Page 19 of Dr. Off Limits

Jacob

I always told myself that, despite disagreements with my brothers, I loved them all and always would. I always knew we’d withstand the general banter that cut a little close to the bone and occasional serious arguments that so far had only once turned physical with Nathan over a naan bread.

But not anymore.

Beau fucking Cove was dead to me.

I pushed my hand over my head. What the actual fuck was happening right now? Flashes of Saturday night swept through my brain. Her scent—that fucking scent she had that was impossible to place but was feminine and sexy and had driven me wild all evening as we sat next to each other in the restaurant. Her legs as they smoothed against mine, her lips, shiny wet from my kisses. Her hair and the way I used it to anchor her head so I could watch her as she came.

Fuck.

Beau’s annoying face flashed up on my phone—a response to the message I’d just sent him asking him why the fuck the woman I’d taken to dinner on Saturday night was staring back at me as one of the new doctors starting the foundation program at my hospital. I cancelled the call, wondering about the likelihood of dying of a stress-induced heart attack at thirty-six. My phone lit up again.

I dipped into a supplies cupboard and answered it. “I can’t believe you would do this to me. You know what Dad always says about keeping our private lives private, and it’s like my only rule. I’ve never broken it despite the countless times I might have been tempted.”

“Jacob,” Beau said, trying to interrupt me, but I wasn’t about to let him.

“You could have just told whoever your friend is that you couldn’t make it. You could have just been fucking honest. No, you have to put my integrity on the line. You have to put yourself and your fucking feelings first because no one else fucking matters, do they?”

“Jacob?” Beau said again.

“Well that’s it. I’m never doing anything again for you. If you’re set on fire, don’t expect me to piss on you.” I felt better for getting it all out.

“I didn’t know she was starting at the Royal Free. I promise you.”

“But I bet you didn’t ask either.” Beau never thought about the consequences of anything he did. “I’m sick of your baby brother bullshit. She’s now in a compromised position and so am I.” I didn’t tell him how I’d been positioning myself for the past two years to take over the running of the foundation doctors program from Wanda. Everyone knew it was a test to see if you were leadership material. Everyone who did a good job running that program—and frankly some who only did a mediocre job—ended up heading up departments at this hospital and others in London. Beau thought he’d just made a silly mistake when in reality, it had potentially career-threatening consequences. I couldn’t be fucking a doctor on the program when I was trying to take over running the program.

“I’m taking it from your complete overreaction that the night didn’t end at dinner. It’s not my fault if you couldn’t keep your meat and two veg in your jeans for the night.”

“Excuse me, I didn’t realize I needed to check in with you before I slept with someone. If I’d thought for a minute that she was working at the Free, there’s no way I would have touched her.”

I didn’t know if I was angrier at Beau for putting me in this position or myself for actually liking Sutton. I’d even messaged her on Sunday and been hoping to see her again. There was no way that could happen now.

I took a breath. Beau was annoying and selfish sometimes, but I should have checked which hospital she was starting at and taken my shot of tequila. This mess wasn’t Beau’s fault.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Beau said. “I wasn’t trying to fuck up any weird rules you have about work.”

“They’re not weird rules. They’re professional boundaries. But it’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should have been more careful.”

“You’re literally the only doctor I know who hasn’t fucked someone at the hospital they work at.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s right. You know what Dad says.”

“Dad’s a hypocrite. He met Mum at work.”

“I know, but his advice isn’t wrong.”

“Relax, Jacob. You always give yourself such a hard time. Like I said, if I’d known, I would have told you. Didn’t she tell you where she was doing her two years of foundation? Didn’t you mention where you worked and then she said—‘Surprise! Me too’?”

I sighed. If only. It was a perfectly reasonable question and on any normal night, what Beau was describing was exactly what would have happened. “It didn’t come up.”

Instead we’d spent the night not talking about medicine or where we worked. And that had been refreshing and fun and something I wanted to do again with Sutton. But there was no way it could happen now.

“Has she done something to make it embarrassing or something?”

“No, nothing.” The shock I’d seen when I’d caught her eye told me as much. There was no way she could have known. “I’ve gotta go. I’m in a supplies cupboard and I’ve got things to do. This isn’t your mess. Sorry for losing it.”

“It’s not as bad as you think it is.”

It never was for Beau.

I had to find Sutton and ask her to keep things that had happened between us strictly private if she hadn’t already said something to someone. Wanda had them still in the lecture theatre filling out three gazillion forms. I’d have to be casually passing when they filed out.

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