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“Is that okay?”
“Yes.” I lick my lips, unsure of what’s happening. “Can I ask the same?”
He makes a noise in the back of his throat. “You don’t have to. I don’t fuck people I work with, and I’d never fuck a student.” He tilts his head, giving me a lopsided grin and treating me to his damn adorable dimples. “At least not knowingly.”
“Then we’re good,” I say, forcing confidence in my voice and a smile to my lips.
“I guess we are.” He releases me and takes a step back, his gaze still on mine even as he takes another, creating more distance between us. “It’s weird. All my life I’ve followed the rules and done as I should. But looking at you… you make me want to break all the rules.”
With that, he turns around and heads into the building, the mechanical doors swallowing him up. And all I can think is… me too.
7
I’ve always been a master of compartmentalization. Being a doctor, especially in the emergency room, you have to be otherwise every patient will break you. So that’s how I start my shift. Compartmentalizing my job and my responsibilities from Layla. Only that’s proving to be impossible.
She’s everywhere.
Oliver is beaming with pride as he parades her around like a trophy, introducing her to everyone he passes. He doesn’t spend a lot of time down here as he’s a family medicine doctor, but I do sometimes see him around and he works with my best friend Greyson Monroe’s girlfriend, Fallon. It’s a tighter circle than I like. One that could easily rain shit down on me if anyone found out.
“Cal,” Oliver greets me, slapping me on the back. “Hey, man. Glad you’re here today. Have you met my sister-in-law Layla yet? She’s going to be shadowing a bit down here this summer.”
“Hey. Yes, I have. She’s actually my student for the summer as I’m filling in for Dr. Lawrence.”
Oliver’s green eyes go comically wide with surprise. “Right. Yeah. Sorry about your loss. It’s been awful for Layla. I still can’t believe she was there when it happened.”
“Oh?” That’s news to me. All I heard was that a student was with him when he had his massive heart attack, and they did CPR until EMS arrived and pronounced him dead. I didn’t know it was Layla.
She blinks her pretty blue eyes up at me but doesn’t comment further.
He peers down at Layla. “Well, it’s great that you’ll have your teacher both here and in the classroom. You’ll learn a lot.”
Layla rolls her eyes at him. “And you have plenty of eyes down here to watch me so I don’t get into trouble.” She climbs up on her toes and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “Go back to work. I’ll see you in a few hours and you can grill me all about my day on the drive home.”
Oliver laughs and ruffles her hair. “Fine. I get it. I’ll go. Be good and be helpful.”
Oliver walks off just as Drew Albright approaches. “You ready, Layla?”
She rolls up on the balls of her feet. “I am. Thank you again for having me here, Drew.”
His eyes sparkle at her. “It’ll be great. In fact, you should shadow Dr. Barrows for a bit. He’s been working here since he was an intern. Then we can see if any of the nurses need some help.”
All the color drains from my face but I have no solid reason to say no. Med students shadowing and working with residents and attendings is part of the gig.
“Uh. Okay,” Layla mumbles. “Great.”
Yeah, only not so much.
“You good with that, Cal?”
No. No, I’m not. “Sure.”
“Awesome. I’ll check back in with you in a bit. Thanks, man.” Drew walks off, his attention going to his phone, and I’m left here with Layla.
“Sorry.”
I shrug. I have to get used to her at some point. Maybe this is the way to do that. Some immersion therapy and then I’ll be cured. I can no longer think of her as the beautiful, sexy, and alluring woman from Friday night. The one who made my head spin and my body insatiable. From here on out, she can only be a faceless medical student to me.
“It’s fine. Let’s go. Just stay behind me, and don’t speak or touch anything. You’ll watch unless I direct you otherwise. Got it?”
