Page 2 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

"Babe… Try to take a deep breath." I slid my shirt on and stepped into my pants, but I could see clearly that he was not going to calm down. He was probably as afraid as I was. The policy was very strict and left no room for interpretation. This could lead to one or both of us being terminated if Hayward decided to snitch.

"Take a deep breath? Lily, if Jack goes to HR, we're screwed! Do you understand what that means? One or both of us is getting fired." Ethan ran his hand through his hair frantically as he looked into the mirror hung by the door. "I'm thirty-six with a well-established practice. If I have to get a different job, it means starting over. I'm not starting over at thirty-six."

I saw the scowl on his face in his reflection and felt guilty. If he had gotten dressed as soon as we were done, we'd both have been sitting and chatting. Neither of us would have been naked,but I asked for those precious few minutes of intimacy. Now it was going to cost us.

"Ethan, I'm sorry." I walked over to him barefoot, feeling the cold tile on my toes. It wasn’t as cold as the anger in his eyes when he turned to face me. I knew his anger was a secondary emotion, that he was feeling fear and anxiety, maybe even a bit of shame. I touched his face softly, and he grabbed my wrist and lowered my hand.

"Lily, this is serious. I don't know if I'll be able to get us out of this if he goes to the board." His eyes were stormy and dark. They scared me.

"It will be okay, Ethan. We'll get through it. We'll have each other. There isn't anything we can't face. We've had problems before and worked through them." He let go of my hand, but I didn't try to touch him again.

"I have to go. I need to get ahead of this." He pecked me on the cheek, and then he was gone and I was left with my mind swirling. He had never acted this way with me before. I knew it was bad, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle.

I stood there staring at the open door with my toes curled against the cold floor, fighting back the tears. Even without the overly weepy mood I'd been in, this was a tear-worthy situation, but usually, Ethan was here to comfort me and dry those tears. Now I didn't know what to think. He was really upset. What if he was so upset with me that he ended things? What if it was over?

2

ETHAN

My hands curled into fists at my sides as I stood next to Lily in the elevator on our way up to the fifth floor where the hospital board awaited us. Our Saturday night rendezvous at my place never happened, much to Lily's chagrin. I put it off because I didn't know what to do. I picked up a few extra shifts and worked the whole weekend, and now I was irritable and exhausted, and even the two cups of coffee I'd had couldn't chase away my Monday morning grumpiness.

"Ethan, I really think we should talk." She reached for the emergency stop button, but we didn't have time. She was right. We should have stopped and talked about this, but I knew there was no amount of talking we could do that would make the situation go away. She was needy and emotional, and in my own frustrated state, I'd been burying myself in work to forget about it.

"We don't have time right now." I gently guided her hand away from the buttons, and she huffed out a sigh.

"We haven't even spoken since Dr. Hayward walked in on us." Her eyes searched my face, and I avoided eye contact. Her green eyes were tired, and I could tell she'd been crying a lotthis weekend. Probably because I had ignored all of her calls and texts.

"What's there to talk about? One or both of us will be fired. We can talk when we know what the board will decide." We'd both gotten the call yesterday afternoon that this meeting was happening and we were required to attend. News traveled fast here at St. Anne's, and Jack Hayward made sure it went straight to the top. That man had absolutely no sense of compassion.

"You don't want to ask me how I’m feeling?" Lily's pleading tone gutted me, but if I broke down right here and now and started talking about either of our feelings, it would open a huge can of worms for us. They'd read it on our faces when we walked in. It was better that we were slightly at odds right now. It would sell my story to the board much more easily.

"When the meeting is over, okay?" I snapped, not intending to come across as angry with her, but it silenced her clinginess and the elevator came to a stop. The doors slid open, and I led the way toward the board room. Lily lagged behind by a few steps, further selling what I'd be telling the board. I hated that I had disappointed her even a little, but it was better this way. At least one of us could keep our job, and it would probably be me. I could help her, support her as she looked for a new place to finish her residency.

She remained silent as we walked into the board room and stood at the end of the large oval table. The board chair, Allen Knobs, stood and scowled at both of us as he buttoned his coat. The other board members remained seated, and Lily ran a hand through her chestnut hair nervously.

"Dr. Matthews, Dr. Carter, thank you for joining us." Somehow, I got the feeling he wasn't thankful at all. His tone was disapproving and gruff. "As you both know, there have been some serious accusations brought against you by one of yourcolleagues." I hated the way he looked down his nose at us, like he was better than us and had never made a mistake in his life.

"Yes, sir," Lily mumbled, and I wished she'd just let me do the talking. I glanced at her and glowered, but her tight-lipped expression was focused on Allen.

"We can just make this short and sweet if you want." Allen's forehead was furrowed, deep crevices stretching parallel to his eyebrows. His balding head shone under the fluorescent lights reflecting the white-blue glow. I didn’t know what he meant by short and sweet, but it didn't sound good.

"Sir, if you let me explain?—"

"Explain? Dr. Matthews, you were found in the doctors’ on-call room with Dr. Carter who was in a very inappropriate state of undress, and you yourself were half naked. There is little left for the imagination. I have only one question." Allen's glare locked on my face. "Did you have sex with Dr. Carter Friday evening in the doctors’ on-call room?"

He wasn't making it easy for me at all. I had an entire speech planned out to explain how this was a random one-time thing that would never happen again. Of course, that was utter bullshit considering we'd been dating seriously for more than six months with a few months of a fling before that. Lily and I were headed toward a real relationship. We just had to navigate the red tape of hospital policy first.

"Sir, it was a mistake."

I heard Lily suck in a breath and almost audibly scoff, which would only destroy my chance at selling this.

"Dr. Carter and I are only human. We got carried away. It won't happen again?—"

"You're damn right it won't happen again." Allen shook his head and continued. "We have rules for a reason, Dr. Matthews, and I don't take kindly to men who think they're above them. What you did is unthinkable. Sex on hospital property whileyou're on the clock, with a subordinate, no less? Do you realize the egregious misuse of hospital time and resources you're guilty of?"

"Allen, please, I?—"

"That's Dr. Knobs. I'll thank you to keep this meeting professional, which is something you seem to have a difficult time doing. Now, I want to know how long this has been going on. Because I can't fathom a man of your stature with your career on the line would make such an obvious mistake." He waited, staring at me, and I had only one response.

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