Page 12 of Eight Naughty Notes

7

CHRISTIAN

Most of what belonged to me was in storage in Atlanta, but not my heart. My heart was right here in this hospital walking around and avoiding me most of the time. I thought it would be harder to see her each day, and not have her, but actually, I had felt better than I had felt in years. Having her so close and watching her go out of her way to avoid being alone with me revealed something important to me. Her intentional avoidance told me I had a good chance of getting her back. If she was completely done with me, she’d be cool as a cucumber, but no, Tori was hot. Very hot and I surmised she only needed a little push to see she could let go a little.

Thanks to Dr. Hughes, we started meeting to go over cases in the hospital’s cafeteria one morning. We sat across from each other at a small table, pulling out the tablets given to us by the hospital with software developed by Khalil I. Berry or KIB Enterprises. Khalil was being called a genius in the software and technology world and he was born and raised right here in Pittsburgh which made it that more relevant. I’d been reading about him over the years because he had branched into software solutions that were helping hospitals across the country and the world. His story was even more encouraging because of his dark brown skin and down-to-earth persona. Despite being down to earth, his impact was anything but. His innovations had been phenomenal and were helping shape the way humans interacted with technology without losing the soul in those interactions. His motto was Software technology that brings people together, not pushes them apart. Let’s not lose our soul.

He’d developed software that made it easier for doctors to access records of their patients and interact with those patients in real-time as we made adjustments to medications and treatment plans. It wasn’t meant to replace face-to-face appointments, but instead it was meant to help complement those appointments and provide in between care that often went overlooked. KIB’s software was being used all over the tri-state area hospitals and from what I could tell, most of the physicians loved it. I understood why. It was simple to send a message to a patient recently discharged before alarming symptoms cropped up and sent them back into the cycle of care. The idea was to guide them in the way home health nurses might, but from their primary care individual which ultimately built better confidence in their doctor’s medical advice and encouraged them to stick with whatever treatment plan was given.

The first meeting with Tori went well. She asked questions and brought some research findings she had while I discussed some post-surgical options I looked into and felt confident about. She warmed up a little by the end of coffee and we broke apart to get to work. But the third coffee meeting, she had relaxed with me and we found ourselves venturing into personal territory which is exactly what I wanted when I made a suggestion to Dr. Hughes, that Tori and I work together. The twinkle in his eyes told me he saw right through my motive, but he went along with it.

“Call me an old man, who’s gotten soft in my late years, Dr. Powers, but I do think you two would make each other happy again.”

Not wanting to admit what we both knew, at least not openly, I shrugged. “Not sure what you mean. I’m just trying to help one your brightest doctors with her high-risk caseload.”

“Uh huh. I’m sure. Well as long as she agrees and it doesn’t interfere with her clinic or with her rounds, I’m fine with it.”

I rushed to get off the phone before he changed his mind.

“I’m surprised you’re not married by now.”

She had leaned back into the chair across from me a ran her fingers through her loose curls that reached right below her ears. Tori’s hair had always been an aphrodisiac for me. Soft, full, fluffy. Between it, her eyes, lips and body, I wasn’t sure which had me more ensnared. And truly, I didn’t care, because I wanted them all.

“Why is that?”

She threw her hands out and pointed to me. “Because you’re you. Have you seen you?”

I laughed at her frustration with me not getting it. I just wondered how she didn’t understand that I couldn’t be married since she wasn’t the one I was with.

“I have, but not sure that matters a great deal when it comes to being married.”

“It’s a good start.”

“Okay, yeah. You’re right but then that would mean it makes no sense that you’re not married. Have you seen you?” I turned her question around on her while making sure she felt my intent when I slowly dragged my eyes from her eyes down her curves hidden beneath her white jacket.

She looked away with flushed cheeks. Good. She needed to stop playing with me and this hard dick I had for her. “Marriage just doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “It’s not easy finding the time to connect with someone long enough to see what we could make of it?” She looked back at me and our eyes held. I didn’t look away and when she swiped her luscious lip with her tongue I zeroed in on the dewy flesh left behind.

I looked back up into her dark eyes, that held desire. “You sure you just haven’t slowed down long enough?”

She looked at me long and then seemed to snap out of it. “That could be it. But I think it’s more than likely being tied up with helping the people who need it the most.”

“You still need you the most.”

“You’ve been saying that a long time.”

“And I’ll always feel this way. You just need someone to prescribe you a remedy.” That pulled a smile out of her.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Matter of fact …”

I felt her watching me as I pulled out my pad and wrote something down for her. I tore the sheet off and passed it to her and started gathering my things as she read it out loud.

“When you’ve seen your last patient, go home. Do not stop to talk to Ms. Betty. Do not find a reason to stay late. Go home and rest. “

I smiled at how incredulous her voice sounded with each word.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope. That’s the first script. There will be more. But we’ll start slow.”

I watched her take a deep breath at hearing me say slow and I know she remembered how I liked to take things slow. I had nothing but time.

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