Forbidden Prescription: A Stepbrother Romance (7 page)

I
sabella arrived
at the coffee shop on the corner across from her apartment building a few minutes early to scope things out. It was nearly empty, so she ordered two caramel lattes and sat down at a table in the back. He arrived right on time, and she waved him over.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a coffee from her. “How was your day?”

“Okay,” she said, not one for small talk. “Let’s cut to the chase. I need to know that this” —She waved her fingers between the two of them— “will be a secret.”

“Of course. Did someone say something?”

“Martin made some offhand remark about me fucking you, but I think that was out of jealousy and not so much knowledge.”

He clenched a fist. “That little weasel. I can’t stand him. I hope he enjoys working in the urgent care clinic, because I’m banishing him there.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything. We have to keep our work life and relationship separate.”

“That’s easier said than done when work is our life.”

“How about a compromise? Let’s tone down the flirting and favoritism during the work day, and then on the weekends, I’m all yours.”

“Sounds good to me. Does that mean I can’t check out your ass during the work day?”

She giggled. “Yeah, you should probably try to quit. I promise that if we keep this secret, I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Yeah?” he raised his eyebrows.

“I still don’t know how to navigate this relationship thing. How do we take things slowly when we want to be around each other all the time?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know the answer to that. We hooked up in the on-call room shortly after you started here. I wouldn’t exactly say it’s been a conventional courtship.”

Isabella smiled. “What’s your stance on talking on the phone?”

“I’m not a big fan. I’d rather just talk in person.”

She nodded in agreement. “Same.”

“What about PDA?” he asked.

“I think it’s gross, in most cases.”

“You heartless woman,” he joked. “Not even handholding?”

“On occasion. Everything else is off limits until we’re alone.”

“Ok, fine,” he conceded. “Anything else I should know about you?”

Isabella thought for a moment. “Sometimes I snore a little. Mostly when I’m really tired.”

“I noticed.”

“Sorry. Anything I should know about you?”

“I like to play video games to relax. If you’re around while I’m doing this, I will ignore you and probably yell at the TV.”

“I’m glad we’re getting this out of the way now.” She laughed.

He reached across the table for her hand, then quickly drew it back.

“Sorry, already forgot.”

“I wish you weren’t going away this weekend,” she groaned.

“The time apart will be good. You can get some studying done, and I will stay out of your business. I don’t want to be a distraction.”

“Too late,” she said. “It’s a welcome distraction, though. It helps break up the monotony of my day.”

He looked at his watch. “I need to run back to the hospital and finish up my dictations.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You might not.” He grimaced. “You’re with Dr. Jensen for the rest of the week, and then I’m leaving for the conference. I might not see you until next week.”

Isabella’s smile dropped. “Oh,” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I knew what I was getting myself into,” she said. “I completely understand.”

“Good,” he said, getting up from the table. “I’ll see you later.”

She sat and sipped her coffee in the quiet shop, watching him walk back to his car from the wide window.

Work without James just wasn’t the same for Isabella. She never realized how much she looked forward to seeing him until he wasn’t around. In the rare instances where they passed each other in the halls, they could hardly do much more than wave and say hello. Even then, they were in danger of seeming too friendly with one another.

Working with Dr. Jensen again was good for Isabella. It felt good that he remembered her name when he struggled to tell the other interns apart. Also, no one could accuse Isabella of sleeping with him when he chose her for surgeries because it would only sound ludicrous.

James certainly knew his stuff, but Dr. Jensen held more clout in the medical community. Isabella was learning a lot and didn’t have the added distraction of the sexy attending.

Late Saturday night, Isabella was sitting on her couch, glass of wine in one hand and a medical textbook spread out on the adjacent cushion, when her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“I know we don’t do phone calls,” James said. “But I’m alone in a hotel room and can’t sleep.”

“Nothing good on TV?” she asked.

“Nothing that I can get for free,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Just catching up on my reading.”

“What are you wearing?”

“Sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt.”

“Ugh,” he groaned. “Stop, it’s too sexy,” he said sarcastically.

“You asked. Was I supposed to lie?”

“I wouldn’t know the difference.”

“In that case, I’m wearing a thin, silky slip and no panties.”

“Nice try, but it’s too late.”

“Fine,” she said. “What are you wearing?”

“Nothing. I’m lying here, thinking about your sexy body and touching myself.”

“Really?”

“No, I’m just showing you how it’s done.”

She laughed. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll make sure to do better next time.”

“I can’t wait to see you next weekend,” he said softly.

“Me too.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I thought I’d take you out to dinner, and then we could go back to your place. We could go to my place, but my bed is smaller and not as comfortable.”

“I think there might be some new movies in theaters this week if you want to do that too,” he added.

“If I’m going to be in a dark room with you,” she said, “I’d rather not be in public.”

“What would you rather be doing?”

“I’d rather be pulling your clothes off and touching every surface of your body. I can’t do that at a movie theater.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “There’s no need to go out. I have a TV in my bedroom.”

“Maybe we should just skip the restaurant altogether,” she suggested. “I’ll come over, and we’ll strip down and just eat take-out in bed.”

“Not a bad idea,” he said. “How about instead, we cook dinner together and just see where the rest of the night takes us?”

“That sounds nice.”

Isabella heard James yawn. “I should try to go to sleep,” he said. “I have to wake up early for breakfast.”

“Okay, have fun. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Goodnight, Isabella.”

“Goodnight.”

She felt giddy, like a little girl with a schoolyard crush. James was sexy and funny, but most importantly, Isabella felt like he was the only guy who ever really understood her.

Isabella shut her book and climbed into bed. As she lay there in the dark, she replayed the events of their previous date in her head until she drifted off to sleep.

The week leading up to their second date seemed to drag on forever for both James and Isabella. At six o’clock on Saturday evening, she pulled up to his house. His neighborhood was full of what looked like million-dollar homes. She didn’t notice last time, but his house looked like the only one inhabited by a single person. Everywhere she looked, there were couples going out or parents playing with kids in the yard.

She knocked on his door, and he answered it with a big grin. Isabella had never seen him dressed so casually before. He was wearing khaki colored shorts and a short sleeve, button down shirt. He looked like a frat boy all grown up. Isabella was casually dressed herself with a pair of frayed denim shorts and a thin grey sweater.

Upon her entrance to his home, he planted a big kiss on her lips.

“I missed you,” he said. “I know that sounds super lame and cheesy, but it’s true.”

“I missed you, too,” Isabella admitted.

“I don’t have a lot of food here, so do you want to come to the grocery store with me? There’s one nearby, so it shouldn’t take long.”

She agreed, and they climbed into his car.

“How was the conference?” she asked.

“Pretty good. A lot of hand shaking and ass kissing, but other than that, I’d call it a success. I talked with a lot of experts in the area, and I guess that Dr. Jensen speaks highly of me. That means that if all goes well, I can go to just about any hospital I want when my residency is over.”

“That’s great,” Isabella beamed. “Do you think you’d leave the hospital?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “It’s a great hospital, but I don’t know if there’s a place for me here. I want to branch out and make a name for myself, you know?”

She nodded. “How soon would you leave?”

He caught on to what she was really asking. “Don’t worry, Isabella. I’m not going anywhere for at least a few more years.”

“Okay,” she said.

She was getting ahead of herself even worrying about their relationship years from now.

At the store, they decided to make a simple pasta with tomato sauce. Isabella also threw in a pint of cookie dough ice cream for good measure.

She found it oddly enjoyable to be grocery shopping with James. She felt like an old couple, play fighting over the merits of different pasta shapes. He wanted linguine, but she preferred angel hair, so they compromised and got regular spaghetti noodles.

Back at the house, they started cooking. James pulled two beers from the fridge, and they talked more about work as they boiled the noodles and browned the beef. Isabella put the sauce in a pan, but she grew impatient and cranked up the heat. The bright red sauce splattered all over James, who had leaned over the pot to check the noodles.

“I’m so sorry,” Isabella said, observing what looked like a crime scene.

Hardly phased, James wiped a splatter of sauce from his face and tasted it.

“Needs more salt,” he concluded.

Isabella was horrified. His shirt was probably ruined.

“Lighten up,” he said, pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side.

“I’ll buy you a new shirt,” she said.

He waved his hand. “If you want to make it up to me, take off your shirt so I don’t feel so naked.”

She laughed and slipped out of her sweater. “Better?”

“Oh, definitely.”

They finished making supper and sat at his kitchen table, both still shirtless. After they finished eating, James grabbed more beers from the fridge and popped the caps off.

“This is nice,” James said, taking another swig. “I really like staying in.”

“What are your neighbors like?” she asked. “This seems like a really nice neighborhood.”

“Oh, they’re a bit like me—workaholics with big paychecks. There are a lot of young families. Some stay at home moms, but a lot of nannies taking care of kids.”

“Would you ever want to have kids?” she asked, curious about his response.

“I don’t know. The idea is nice, but I’m already thirty. Men don’t seem to have biological clocks like women do, but I don’t want to be fifty, having my first child.”

She nodded. “So it’s completely out of the picture for you?”

“Not necessarily. That’s why I had problems with dating women my age. I could agree to settling down and getting married. In fact, I would love to. It’s just that I could never give a definite response or a timeline to when I thought it could happen. What about you?”

“I don’t even want to think about kids,” Isabella said. “I’m not even sure about marriage. I don’t have a problem with monogamy, but it’s the commitment that scares me.”

“Even with the right man?”

“Yeah, I just don’t know,” she said.

They were quiet for a moment. Isabella tore at the label on her bottle.

“Listen to us,” James laughed. “Talking about serious subjects. Why don’t we lighten the mood?”

“How?” she asked.

“Take off your clothes and follow me.”

Isabella unbuttoned her shorts and they dropped to the hardwood floor. She chased James into his bedroom. He stripped down, and she tackled him into the bed.

“You’re so aggressive,” he said.

“You love it,” she countered.

She pushed him down on the bed and sat on his lap, shoving her tongue into his mouth. He removed her bra and slid the straps off her shoulders, squeezing her breasts, then slowly taking her nipples into his mouth.

When she was ready, she yanked his underwear down past his thighs and straddled him. He wrapped his arms around her back and kissed her neck. After they came, they collapsed onto the mattress, panting. She nuzzled her face in his neck. He smelled like aftershave and fabric softener.

“What time is it?” he asked as he twirled a strand of her hair.

“Ten o’clock.”

“Go grab that pint of ice cream and a spoon,” he said, grabbing the TV remote. “I’ll find something to watch.”

He chose an obscure indie comedy, and they rested their backs on the padded headboard. James took a scoop of ice cream, then passed the spoon to Isabella. They watched the whole movie and laughed, alternating bites of ice cream. By the time the movie was over, the ice cream was long gone.

With nothing else to do, and since they were already naked, they had sex for the second time that night. James took control this time, putting her in positions she’d never even heard of. She liked trying new things with James in the bedroom. He knew precisely what he was doing, which resulted in the best sex of Isabella’s life.

Exhausted, they passed out in each other’s arms after going at it for over an hour.

Isabella woke up before James this time and crept into the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on. She peeked in all of his cupboards, amazed at how neat and orderly everything was. Everything was arranged with the same care and precision as one would find in an operating room.

When the coffee was ready, she poured herself a large mug, stirred in some creamer, and took it out to the patio. The temperature was cool, but the sun warmed her face. She tucked her bare legs into the oversized sweatshirt she found in his closet.

Isabella thought about how great it would be to wake up and do this every morning. When she was alone, her mornings usually consisted of hectically rushing out the door or lying in bed until she guilted herself into getting up.