Second First Kiss

“It’s not like I haven’t seen that before. Half the doctors in the hospitals where I did my anesthesia rotations were divorced. Multiple times.” It had been scary to see, and for a while, Sage had sworn never to date a doctor—and not just because of her curse.

“But not around here.”

“Oh, there are divorce scandals, even at Mendon Regional. Believe me.” There’d been that awful thing last year.

“Not someone currently on staff, I take it.”

“Nah.” Sage wouldn’t tell him if she had second-hand knowledge of it, but she’d inadvertently been the catalyst. “Different doctor and nurse.”

“Oh, a doctor and a nurse, eh?” Jasher sat up straighter. “Isn’t that always the cliché on those TV shows?”

“Oh, this is exactly like those TV shows, right down to their tryst in the linen closet in the hospital during the nurse’s on-the-clock shift.”

“Was he her boss? Was that what made it a scandal? Besides her being on shift, of course.”

“More like the fact they were both married to other people.” Sage closed her eyes. “Some things you can never unsee.”

“Wait. You saw?”

“Walked right in on them, unfortunately.” Sage’s face heated at the memory. It had been quite risqué, to say the least. “Luckily, I never had to say anything to anyone about it. You’re the first person I’ve told. I’m guessing a combination of their shame at getting walked-in-on and their moral compasses kicked in, because within a few weeks the doctor took a job out of town, and the nurse transferred to an elder-care center—which started the tongues wagging.” Not Sage’s. Other people’s.

Jasher tsked. “The linen closet. I mean, who does that?”

Sage wouldn’t mind a little make-out in the linen closet, to be honest, if Jasher was the other participant.

“Would you do that?” he asked.

“Um …” She bit her lower lip. “It’s not something I’ve ever done.”

“Of course not.” His gaze was a weight on her mouth. “Is it an ethical problem? I haven’t really considered whether or not it is.”

“It depends.” Sage stared at Jasher’s lips. “I mean, is the doctor her boss? Then it’s a problem. If not, then … I don’t know where it falls.”

“I’m not your boss.”

“No, you’re not. Not directly.” She was still looking at his mouth, a rest stop for her gaze that might now take a while. “Ethically, it doesn’t propose a dilemma, as long as no one’s on the clock.”

“Not ethically.”

She could picture all the moral, ethical, and emotional ramifications—tied up in one spine-arching session with Jasher Hotchkiss.

“So we’d never.” Her voice was slow, and it came out a little husky. “Not on the clock.”

“No. Not while on the clock.” His leg brushed against hers under the table. “That would be wrong.”

“Uh-huh.” Everything inside her turned glossy and hazy and smoky. “Jasher? For the record, I like this place a lot more than Steaks-n-Stuff.”

“Me, too.” Beneath the table, he pressed the side of his leg against hers. “Out here, even the glass taxidermy eyes can’t see us.”

“Uh-huh.”

He moved his leg back and forth, the sides of their lower legs touching. The friction might ignite her skin. “No one else is around, Sage.”

It was only their second date. She wasn’t a second-date kisser. Or was she? Every little cell in her body argued, Yes, you are!

“It could be the ideal time to test the ethical limits of the doctor-nurse-anesthetist relationship.” Jasher slid his chair nearer to hers, and soon they were side by side. He touched her cheek, sliding her hair behind her ear. Her eyes closed reflexively, and she shivered at his touch.

The nearby fire crackled, sending sparks skyward into the dark night, echoes of the sparks exploding behind Sage’s solar plexus. “Jasher, we—”