Dueling Drs: A Small Town Hospital Romance

Zola’s expression was blank for a long moment and then laughter exploded out of her. “That’s priceless. Your mom sounds incredible.”

“She was. On the surface she gave off the vibes of the perfect housewife and mother, which she was. But Mom was smart and sassy, and she knew just how to get her point across.”

“She got you to learn to feed yourself by preying on your teenage desire to get more girls. Genius.” Zola licked the fork and my gaze tracked her movements all the way to the tip of the prongs. “I’m a sucker for a home cooked meal so I probably would have been foolish enough to fall for you in college.”

“Why college?”

She nodded. “Back then I thought nice gestures was an indication of how a guy felt about me.”

“And now?”

“Now I know it’s just a means to an end.” She didn’t sound sad or bitter about it, just resigned.

“I feed you because I want to. And because the sounds you make when you eat are so fucking gratifying.”

Her gaze locked on mine, unreadable until a slow smile formed on her lips. “Good to know.”

“Want to watch a movie?” It wasn’t exactly part of our sex only agreement but the evening was early and there was more time to feast on Zola and let her return the favor.

“I get to pick?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to refuse, to tell her it was my house, my television and therefore my rules, but something stopped me. Maybe it was the look in her eyes or how unusually subdued she was tonight. “Sure.”

“Brave,” she mumbled under her breath and sauntered into the living room, making herself comfortable on the sofa.

“Not exactly brave, more like confident. Y0u’re not the romance movie type of woman so I know I’m safe with your choice.”

Zola laughed. “Who says I don’t like romance movies? I love them. The sappier the better.” I swallowed hard and she laughed even louder. “Besides, you don’t know what my favorite types of movies are, do you Drew?”

I didn’t and suddenly I was concerned. I could deal with a romance but what if she liked chick flicks, the tearjerkers that would ruin the rest of the night? “I can handle it,” I told her with more bravado than I actually felt as I snuggled beside her on the sofa, her bare skin hot to the touch against my own.

“Excellent,” she cooed and reached for the remote, searching until she found what she was looking for. “You all right with this?”

I looked up at the screen and my eyes widened in shock. “Beasts of the Underground?”

“Oh yeah. Horror is my jam.”

It was better than romance or chick flicks so I held her close, stroked her hair and watched the movie for just long enough to let the lasagna settle.

And then, my desire could no longer be contained so I pulled Zola onto my lap and I loved on her until she was too exhausted and too satisfied to move. Then I took her upstairs and did it all over again.

Zola

I am a coward. Of all the words I would use to describe myself, coward wasn’t one of them. Strong and smart, capable and sometimes funny, sure. All those were right on the money. But I’d braved the world of Hollywood gossip rags, cruel high school classmates and the competitive world of medical surgery, I considered myself as brave, if not braver, than the next girl.

Except when it came to telling Drew that I was pregnant with his child. When it came to that, I did everything under the sun to avoid pushing those simple words past my lips. But I had to tell him. Today. Now.

“That’s entirely too much thinking first thing in the morning.” Drew’s deep voice pulled me from my own thoughts and his arms pulled me flush against his hot, hard body. And he was hard everywhere.

“Yeah?” He nodded and pressed a soft kiss to my willing lips. “What if I was thinking about what kind of sex I wanted first thing in the morning?” He growled and turned to half of his big body laid across mine.

“What kind,” he whispered in my ear and let his tongue trail from my earlobe down my neck to lick a trail of fire across my collarbone. “Tell me,” he demanded.

“The kind that makes my toes curl. The kind that makes me wish it wasn’t a work day.” The kind of sex that celebrated the fact that I woke up twenty minutes ago and still hadn’t experienced any morning sickness. That’s exactly what a woman who wasn’t a coward would have said.

Me? I was a coward.

“Toes curled,” he growled and put his mouth to mine, kissing me slow and sweet while one hand trailed down my body, setting off little fires everywhere that he touched me. My nipples, the delicate strip of skin between my breasts, the underside of my breasts and down to the soft flesh around my belly button. Eventually his fingers found me wet and needy and drew a deep moan as he played me like an instrument.