Page 27 of The Doctor's No-Strings Deal

“A no-strings arrangement between us where we get each other through residency by relieving each other’s stress as often as either one of us needs it. We will not form an alliance beyond that. In every other way, we will continue to compete, and I will continue to despise you.”

She broke in, “And I you.”

“Good. We understand each other.” It was vitally important to keep up the act. The truth was, if she left the hospital, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He relied on her to keep him motivated, to give him something else to focus on other than his own impending failure. She was perfect in so many ways. Of course, she drove him crazy — that wasn’t in question.

She was still a lot of tooth rot waiting to happen, as sweet as she was. But she was also damned good at what she did. She was going to make a fantastic doctor one day, and at that point, he hoped they would no longer be in competition. Maybe they could look back on their residency and laugh about how much they affected one another, in good ways and in bad. But that was then and this was now.

“Pepperoni?” he asked, grabbing his wallet from his back pocket.

“Olive and mushroom, extra cheese.”

“We’ll go half and half.”

“Fine.” She put her head back down and kept writing.

He ordered the pizza and took a moment to watch her study. Every time he looked at her, he was amazed anew at just how gorgeous she was. She pushed her glasses up her nose, and he wanted to lay her across the table and make her come again.

“We should lay down some ground rules,” he said, partly because it was true, and partly because he wanted to keep talking to her. “We both have the right to veto at any point. This isn’t going to be coercive.”

She glanced up and nodded. “But neither of us can criticize the other for frequency of requests or timing.”

“Agreed.” He tapped the table while he considered what more they should add to the table. Just thinking about this agreement made him nervous and excited. “We will not use this arrangement to manipulate each other in any way. We won’t let our personal feelings get in the way of anything until we’re both out of residency.” He leaned across the table until he was close enough to murmur. “Above all, we will not fall in love with each other. That’s off the table.”

She bit her lip and giggled like he was the one who was being ridiculous. Then she leaned across the table the rest of the way and kissed him. Her kiss sent Charlie into an altered state of consciousness. How long he was going to be able to keep up this agreement, he had no idea, but he was determined to try.

She sat back down, and observed the damage she’d done with a twinkle in her eye. “This is going to be fun, Dr. Sullivan.”

He hummed at the sound of that name. “Say that again.”

“This is going to be fun.”

“No, the name.”

“Dr. Sullivan?” she arched an eyebrow at him.

“Yes. Music to my ears.” What he didn’t say was that it was only music because it came from her. “You and I are going to have a perfect residency. And at the end of it all, I’m going to beat you at your own game.”

“We’ll see, Dr. Sullivan,” she said, and she yelped as he leapt across the table to kiss her one more time.

CHAPTER 13

MEGAN

Megan and Charlie put their agreement to the test almost immediately. They had just spent most of their morning putting their heads together to diagnose Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in a forty-year-old woman who’d had symptoms for years. They considered this diagnosis a win for both of them. By the afternoon, they were both tired but also feeling proud and celebratory.

They’d decided on a sign they could each use to summon the other. It was nothing fancy, just a brief squeeze of the wrist in passing, but it was enough to get Megan’s heart pounding. When Charlie gave her the signal, she watched where he went and followed at a distance. Once he was alone, she watched him slip into a janitor’s closet. Megan groaned and shook her head. He couldn’t have found a more comfortable location? Well, at least it was a little exciting.

She slipped in after him and closed the door behind her. “Really?” she said when they were alone. He didn’t respond. He lifted her onto a narrow table and kissed her mouth. She pulled back to say, “You trying to shut me up again?”

“Mm-hm.” He kissed her again, and this time slipped his hand into her shirt in a way that made her immediately less concerned about whether their surroundings were appropriate. “Here, it’s important that we’re quiet,” he murmured as he untied her scrubs.

“Oh, that’s why you chose it,” she whispered. “So I’d shut the hell up.”

“Absolutely.”

She couldn’t help laughing under her breath. Then he pressed into her, and she couldn’t find the words to argue anymore. If he wanted to shut her up, he didn’t need to drag her into a janitor’s closet to do it. He could take her breath away anywhere in the hospital or out of it. All he had to do was exactly what he was doing right now. She buried every sound she felt the urge to make while he tortured her. There were people walking by outside. She could hear their conversations through the vent in the door, but she didn’t care. In fact, the danger made it all the more exciting.

When they were finished, Megan needed a moment to gather her wits, un-wobble her legs, and learn to walk again, so Charlie left the store room first. Megan waited ten minutes before leaving after him.

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