6. Skylar
Skylar
" I want to taste every inch of your body. I'm going to lick you from head to toe. You ready for that, baby?"
"Mmhh..." I moaned and arched my back into his touch, desperate for more contact. "More! Please!" I begged.
My legs spread exceptionally wide, trying to accommodate the strong body between them. I was going mad. I needed release.
"You want more, sweetheart?"
The deep vibration of his voice caused my body to quake. Ripples of pleasure spread through me. The connection between us was beyond intense.
"I want everything."
"You're so needy, and it's so damn sexy, baby."
He was saying all the right things, but I wanted him inside of me.
I needed him filling me up. Instead of giving me what my body was silently, and my mouth loudly, begging for, he kept to his word and licked every inch of my body.
By the time he got to my toes, and worked his way back up to my waist, my pussy was leaking.
I tried to nudge his head deep into my center and thankfully he obliged, but not before he firmly gripped my hips into the mattress and taking away the little control I had.
"Aries!" I screamed loudly from an immediate, and surprising, orgasm.
I woke up feeling like I was being catapulted into oblivion from pleasure.
That wasn't the only thing that had my attention though.
It was the name I called out in my dream.
The sound coming from my lips sounded so loud, that I believed my cry was just relegated to a dream.
No, the cry left my lips in reality too.
That was what had me jerking awake with alarm.
It was so loud and erotic, that it had my ears ringing.
There was no way I just had a sex dream about Aries Yerba.
Holy fuck , I thought. There was no way I was dreaming about the man who was not only my current pain in the ass; he was also a pain in my past as well.
Not that he knew about the latter; he definitely knew about the former, and I believed he did that shit on purpose.
Like not responding to my message last night, even though I knew he received, and read it.
While I completed my morning workout, got dressed, made breakfast, and drove into the hospital, all I could think about was Aries Yerba.
His re-emergence in my life had shit resurfacing that needed to stay repressed.
I have got to settle this damn case. I also couldn’t blame him for not remembering me from high school.
I was invisible to the classmates who were just as geeky and nerdy as me.
So, if they didn’t see me, why the hell would I expect for the school’s favorite athlete to not only have seen me, but to remember me twenty years later.
That was an issue that was solely mine, and I could not put my issues on Aries for that.
We did have AP classes together, though, my brain countered.
“Ugh! Maybe I should have gone into engineering and worked for NASA. I could have avoided all of this!” Yeah, I was talking to myself.
I leaned back in my office chair, and let out a loud exhale, questioning my career choices.
It was only eight in the morning. I also had to recognize that even though it was still early, with only an hour passing since I’d been in the office, my morning was flooded with only thoughts of Aries. I hadn’t done one productive thing.
Not only did I have another meeting with Aries at nine.
Three new cases popped up on my dashboard, and I was starting to wonder what the hell the doctors at St. Ambrose Memorial Hospital were doing.
I also knew the ambulance chasers in this town were huge headaches, looking for any possible piece of a multi-million-dollar verdict or settlement notoriety.
Most cases were oftentimes settled under NDA releases, but every now and again there was an attorney on the other side who was brave enough to take a case to trial.
So, there were times our department was tested over and over.
Yet, with me as lead, we’ve been tested less lately.
I wasn’t a fool, and I was beyond good at what I did.
It looked like I would need to tighten up, deal with Aries, and make an example out of a few attorneys coming for my doctors.
If these new attorneys on these new claims haven't gone up against me yet, they’d soon learn. And if they have... they were fools and needed to be made public fools. No one was going to be getting over on me or my doctors. Not on my watch. I could not be intimidated.
My calendar dinged with a reminder, and I let out a deep breath.
All I wanted was ten fucking minutes of clear, stress-free thoughts.
Instead, I moved from my relaxed position and checked my notification, which I already knew was a thirty-minute reminder for my meeting with Aries.
A groan left my lips. I wasn't sure if it was due to annoyance or horniness because just seeing Aries’ name on my screen had my dream from last night resurfacing to the forefront of my mind.
I was exhausted. Even though I didn't want to admit it, I also had hopes of my dream picking up where it left off.
No, Sky ! I rebuked. Get your shit together!
I hit the speak button on my phone and called my assistant. "Leslie, did Dr. Yerba confirm my meeting? He didn’t reply to my message last night.”
Instead of replying over the phone, I could hear her rustling, then seconds later she appeared at my door. She stood in the doorway of my office with her own look of annoyance on her face. I rolled my eyes already knowing what she was going to say.
"Not yet. He read the message. I did get a confirmed receipt."
That much I knew. I was just hoping he decided to grow into a mature adult overnight.
"This guy!"
"Looks like you're gonna have to cancel his schedule again to get his attention."
"Fucking asshole! He doesn’t even have shit on his schedule. That’s why I picked this morning. He was busy the rest of the week, and I was trying to be respectful. I guess I shouldn’t have expected the same in return."
"Whew, he has you hot! You do not usually cuss this much."
"That's what that egomaniac does to me. He drives me crazy."
Leslie laughed and walked out of my office. “Well, I’m going to stay out of the line of fire,” she said loud enough for me to hear her from her desk outside of my office.
Leslie didn’t have to worry. All the smoke I currently had was solely for Aries Yerba, M.D., and I would make sure he knew as much whenever he decided to walk into my conference room.
“Good morning Ms. Wise. I’m surprised you’re late. You know, with your conviction for believing one should always be on time.”
This muthafucka!
He was going to use being on time against me, and there was nothing I could do about it. It was my fault in assuming that I was going to have to track him down and drag him kicking and screaming to the conference room.
“Good morning, Dr. Yerba. Glad you could make it on time today.”
“Why Ms. Wise, you said to be punctual. I was just following orders.”
“A reply would have also been nice,” I mumbled.
Then, spoke louder, “Let’s get started, shall we?
I continued to read through the medical records, and I’ve noticed that there may be some inconsistencies with Mr. Simpson’s physical therapy records.
Of course, because he chose PT outside of the hospital, I don’t have access to the full medical records. ”
“I’m the treating physician, even though their office isn’t a part of St. Ambrose, why wouldn’t they voluntarily provide medical records.”
I gave him a look.
“I get it HIPAA. But they have a release, and have been sending me medical records since Mr. Simpson began treating. I’m not an idiot, Skylar.”
You sure? I thought.
“Well, Aries. Mr. Simpson’s attorney has revoked the release enabling you to receive Mr. Simpson’s records. I can’t obtain them without issuing a subpoena, and I can’t do that until a lawsuit is filed.”
“I really don’t want a lawsuit filed.”
I agreed with Aries, but something in my gut said we didn’t have all of the information. “I know, but if we settle without reviewing every piece of paper available for review makes me uneasy. Right now, there’s no case, and I say we call their bluff.”
“Calling a bluff could potentially blow up my career, Skylar.”
"Aries, we need to be strategic about this. If we show weakness now by settling immediately, it sets a precedent that you can be pushed around."
I watched his jaw clench, and for a moment, I wondered if he was going to argue with me again. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over his face.
"You're right," he said, surprising me. "But I need you to understand something, Skylar. My reputation is everything in this field. One whisper of malpractice, even if it's bullshit, and my referrals dry up. My athletes start looking elsewhere. Everything I've worked for could disappear."
There was something vulnerable in his voice that caught me off guard. This wasn't the cocky, arrogant surgeon I'd been dealing with. This was a man who was genuinely scared of losing everything he'd built.
“There are going to be whisperers. That’s what these personal injury and malpractice attorneys do—they instill fear.
However, we will not cower. If I need to, I will hold a press conference and bury opposing counsel, but I don’t want to do that too soon and look like the big bully, trying to stifle the voice of the injured.
That could backfire. I know it seems that calling their bluff seems to be reactive and not proactive, but if they have a legitimate case, they'll file.
If they don't, they'll keep trying to negotiate a settlement based on fear and incomplete information.
" I tapped my pen against the legal pad in front of me.
"The fact that they revoked your access to the PT records tells me they're trying to hide something. "