Page 65 of Resisting You

Frey turned away from Renato, and as much as he wanted to feel guilty, he couldn’t. He couldn’t let anything get in the way of his work—not even Frey. And he was already becoming dangerously distracting.

“Anytime now, Doctor,” Renato said. “Or we’re going to run out of anesthesia.”

The procedure went off without a hitch after the initial hiccup. He saw tears in the resident’s eyes, but if they couldn’t learn to work under pressure, they’d never survive. His words were nothing compared to what they’d face eventually. If they crumbled under him now, how would they handle a sobbing, screaming family when one of their patients didn’t make it?

There was a time and place for falling apart, but standing there with a scalpel in their hands was not one of them. He couldn’t afford to be soft. That wasn’t his job.

“So, do you need your assholery milked out with a prostate massage before surgery, or?—”

Renato spun slowly. The dressing room was empty except for him and now apparently Frey, who was still in his scrubs, cap, and booties. It shouldn’t have been sexy. Renato had never seen anyone dressed post-surgery and wanted to stick his tongue in their mouth, but apparently, that was changing.

He took a step forward, and Frey took one backward. “Did you expect me to suddenly become Snow White and sing to little birds now?” Renato demanded.

Frey’s cheeks turned a delicious pink. “I only meant?—”

“Did you expect me to coddle them,” he went on, interrupting his lover. “Hold their hand and kiss their forehead and tell them that hesitation is fine so long as they’re trying?” Renato went on.

“You don’t have to be a monster to guide them,” Frey said, throwing his hands up in the air.

Renato was close enough that all he had to do was reach out and catch Frey’s wrists before they fell. He pinned him to the door, then let go of one hand to lock it behind Frey’s back. His lover’s chest hitched with a sharp breath as Renato claimed his hold on him, then spread his legs with a knee.

“You can’t be serious,” Frey gasped, his voice thready and small. “After all that?”

“After all that,” Renato confirmed with a nod. He rocked his erection against Frey’s side, making his pupils dilate. “But if you want me to stop, I will. Anything you want.”

“I want you to stop being an asshole,” Frey groaned.

Renato dipped his head low. He wasn’t sure Frey would ever understand what Renato’s job actually was. “Am I being an asshole now?”

“Yes,” Frey whispered.

Renato chuckled and pulled back. He let Frey’s hands go, but he didn’t back away. He touched the side of his jaw, then pressed two fingers to feel his rapid pulse. “When you were in school, would you have made it if the nurses training you held your hand and gave you participation trophies?”

“I—”

“How many times did you cry at the beginning?”

Frey was silent for a long time. And just when Renato thought he wasn’t going to answer at all, he said, “I lost count.”

“Do you hate them?” Renato murmured. He dipped his head and tasted the salt on Frey’s neck.

Frey shivered. “No. Well. A few of them.”

Renato laughed once more. “I don’t care if they hate me in fifteen years so long as they’re better surgeons because of it. In that room—in that OR—the only thing that matters to me is the person on the operating table. If a resident cries, but the patient walks away better than they came in, I don’t care whose feelings I hurt.”

“I seriously hate that you’re making sense.”

Renato pulled his head back and met Frey’s eyes. “Do you?”

Frey licked his lips. “Would you make me cry?”

“If I had to. And then I’d make it up to you. Like this.” He cupped Frey’s erection, kneading it with the heel of his hand, and Frey’s hips bucked forward.

“Shit.”

Renato hummed, then took his mouth in a lush, warm kiss. Frey gave as good as he got, his hands fumbling between them to pull the strings on his scrubs, to yank at the button on Renato’s trousers. It took only a few tugs before he had their cocks in his hand, and he began to jerk them both fast and almost angry.

“Easy,” Renato said, gentling him. “Easy.”

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