He was smart enough not to come too close while she beat her back window with the snow scraper. “My name is Aurora. The shortened version of that is ‘Rory.’ Not Roy. They call me Roy because of my parents’ dumb decision to over-embrace alliterations.”
“Aren’t you pretty young to be a doctor?”
“I’m two years younger than you—twenty-eight, which is normal for a second year orthopedic surgery resident. I’m one of five women in the program. I competed my tush off to be this year’s second-year selection for Glazier’s professional sports medicine elective. This was NOT supposed to lead to one of the defensive ends declaring his love for me and me having to drop out because it was getting too personal.”
“So, when Glazier kept having you check his surgery schedule...”
“It was because I was scrubbing into them. Glazier wanted me to be familiar with every x-ray, MRI, and CT beforehand. He was quizzing me to make sure I was prepped and not distracted by the extra work I was doing with the team.”
“Hmm. I didn’t catch that,” Bowen said.
“You don’t say.” Rori went back to hitting the snow, this time on the driver’s side. “I thought it was the drugs talking when you kept asking if I’d go with you to MetroGen. Of course I was going. Professionally, it was a huge deal that Glazier trusted me with the responsibility of reducing your arm. He believed in me to fix the arm of the best player in the NFL. Then he helped me create your rehab program, which he approved. I was doing everything in my power to keep personal and professional separate. Until the stupid shower...”
“Wait.” Bowen stepped next to her and caught her arm. “Are you saying the main reason we can’t date is because you’re my doctor?”
“Finally. It’s not considered good form to have your super-hot, tattooed, famous, NFL patient announce he’s in love with you to the ER attending and jerk off while calling your name. Worse, when you go home to your place on Doctor Row and give yourself a long buzz from your vibrator.”
“You did that?”
“It’s even more humiliating now.” She whacked the driver’s side mirror a few times. “Stupid ice.”
“The drugged confused version of me got you horny enough you had to help yourself.” He said it as a statement, not a question.
“Focus less on the orgasm and more on the big picture. It meant I was too involved and I’d have to give up the position to Navarro, who doesn’t even need it.”
“Not ready to give up on the orgasm yet. The doctor-patient issue is why you haven’t kissed me since the closet,” Bowen seemed to be still digesting.
“Technically, when you kissed me, I wasn’t your doctor yet. After your injury, you were begging for more but were in no condition to consent.” She tried and failed to reach the snow on the roof of her car.
“Can I have the scraper? You aren’t doing this very well.”
“No. It’s my scraper,” she argued.
“You’re too short. Let me help.”
“No. Don’t assume that because I’m a girl that I can’t brush off my own car or know anything about football.” Rory wasn’t ready to reasonable.
“You do know a lot about football, which makes sense now.”
“I love football. I was the JV kicker at my Midpark High School team.”
“Then, as a kicker, you’d know that you’re usually the smallest member of the team, and I’m one of the biggest,” he pointed out.
“Thanks for the physics lesson, Mr. Can’t-even-follow-his-rehab plan. I said I’m fine.”
“You’re leaving me no choice here.” He extended his arms, lifting her up easily from the waist and resting her back against the cold car. “Give me the scraper or I’ll kiss you.”
Two equally tempting options. Four months had gone by, and she hadn’t been able to banish the gentle-rough memory of his lips and tongue.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what? Don’t ask you how you feel about me? Every time I’ve gone to sleep for a month now, I keep having the shower dream. You in my jersey, no panties, no bra. It drove me crazy to wonder if I’d been inside you and couldn’t remember. Wondering if I was alone with this beast that’s been clawing at my chest since I met you.”
“Bowen, we can’t.”
“But we both want it.” He licked her ear, its edge peeking out from under her hood. “Say yes.”
Even though her traitorous body and her heart were willing, they didn’t unmake reality.
