22. Marcus
22
MARCUS
“G ive me a second. I like to lock it immediately. That way, I never have to worry that I forgot,” she explained.
I nodded. “Of course.” While she reset the bolt on her door, I had a chance to glance around. Emma’s apartment was small but well laid out and with a decent view. I wasn’t exactly given a tour.
She dumped her bag and jacket on a chair near the door. “You want something to drink?”
“No.” I shook my head. I reached out for her, slipping my hand around her waist and dragging her against my body. “I want this.”
I dipped my head and claimed her lips. They were soft, and she responded to the kiss. She made soft little moans that drove me insane. I scooped her up, my hands under her perfect ass. “Bedroom?”
“Behind you. Don’t crash into the couch,” Emma told me as my thigh smacked into the back of the couch.
I let go, and she slipped down the length of me. Her body pressed to mine was like the dragging of a match across sandpaper. Sparks sizzled between us, and it felt like we were both on fire.
She ripped at my shirt. Buttons popped and scattered before I could fumble to help her. I pulled the white T-shirt I wore over my head and tossed it.
Her hands splayed against my pecs and she wiggled her fingers into the hair on my chest. “Marcus, you feel so good,” she purred before bringing her lips up to tease my nipple.
With a gasp, I began struggling with my belt. Why were clothes always in the way? Emma slid effortlessly out of her blouse and stood before me in a sexy lace bra that highlighted her curves. I could barely restrain myself from lunging at her like a caveman.
She twisted her fingers into my chest hair and gave a little tug, leading me in the correct direction of her bedroom. As soon as I knew where that bed was, I finished stripping down. Emma wiggled out of her skirt, letting me see that she was wearing matching panties.
“Do you always wear such intriguing underwear, or was this show on your agenda for the day?”
“Intriguing? You like?”
I nodded, too dumbfounded to say anything else witty.
She reached behind her and unfastened the bra and then stepped out of the panties. I practically swallowed my tongue.
“Scrubs are boring. I like knowing I have something pretty on underneath.” She dropped the last bit of lace and then crawled onto the bed where I was waiting for her.
“You are so incredibly lovely,” I said as I smoothed my hand over her belly. “You under scrubs are always pretty.”
“Trying to charm me?” She smiled and reached her arms around my neck.
I rolled into her, and our lips met again. All of her skin was so silky smooth. She was a tempting treasure that I wished I could spend all night with. I cupped her breast, and her nipple tickled my palm.
She grabbed my hand and sucked one of my fingers into her mouth. I felt the pull all the way down to my cock. She then guided the same hand between us and to her pussy. She gasped as my fingers slid between her folds. She was slick and ready.
“Damn, you’re hot,” I managed to say. There were so many other things, more charming, more seductive, that I could have said. I had thoughts of seducing her to ease her tension, but she had successfully turned my brain to mush.
“I need you,” she begged with a slight whine. She wiggled and rocked her hips against my hand.
“I’m right here.” I shifted our position so that I was braced between her legs.
“Now, Marcus, now.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. The lady needed satisfaction, and I was here to deliver. I slid into her depths. She felt heavenly, like no other woman I had before. She writhed and bucked and gave as good as she took. I thrust and pounded against her.
And then her nails bit into my shoulders. She let out a keen, high-pitched plea for more, and I felt her body pulse and throb as her orgasm washed over her. I followed with my own release. I stayed pressed to her body, not willing to relinquish the contact between us.
With soft little noises, she curled up against me. My heart hammered in my throat, but Emma was so delicate and warm in my arms, I wasn’t about to jump out of bed and spoil the moment. I waited for her to fall asleep before gently extricating my arm out from under her and easing myself from her bed.
I hadn’t had to sneak out of someone’s bedroom in a very long time, and I realized I hated it. But I had kids at home, and I needed to get back.
“Are you leaving?” Emma asked in a drowsy, sleepy voice.
She rolled over and looked at me as I pulled my clothes on. “Yeah, I gotta get back to the kids. Staying, unfortunately, isn’t an option.”
“I understand,” she said with a brief nod.
“You go back to sleep, Emma.”
“Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“I should be thanking you,” I said as I adjusted my slacks and tucked my shirt in.
“No, I meant for everything today—your support, your notes, dinner, this. Well…”
“I like you, Emma, and taking care of you is easy.”
“You took very good care of me. Thank you.”
“Taking care of you was easy and a privilege.”
I put my knee on the bed and leaned in, giving her another kiss. She was warm and smelled sweet, and I knew her skin was soft and that the bed was comfortable.
“I’ve got to go,” I said with a groan. The gravity pull of her was strong.
The evening air was brisk and helped bring me back to reality. I walked a few blocks before grabbing a cab. My house was dark and quiet. Everyone was asleep. I locked up and went to bed in a cold, lonely room—all alone.
“Welcome, Dr. Walker,” Nurse Hernandez called out my name as I approached the nurses’ station the next morning.
I raised my eyebrows in question as I approached her, expecting her to give me details on a specific patient or let me know that we had incoming.
“I have a message here for you from James Collins.”
“The chief hospitalist? I wonder what it could be about,” I said as I took the scratch sheet of paper with her handwriting scrawled across it. It just said to come to his office as soon as I got in. That didn’t make any sense.
“Did he say what this was for?” I showed her the piece of paper, as if there were something hidden there that I couldn’t see.
She just shrugged. “No, that was it. He wanted you to check in with him, I guess before you started your shift.”
“Interesting,” I muttered to myself. “I guess I’m going there if there’s nothing urgent.”
She shook her head. “No, we’ll be good.”
I made my way out of the department and up to the administration hall, where most of the administration offices were located. James Collins had his office there. The door stood wide open.
I knocked, and he looked up from his computer at me. “Ah, come on in. Take a seat. Close the door.”
Crap. Closing the door was never a good sign.
“So, I don’t know how to say this, Marcus, so I’m just gonna cut to the chase. I received an anonymous call about inappropriate dealings with other staff members.”
I gulped. As far as I knew, there hadn’t been anything inappropriate. Every interaction that Emma and I had had thus far was completely consensual.
I shook my head. “I’m baffled,” I admitted.
“Says here you were seen leaving the hospital with Dr. Emma Chen.”
My brow furrowed, and I shook my head. “Yeah? So? We’re colleagues. Sometimes our schedules line up, and we leave at the same time. I don’t see how?—”
“Yeah, well, apparently, she had a very…” He steepled his fingers together and shook his head as he thought of the word he needed. “Not professional presentation.”
“I understand.”
“To the review board,” he added. “And guess what? Your name came up. Well, let’s just put it this way—she’s not some shining star you should hook your wagon to.”
“Are you trying to warn me off being friendly with my colleagues?” I asked.
His face twisted as he tried to find the right words that wouldn’t get him into trouble.
“Look, Marcus, between you and me, she’s got a bit of a reputation.”
“For being a damn fine surgeon,” I offered.
“Her skills aren’t in doubt. It’s her…” He hesitated. “It’s that she sometimes lets her private life get in the way of her professionalism.”
As he spoke, my eyes narrowed. This sounded a lot like somebody was making trouble for her.
She had told me her ex seemed to have some kind of professional grudge against her. Maybe this was connected. Maybe this was completely separate, and I was making connections that really weren’t there.
“You’ve got a promising future with us here at Manhattan Memorial, and I’d hate to see you jeopardize that for any reason,” James said.
I had pretty much stopped listening to him. My career wasn’t at risk. I knew that I could take my skills and go to any hospital and be welcomed. But this sounded almost as if the hospital—and whoever this anonymous report came from—would make problems for Emma.
That wasn’t something I could ignore. And they would make problems for me too. I liked her entirely too much to mess up her job for her.
“Just so we’re clear,” I said, “the hospital does not have a fraternization clause in the handbook. I know. I checked. So this sounds?—”
James shook his head. “This is a little more specific, I think.”
I nodded in understanding. This felt a lot like they were looking for an excuse to reprimand Emma and were using me as a means to do so.
I didn’t like the game they were playing. And until I could talk to Emma about it, unfortunately, I needed to play along—because I wasn’t going to put her at risk.