The Doctor (Nashville Neighborhood 1)

“It’s like she’d never seen a cock before,” Lilith teased.

She always turned the conversation sexual, and I sort of loved that about her. It meant I could talk to her about sex stuff. She’d been on me all summer about the Preston situation, telling me every day to dump his selfish ass.

“I did it,” I said this morning, using a flat mop to clean the exam room floor. “I called him, and we talked . . . I guess. He definitely got the message that we’re over.”

My friend grinned her approval. “Finally. How’d he take it?”

“He acted like it wasn’t a big deal.” I shrugged. “Like he thinks I’m going to come crawling back to him within a week.”

“Please.” She rolled her eyes as she flipped the sign on the door to let the rest of the staff know the room was clean and ready for use. “I can’t wait for you to hook up with someone with actual dick game.”

My hesitation was short, but just a fraction too long, and more than enough time for my new friend to catch on. Her pretty blue eyes widened.

“Cassidy,” she accused.

I feigned innocence. “What?”

She hustled me across the hall and behind the stacks of prescription dog food, so we were out of earshot of anyone in the waiting area. Her voice fell to an urgent but excited hush. “Already?” Her smile was evil . . . and a little proud. “Who was he? Was it good? Shit, tell me everything.”

It wasn’t a trust issue that made me cautious. I knew Lilith would keep my secret. We’d had plenty of in-depth conversations after the animal hospital closed for the day, talking about boys and sex while we’d cleaned cages and done laundry. But this secret was huge, and worse—Lilith knew Dr. Lowe. After college, she’d moved into the converted pool house behind her parents’ home, which was in the same wealthy neighborhood, just up the street from the Lowes.

“I’m waiting,” she said playfully, although sort of serious.

I needed to tell someone. The amazing afternoon spent with Greg had planted feelings inside me that grew too big to contain. My voice dipped low, and she leaned over to hear me. “It was Preston’s dad.”

There was no reaction from her, other than a set of slow blinks, like she couldn’t interpret the information.

“Did you just say what I think you did?” she whispered. “Dr. Lowe?”

I pressed my lips together and nodded.

An enormous, incredulous smile dawned on her face. “Holy Mother of God. How? Where? I have all the questions.”

Too bad I didn’t have good answers. I was still fuzzy on how it had happened. In fact, everything was fuzzy and complicated after Greg and I kissed the first time. “Uh,” I said, searching for something to say. “I don’t know. I gave him a hug goodbye, and it just turned into . . . more.”

“Where was Preston?”

My face heated with shame. “That time? He’d left for work.”

“What?” Her word was so sharp, surely someone in the waiting area heard her. She moved in until I was trapped in the corner. “How many times have you slept with him?”

“No, we didn’t have sex the first time.” It had been tame enough to be considered PG-13, although nothing about it felt tame. “Yesterday, Preston was still downstairs, playing video games with his friends, when Greg and I—”

“Greg,” she repeated. “Holy fucking shit, Cassidy.” She gazed at me in awe, as if I were a brand-new person, and then she grinned like a fool. “How was it?”

“It?” I played dumb.

She shot me a pointed look. “The sex.”

Now my face burned a thousand degrees. “It was . . .” Unbelievable. Magnificent. “Um, great.”

She gave a half-laugh, and her expression said she didn’t believe me. “Just great?”

I scowled. “It was fucking amazing, okay? But . . . I can’t believe I did that.”

“Dumped your boyfriend and banged his dad right after? Yeah, me neither.” Her amusement seemed to have no limits. “You’re a bad girl, Cassidy. I never would have guessed.”

ELEVEN

AFTER I’D RANSACKED MY ROOM, the laundry, and my car, I sat on the edge of my bed and resigned myself to the fact my favorite hoodie, the Vanderbilt one I’d bought in the university store and had worn almost every night the first year of school, was gone. How the hell had I lost it?

My attention was normally great, but it’d been slipping since the afternoon I’d gone over to Preston’s house to end things and wound up kissing his father. The last two days had been much worse. Since sleeping with Greg, he was all I could think about. Lilith wasn’t helping. She’d insisted we get dinner together after work, mostly so I could tell her every detail.

Describing the memory to her made it more intense, but she’d been great about not judging me. A big part of that was probably her dislike for Preston.