9781631052347OnCallKenyan (8 page)

Chapter
Six

AJ felt
like his whole body was about to break apart. Lyle had it in for him. He had
gone from successfully practicing extracting a tumor from a simulation to doing
a bypass. But the only positive thing that came out of it was that Katherine
had insisted on staying by him. He could see the exhaustion she was fighting in
her eyes. Lyle was there watching over them, waiting for them to fail. But they
had proved him wrong.

Katherine’s
forty-hour day was done when the last surgery was over. But AJ still had to
check on his trauma patients and the neurology patient. He was finally done
when he dragged his feet toward the staff lounge. He wasn’t even going to
change, he was going to grab his gear, grab his girl from the on-call room and
go.

AJ’s
feet froze. He had just called Katherine his girl. And in a way she was. He was
on his way to the on-call room when he realized there was no way he would be
able to drive them both home without killing them. He went to the nurse’s
station and called for a cab. He sat behind the nurse’s desk, hiding from any
attending who would want his many skills on their next surgery. When the cab
arrived, he went to the on-call room. But when he opened the door he had to
blink a couple of times first. He was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He
expected Katherine to be as exhausted as he was. He never expected to find
Katherine on the same bed he had just made love to her—with Lyle on top of her.

“Katherine?”

She
didn’t respond, but Lyle got off her, his eyes darting from Katherine to AJ
nervously. “What do you want, Ross?”

“What
the hell do you think you are doing?” AJ still didn’t see any movement from
Katherine. It looked like she just didn’t care.

“I’ll
go.”

“No, I
should leave.” AJ began when a sigh from Katherine stopped him. He looked at
her closely. Moving toward her, he saw her turn, her arm falling lifelessly off
the bed. She sighed again, and this time AJ realized she was fast asleep.

His
insides lurched as anger boiled within him. He turned toward Lyle but all he could
see was his lab coat as he made his escape. But AJ wasn’t going to let him get
away with whatever he was doing. He didn’t even want to think about what Lyle
was doing. He chased after Lyle in a murderous pursuit. In just a few strides
his large arm knocked Lyle down to the floor.

The
fear and panic in Lyle’s eyes fed AJ’s anger and hunger for blood. He picked
him off the floor only to drive him back with a punch.

“What
were you doing?”

“Nothing!”
He squealed as he crawled away.

“I know
what I saw.”

“And
what was that?” Lyle challenged him. “I was just checking she was all right.”

“You
were on top of her.” He growled through clenched teeth.

“Maybe
she just wanted me and you are jealous.”

“She’s
asleep!” AJ watched Lyle scramble to his feet. He threw a punch and his fist
landed squarely on Lyle’s jaw. He smirked and growled his approval of the sight
of Lyle’s bleeding lip. He put another punch on Lyle’s nose. The sight of blood
drove his ruthless anger, and he wanted to rearrange his pretty face.

Just as
he was about to launch another assault, AJ felt the weight of three men on him.
He threw them off and stalked his prey. But the sight of the chief of staff
halted him. AJ watched as a victorious smirk twisted Lyle’s mouth. He wasn’t
going to win this time.

“Sir, I found Dr. Lyle—”

“Dr.
Ross is jealous about my relationship with Dr. Henry,” Lyle cut in.

“That
is why I hate in-house romance!” The chief of staff bellowed “I don’t care who
is screwing who!” With more control, he continued, “Dr. Ross, you need to get
home and get some sleep. Those hands are for performing surgeries, not for
beating up people. Soon they are going to be the most expensive hands in this
hospital, so you take care of them. I don’t want to see you here until Monday.
You can pass the message to Dr. Henry. You two did a great job, and you make a
great team.”

“Yes,
sir.” AJ managed to mumble a reply.

When
the crowd dispersed there were just him and Lyle. AJ could feel the urge to
kick his ass come over him again. But he couldn’t. Somehow he was going to get
Lyle kicked out of the hospital…he just didn’t know how.

“If you
tell anyone what you saw, I’ll kick Katherine off my rotation. I’ll make her
seem so useless no one in this hospital is going to touch her. She won’t get a
fellowship and her career will be in the toilet.”

AJ
didn’t put it past him to kill a patient to get his way. The past two days were
proof enough. He had put two surgeons in back-to-back surgeries, endangering
the life of at least one patient. AJ made a mad rush to the on-call room. He
didn’t bother waking Katherine up. Instead, he gathered her in his arms and
headed for their waiting cab.

When
they got home, AJ couldn’t master the strength to put Katherine in her own bed.
Instead he changed her out of her scrubs and into one of his T-shirts. He put
on a pair of cotton pants and lay next to her. He pulled her body into his, and
molded his to the curve of hers. With his arms around her he slowly drifted to
sleep.

“I’ll
never let anyone hurt you,” he swore to her.

* * *
*

Katherine
opened her eyes to a different world. She was happy, and how could she not be.
Her fingers traced the thick vein on AJ’s arms. He had trapped her against him,
holding her tight around her waist while his other arm cradled her head. She
turned in his arms and came face to face with his strong chest. She like
feeling so tiny compared to him. It made her feel protected and somehow, almost
loved.

She
rested her hand on his chest, and when that wasn’t enough, she kissed him. That
earned her a sigh and a smile. Her fingers traced his thick lips, his closed
eyes and his strong, defined jaw. There was a lot of him for a girl to love.

Love.

That
word had come to her mind twice already. Katherine didn’t believe in fairytale
endings, but she didn’t ignore them completely. Living with a man as hard as
her father, she had learned how to draw boundaries on what was realistic and
what was a fantasy. Harry Henry was a hard man, but her mother seemed more in
love with him each day. To each his own.

But,
AJ? Katherine was convinced he was a sweet man, capable of loving someone even
through the hard times. But now, her biggest challenge was proving to him that
she was enough for him. He had his blonde and that would have to be enough for
him. No more red-heads or brunettes, especially one named Lisette.

“I know
you are awake.” AJ said his voice heavy with sleep.

“I am,
but I guess you’re still sleepy.”

“Uh-huh.”
AJ cleared his throat and planted a kiss on her forehead. “We have the weekend
off.”

“That’s
great. AJ, how did I get out of my scrubs and into your T-shirt?” Katherine
knew she was bare from the waist down, when AJ’s hand released her waist and
smoothed over her naked thigh.

“I
might have had something to do with that,” he replied with an unrepentant grin.

“What else
did you do?”

Just
then he shifted irritably on the bed, and the smile dropped, his face had a
look of annoyance. Katherine didn’t know what she said that set him off. “I
won’t mind, if you did something, creepy and totally inappropriate.” She was
teasing him, to make light of the mood..

AJ
didn’t laugh, instead he asked. “How much of yesterday do you remember, I mean,
after the bypass.”

“I went
to the on-call room and passed out. The next thing, I wake up in your arms.
Why? Is something wrong?”

“No,
nothing.” He forced a smile. “While you were sleeping, I was doing rounds. Do
you think I could get a few more hours of sleep? I promise you, once I am
totally rejuvenated, I will show you how grateful I am.”

Katherine
shivered in anticipation as he nibbled on her ear. She could be totally selfish
and ask for her prize now, but, expectation was what made the sex even better.
“I’ll do laundry while you sleep.”

“Uh—sure.”

Katherine
left AJ’s room chastising herself. She shouldn’t have offered to do laundry.
That said ‘relationship’ and she knew AJ wasn’t ready for that. The moment of
panic in AJ’s eyes, no matter how short it was, told her she had crossed a
line. Hopefully, asking to wash his underwear didn’t put him off.

In a
matter of minutes, Katherine had turned into Susie House Maker. She dusted,
mopped, and cleaned. She had a gnawing need to make this space hers, too. Once
she was done with the tiny apartment she started arranging her clothes in the
closet. She hid the suitcases under the bed—out of sight, out of mind. Not
having them within view told her she was here to stay. And maybe, just maybe,
she would be moving her stuff to the master bedroom.

By the
time she was done, the second hour had clocked by. How much longer did AJ need
to sleep? She settled on making herself a vanilla scented bubble bath. Besides
being in need of a shower, she knew AJ wouldn’t be able to resist the sweet
scent her skin would be radiating. She sank into the hot water, the bubbles
covering her up to her neck. She lay her head back on the head rest, and played
some music from the built in overhead stereo. Her room back at home didn’t have
these luxuries.

Katherine
just had to press replay on the song
Twilight
by Cover Drive
.
She felt as if it
was written with her and AJ in mind. How the words of a song could hit each and
every truth she felt in her heart amazed her. She sank deeper in the tub, the
bubbles popping around her nose, and fantasized about singing it to AJ. She
could imagine him smiling at her, kissing her, holding her and maybe, if
fantasies could turn into reality, him dropping on one knee and asking her to
be his princess.

Katherine
opened her eyes from her day dream to find AJ leaning on the door frame, his
arms crossed over his chest, making the muscles in his arms, chest and
shoulders bulge. But the thing that got her the most was the wolfish grin he
flashed at her.

“I love
this song,” he said as he moved toward her, his eyes never leaving hers. “The
words especially. What do you think?

“Uhmmm,
it’s great.”

“Is
there room in there for two?”

She
nodded, unable to trust her voice as a flush of heat swept through her. AJ was
staring at her as if she was the last drop of water in a desert. He strode
toward her, dropping his pants and stood before her intentionally. He wanted
her to appreciate what she was getting and she did. AJ was eight inches and a
brain. Katherine could have the best of two worlds, an intelligent
conversationalist and a dedicated lover. She hooked her leg on the mouth of the
tub, her creamy skin glimmering in the lights. She saw how his eyes roamed her
body and felt the heat of his gaze as if it licked her body. His eyes started
at her toes, down her calf to her thigh. He pointedly looked at what was hidden
beneath the millions of tiny little bubbles. Unconsciously Katherine stroked
her inner thigh, and AJ responded the only way he could, with a full salute.

* * *
*

AJ was
asleep when he was woken up by the insistent buzzing of his phone. It was
Saturday and he knew it was either his parents or his sisters asking him why he
wasn’t at the family lunch. AJ didn’t think he could drive all the way to the
Hamptons. He would have to call them back and make his excuses. He was relying
on his mother’s need to baby him, to help with his dad. Adrian Senior would just
send a helicopter to pick him up, but having this weekend with Katherine alone
would help him get their relationship going. So he wouldn’t call them now. He
was going to pretend he hadn’t heard his phone and maybe they would think their
son was elbow deep in surgery.

AJ
flopped back and closed his eyes. He was staring at the back of his eye lids,
replaying the surgery he’d had that day. He liked doing that at the end of each
day, try to reflect on everything that could have gone wrong, that did go wrong
and a better technique to reduce the risk to the patient.

But
lately all he could think about was caressing Katherine’s beautiful needy body.
He could feel it call to him. Or that was just his insistent libido telling him
to take her. His stomach always dipped at the sensual attraction that echoed
from her to him and back again.

Just as
the thoughts of Katherine filled his mind, her unmelodic, tone-deaf singing
filled his ears.

“I’m
glad we agree on that.” AJ said on hearing the lyrics. He’d jumped off his bed
and headed toward the cat being skinned. And now he wasn’t standing before a
cat, but before the most beautiful woman in the world, his woman. AJ knew now
he had been the only man her creamy thighs had cradled, the only one her most
intimate secret had invited in. Katherine was his, unsoiled by any other man’s
hands, undefiled by any idiot’s attentions. She was perfectly made for him. A
man of medicine and science, AJ rarely acknowledged God for much, but this time
he had to say the big man in the sky had done a good job molding Katherine.