Dr. Tempt Me - A Possessive Doctor Romance

The possibility made the idea of a serious, committed relationship seem like too big of a risk.

Still, talking about it a little bit felt good. I wouldn’t let myself go too far down that road, but this partnership with her might not end up poorly after all.5FionaI called Erica the next night. She picked up after a couple rings and sounded a little breathless. “How are you, sweetie?” I asked.

“Doing good,” she said. “Running around like crazy though.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I know we’ve been here for a year but I feel like we’re still getting settled.”

“It’s not easy, getting used to an entirely new place.” I sat down on my living room couch and curled my feet underneath me. My apartment was a hodgepodge of styles and half my stuff was bought secondhand at a thrift store outside the city. I made good money, but I lived in a nice neighborhood, which meant most of my cash went to rent.

Not that it mattered, since I didn’t have much of a social life. Erica was a good friend for the brief time we knew each other, but she moved away. We’ve kept in touch and text and talk on the phone constantly, but it’s not quite the same thing as seeing each other in person. I get drinks with some of the other nurses sometimes, and go out to see movies once in a while, but I haven’t been on a date since high school and haven’t been able to bring myself to get involved with anyone seriously since the accident.

“I know, but still. I just spent an hour in the grocery store because I couldn’t decide what I was going to make for dinner tonight.”

“You cook for Gavin?”

She laughed. “When he’s lucky.”

“How’s his new job doing?”

“Good. He’s starting over from scratch pretty much, but he’s got a full patient list and he seems happy.”

“That’s important. I’d hate to start over at a new hospital. You have to learn where everything is all over again and I swear I’m just figuring out where stuff is at Mercy.”

Erica snorted. “Don’t tell me that. You were my nurse.”

“Speaking of which, your mom’s still good?”

“Still good. Gavin watches her like a hawk.”

“Good man.” I cleared my throat softly and fidgeted. “Uh, Gavin’s not home right now by any chance, is he?”

“Actually, yeah, he had the day off. Why, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if I could ask him something.”

“Uh, sure. Want me to give him my phone?”

“I can call him if you want.”

“No, no, hold on a second.”

I heard her cover the receiver as she had a muffled, whispered conversation. I felt awkward, and I realized I should’ve called him from the start, but I wanted to talk to Erica more than anything. I wished I could spill it all to her—but I wanted to see what Gavin said first, and anyway I figured he’d tell her all about it when we were finished talking.

“Okay, hey, sorry, here he is.” She passed the phone over.

“Hey, Fiona.” Gavin’s familiar voice made me smile a little bit. He used to drive me crazy back in the day—he slept with every single nurse in the hospital and didn’t seem to have any qualms about it. I always thought he was a useless womanizer, at least until Erica dropped into his life.

He had it hard though. His sister was murdered by her husband, and his parents died in an accident, so I knew he suffered a lot. I didn’t realize how much until everything happened with them, and now I’d say that we were friends, although still nowhere near as close and me and Erica.

“Hey, Gavin. I have something weird to ask you, and I need you to promise not to overreact.”

“Okay, sure,” he said slowly. “I can try. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” I hesitated. “Well, something’s wrong. How much do you know about the mafia?”

A long silence on his end. I thought we might’ve been disconnected, but then I heard something ruffle along the receiver, like he’d just moved to a different spot and adjusted his phone.

“I take it something’s going down if you’re asking about them,” he said, voice dropping in volume.

“It’s hard to explain and I’m not sure how much you want to know.”

“Are you in trouble?”

“No, not exactly.”

“Doesn’t sound promising.”

I laughed a little. “I swear, I’m okay. But something’s going on at Mercy and we’re trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“We?”

“Me and Dean.”

“Dean Coarse?” He barked a laugh and I grimaced a little, holding the phone from my ear. “No kidding. I never thought he’d be the one to finally break through your ice wall.”

“That’s not what’s happening.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Can you help me, or what?” I felt my anger rising and I knew I’d better try to get this conversation over with before I ended up berating him. As much as I needed his help, I wasn’t about to sit back and let him be an asshole. That wasn’t my style.