Between The Sheets

by Parker, Weston

  After buckling up, I dialed her number, and she answered on the first ring.

  “Where the fuck are you?” she barked into the phone. “I’ve been worried sick.”

  “I’m sorry.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I had too much to drink at the event last night, and I slept on Aiden’s couch. Forgive me? Please?”

  “Fine, but I’m not happy with you. Where are you, and did anything happen between you guys?”

  I pressed my fingers to my forehead and tried to decide how much I should divulge.

  “I’m your best friend, Elizabeth. I have been since we shit in diapers. Did you sleep with him?”

  “I’ll be home in about twenty minutes. I’ll tell you all about it then, but no, unfortunately not. He’s pretty strict on that stuff.”

  “Not even a kiss?” she grumbled.

  “Yes, a kiss, but we were both a little out of it.” I hated lying with a passion, and yet I couldn’t chance anyone finding out about me and Aiden. It would cost him his job and me my residency. Nothing was worth that.

  Another reason why this is a fucking mistake.

  “All right, well, I’m headed into the hospital to pick up an extra shift because Dr. Mendom wants me there. I still don’t see how it’s fair that you ended up with the hottest guy in the whole damn city and I have this crotchety old bitch riding my back all the time.”

  “Aiden is not the hottest guy in the whole city. I thought that was Parks.” I pulled the phone from my mouth and leaned up toward the cab driver. “Third building on the left up ahead.”

  He nodded, and I returned in the middle of Stephanie’s rant about Parks not giving her the time of day.

  “All right. We’ll work on him.” I got out of the car and started to tell her that I was there at the apartment and hanging up.

  “No, you take Parks. I want Aiden. You’re not interested, right? The kiss was an accident.”

  “Right. Let’s think this through, okay?”

  She cut me off. “There’s nothing to think about. Aiden is more my type of guy, and honestly, Parks is head over heels for you, Liz. You know it.”

  “He is not. I’ve been there for a week, and you’re overreacting.” I walked up the stairs to the apartment and opened the door to find her pacing in the living room.

  She turned and pulled the phone from her ear. “If Aiden’s not important to you, then help set me up with him.”

  “He’s not going to date someone from the hospital, Steph. Shit.” I chucked my phone onto the couch, starting to lose my patience with her. She jumped from guy to guy almost like most people changed underwear. I couldn’t tell her about Aiden, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to placate her with the idea of me working to get the two of them together. It wasn’t happening.

  “Why won’t you do this for me?” She stopped behind me as I walked into my room and slammed the door in her face.

  “Go away, Steph. I’m not doing it.”

  “Fine. Then I’ll do it my damn self.” She hit the door, and I listened as she stormed off.

  “Great,” I muttered. “Fucking go for it. He’s an incredible lover, just in case you were wondering.”

  I moved to my bed and fell face first onto it. With a disgruntled sigh, I reached up and pulled my pillow over my head. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t get involved in the drama that most hospitals had pumping through them, but there I was, smack dab in the middle of it. It would be the most scandalous thing those people had seen in eons.

  Too bad it wasn’t going to last. Things like that never did.

  20

  Aiden

  For the first time since seeing Elizabeth’s photo on the computer when I learned she was going to be my resident, I slept well. My body thrummed with contentment as I showered, reveling in the hot water as it danced across my back and shoulders as I lathered my hair with shampoo and dug my fingers into my scalp.

  She’d done a number on me the night before.

  Every lick, kiss, nip, and roll of her hips was implanted in my memory to recall on darker, lonelier days.

  I hadn’t felt this way in ages. Years. A decade maybe. Our night together was unreal, and I knew I was in deep shit with her.

  Elizabeth was making me feel things I shouldn’t over some silly resident. I’d crossed my own very thick line in the sand by propositioning her and offering to help with her finances, and now here I was, getting in deep with the beautiful young woman whose mind was as sexy as her body.

  I turned off the shower and pulled open the glass door to pluck my towel from the hook. As I dried off, my thoughts were still only of her.

  Not only was my heart in trouble, but so was my head. Usually, this quiet time in the early mornings was for contemplation about my day. I considered the patients I had appointments with. Tests I was running. Surgeries that were scheduled. Potential emergencies that might come up.

  None of that stuff seemed to matter as much now that Elizabeth and I had broken that carefully built wall between us.

  “All in just a week,” I muttered to myself.

  That was as long as I’d been able to hold out for. And as soon as she offered some semblance of something more than just a working relationship, I’d jumped at it. Our careers would be blown to pieces if word got out about our more intimate relationship.

  The fact that I thought it would possibly be worth it scared me.

  Lives depended on me to keep a level head at work. All I was going to spend today doing was thinking about her lips sealed around my cock on the drive back from the gala last night. The way her back arched. The way her soft moans sent subtle vibrations down the length of my shaft while she sucked me off.

  I braced myself on the bathroom counter and shook my head. My reflection was marred by the steam on the mirror.

  “You’re in over your head.” I sighed.

  After tying my towel around my waist, I slipped quietly through the bathroom door and back into my bedroom, pausing for a moment in the doorway.

  Elizabeth was still asleep in my bed.

  The sight was worthy of a painting with a ridiculous price tag. I knew I would have paid for it.

  My dark blue silk sheets were hooked around the one leg she had out of the covers, revealing strips of bare thigh and hip and calf. Her waist was covered, as were her breasts, but her shoulders were bare and her mane of dark brown hair was strewn all over the place, casting the scent of coconut across my bed. I didn’t mind.

  If I stood perfectly still, I could hear her slow, deep breaths. I listened to her breathe as I got dressed for the day, keeping a wary eye on the clock on my nightstand. It was just after five in the morning. I had to head out shortly to hit the pool with Parks and then make my way to the hospital. Elizabeth wasn’t scheduled to scrub in until ten, and I was already looking forward to seeing her again.

  Maybe we could steal a private moment in my office.

  I gritted my teeth. Not maybe. We would steal a private moment in my office, and I would show her just how good of a mentor I could be.

  * * *

  Parks raked his fingers through his wet hair as we got out of my Mercedes at the hospital. We fell into stride together as we made for the entrance.

  “Where’d you go last night?”

  I glanced at him. “Sorry?”

  “The gala. One minute, you were there, and the next, I couldn’t find you or Elizabeth anywhere. Was everything all right?”

  “Yes.” I hoped I hadn’t answered too quickly and made him suspicious. I dropped my car keys in my pocket. “It was a long day. That’s all. Elizabeth was tired and so was I. Once we got through the introductions, I drove her home.”

  “A shame. I would have liked to steal one last look at her in that dress. I don’t know how you’re doing it.”

  I arched an eyebrow at him as I pulled open the glass door to the hospital and held it for him. “Doing what?”

  Parks walked backward through the door so we didn’t have to pause our convers
ation. “You know what. Be around her all the time. I could hardly stand to be sitting so close to her last night. And you, well…” He chuckled and shook his head as we walked shoulder to shoulder down the hall. “You perform fucking surgery with her by your side. That, in itself, was enough to win you that award last night.”

  “Thanks. I think.”

  He knuckled my shoulder. “You’re welcome. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Later.” We parted ways, and I made for my office. I had emails and phone calls to reply to that had been piling up since yesterday afternoon. Ducking out a little early to get ready for the gala meant I had to make up for it this morning, and I wanted to be back on track by the time Elizabeth showed up.

  I pinched my nose as I let myself into my office. My priorities were so fucked up.

  The next couple of hours went by in a blur. I was called down to the OR to oversee a transplant surgery for a patient with an iron deficiency, and I ended up having to step in to finish the second half of the procedure. I didn’t mind. It gave me something to occupy my mind with that wasn’t Elizabeth’s naked body.

  Surely, this white-hot desire would fade soon. There was no way I could keep going like this. If I was going to need her this badly every day, I was going to have to find some sort of a solution or put a stop to it altogether.

  I was returning from the OR and just around the corner from my office when a feminine voice called for me.

  “Dr. Crawford.” It carried a singsong note, and it made my skin prickle.

  “Dr. Vant,” I said, dipping my shoulder as I turned toward her.

  She was on shift and wearing her white coat. Her hair, as per usual, was slicked immaculately back, and she wore a pair of sparkly gold earrings. Under her right arm, she had a patient file pinched to her side. She smiled at me. “Do you have a moment to spare?”

  “I never have a moment to spare.”

  Sarah let my dismissal roll right off her back and leaned in. “I’m trying to get some of the doctors and residents together for some afterwork drinks sometime this week. Tell me you’ll come. I’m trying to boost relationships between our residents. It’s important for them to be able to lean on each other. And if I could tell them that the infamous Dr. Crawford was going to be there, I know I’d get a ton of interest.”

  “I’m not your headline, Sarah.”

  She purred like a cat. “I like how you say my name.”

  I resisted the urge to snatch the patient folder out from under her arm and slap her over the head with it. “Enough of this.”

  “Of what?” She pouted innocently.

  “I’m too busy to waste time on your games. No. I’m not coming for drinks. You’ll have to rope the residents into going some other way. Ask Parks. He’ll be all over it.”

  “I don’t want Parks. I want you.”

  “Sarah. I said enough.”

  She let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. I know when I’m not wanted. See you around, Aiden.”

  Sarah turned and walked down the hall. I glared after her, wishing she would be transferred to another hospital. She was a weight on my shoulders here, but she was also a damn good doctor.

  Unfortunately.

  My office called my name as I came around the corner, itching to get a moment of peace after my run in with Dr. Vant. I tore the door open and stepped inside to pull it closed and lock it behind me.

  Then I looked up and found Elizabeth perched on the edge of my desk. She was wearing her scrubs and looked cute as hell as she swung one leg back and forth. “You left without saying goodbye this morning.”

  “I wanted to let you sleep,” I said.

  “That was sweet.”

  “Doctors need all the sleep we can get.”

  She smiled as I moved to her. I wanted to tell her I’d missed her, but it had only been five hours. I couldn’t bare my soul that easily. She reached out and put a hand on my side as she gazed up at me. “I slept well. Your bed is much more comfortable than mine.”

  I believed her. With her financial situation, I doubted she could buy a bed with any sort of support.

  She was welcome in mine anytime she wanted.

  I reached up and cupped her cheek. She leaned into my touch and let her hands wander up to my chest.

  “I’ve already clocked in,” she whispered as I leaned down to graze my lips across hers.

  “And I decide where you spend your time.”

  She quivered at my touch as I kissed her in earnest.

  Her eyes were closed when I broke our kiss and took a step back. When they fluttered open, I pointed at the floor.

  “On your knees.”

  Elizabeth slid off the edge of the desk, a sexy little smile lingering in the corner of her lips, and she gripped my thighs as she went down on her knees before me. She slid her hands inward to cup my cock, and I grew harder by the second. Then she drew the waistband of my pants down, and her lips parted to take me along her tongue.

  I let out a groan as she held my gaze.

  This girl was going to ruin me.

  21

  Elizabeth

  When I woke up on Saturday morning, I was disappointed to find myself staring up at my own dingy bedroom ceiling and not Aiden’s.

  I missed his bed and the warmth we shared under his sheets.

  But he had a lot on his plate last night and this morning. He was pulling long shifts, and now was not the time for us to get too caught up in each other that it got in the way of our work. So I’d made the logical call by coming home last night and sleeping alone.

  It was funny how much had changed in just a short two weeks.

  I’d gone from not wanting Dex to touch me, let alone make love to me, to craving Aiden’s affection more than I’d ever craved anything before. It was like my sexuality had suddenly been unleashed, and now it was making up for years upon years of lost time spent studying and practicing medicine instead of fucking.

  The latter was a hell of a lot more fun. Especially with Aiden. He had a way of making me feel sexy, smart, and desired all at once, and there was no better high than that. Besides maybe getting my master’s and then my acceptance for the residency at St. Mark’s.

  But it was still a close call.

  I rolled over when there was a knock on my bedroom door. “What?”

  “It’s me.” Stephanie’s voice was somber out in the hallway. We still hadn’t spoken since our argument the other day and had been skirting each other deliberately. It wasn’t like us. “Can I come in?”

  I gnawed at my bottom lip. “Yes.”

  Steph opened my door and stood in the frame. She had her pajamas on, powder blue with tiny pink flowers on them. Her blonde hair was up in the messy bun she always had it in when she slept, and there were little white dots on her chin and forehead. Pimple treatments.

  I propped myself up on my elbows.

  Steph sighed and hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “But I am.” She moved into my room and dropped down onto the edge of my bed. The springs creaked, and she pulled loose strands of hair behind her ears. “I was a jerk the other day. I’m sorry for pushing you. And I’m sorry for being such a demanding bitch. I just… I really need to get laid.”

  I giggled.

  She did too. Then she put her hand over my ankle. “Seriously, Elizabeth. I’m really sorry. That kind of thing won’t happen again. I have to be better than that. I can be. Aiden isn’t a fuck toy. And he’s your mentor. I wouldn’t want to put you in that position.”

  Guilt tickled my insides. “It’s all right. I’m sorry too. I could have reacted better and not slammed the door on you like a ten-year-old girl.”

  She shrugged. “I deserved it.”

  “A little.”

  “Hey!” She tightened her grip playfully on my ankle.

  I snorted and pulled away from her. “Water under the bridge. Can we just forget about it and move on?”

  “Please. I would like nothi
ng more.”

  “Me neither.”

  She clapped her hands together and grinned. “It’s settled then. You and me are spending the afternoon together before our shifts this evening. Brunch and shopping. What do you say?”

  I ran my tongue along my teeth and considered my bank account. There was a good chunk of money floating around in there from Aiden’s transfers, but I didn’t feel right spending it on new shoes or jeans or even brunch. “So long as it’s a cheap breakfast, I’m in.”

  Stephanie popped up to her feet. “All right. Deal. I’m hopping in the shower. You can go after me. Then we’ll head out. Pack your work bag so we can head to the hospital afterward. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  * * *

  Stephanie crossed one leg over the other and peered down at the open paper brunch menu in front of her. I shuffled in closer to the little wrought-iron patio table outside one of our favorite cheap-eats café so I could peer over the top of the menu with her.

  “Why even bother looking?” I asked. “You know what you’re going to get.”

  “Not true,”

  I laughed at her. “Oh please. We both know you’re ordering a coffee and a glass of water with a wedge of lemon on the side. And a breakfast burrito. You’re more predictable than my mother at a craft fair.”

  Stephanie chuckled. “Your mom definitely has a thing for quilts, doesn’t she?”

  “The six in our linen closet didn’t give it away?”

  Stephanie closed her menu and tucked it to the side of the table before drawing her sunglasses down from the top of her head. It was a warm sunny morning, and we were both happy to be sitting out enjoying the weather together.

  “So.”

  “So?” I asked.

  Stephanie leaned across the table. There was a devious glint in her eyes that made my stomach tighten. “So, about that kiss with Aiden. Spill the beans.”

  How was I going to get away with lying right to her face like this? My head screamed that I couldn’t tell her the truth, but my heart ached with the weight of keeping a secret like this from her. She was my best friend. We told each other everything. Why was this any different?