Page 75 of Dr. Off Limits

Sutton

I wasn’t sure what it was about waking up at Jacob’s place, but I just felt more rested than I did at mine. The eight hours sleep probably helped. The Egyptian cotton sheets and perfectly air-conditioned bedroom didn’t hurt either. Being at Jacob’s place was like sleeping in a luxury hotel.

The only drawback was the lack of room service. I knocked the bedroom door open with my foot and slid the tray of coffee onto the bedside table. I’d gotten showered and changed and packed up all my stuff and was ready to leave. Nothing had stirred Jacob. Maybe the smell of coffee would rouse him. Maybe not.

“Don’t leave without a kiss,” he said in that gravelly voice he always had when he woke up. The timbre sent vibrations between my legs and I squeezed my thighs together. I was going to have to take a cold shower on my break. I couldn’t be late for work.

He reached out for me and pulled me onto the bed and into his arms.

“I have to leave.”

“Call in sick,” he said.

I pressed kiss after kiss after kiss along his jaw. “As if.”

He released me and I leaned over the bed to place a kiss on his forehead like he so often did to me.

“I’d rather stay here with you, but I have to go.”

“I’m going to look at the rotas. You haven’t had a day off at the weekends for weeks.” Jacob was lucky—as a consultant doing mainly elective procedures and weekday clinics, he didn’t often work weekends. The rest of us covered.

“Please don’t,” I said. The last thing we needed was Jacob suggesting a change to my schedule—we might as well hold hands around the children’s ward. “I’m going to go.”

“You’re coming over after?” he asked. “I’ll cook.”

“Sounds good.” I turned to leave and he grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him, cupping my face in his hands and kissing me into next week.

Giddy, I pulled away. “I’m going to be late. I’ve put coffee by the bed. Have a good day.”

I hooked my backpack over my shoulder, scooted downstairs, and unlocked the front door. Outside, the air had shifted. The weather had been so beautiful the last few weeks I hadn’t thought to bring a coat last time I was at my place. But this morning, the blue sky had been covered over with a blanket of grey-white clouds threatening rain. There was a real chill in the air.

Hopefully I’d make it to the hospital before the rain started. It was only a few minutes’ walk.

At the gate, I punched in the code, which released the lock. On the sideway just outside, I ran straight into Gilly.

I froze, completely unable to move or speak.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Hi.” I tried to sound breezy as my heart thundered in my chest. I knew easy was just the prologue to disastrous.

She stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Hi.” She glanced back at the house.

“Are you starting at eight?” I asked, walking in the direction of the hospital.

“You don’t live there,” she said.

I didn’t reply. I was in the middle of a minefield. Wherever I trod, I could get blown to smithereens.

“I’m really hoping I get to work with Hartford,” I said. It turned out Hartford was married to one of Tristan’s best friends. London could be a small place at times. “She’s back from sabbatical today. Did you hear?” I was hoping to distract Gilly from asking me where I’d been.

“Are you sleeping with Jacob Cove?” Her voice had a tinny edge to it I didn’t recognize.

My heart sank into my stomach and I wanted to throw up. “Why would you say that?” I asked, very deliberately not answering the question. I don’t know how I kept walking, but thankfully my feet carried me forward, toward the hospital.

“Because you just crept out of his house at eight in the morning carrying a backpack.”

I kept my gaze forward. I couldn’t risk catching her eye, trying to think of something to say. How did she know this was his house?

---