Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I didn’t need Sutton when I had cold-water swimming.
I’d finished the morning rounds and was about to head to lunch when my phone buzzed in my pocket. For a second I thought it was Sutton. Of course it wouldn’t be. I swiped up on my screen. It was my brother Nathan. He was confirming our dinner at his place later in the week. I typed back a reply, shoved my phone back in my pocket, and headed to the cafeteria.
The doctors in the hospital shared a cafeteria with the patients and their visitors, but the doctors had a separate room where they could eat. It meant we could discuss issues and cases among ourselves without having to worry about breaching confidentiality. The only problem was that the room was small for a hospital the size of the Royal Free.
“Jacob,” a woman called from behind me, just as I was sliding macaroni cheese onto my tray.
“Macaroni cheese? Really?” It was Hartford, one of the other doctors in the pediatric department.
“I was cold-water swimming on the Heath at five thirty this morning. I earned this calorie-laden-baby.”
She laughed. “Okay, I’ll let you off as long as you have something green with it.”
“I’m all over the broccoli.” I picked up a spoon and scooped some onto my plate. “How are things going? Is it me or does it feel like we have things under control?”
“It’s definitely you.” She picked up her tray and headed to the tills. I followed her. “I don’t feel like I have things under control at all. I’m close to drowning.”
After she paid, she waited for me as the cashier rang up my lunch.
“Want to brainstorm a little?” I asked. “Maybe see if we can shuffle stuff around?”
She smiled up at me. “You’d make a great head of pediatrics when Gerry retires, you know.”
I rolled my eyes and picked up my tray. “Well, he’s not retiring for a thousand years, so there’s little chance of that, is there?”
“You wouldn’t go somewhere else though, would you?”
The thought hadn’t occurred to me. I’d done my foundation program at the Free. I’d learned almost everything I knew here. I’d never considered moving. “I’ve no plans to.”
“That’s good to hear. Gerry is an inspiration. You know, he’s not just a good doctor, but he’s a talented scientist and a compassionate human being who cares about his patients and his staff. You’d be an excellent successor. And from what I’ve heard, you’re on the right path.”
From what she’d heard? How this hospital liked to gossip. Gerry was at least five years off retirement and the search for a successor wouldn’t begin until he announced a firm leaving date. Taking on the head of the foundation program for pediatrics was the first step on the ladder to position myself as a successor, but the next step was taking over the entire program. Then there were some research papers I was working on. Each piece was a carefully positioned domino I was setting up to create the end result I was aiming for.
“Enough about me,” I said. “Let’s talk about why you’re feeling overwhelmed.”
Hartford pushed open the door to the doctor’s dining room and the noise hit us like we’d pushed through the sound barrier. “There are never enough seats,” Hartford said, almost hissing.
Six large, round tables filled the room, each with room for six but seats for eight. It was a squeeze at the best of times.
“There’s one,” I said, nodding toward the table in the far corner. As soon as I said it, I regretted it, because there was Sutton. She had her back to me but she was unmistakable.
I’d managed to spend most of the morning without thinking about her and our kiss the night before. How her tongue tasted sweet, like apples. How the vibrations of her moans had travelled right to my cock. How the feel of her hands on my neck and chest made me transform into some kind of neanderthal who had to fight back the urge to toss her over my shoulder, flip her onto the bed, and fuck her until I was asleep or dead.
Hartford headed over to the space opposite Sutton. But there wasn’t another seat at that table. Maybe I could catch up with Hartford later and I’d take a seat at the next table where one came up. Unluckily for me, as Harford set her tray down, the doctor to Sutton’s left stood.
It had taken cold-water swimming, but I’d managed to set the thoughts aside for a few hours. All it took was the back of her head to bring them all racing back to me. She had her hair up in a messy ponytail, just like when we’d had dinner together, and when she moved to speak to the person on her right, she revealed just the slightest sliver of her elegant neck and that beauty spot on her cheek. If I hadn’t walked in with Hartford, I would have walked straight out again. But Hartford needed to talk. She needed help.