Unbreakable (Unrestrained 4)

Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for me, Kate had other plans.

I sighed, resigned to spending my last surgical day with Sam. We finished scrubbing in and then gowned up, entering the OR and preparing for the procedure. I turned off my irritated ex-lover persona and turned on my objective surgery professor persona so I could make the most of the teaching opportunity, and talked Sam through the surgery.

I enjoyed teaching almost as much as surgery itself. I liked to watch a student go from eager but inexperienced to confident and master of a technique.

Sam had confidence galore and I knew she’d do well as a surgeon, whatever specialization she chose. I wasn’t so sure about her ability to maneuver the subtle art of romance. She tended to be very dominant when it came to flirting and seduction.

That was my role and that was precisely why the two of us would never work as a couple. Sam didn’t want to accept that. For her, we were equals in everything, and belonged together. What she didn’t realize was that the two of us would be like two warring nations, each of us trying to gain the upper hand sexually. It would never work.

She couldn’t accept that.

She was too egotistical to believe that Kate had won.

After surgery was finished, we walked down the hallway to the family waiting area to speak with the patient’s wife and eldest daughter. I told them the procedure went well and that he would have to come back in a month to have his pacemaker calibrated. Another neurosurgeon would be in charge of that.

“You won’t be here?” the wife asked, a look of alarm on her face. “We were told you were the expert.”

“My colleague from South Africa will be replacing me. He’s got years of experience and is one of the best.”

Sam and I left the family and went to the staff room for a break between surgeries.

“We work really well together,” Sam said as she leaned against the counter in the small kitchenette off the seating area. “I’ll be sad to see you go but we may meet up again during conferences in the US,” she said and winked at me.

I forced a smile and drank down a glass of water from the cooler. “I enjoyed my time here, but Kate and I have plans and our life is back in Manhattan. And the US is a big country.”

“What will Kate do when you’re working twelve hours a day six days a week?”

I glanced at her, angered at the personal question. “She has her own life. She’s an artist and will be finishing her Masters.”

“You know, surgeons are more likely to get divorced when they marry outside of the medical profession. It’s hard on spouses who aren’t in medicine to cope with the long hours and professional dedication of people like us, Drake.”

I shook my head. “I married in the medical profession the first time and got divorced. I figure my odds are pretty good because I’m older now and know what I want.”

“Does Kate know what she wants? She’s young.”

“She’s not much younger than you,” I said, annoyed that she was suggesting that Kate wasn’t ready for marriage.

“But I know what I want to do with my life,” she said haughtily. “I know I want to be a neurosurgeon like Michael and maybe specialize in pediatrics. From what I understand, Kate isn’t sure what she wants. She was in journalism writing about p

olitics and then she switched to culture, plus she does art? Sounds like she isn’t so sure of herself.”

“Sam, it’s really none of your business.” I stood with my hands on my hips facing her, my jaw clenched.

“I know, I know,” Sam said and held her hands up as if in surrender. “I care about you, Drake. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I’m a big boy,” I said. “I don’t need or want your help, your advice or your involvement.” Then I brushed past her and left her alone in the break room, making my way down the hallway to my office where I shut the door and sat behind my desk. Damn that woman…

She could get under my skin so easily.

I had to admit that Kate was young. Twelve years younger than me, she was in a period of transition, having finally faced up to her true passion for art instead of politics. She was also new to BDSM and the whole D/s lifestyle. She liked submission during sex, but would it be merely a passing interest? Many people tried out kink, enjoyed it, but then went back to a plain vanilla lifestyle. Only a very few people were in it for life.

I thought I was one of those life-timers, but who could say? All I knew was that submission held no interest for me in the least. Vanilla sex was good, but not good enough. Not all the time. I enjoyed dominance. It fulfilled me sexually.

I had no idea if Kate would be in it for life and only time would tell.

She loved me—that much I knew. She wanted me. She’d proven that several times when other men had hit on her – Dave, Kurt, Sefton. She picked me.

When I saw her in Ethan’s apartment with her knees bloodied, when I learned who she was, I wanted her.