Page 28 of The Doctor's No-Strings Deal

No matter how careful she was, though, her timing was always the worst. Kayla passed by just as Megan exited the closet. She laughed when she saw Megan. “Needed cleaning supplies, did you?”

Megan answered without thinking. “Yes. What’s so weird about that?”

“What’s weird is that you don’t have any cleaning products right now. What were you in there to get?” By the look on her face, her suspicions were likely close to the truth.

Megan had to think fast. “Maybe I was in there to put something back.”

“Maybe?” Kayla smirked. “Maybe you were in there to put something somewhere.”

“Oh my God, Kayla. Stop being weird.” Megan nudged her and acted like her friend had just teased her for the sake of teasing. Maybe then Kayla would give it a rest.

But Kayla clearly wasn’t buying any of it. “Oh, fine,” she said. “You can tell me why you’ve been acting so weird the last few days when you’re ready. I won’t ask any more questions or tell you that the rest of us already know it has everything to do with Charlie Sullivan.”

Kayla’s knowing look was almost more than Megan could bear. She nearly considered ending her agreement with Charlie over the humiliating idea that everyone already knew everything.

But the next day, when Megan was taking a breather in the on-call room, he walked in, and all bets were off. The on-call room was a small room with about two bunkbeds set up to give on-call doctors somewhere comfortable to sleep — not that Megan and Charlie required beds at all. But it was nice to have a more comfortable place to engage in their arrangement from time to time. Once again, the excitement of potentially getting caught only added to the experience.

Afterwards, Megan had to talk herself out of staying in his arms and allowing herself to drift off. It was just an impulse, she told herself. She would have that instinct with anyone she wassleeping with. It had nothing to with any feelings she may have for Dr. Sourpuss. Because she didn’t have any feelings for him. She didn’t.

This time she dressed and left first, but it didn’t matter. Kayla was just turning out of the hall, and the second she heard a door open behind her, she whirled around and pointed at Megan. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you. Where have you been?”

“Just catching my breath,” Megan said with a shrug. “It’s been kind of a crazy day, right?”

Kayla cocked her head. “I mean, not really. It’s been basically the same as all the other days.”

Megan sighed and finally gave up. “Oh, come on, Kayla. You’ve got to give me something here. I’m drowning. You can see that I’m drowning, can’t you?”

Kayla turned back again right before she and Megan turned a corner, just in time to see Charlie emerge from the same room Megan had come from. “You’re drowning in men, you mean. Or… man. Just the one man, but plenty of man to drown in, I’m sure.” She elbowed Megan several times. “Eh? Eh? How in the world did you manage to land Charlie freaking Sullivan?”

“I didn’t land him,” Megan said, looking away from her accuser. “It’s just a way to blow off steam. Residency is stressful. We figured out we could handle the stress more if we participated in certain… aerobic activities that also happen to release some very helpful brain chemicals.”

“Suuuuuurrrrreeeee,” Kayla sang. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to make it make sense.”

“It makes sense. Trust me.”

“’Kay. Well, you want to help me with my new patient?”

Anything to get the topic of conversation on a new track. “Sure.”

The next morning, Megan pulled Charlie aside. “We need to talk.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Already? You’ve got to pace yourself, Bright.”

She rolled her eyes and started walking, forcing him to follow if he wanted to hear what she had to say. “People are starting to notice. I think we should let things cool down a bit before they all confirm their suspicions.”

Charlie raised both eyebrows, questioning. “What’s the matter? Are you ashamed to be seen with me or something?”

“How’d you guess?” She gave him a nasty look and he smiled warmly at her. Lately, every time they came together, their roles seemed to reverse. Megan decided her own harsher attitude was worth a little warmth from Charlie. He probably felt the same, in reverse, of course.

“You win, Bright,” he said, laughing. “We’ll be more discreet from now on, but in case you weren’t aware…” He leaned in too close and murmured low into her ear. “I am far from ashamed to be seen with you.”

Before she could slap him with the file folder in her hand, he’d kissed her ear and veered away from her, sauntering down another hall into another exam room.

They went the rest of the week without interacting at all. Megan was proud to have managed it, but she still wasn’t sure if it was worth it. Kayla already knew, that was for sure, and she certainly wasn’t hiding it. Half of her jokes seemed to revolve around Megan’s relationship with Charlie, if it could even be called that.

The trouble was, after all that time avoiding him, Megan wanted him more than ever. Each time he stood behind her, close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body, that familiar heat started pooling in her belly. He was all she could think about, which was not like her at all. No matter how her hormones had tormented her in school, she’d been able to ignore them and focus on her studies. Nothing mattered more than getting the right residency. But now, it all seemed to be catching up to her. Either that or Charlie was bringing out a level of desire she’d never felt before, which was a reality she wasn’t going to accept until hell froze over, thawed back out again, and then became an expensive luxury spa.

And before she could stop herself, she’d begun fantasizing about spending several hours in a luxury spa alone with Charlie. Far from easing her frustration, spending more time with him seemed to be increasing her libido, and now staying away from him was making it even worse.

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