Compromised, page 22
part #1 of MetroGen Forbidden Love Duets Series
At least the office reception staff recognized her. “Dr. Varma, so pleasant to see you. Dr. Steadman is in his office.”
They didn’t need to comment on how long it had been since she’d come up here. Months possibly.
She went through the glazed glass doors into his office, steeling her resolve.
Daniel was sitting behind his huge white desk and six computer monitors. Some tracked stocks, some showed patient images, and one in the back endlessly scrolled through pictures of Jenna destroying Legos. Her danskos were muted on the white tile floors of this room, equally sterile as the rest of the building.
He glanced up, “Hey. What’s going on?”
She stayed standing. “Daniel, can we go somewhere else? Not here.”
On the wall behind him was a stylized portrait of various generations of Steadman’s who worked their way from Alabama to Tuskegee to Princeton. The faces could unnerve visitors, each one fixed permanently in their direction.
“Somewhere else?” He smiled, a new thought occurring to him. “Bedroom? In the middle of the day? This is new.”
“No. This isn’t what I’m here for. We have to talk. Now. And I want it to not feel like an operating room.”
“Oh.” Comprehension dawned. “Umm. Follow me.”
He took his own supercharged ID and took her to a different door on the side of the office. They went through three more doors, and he used a code to get into the last one.
They were in a room the size of a broom closet containing two very beat up recliners. The walls and ceiling were papered with hundreds of child drawings. He threw his suit jacket on the floor and flopped down on one of the chairs.
“What is this place?” Kayla tried to take it all in.
“It’s my hiding place. Sometimes Jenna comes in here to visit her pictures and talk to the dogs.” He pointed at a very beat up pound puppy smashed into the arm of his chair. “Her dog is on your chair.”
Kayla took it as an invitation to sit down, too. She fiddled with the new pink stuffed dog. “I don’t know how to say this.” She decided the blunt approach was best. “I cheated on you.”
Daniel’s blue eyes didn’t reveal anything. “How?”
“I met a guy. We’ve flirted a few times.”
He kept his face blank. “Physical?”
“We never kissed. But I wanted to. I didn’t, though.”
“I did not expect this from you.”
“I’m sorry, and I regret it. Is this going to cause problems for Jenna’s custody arrangement?” The pictures on the wall were accusing her.
“Only if we break up. You signed onto the current custody agreement as my permanent partner.”
Fabulous. She was the selfish, terrible asshole who cheated on the single dad. Almost three years ago, she had signed out of guilt for possibly ruining the separation clauses in his ongoing divorce case.
“There’s no way to change it?”
He snorted. “It’s pretty ironclad about who we are allowed to introduce to Jenna. And the NDAs.”
Kayla had blurred out the many NDA’s she’d signed during the divorce. He wasn’t lying, because neither party was allowed to introduce Jenna to a significant other who was not intended to be a permanent member of Jenna’s life. The other was also required to be of specific good moral character and limited speech related to the other parent.
Steadman had intended to prevent his ex, Jessica, from parading a group of unsuitable candidates in front of their daughter.
Jessica ended up remarrying and having full custody, as Kayla had jeopardized his access to his daughter in a single drunken night.
“Don’t you think this proves my unsuitable character?”
“Was any of this in public where people could see you and talk about it?” Daniel asked.
“No. Never. Always closed doors.”
“So you went nowhere with him. Never kissed him. Never were seen with him in public. Did you imagine it?” Daniel seemed more amused by her admissions.
“No. It was real, and it wasn’t honest. It’s also over. I told him I was taken.”
“Then I don’t see an issue,” Daniel said, dismissing the entire affair
“Why not? Am I really meeting you needs? Are you meeting mine? How many months have we been doing this? Being an exclusive booty call is NOT a relationship.” Kayla set the pink dog down, lest she mistakenly rip it limb from limb, thus ruining another part of Jenna’s life.
“You consider us a booty call?” he asked.
“What else can we call it? I have to show ID to see you outside of the hospital if it’s not at my house.”
“It’s not your house. It’s Kandal’s house.”
“And this is the house your mom built. And your grandparents!” she shot back. “Hell, your mom lives one floor up and has sex with my dad.”
“We agreed to never talk about them again,” he said. “They make their own choices.”
“I can’t be making you happy. Are you happy?”
“I wasn’t unhappy,” he said. “And I thought we understood each other.”
“What do you mean?”
“I view it as respecting each other’s space,” he said.
“Don’t you want more than this?”
“I’ve done the ‘more than this’ relationship. The hurt. The betrayal. You think you want the other person to be the other half of you. Believe me, you don’t. The other person can destroy you. Is that what you want?”
“Are those my only two choices?” Kayla asked.
“There’s the option of being equals. Each person has their own life, not dependent on the other for their sole source of happiness. Companionship, sex, trust without the pain. You get to be you, I get to be me, and we provide a stable family unit for Jenna’s custody.”
Kayla thought about that one. Her father had caused an unending amount of pain to other people. He never cared if the women were married or about the trail of destruction he left in his wake. The daughters he fathered whom he never met were simply collateral damage.
“So you don’t care about me and the other guy?” she quickly reassured him.
“I can’t exactly say I’m pleased to hear about it, but thank you for being honest.” He carefully phrased his response. “If you say it’s over, I’ll trust you.”
“You aren’t going to ask more?”
“Do you want me to ask more?”
Kayla shook her head. Daniel had a few very specific trigger points. His ex-wife, Jacob Carver, and almost anything to do with the fire department.
And when Daniel was upset about something, it was a scorched earth policy from start to finish.
“It’s best we put it behind us,” Kayla said, realizing she decided to stay. The apple cart wasn’t getting flipped over.
Daniel relaxed slightly into his chair. “Frankly, you’re hot, so I’m more shocked no one hit on you before this.”
“It won’t happen again.”
“It might, though I’d prefer we discuss the situation before either of our names grace a gossip sheet. I’ve had enough tawdry drama to last a lifetime as it is,” Daniel said.
“Then could we maybe be more of a couple? Less like a transaction?” she wondered.
He sat up taller. “What do you mean?”
“Part of why I don’t visit you is because I don’t like this castle.”
“It’s not a castle.”
“It has security. It’s a castle. And it’s your castle. Like I said—showing ID and signing in to see you? It can’t have always been this way.”
He nodded in a slow manner. “After the death, I guess I retreated. Put up more fences.”
“Lots of fences keep everyone out. Don’t you think there’s a reason Jenna tries to be in this room and not your office? Your retreat is a closet.” Kayla would never criticize his parenting directly, though the broom closet should have been a big clue.
“You make good points. Anything else?”
“I like sci-fi. Not a little. A lot. Have you ever watched Dr. Who?”
“Umm, does it involve a telephone booth?”
“It’s a Tardis, which is an old police call box in Britain. It’s bigger on the inside than the outside.” Her statement made him confused, so she continued, “My point is, if you want companionship, you need to put effort into being my companion. Which means Dr. Who. And spending time outside of this castle.”
“Anything else?” he sounded vaguely amused.
“And be nicer to Stella. She’s family.”
“Sort of,” he grumbled. She glared at him. “Okay, I’ll try. I’m not the one who had a wandering eye.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Make up your mind. You want to stay together, or do you want to break up?”
“Stay.”
“Good. This was quite the productive meeting.” Kayla stood up and checked her watch. “My break’s over. Time to go back to MetroGen. And I’ll find my own way back.”
“One thing first. Don’t think about straying again.” He pulled her to him and gave her the hottest kiss they’d ever shared while sober. She ended up pressed against the door of the closet, her scrubs askew.
When he released her, she stood there, shell-shocked. His stupid shirt wasn’t even wrinkled.
“Glad we cleared it up. After you.”
Kayla left Steadman Metro wondering who ended up with the upper hand in the end.
Chapter 39
Awareness slowly returned to Michael. He stretched his arm out and found Angela lying cuddled against him.
He kept his eyes closed. If this was a dream, he had no desire to wake up. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d been disappointed to be alone in his own bed.
Still, he caressed the skin on her back, noting the lacy bra straps which usually weren’t part of his dreams. In his dreams, she was in her preferred utilitarian ones or, more often, she was naked.
To be sure, he opened his eyes. Angela was still there, though her hair really was brown. Also not typically part of his dreams.
“Angel, is that you?”
“Yes.” She snuggled closer, her bare leg rubbing up against his hard-on.
Another regular part of his dream.
Or his normal dose of morning disappointment.
“I’m really here?” he said. “This is real?”
“Yes, it’s real.” She kissed his ear, which did feel a lot like heaven. “Do you think it’s real or did you hit your head in the hyperbaric chamber?”
“This has to be real,” he answered. “Because not one of my dream Angelas has ever said hyperbaric chamber.”
“Or you sleepwalked back to my house. I guess at least part of your brain is still working if you remembered how to get here.”
Michael could have died right there and been fulfilled. “Are we back together?”
She gave him a long, long open mouth kissed. He groaned against her lips, rolling her on top of him. “Yes, we’re together. And—”
“And it doesn’t matter. I love you.” He went back to giving her those months of kisses he’d been salivating over. Her mouth was just as hungry, and her hands rested on his bare chest.
“I love you too.” She guided his hands to her breasts. “Please.”
“Please what?” He teased her nipples through the lace, reveling in the way she squeaked.
“Please be with me. Inside of me. I can’t wait.”
He cupped her face. “Forgive me for last time.” They’d found each other in the midst of their sorrow, but he had shredded it to pieces. Rejected the beautiful thing she was.
“Make it up to me.”
Michael kissed her mouth again and then down her neck. “Your dress almost broke me.”
“How?” Angela moved her head to give him more access.
“Your body is one of the best-kept secrets at MetroGen. You trusted me and only me with it. But now…” He fiddled with the bra’s front clasp, his fingers catching on the texture of the material.
“It was on display.”
“You’re embracing it instead of hiding it. Which meant that you were open to someone else who wasn’t me being with you.” He opened the clasp, exposing her pink nipples to him. He caught the tip of one between his thumb and forefinger. “Someone else could be doing this.”
He watched her pupils dilate at his touch. She took his other hand and guided it to the other side. “No one else. Since you, there’s been no one else.”
Michael breathed out, relief he certainly didn’t deserve flooding him. “And there never will be anyone else.”
He started suckling at her pointed buds, pinching the other side between his fingers. This was the way she liked him to start, worshiping her breasts. He took his time, lavishing each side with equal attention. Not to be forgotten, he dropped a hand to help her out of her lacy panties, finding her slick and wet down there too.
Soon, though, it wasn’t enough for her, and she was clawing at his shoulders. He readjusted her hips in such a way for her to sit with his erect penis bobbing against her hot moist slit. She mewed, and he lifted his hips up just enough to pass the head between her nether lips.
They sighed together, him with desperation on needing to be deeper and her with the stretch of being barely entered. It was sensual torture to be sure, but the teasing was so very delicious, as long as they could handle it.
He pulled back from her and caught her eyes. Her pupils were wide, her face taut with need. “Michael, I—”
He managed to lever up, deeper this time. Angela cried out, her nails scratching his back while she spasmed in a short orgasm.
His woman ordered him, “More. Now.”
Michael couldn’t help his grin. That one must have barely taken the edge off this tempest brewing for months.
Three seconds later, he flipped her onto her back and plowed into her. She didn’t resist, loving it and begging deeper and harder. He set her legs over his shoulders, bending her almost in half and making her channel even tighter around his stiff cock. It was enough, because she screamed and came apart.
He kept moving as her eyes refocused. He was barely hanging on, but her pleasure outweighed his. “Speak,” she commanded.
So now she wanted him to talk too? He could barely put two thoughts together other than how good it felt to be inside of her. “What do you want?”
“Tell me how it feels.” She was raspy and gasping.
His cardiology angel was going to give him a heart attack. He kept up the rapid pace, and each word came out almost growled. “Crave you. Drowning without you. Can’t stop myself. Not then. Not now. Not ever.”
The way he felt when he was in her, sampling her quivering core…
He maneuvered a hand between them to flick her clit, using his thumb to circle it, right above where he was entering her. Her body tightened, and she called out, “Don’t stop. Please, more—don’t stop—I—”
She crested again, and this time Michael let himself go. He plunged into her, emptying every bit into her, giving in to the fire he’d die for with a shot of his own.
When they were both spent, they lay tumbled together, a pile of limbs and bedsheets. He put his arms around her, moving to face her, synchronizing their breathing and the cadence of her heartbeat vibrating through his chest.
Eventually, he had to say something. He lifted a strand of her newly brown hair. “You dyed it brown.”
“Sort of. It’ll wash out in a few weeks. I wanted to try out being a smart brunette instead of a dumb blonde.”
“Anyone who talks to you for over ten seconds would notice you aren’t dumb, no matter your hair color.”
She giggled, “Says the man who believed I was a kindergarten teacher for a few months.”
“Guilty as charged, though I was willfully blind. Maybe you were really into Latin. Romeo and Juliet fetish.”
“Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life,”
she quoted the opening of the play.
“I’d like to skip the taking of our lives part, no matter in fair MetroGen where we lay our scene,” he gave her a peck on her cheek. “Though there is a ballet. Ever see it?”
“No,” she admitted.
“I’ll have to dance it for you sometime,” he said.
She sat up, and he mirrored her movement. “You would?”
“For you, absolutely.” He twirled her hair around his hand. “You should see the balcony scene. They’re young and in love, almost playful. Until the end.”
“What happens at the end?” she asked.
“She goes to leave, and he begs her to stay. She hesitates, and the music rises. He pulls her close and kisses her. It got real. There’s no going back.” Michael stared into her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too. And we’re not going back.” Angela gazed back without any hesitation in her voice. “Amor vincit omnia. Love conquers all things.”
He took her lips for another kiss. They had a million things still to say, but that could wait. They were back where they belonged, and they could figure it out later.
They’d have forever.
Chapter 40
As surgery rotations went, Michael could say plastic surgery was three quarters decent.
The first three weeks were pretty chill. They had rotated through three different sets of primarily outpatient plastic surgeons. These doctors performed mostly outpatient cosmetic procedures with three days in the office and two days in the OR.
They’d rotated through a week of nose jobs, a week of breast procedures, and last a group specializing in tummy tucks and liposuction.
However, the final fourth was a completely different animal due to being assigned inpatient burns with Dr. Daniel Steadman.
