I want you not to be a doctor.
I want you to kiss me.
The door to the breakroom opens, and a blond nurse I met at the beginning of my shift pokes her head in. She opens her mouth and then closes it.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Drake, the ultimate professional, turns his smile to the young woman. “Not at all. We were discussing a patient. What can I do for you, Farrah?”
“Mrs. Trager keeps hitting her call light. She says if you don’t come back in the next thirty seconds, she’s yanking her IV out and leaving whether you like it or not.”
“Tell her I’m on my way.”
Farrah’s eyes dart to mine one last time before she slips from the room.
“This conversation is not over,” I say, walking past Drake, making sure I don’t brush up against him.
“No shit. We have a lot more to talk about.”
His firm voice stops me in my tracks. My lips press together, and I plant my hands on my hips. “Like how we need to draw a line in the sand and pretend we haven’t seen each other naked?”
Drake’s eyes harden, and he has the audacity to look pissed. “There is no line, Abigail. And if there is, we’ve already crossed it. And I can’t pretend I haven’t seen you naked, when your body is the only damn thing I’ve been able to think about since the moment I dropped you off at the airport. Tell me you haven’t done the same.”
Oh, God, I have done the same. Over and over and over again.
As if he can sense the direction my thoughts are going, his lips curve up into a smirk.
“That’s what I thought.” Drake steps forward until we’re toe to toe and lowers his voice. “All I can think about is how soft your skin is, and the way your body came to life under mine. And your smile and your laugh. God, I love your laugh. And don’t even get me started on the sweet sounds you made when I—”
“Stop,” I beg, trying not to whimper, because that’s all I’ve thought about too—that and how much I want to be with him again. Except that can’t happen now because we work together. And to make matters even worse, he’s in a position of authority over me. “I’m not sleeping with you again, Dr. Merritt.”
“We’ll see about that.”
* * * *
“Hey.” At lunchtime, Hannah slides into a chair across from me in the cafeteria. “How’s your day going?”
I swallow the last bite of my sandwich, wad up my napkin, and toss it onto my empty tray. “Pretty good. I’m having a hard time getting used to the electronic medical record system you guys use.”
She takes a bite of her apple and nods. “It’s tough at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll love it.”
“Mind if I join you,
ladies?”
I close my eyes at the sound of Drake’s smooth voice. Was it too much to ask to go the rest of the day without seeing his gorgeous face? When I hear a chair screech against the floor, I open my eyes in time to see Hannah stand and wrap her arms around Drake’s neck.
“Hey, you,” she says, kissing his cheek. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
There is absolutely no reason for me to be jealous, because Hannah is happily married to Brad, but that doesn’t change the tinge of green I feel creeping up inside of me.
“And whose fault is that?” he teases.
Drake’s smile is bright enough to light up the room. I stare at him a little too long. Why does he have to be so good-looking?
Thankfully, he takes the empty seat next to Hannah, and as they both sit she says, “Oh, Drake, this my cousin I’m always telling you about, Abby Darwin. I was hoping to introduce you two at the wedding, but you got called in for that emergency splenectomy, and by the time you showed up, I forgot.”
Drake’s eyes lock on mine, a smile playing at the side of his mouth. “Actually, we did meet at your wedding, but I didn’t put two and two together. I had no idea she was your cousin.”