The Surgeon's One Night to Forever Read online

  The quiet click of the door opening had her scrambling for enough control to turn and face him, but she didn’t get a chance to pull herself together before his deep voice reached her.

  “Are we here to talk, or something else?” He was close behind her. The heat pouring off his body made gooseflesh pop up all along her back and arms, and had her breath catching in her throat. “I’m taking nothing for granted when it comes to you, Liz, so tell me why I’m here.”

  “I want you.” The words flowed far too easily from her lips, but it was the truth, and she was big on the truth, even if she didn’t feel ready to face him just yet. “Right now.”

  “Good.” It was a growl, and he surrounded her with his strong, solid arms, the hardness of his erection pressing between her buttocks. “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to restrain myself if you wanted a discussion.”

  She would have replied, except he nipped her nape, the sharp scrape of his teeth along the sensitive skin making her breath hitch and her mind stumble over its thoughts.

  “Over here,” he said, the harshness of his voice striking sparks over her skin, ratcheting up the tension in her core. He curved his arms tighter around her waist and half guided, half carried her between two fabric-shrouded machines into the dim space beyond. She caught a quick glance of more machinery, some gurneys, other unidentifiable shapes, before he turned her within his arms and kissed her.

  Her bones went liquid. The rush of lust engendered just by the touch of his lips on hers, the tangle of their tongues was almost too much to bear. A moan rose in her throat and she couldn’t curtail it. The sound, needy and rushed, was one she couldn’t recall ever hearing herself make before. When she felt the cool of a wall against her back, she arched into Cort, her need all she was aware of.

  Strong hands tugged her scrub top up, and she raised her arms, eager for it to be gone, to get flesh-to-flesh with Cort. They broke the kiss to be able to get it off, but when Liz turned her face, searching for his lips, and wound her arms around his neck again, Cort didn’t respond the way she expected. Instead of kissing her again, he dropped her top and grasped her wrists, lifting them above her head and holding them there with one hand.

  “You’ve made me crazy.” His free hand slid down her arm to skim the side of her breast through the remainder of her clothing. Just that indirect touch made her tremble, yearn. “You owe me.”

  “For what?” She had to force the words out past the desperation clogging her throat.

  The sound he made was possibly supposed to have been a chuckle, but it came out as a snarl. “For every swing of your hips as you walked down the corridors. For every word you’ve spoken to me since I got here. For every look from those beautiful eyes.” He let his voice trail away, his dark gaze holding hers effortlessly in the gloom as his fingers found her nipple, pinched, and proved he remembered exactly what turned her on. “I want payment.”

  “With what?”

  She tried to make her voice defiant, amused, but there was no mistaking the slight tremor in the words. Cort smiled, a predatory, knowing grin she could see even in the low light. When he leaned in and put his lips close to her ear, Liz already knew she was in trouble before he whispered, “Your pleasure. And mine.”

  When had he lifted the camisole she wore under her scrubs? And how had he got her bra undone with one hand? Then the questions were driven from her mind by the sensation of his mouth on her breasts, the promise made by his pushing her scrub bottoms and panties down to her knees.

  Desperation rose in her, she was already so close to the edge. The urge to widen her stance, give him full access, made her shift her legs, restlessly trying to work her pants down farther. He said, “Stay still.”

  With arms still upraised, although he’d let them go, Liz froze, shivering at the command in his tone, at the way her desire flared even higher. It was like Mexico all over again, when he’d held her in thrall, taken her compliance and turned it into ecstasy. As he kissed and nipped and sucked his way down her body, it felt as if time slowed, warped, and it took forever for him to reach where she wanted him; where she needed him to touch. When she finally felt the heat of his breath between her thighs, she again wanted to open for him, but his injunction to remain still held her where she was.

  “Don’t hold back,” he said, the words vibrating into her flesh, making her bite her lip to stop from begging, her breathing so erratic she felt light-headed. “Come for me, Liz. Come hard.”

  And when he pressed his mouth against her, it took only the lightest touch for her to explode.

  “Good girl,” he groaned against her still-quivering flesh. “And one more...”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  LIZ MADE A quick dash into the ladies’ room, which was thankfully empty.

  Her legs were trembling, her body humming with endorphins. As she washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face, she tried to put aside all thought of what had just transpired. According to the page she’d just got, there were casualties coming in from a multivehicle accident so she needed to be prepared, not shaky and discombobulated.

  She’d think about the fact Cort Smith had once more rocked her world later. Much later.

  After all, it was just sex.

  Fabulous sex.

  But just sex.

  Nothing worth disrupting her life over.

  If nothing else, she had her answer. Getting him out of her system would probably be more difficult than she had anticipated. Yet they had an agreement. No entanglements, no repercussions from their pleasure. No bleeding over from the personal into the professional. And she would swiftly put an end to this new arrangement if he made the mistake of changing the way he behaved toward her on the hospital floor.

  She’d been brutally honest about not being interested in a relationship, and he’d said the same. Hopefully she really could trust him to stand by their agreement to not get in any way attached. It wasn’t that she thought herself irresistible or anything like that, just that men hardly ever said what they meant or stood by their agreements. She’d be on guard for any change in his behavior, and that was the best she could do. She was still sure that propositioning him again had been the right idea, even though something niggled at the back of her mind, trying to sow doubt.

  Perhaps it was how much his personality reminded her of Andrew. The charm that had people falling over themselves to please him, and had them gravitating into his sphere. She’d fallen for that once and refused to fall for it again. Men like him would suck you dry, demanding you change to suit them better, and then, when you were willing to do anything to keep them, left you anyway. At least Cort had been up front in saying he wouldn’t be around for very long, and Liz had no intention of allowing herself to get emotionally involved in any way.

  What he’d said about them becoming friends didn’t deserve a lot of consideration. She’d never made friends easily and guarded her friendships fiercely. Her friends could be counted on the fingers of one hand and were people who accepted her as she was, without expectation that she’d change to suit them or the situation. Who understood that to ask her opinion was to get an honest answer, even if she knew it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. Perhaps her only male friend was Robbie, and did he even count as he was her brother too?

  There was a lot to think about now that she’d taken this irrevocable step, but she’d never been the type to dwell, or have regrets, or constantly rehash every decision she made, and she wasn’t going to start now.

  Giving herself a last long look in the mirror, hoping no one would notice how puffy her lips were, she strode out of the restroom, heading for the ER.

  * * *

  By the time the first casualties got to the hospital, Liz and the rest of the staff were braced for the controlled chaos to come. A tour bus, on its way out of the city, had struck a couple of cars and gone off the road. The more severely injured patients were being sent t
o Roosevelt, the nearest level one center, with the rest of the injured being distributed between Hepplewhite and another level two facility.

  She just had time to notice Cort putting on a disposable gown before the first ambulances pulled up. For an instant their gazes locked, and a shiver raced down her spine. Then the doors flew open and the gurneys started coming in, and she had no time to think about anything but her patients.

  And it was only at the end of the long, grueling day she realized there’d been no awkwardness. They’d worked together as smoothly as they had since he’d arrived, treating a couple of patients together without even an untoward glance or comment from him. And, although her heart still did that silly dip when she heard his voice, she was pleased to realize the anxiety and desire that had kept her on edge seemed to have waned.

  It seemed as though her plan to mitigate her reaction to him might just be working after all.

  * * *

  Cort couldn’t find an ounce of regret about his tryst with Liz, although part of him was kicking himself for letting it happen.

  There had been no postmortem between them. No questioning whether it had been right or wrong, good or not as good as either of them remembered. Her beeper had gone off and, with calm deliberation, she’d righted her clothes and given him one of her clear-eyed looks.

  “I have to run,” she said. A ghost of a smile had the corners of her lips twitching momentarily upward. “Although that will be difficult, since I can hardly feel my legs.”

  Then, just like that, she was gone, leaving him wondering exactly what the backlash of what had just occurred would be.

  It was stupid to have given in to his desire for her, he knew. Complicating a working relationship with sex wasn’t smart, and never ended well.

  And sex was all it was, or could be.

  Yet, despite his worries, Liz Prudhomme treated him exactly the same way she had before.

  Although it went against his better judgment to have a sexual affair at work, it also made sense to keep it casual, and taking it outside the hospital felt like taking it a step further than either of them wanted.

  So, after that first time in the isolation ward, they found other places to be together whenever they could. Liz, Cort came to find out, was completely open when it came to where, when and how he pleasured her and took pleasure in her body. And he became diabolically inventive in finding places and ways to please her. It shocked him a bit. He’d never considered himself the type to have an affair with a workmate, but he couldn’t seem to stay away from Liz.

  Every encounter just made him want her more, although he was as determined as she’d said she was to keep it purely physical. Occasionally they had the same day off, with the ER and surgical team having different schedules, but there was never a suggestion, from either of them, that they take it outside the hospital.

  There was no future for them, so it seemed ridiculous to intertwine their lives more than they already were.

  Because of their schedules they were usually able to grab only a half hour or so together, just enough for him to make her crazy with lust and then send them both flying. He sometimes wondered if it was wrong to continue what he knew was a dead-end affair. Yet since Liz didn’t seem to mind and, in fact, never indicated any wish for anything more, he let it ride. It felt too good to stop.

  No, not good. Amazing.

  Something about the way she surrendered to him, gave in to his demands, found obvious satisfaction in what they did together, was surprising, but he loved every minute of it.

  So they met wherever they could be assured of a few minutes of privacy. In storage closets, the isolation ward, the construction zone on the weekend when the workers weren’t around. Even, on one memorable occasion, in the rest area off the on-call room, when neither of them could bear to wait.

  He’d sat on the narrow cot and pulled her to straddle his thighs, and the similarity to the first time they’d been together in Mexico had seemed to echo between them, heightening both their arousals. He’d known she’d been ready but had wanted it to last so, instead of telling her to let go and find her release, he’d told her to wait, kept her on the knife-edge for several long, deep strokes, before commanding her to come. His own orgasm had been so powerful it had been almost painful. Just thinking about it made his head want to explode all over again. Liz had that kind of effect on him every time they were together.

  They might have gone on that way forever or, at least, a lot longer, if they hadn’t almost got caught in flagrante delicto about a month after they’d started having their trysts around the hospital.

  It had been in the old isolation ward, with him behind Liz, buried deep in the sweet, wet heat of her body. The arch of her back and trembling of her legs, the way she’d rhythmically clenched around him as he’d thrust had told him she was close. He’d pinched her nipples the way he knew she loved, hard enough to take her almost over into orgasm, when the door opened and the lights came on, almost blinding him.

  Cort froze, of course, suddenly furious with himself, and her. They were deep in the maze of equipment and beds, but he still glanced over his shoulder, hoping they weren’t visible from the doorway. Not that that would help them should the people entering the room start walking around.

  “Over the next couple of days, we’ll start pulling out the equipment that needs to be installed.” He recognized the voice of Jennifer Marshalec, the administrator in charge of the expansion, who sounded as though she was coming farther into the room. “I want to take a look around now to see exactly what we have here. The inventory lists I found really don’t seem complete to me.”

  There was a deep murmur in response, and Cort felt a burst of adrenaline fire through his veins. His brain was swirling with five hundred different thoughts. Should they take the chance of being heard and try to re-dress, or stay still? Was there another way out of the room, or somewhere to hide until Jennifer and whoever she was with were gone?

  I’m too old to play hide-and-seek...

  “Okay, we’ll start—” A phone rang. “Excuse me a moment. Hello? Yes. Oh, for goodness’ sake, I’m not at my desk...” Jennifer sighed extravagantly. “Okay, give me five minutes. I’ll call you back. Ramone, I’ll come back down in a little while and we can continue.”

  “Sure, Ms. Marshalec.” Ramone sounded bored. “I’ll be in the construction office when you’re ready.”

  Cort heard the tip-tap of Jennifer’s heels and the clump of Ramone’s boots as they headed for the exit. The light went out, the noises from outside flared and then were once more cut off by the closing of the door.

  Neither of them moved right away, but Liz was trembling, her entire body quaking...

  With laughter?

  “Oh, really?” Cort growled into her ear. “That wasn’t funny. Not...at...all.”

  With each of the last words he stroked into her, long and deep, and, to his shock, realized the fear of discovery had only stoked the flames of his desire. It seemed to have had the same effect on Liz. She pushed back to meet his every thrust until, still shaking with what was apparently laughter, he felt the quickening of her movements and she came apart on his command, just as always.

  Afterward, Cort didn’t said anything. In fact, he didn’t speak to her, other than in a purely professional way, for a couple of days. There was a lot to think about and, still angry at the risks they’d taken, he didn’t want to go off half-cocked.

  Realistically, he enjoyed what they had very much, but he wasn’t willing to risk his career to keep it up. If she wanted them to keep sleeping together, they’d have to take it outside the hospital. That was, after all his ruminating, the final analysis. Whether she agreed or not was up to her, and he’d abide by her decision.

  He rather hoped she was willing to go on seeing him since he was reluctant to see it end.

  When he finally brought up the subject, he had no choic
e, in his own mind, but to give her an ultimatum.

  “We can’t keep taking chances at the hospital, Liz.” He said it dispassionately and when she looked away, instead of meeting his gaze in her usual forthright manner, his chest tightened. It was just as well, really. He didn’t want her to guess how much he hoped she’d agree. “I don’t want to jeopardize either of our jobs anymore. I think we were a little crazy to be doing this to begin with.”

  “I understand.” Her voice was steady, almost but not quite uninterested.

  The tone made his jaw clench, but he decided to ignore it. “So, hereafter, if you want to see me, we’re going to have to meet outside work.” She shot him a quick glance, her intent, seeking gaze scouring his face. “You can come to my place if you’d like.”

  For a long moment she didn’t say anything, just looked at him, her head to one side. When she finally spoke, he realized he’d been holding his breath the entire time.

  “I realize we can’t continue the way we’ve been going, but I still don’t want a relationship.” She lifted one hand, as though to take back the words, and then let it drop. “Not that what we have isn’t a kind of relationship, but you know what I mean.”

  “I’m not asking you for anything you don’t want to give, and I think it’s safe to say things were going along the way we’d agreed.” He kept his voice as matter-of-fact as hers had been, although it took some effort. “I’m just saying I, honestly, don’t really want it to stop. I just won’t keep it up here. That’s all.”

  She nodded, glanced away again, as though considering what he’d said. It was her way, giving everything deep thought before responding, but knowing that didn’t stop his heart from racing or sweat from building along his spine.

  It’s just sex, he reminded himself. Don’t make it more important than it is. But knowing that didn’t reduce his stress level.

  Finally she nodded again, looked at him with a bland, noncommittal expression. “Okay. We can try it, see how it goes.”