A Diagnosis Dark & Deadly: A Dark & Deadly Novella (A Dark & Deadly Series Book 4)

by Heather C. Myers

  Then, without warning, she knelt down in front of him and gently slid down his sweatpants. Before his penis could even hit the air, she had captured it in her mouth. He let out a pleasurable moan, wishing he had something to lean back on. It was hard to stand on his own when she was going at him the way he was.

  He blinked once and then groaned. He hadn’t even finished the dream, and already he was waking up? What time was it anyway?

  But something was odd… something that different. His eyes glanced down, only to find the woman who had so recently dominated his dream, going down on him. He stifled and groan, and just watched her, her red hair messy with sleep. Her right hand gently gripped the skin of his shaft back as her lips moved vertical, leaving a trail of saliva behind. Her left hand skillfully followed her lips, as though the two were connected; wherever her lips went, her hand followed. Her tongue swirled patterns on the underside of his shaft, cutting between her lips and following the trail they made. There were so many sensations, he couldn’t focus on solely one, and when he just let himself feel everything, he was ready to explode.

  “If you don’t stop…” he managed to say. She stopped everything, looking up at him with wide green eyes. Apparently, she didn’t seem to know that he was awake and thoroughly enjoying the show she was putting on for him. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to come.” His eyes were serious, and she took that in.

  She paused, maybe thinking about what he had said. Then she made a choice and returned to her task. He groaned, letting his head fall down and let her continue. God, it felt so good. How was she so practiced in the art of pleasing him? He didn’t exactly want to think about where she had practiced previously, but it felt so good, she felt too good.

  “I’m gonna,” he said quickly, giving her some warning before he climaxed. His eyes shut tightly and his hands gripped the blankets on the bed as he released himself into her mouth.

  She looked so calm, even serene, as she let him empty himself into her. She had slowed her movements but continued them until she was sure he had finished. He let out a low groan, watching her through slitted eyes; she had swallowed him and then pushed her wavy hair out of her face. Then standing up, she stretched, her naked body tightening in front of him. She nearly gave him another boner right there.

  “You should probably start getting ready,” she murmured after wiping her lips with the back of her hand. “You should go back to your house and get a new suit for today. I need to shower, and it would definitely look suspicious if we showed up together.” She began to saunter over to the adjacent bedroom but stopped when she reached the doorframe. She glanced over her shoulder, meeting his eyes, a coy smile on her face. “You can thank me later.”

  With that, she disappeared into the bathroom, and he instantly heard the running water. He began to collect his clothes that had been so carelessly discarded the previous night, thoughts racing through his mind. One thing was definitely certain, however; reality was definitely better than any dream he ever had.

  She couldn’t keep the satisfied smile off her face as she walked into work that morning if she tried. Shelby glanced up from her paperwork at the nurse’s station after catching a glimpse of her friend. Seeing Goodson’s smile caused Shelby to smirk. She quickly walked around her desk to intercept her.

  “Don’t you look like you got laid,” she said, her dark eyes shining mischievously. She cocked a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “So? Was my theory proven correct?”

  “Surprisingly, yes,” Goodson replied, meeting her friends’ eyes warmly.

  “Surprisingly?” Shelby asked, feigning shock. She put her hand over her chest. “You hurt worse with your tongue, my dear.”

  “Yeah,” Goodson said, and then winked. “That’s what he said.”

  With that, she squeezed her friend’s shoulder and headed for the lockers. Once her purse was locked away and her lab coat was slipped on, she headed back up to the third floor and into Hadley’s office. She cast a glance at her two teammates as she headed to the small refrigerator and pulled out a water bottle.

  “You know Liv, I will never understand how you don’t like coffee,” Hayes said, watching as Goodson sat across from him.

  “I like the smell of coffee,” Goodson told him, cracking the top of the bottle and taking a sip of the cold liquid. When she swallowed, she cocked a brow in his direction. “How’s the patient?”

  “She doesn’t seem to be responding to radiation,” Roberts told her, looking up from the file he had previously been studying. “I don’t think it’s a brain tumor.”

  “It has to be a brain tumor,” Hayes interjected. “Something is interfering with her capacity to speak-“

  “Was interfering,” Roberts interjected, pointing a triumphant finger in the sky. “She can speak fine now.”

  A knock on the door of the office caused all three doctors to pause in their argument. Hadley never knocked before entering his office, and neither did Garcia. Actually, many people just seemed to walk in without requesting permission. Hayes and Goodson shook a confused look while Roberts got up and answered.

  “Hope I’m not disturbing anything,” a man said, wearing a nice green shirt and brown slacks. He was wearing no lab coat, but all three doctors knew who he was.

  Dr. Thomas Linley was one of the hospital’s psychologists, very good at what he did. He was eloquent when speaking, and when he looked at you, he made you feel as though everything was going to be okay. He was six foot, an inch shorter than Dr. Hadley, with chestnut brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. His face was sharp and chiseled, and instead of being lean, like Hadley, Linley had more muscle on him. Linley was extremely talented at reading a person, even one he had just met, and because of that, he was quite the charmer. Not in the same way Roberts was, however; Linley was more of a manipulative charmer. He was also damn smart and knew just how to get what he wanted without crossing any lines or getting in trouble. Dr. Hadley hated him; ever since Linley began working for the hospital around the same time Goodson started working for the hospital as a resident, the two had never gotten along.

  “Dr. Goodson?” he asked, glancing at the lone female doctor. When she looked at him, he flashed her one of his notorious charm smiles. “I was hoping for a consult?”

  “I’m actually kind of busy with a case, Dr. Linley,” Goodson replied calmly. She had to hold herself back from squirming under his gaze. “I thought you were a psychologist; why do need my consult?”

  “I’d love to talk to you about it as we’re walking over to my office,” Linley asked, a subtle pleading undertone added to his voice. “I promise it won’t take long.”

  “We’ll take care of things here,” Roberts said with a helpful smile. He thought he was being helpful, at least. The simple fact was that Goodson did not want to be left alone with Linley. She glanced at Hayes, who shot her an apologetic look and mouthed ‘Sorry’ before averting his eyes back down to the file.

  She couldn’t believe it; she would really have to do this. Shaking her head in an unnoticeable manner, she slid her chair from underneath the table and stood, curling a strand of hair behind her ear. Dr. Linley smiled as she approached him, and the gestured that she should walk out before he did. What seemed like an innocent, chivalrous gesture was just a mask. Goodson knew it was just another one of his brilliant ways of looking at her ass, which made no sense because her long lab coat hid it from view. The fact that he still opted to try gave her a shiver.

  Dr. Linley had a reputation for selecting one woman who worked at the hospital and then tried different tactics to get into her pants. For whatever reason, Linley had been focused on Goodson for the past week or so. It was up for assumption if Linley was actually successful concerning his goal of getting the women in his bed, but there was never a formal complaint against him. He was a tricky bastard; he never outright harassed women, at least not enough for an actual case to be brought against him. You couldn’t exactly charge him for looking at you wrong.

 
“What, exactly, is this about, Dr. Linley, because I really do have important tests to take care of,” Goodson informed him briskly, shoving her hands in her lab coat pockets.

  “Yes, I know, and I am tremendously grateful for your help,” Dr. Linley said, glancing at her as they stepped into the elevator, and smiling. “I actually have an eight-year-old boy in my office right now. His mother is being treated at this hospital for cancer, and I felt it was necessary for him to know what cancer was from an actual oncologist.”

  “Cancer is never a pretty picture,” Goodson told him, slightly surprised that he would think that an eight-year-old boy would be able to understand what cancer was, and what it was doing to his mother.

  “But coming from you, it will be,” he told her with a wink, just as the elevator doors slid open once it reached the second floor. He placed a hand on the small of her back as he led her to his office. She felt her stomach curl at his touch.

  “So you want me to manipulate an eight-year-old boy for you?” she asked him bluntly, stopping to look at him.

  “I guess you could put it that way,” he said, nodding, “yes.”

  Chapter 8

  He couldn’t keep the smile off his face if he tried to. He was getting some, and it was good. But somewhere deep down inside of him, it was a little more than that. There had always been something about Goodson that was different from other women; something that separated her from the rest of pack. She was beautiful; there was no doubt about that, and definitely sexy, and at times, she was even cute. She was incredibly intelligent, and could definitely hold her own against him; she had proved that a number of times. Yet, she trusted his medical judgment tremendously. When he ordered her to do something, whether it was to test for something or administer a treatment or get consent, she did it, even breaking hospital rules to do so. Of course there were times when she thought he was absolutely wrong and stood her ground against him, but for the most part, her loyalty to him surprised everyone, most of all him.

  And of course he had definitely fantasized about her more than a number of times, just as he assumed every other man in the hospital did, except, of course, Hayes, but that really wasn’t his fault. There was something innocent about her, something mysterious about her, and something sensuous about her. Now, he was actually physically making love to her, and it couldn’t compare to any fantasies he had had of her. It was hard for him to admit, even to himself, but she was starting to grow on him. Hell, she had managed to squeeze under his thick skin after he hired her on as a member of his team.

  She was challenging him, both mentally and physically. He didn’t want it to stop, not now at least. She was substantially younger than he was, but she didn’t seem to care, and Lord knew he didn’t.

  When he walked into his office, he immediately saw that the woman who had just been occupying his thoughts was not there. She wasn’t known for being late, and she would have told him if she wasn’t coming in, right? Of course she would. She would have to professionally, and he knew she was honest enough to let him know of an unscheduled day off.

  “Where’s Goodson?” His voice came out a tad more rough than he originally intended, but his expression revealed nothing as he looked at his team expectantly.

  “With Dr. Linley,” Roberts replied, his eyes meeting his boss’s.

  “What?” Hadley snapped, his body tensing at the mere mention of that man’s name. “Why?”

  “He asked for a consult,” Hayes informed Hadley, sighing a little.

  “What for?” Hadley said. He had to hold something, to squeeze something. He knew Linley always tried to fuck with him, but unless Linley had the nose of a bloodhound, there was no reason for Linley to know that Hadley was even interested in her, let alone sleeping with her. But then again, as he thought about it, it might not have anything to with him. Maybe Linley really wanted to fuck her, and who didn’t? But for him to make a pass at her? He took hold of the back of a chair and gripped it tightly. “He’s a goddamn psychologist. What does he want with an oncologist?”

  Neither man spoke; they didn’t have to. What did Linley want with all the female doctors and nurses he asked for a “consult”?

  His knuckles were white. He didn’t know why he was overreacting this way; he usually didn’t care when Linley was trying to tap someone’s ass, but this was different, this was personal. Linley wasn’t just fucking with him, he was now fucking with her. And for some reason, that pissed him off. Very much.

  At that moment, the object of his thoughts walked in with an agitated look on her face. She didn’t even notice Hadley as she walked in and sat down. Her brow was deeply furrowed, causing small indentations in her forehead.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Okay, Hadley knew it wasn’t her fault. A doctor rarely ever turned down consults, especially since he wasn’t here at the time to reject Linley’s request for her. However, that still didn’t make him feel any better. “We have a patient who’s not responding to radiation and you’re off gallivanting with a psychologist?!”

  “I don’t think gallivanting is the word I would use,” Goodson snapped, craning her neck to meet his eyes.

  “How about we focus on the patient instead of Dr. Linley, hmm?” Hayes asked, taking his cue and stepping in between the arguing doctors.

  Hadley ran his hand down his face and stopped at his mouth. He was frustrated and upset; he hated being distracted.

  “Go do another MRI,” he said finally.

  “There’s no point,” Goodson told him. “Nothing came up on scan. She doesn’t have a brain tumor.”

  “I’m sorry, was I asking?” Hadley snarked, quirking his brow. “Because if I was, feel free to jump in and question my suggestion. Now go.” He lifted his arm so it was pointing toward the door way.

  He watched as the three doctors on his team walked away, Goodson slamming the door behind her. He practically fell into his seat and rubbed his temples, staring at the scattered papers on his desk. Yes, he hated being distracted. But even more so, he hated caring.

  After lunch that day, Mason diagnosed her with inflammation of the blood cells in her brain and told his team to treat her with steroids. After one last check at dinner, the patient seemed to be getting better, eating a hospital dinner, and prepared to leave sometime tomorrow. The day was a long one; Olivia wouldn’t look at him and when he tried to talk to her somewhat civilly, it always ended up coming out defensive, which just caused her to get defensive. Neil tried to keep order between the two, but it ended up useless, and after three o’clock, he stopped trying.

  It was an odd feeling – apprehension. As he drove to her apartment with Chinese food in the passenger seat, he wasn’t exactly sure how she would take him after everything that had happened today. It wasn’t his fault that he was so… insatiably curious, especially when it came to her. He knew nothing about her, and while he was just coming to know her body, he was still determined to know about her, who she was as a person. Despite their budding relationship, she was still quiet about everything, and her apartment revealed nothing except that she was somewhat organized and seemed to like the color green. Just the mere thought of Thomas even imagining her naked caused Mason to fume, and although he definitely took his anger out on her, he was sort of hoping to make amends.

  From the corner of his eye, he noticed something interesting taking place across the street from her complex. It wasn’t a surprise that there was a large park because it was Boulder after all, but what was taking place in the park that caught his attention. A large, well-maintained soccer field was on the edge of the side, and despite the darkness, street lamps cast enough light for a game to take place. Such a game was taking place, in fact; it seemed to be five on five. There was nothing official, just ten people playing a game for fun. He pulled his car over to a curve a few meters away, and he didn’t have to worry about being noticed; everyone was focused on the game.

  Especially her.

  He didn’t know she played soccer. As he got out of th
e car and quietly made his way onto the grass, he didn’t realize how good she was either. He hung back, away from the small audience the players had gathered, but his keen eyes followed her. There were only two females there, and he could easily make out who she was; her red hair in a high, messy ponytail, wearing an old, loose jersey and an old pair of soccer shorts. There were no shin guards on her, but she wore a worn pair of cleats. How could he have not noticed that she played the sport?

  He watched her hang close to midfield, nothing but space between her and the goalie she was defending. Her hands were on her hips, her jaw set, her brow furrowed. She looked determined. The opposite goalie punted the ball right to his teammate, and he trapped it with his chest. Once it hit the ground, he dashed for the goal.

  “I got it!” one of Olivia’s teammate called to her. She tensed as she watched the opposing player, but nodded, hanging back slightly just in case.

  However, the opposing player was better than was originally expected and easily dribbled the checkered ball around him, causing Olivia to have to dash back to the goal to prevent him from attempting to score. Her hands were coiled into fists, her cheeks were red, and her hair was flying, but God, she was fast, and before anyone knew it, she had caught up with him. Coming from the side, Olivia slid down onto the ground and managed to kick the ball away from the opposing player and out of bounds. Immediately, she hopped back up, quickly wiping away the clinging grass off of her thigh before getting back into the game.

  God, she was good. Damn good. How could he not know this? No wonder her legs were amazing.

  The game ended a few minutes later, Olivia’s team taking the win, one to zero. Olivia grabbed a Fiji water bottle and sucked on it thirstily. Sweat dripped everywhere, her hair clung to the wetness of her body, but she had never looked more sexy to Mason than right now. When she finished, she slipped off her shirt, throwing her jersey over her shoulder. She revealed a plain grey sports bra and her curvy body, also covered with sweat. Mason couldn’t help but stare; hell, he didn’t blame the others for staring.