liked it that way.
His team turned to glance at the whiteboard and Hadley relayed the information given to him by Garcia. When he finished, he looked at the three and asked, “Thoughts?”
“I’d say brain tumor,” Hayes said, his fingers wrapped around his chin. “If she can’t control what she’s saying, it’s gotta be a neurological problem.”
Hadley thought about it, pressing air into his right cheek and then pushing it to his right. “Do an MRI,” he stated after a moment.
The team began to get up, Hayes quickly grabbing the patient’s folder. Goodson followed the two out the door, curling a strand of hair behind her ear when she ran into Andy. She was somewhat surprised at how quickly Shelby had sent him up to Hadley’s office, but then again, it was such a Shelby the thing to do. She was quite impatient whenever conducting her experiments.
“Hi, Dr. Goodson,” Andy said formally, a small smile on his face.
Goodson smiled at him. Andy was incredibly cute; not the picturesque handsome, but very, very cute. He was tall and somewhat lanky, with short dark hair and dark eyes that clashed with his pale skin. His smile was normally shy, but when it came to his profession, he was incredibly persistent. He was incredibly sweet and very friendly, although Goodson had to wonder if he might have been a bit intimidated by her boss. The two were standing in the doorway of Hadley’s office, and Andy kept glancing at Hadley, almost as if he expected the diagnostician to pounce on him.
“Congratulations, by the way,” Goodson told him quietly, leaning in so Andy could hear her. “’Bout time Summer.”
Andy chuckled at that. “I was wondering if you weren’t doing anything, you’d assist me with a consult in the clinic?” he questioned.
Goodson glanced back at her boss and was surprised to find Hadley staring very intently at Vince. His blue eyes were narrowed somewhat and his lips were pressed into a thin line. A throb in her pelvis sent tremors through the inside of her body in reaction to his territorial look. Maybe Shelby was on to something.
“Is that a problem?” she inquired curiously.
Hadley looked at her, his blue eyes pooling into hers. “It doesn’t take three people to do an MRI,” he stated. The wasn’t really an answer, but Goodson knew Hadley well enough to know that was his way of saying yes.
She turned and followed Andy down to the clinic, the two discussing his impending nuptials.
“Your fiancée is smarter than I give her credit for,” she told him after a moment.
“Yeah,” Andy replied, scratching the back of his head. “I’ve learned that the hard way.”
By the time five o’clock rolled around, the team figured out that it was not a brain tumor as they initially believed. However, the patient seemed stable and nurses would be around supervising through the night, promising to beep the team if anything happened. They, of course, were not allowed to beep Hadley; usually Goodson took it upon herself to beep him if things were too serious for the three of them. It didn’t look like tonight would be a long night for Hadley’s diagnostic team.
Hayes and Roberts were out the door by the time Goodson slipped off her lab coat and draped it over her arm. “Good night,” she called over her shoulder, glancing at Hadley who was staring at his computer screen.
At the sound of her voice, he abruptly stood. “We need to talk,” he told her and then walked over to the door so he could shut it, giving the two privacy. When he turned, he stared at her pensively, but after three years of working with him, the inquiring stare did not intimidate her like it once did.
“Yes?” she asked, slowly arching a brow.
“Who was that physician who asked you for a consult?” he asked bluntly. “How come I’ve never seen him before?”
“Maybe if you actually paid attention to your surroundings, you would know that he works in the clinic,” she retorted dryly.
“I pay attention to you,” he told her.
“Obviously,” she said with a chuckle, “because if Dr. Summer hadn’t come to talk to me, you wouldn’t have noticed him at all.”
“You know his name.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Actually, I know a lot more about him,” Goodson continued. “I know his full name, his favorite color, and much, much more.”
“So who is he?” Hadley leaned his backside on the edge of his oak desk and crossed his arms over my chest.
“None of your business,” Goodson told him firmly. “Now, if there’s nothing else…?” She let her voice trail off as a question and looked at him expectantly.
“I want to make it my business.” He was sure when he said it; there was no hesitation or doubt. He had been thinking about everything the whole day, when he wasn’t concentrating on the case, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized he wanted to share many more nights with her. It was an odd feeling, liking her, but he couldn’t quite say it that way out loud, at least not yet. He wasn’t quite sure how Goodson would react, but at least he got it there out in the open.
Goodson was surprised. Whatever Shelby had concocted worked more than they had both originally anticipated. Goodson had wanted some kind of friends-with-benefits type deal. Was he asking for a relationship? She was normally good at reading between the lines when it came to Hadley, but this statement wasn’t as clear as his others were.
“I don’t… understand,” she said finally, furrowing her brow. “You leave after we get together and now that some guy asked for my consult, you want… me?” Her eyes narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips. “You just want me because somebody else does. You’re as territorial as a dog, you know that?”
“Yes,” came his nonchalant reply. “I see nothing wrong with that.”
“Your feelings are conflicting,” she stated. “You only want me because now there’s a chase. I know you, Hadley, and I know how quickly you tire of things when they’re just handed to you. You like the chase. Hell, you like the fight.”
“Are you saying you don’t want another Friday night?” he asked her, his eyes perked, obviously surprised at her insinuation.
“No,” she said quietly. “I’m not saying that.” She paused, chewing the inside of her cheek. Hadley had seen this look on Goodson plenty of times before; she was thinking very hard about something, and so he waited for her to continue patiently. “We need guidelines so things don’t get out of hand.”
Hadley nodded once. “Okay,” he said.
“I don’t want the stigma of the whole boyfriend/girlfriend relationship,” Goodson stated firmly.
“Agreed,” Hadley told her. “I want to know if you find someone else before you get involved with him.”
“Yes,” Goodson said, nodding. “Oh, I don’t want anyone here to know about us. You can tell Shore if I don’t find out he knows.”
Hadley smiled and nodded without saying anything. A pause. “Is that it?” he asked her.
“I think so,” she said with a smile. “I’ll see you at my place around seven thirty?”
Hadley’s smiled deepened. “I guess so,” he said, and then pushed himself off the edge of his desk. He looked at Goodson for a long moment before asking, “So, who’s this Dr. Summer then?”
Chapter 6
For someone who was known for being late, Olivia was a little surprised to find Mason standing on her doorstep at seven twenty-nine. When Olivia opened the door, she found Hadley standing in the same outfit he had been wearing at the hospital. She, on the other hand, felt incredibly underdressed in her oversized Billy Idol concert tee and loose pajam
a pants. Her hair was left down and slightly messy, having been resting on the couch while watching reruns of a popular doctor drama on television.
“Here,” he said, looking almost standoffish as he handed her a single flower. She hadn’t noticed he was carrying it.
It was a sunflower.
“I love sunflowers,” Olivia told him quietly, beaming gently at him. She took the stem of the flower in her fingers, looking at it almost lovingly. He smiled at the gesture. Her eyes shyly looked into his. “They’re my favorite.”
“I happen to be psychic,” Mason told her arrogantly.
“Good,” Olivia said, spinning around and heading back inside. “Then you know how I’m going to want it tonight.”
Mason smirked as he watched her walk back into her apartment, appreciating the curves of her body. He quickly followed suit, closing the door and locking it behind him. He followed her back into her kitchen where she had grabbed a vase off the top shelf of cupboard and filled up with water from her faucet.
“I don’t think one sunflower’s that much of a centerpiece,” Hadley mumbled as she placed the flower in the vase and then set the vase in the dining table.
“Are you an interior designer now?” she mumbled as she looked at the sunflower on the table. Her back was facing his, and he took the opportunity to study her.
He leaned forward and gently swept her hair over her opposite shoulder so he could lean done and kiss her neck. She giggled as his whiskers tickled and turned into his embrace capturing his lips with her own. He leaned down, obviously enjoying her lips on his. She felt so fragile in his arms, and yet he knew she was unbreakable. She was a strong, determined person underneath her delicate shell. When they broke apart from each other, she dropped her hands so her fingers fiddled with the buttons on his white collared shirt.
“Now, if you don’t take off your clothes yourself, I will probably damage your very nice suits so I suggest, when you come over from now on, you wear durable clothing,” she told him, turning to swagger over to her bedroom.
He grabbed her arm to stop her, pulling her to him. “Yeah, well, the next time that when I come over, you prepare for my visit and answer the door naked,” he told her huskily, his breath claiming a spot on her neck.
“Takes away from the chase you so love,” she teased him, her eyes slipping back into her head as he wrapped his arms possessively around her waist.
“But it’ll be the coolest surprise ever,” he told her and he captured her lips with his once again.
Olivia never knew she would ever enjoy kissing someone as much as she enjoyed kissing Mason. The whiskers tickled her skin, and his lips were surprisingly soft. Without warning, Mason began to lead her back down the hallway and into her bedroom. As they made their way, albeit less gracefully than they would have liked, Olivia’s fingers fumbled with the tiny buttons of his shirt. She groaned through the kiss and pulled her lips away from his. His eyes had grown stormy with desire, and he gave her an impatient look.
“I swear that if you don’t take off that shirt now, I’ll yank it off,” she told him breathlessly.
As he unbuttoned the shirt quickly, Olivia went to her nightstand to grab a condom. She tossed it on the bed so she didn’t have to worry about fetching it later. As soon as his white shirt hit her carpet, she placed her palms on his bare chest and pushed him on the bed. Wasting no second, she crawled onto him, placing soft kisses on his neck, down to his collarbone and finally on his chest. His hands slid underneath her shirt, running up and down her back, loving the smooth sensation underneath his skin. She could feel his hardness pressing against his hipbone and she pressed into it. He let out a throaty groan before seizing the end of her shirt and quickly yanking it off, over her head and somewhere on the floor.
He took the opportunity of her surprise to capture one of her nipples between his lips and she moaned. Her hand somehow managed to crawl up so her fingers slipped into his hair and pressed him tighter against her chest. His free hand grabbed her free breast and started fondling it. She began to rock slowly against him, and he had to pause in his ministrations. He loved the feeling of her against him.
Suddenly, she pulled away from him and slid off the bed only to kneel on the carpet of her room. Her eyes focused intently on her job at hand; ridding him of his belt and pants. The first thing she disposed of were his socks. For whatever reason, Owen would never take his socks off during the deed, and it had always bothered her. For the most part, having sex required nakedness and wearing socks was not nakedness. When she finished, she crawled back and easily rid him of his belt.
“You’re impatient,” he stated, watching her with both arousal and amusement.
“I could hold out if you want me to,” she offered, cocking her head to the side.
He said nothing but his lips thinned dangerously. She grinned at him and unbuttoned the top of his slacks. She looked up at him again and licked her lips before casting her eyes downward at his hardness.
God, did she know what she did to him?
Olivia unzipped his pants and then slid her fingertips down the hemline of his boxers. She looked at the light trail of hair, starting from the very end of his belly button down toward where he was waiting for.
“I like happy trails,” she told him without looking at him. He was about to respond when she quickly slid off his slacks and boxer-briefs and then took his hardness into her mouth.
He groaned, his head falling back and hitting the middle of the bed. Her lips worked wonders on him; they were full and soft, while her mouth provided the necessary wetness. Up and down she went, her tongue flicking out to graze the tip of his penis just enough to push him and yet keep him from going over the edge. She looked absolutely beautiful, the moonlight coming in through the window and highlighting her sharp cheekbones as they sucked in and out as she worked wonders on him. Some of her hair had fallen into her face, but she ignored it. Up and down… up and down… up and down…
“You’re going to have to stop or things will end a lot sooner than you want,” he managed to say, and she quickly pulled off of him. The warmth had left him, and he took the time to catch his breath.
A crinkling sound caught his attention and he lifted his head up slightly. There she was, pinching the tip of a condom before expertly sliding it on him. He stifled a groan and dropped his head. He was waiting for her, twitching, needing her on top of him now. She was pulling off his pants completely, before easily sliding off hers.
“You don’t wear underwear to bed?” he asked her with a smirk, arching a brow.
“They just get in the way,” she explained, before crawling on top of him, and then finally sliding onto him.
They both let out a sigh, and Olivia had to pause a quick moment, getting used to him inside of her. When she was comfortable, she began moving against him back and forth, back and forth. He watched her move against him, her stomach stretching back and crunching with every movement. Her hair was now completely messy but seemed to work for her in this environment. Her cheeks were slightly red, her beautiful face contorted in a very sexy disgruntled face as she lost herself in her action. Her breasts bounced with every pump, her nipples erect. He had to touch them…
Reaching up towards her chest, his fingers caressing and coaxing her. She let out a sharp gasp, her eyes opening and falling into his. The bright green had darkened to a forest green, and he smirked up at her. Her hands were pressing on his chest, but he felt no pain. Along with his fingers on her breasts, her clitoris was being stimulated as she rocked against him, and soon she felt her eyes slip closed once again.
“Yes!” she exclaimed breathlessly as she felt the lower half of her body began to grow numb. “God yes!”
He smiled at her enthusiasm and dropped his hands to grip her slender waist. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, even as she felt him tighten her walls against him. Her breathing became quicker and he knew she was ready. With one last thrust, she felt herself floating, her body light, engulfed with pl
easure. She managed to continue moving, making sure that Mason got his as well.
It came as a surprise to him. He had become so distracted by watching her ride him that he didn’t realize he was nearly ready until it happened. His groan was loud with surprise, and his fingers tightened their hold on her. She kept on moving against him, wanting him to get as much out of this as she did. When she was sure he had finished, she leaned down toward him and trailed soft kisses along his jaw line. He lazily wrapped his arms around her, and she smiled at him. With one last kiss, she rolled off of him so he could clean himself off, trying to catch her breath and hoping she didn’t smell too bad. When he finished, he crawled in beside her but stayed on his side of the bed. They both needed time to cool off.
After a few silent moments, Olivia wiggled over to him, resting her head on the crevice of his shoulder. She placed her hand on his chest and began to idly trace mindless patterns in his light chest hair. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer to him, and then, unexpectedly, placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
Olivia smiled at the small, meaningful gesture. “Thanks for the flower,” she told him softly.
Mason smiled as well. “You’re welcome.”
Chapter 7
She was everywhere to him.
Currently, she was in his dreams. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, not one strand of hair out of place. Her face was natural, just the way he liked it. She was wearing nothing but a lab coat, those lab coats he so detested looked quite appealing on her. Her bountiful breasts were covered, but he could see her bare center so clearly. The peachy color of her skin was beginning to grow on him; she pulled it off quite flawlessly. His ever-thorough eyes continued to travel downward, stopping to admire her small innie bellybutton. Then lower, to her prominent hipbones, until his eyes rested on the dark curls covering her core. It was such a beautiful thing. Lower still, going over her smooth, long legs until they finally stopped at her feet. She was wearing simple black pumps on her feet.
A Diagnosis Dark & Deadly: A Dark & Deadly Novella (A Dark & Deadly Series Book 4) Page 4