8 ~ Noah

Life as a general practitioner in a busy medical practice is a complete shift from being an emergency physician in one of the busiest emergency departments imaginable. The pace is different but demanding in a similar way.

The pace of the mountain bike ride, though, is grueling. I called up the bike shop and found I knew the owner from years back. He delivered a bike to the house for me to try out, and it’s useful to have an unfamiliar bike to blame whenever I get in trouble. The Fernhill trail is technical in parts, and I’ve never ridden it before. I pretend it’s my excellent manners when I insist Steffi goes ahead of me, but I soon discover that watching her perfect ass instead of the trail means missing the hazards and taking a fall.

The only bruising is to my ego.

We make it back to town and the place is typically buzzing. There used to be an off-season for tourists, when the town went quiet, but these days with the range of activities beyond skiing and hiking, this place never sleeps.

For dinner, we stop at Fergburger and order two Codfather burgers made with South Coast blue cod, and chunky fries with wasabi mayonnaise. We take them down to the lake edge to eat.

“These burgers are fucking exquisite,” I say.

Steffi laughs. “Worth the wait you were complaining about?”

“How long did that take for our order? Forty minutes? Gotta say they’re the only burgers in the world that can’t be classed as fast food.”

Steffi shivers so I change places to block her from the familiar chilly breeze that ripples across the lake. “Snuggle up and keep warm,” I tell her.

She gives me a coy smile that’s certainly not something familiar to me from our past, but she shuffles along the wall where we’re seated and in seconds I can feel the heat from her body.

In no time we’ve devoured the burgers and there’s one fry left. I use it to scoop up the last of the blistering wasabi mayo and hold it up to Steffi. “Last fry is yours. Open up,” I say.

“If you insist.”

She opens her mouth and I feed her the fry. The hit of the wasabi makes her gasp, in a way that shouldn’t be as sexy as it looks. I push the image of her waiting open mouth from my head because riding home with a hard dick would be excruciating. I pull Steffi to her feet. “Much as I love this view, I’m freezing. Let’s get home.”

The ride is short, but the final hill is steep and we’re both breathless when we pull into the driveway.

“I’m going to shower,” Steffi says.

“Come upstairs for a glass of wine when you’re done.”

Steffi’s back in half an hour smelling faintly of soap, but mostly of Steffi, which is a scent that puts me on edge.

“Did you check your phone?” she asks. “There should be a message from Cam.”

“It’s charging.” The mention of her brother’s name pulls me out of the little fantasy I was having about Steffi’s chestnut-brown ponytail wrapped around my fist. She’s turning me into something akin to a sex-crazed teenager and I need to pull myself back into line.

“There’s a dinner on Friday night out at Harebrook with the investors.”

Cam’s made a fortune and he lives out of town on a couple of thousand acres of high country sheep station. He owns a share of Harebrook with twenty other equally wealthy people who individually have a private piece of land for their house, while the livestock side is taken care of by a manager. A number of the owners are shareholders in the new clinic.

“Sounds fun, I think. Are you coming?”

“Yes. I’ll have to be on my best behavior. Some of them are rather stuffy, but they’ll go home early. The non-stuffy ones party like it’s a competitive sport.”

“And you love the challenge of a competitive sport,” I tease.

“Well, I’m still trying to impress these people so I’ll be on my best behavior. You saw my attempt at competitive drinking last night. Tragic.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I thought you were rather cute.”

Steffi sits cross-legged on the sofa and sips her wine. “Women my age don’t want to be thought of as cute.”

“Not even drunk cute?”

“Especially that. So how was your day?”

I don’t want to talk about my day, but it’ll keep my mind off Steffi. “I enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to getting to know the patients and being involved in their continuing care. I’m used to stabilizing them and handing them off to whichever specialist they need. This is the sort of work I always had in mind when I decided I wanted to be a doctor.”

“Oh, good. I figure if we find you a hot girlfriend that’ll help you fall in love with Queenstown all over again.”

“I never fell out of love with Queenstown. I was always coming back here, but if you’ve got someone hot in mind, don’t hold back on the introductions.” Even as the words come out of my mouth I know I don’t mean them, and when I see the flash of something that looks like disappointment cross Steffi’s face, I could kick myself.

“Well, I’ve got a couple of friends I can introduce—”

“I don’t mean it, Steffi. Besides, I think you should use your free time finding yourself a boyfriend rather than looking for a partner for me.” If Steffi had a boyfriend then I could forget about her.

“I don’t want a boyfriend. It leads to sex, which leads to a feeling of inadequacy on my part and that makes me feel like shit. Honestly, Noah, I’ve been out with most of the eligible guys in this town and it’s just not working for me.”

I think about the chat I had with Zer-O last night about how she’s found some guy who turns her on. For a moment I consider telling Steffi about Zer-O’s good fortune, so she doesn’t give up hope of ever having a successful sexual relationship. “Let’s talk about that.”

“Let’s watch television,” she says, jumping up to grab the remote.

I snatch it from her and tuck it behind me. “You’re missing out, and that’s not fair. Have you spoken to a doctor?”

“Yes, actually. When I was away at college I found myself a female doctor at student health. She told me there was nothing physically wrong with me and that I was stressed about exams.”

“That’s fair, I guess. Have you ever actually had an orgasm?”

“Do we have to talk about this?”

“Yes, we do.”

She gives me a semi-glare. It’s a look she perfected as a kid, where she’s ready to switch to happiness or full-on scowl. It means she’s feeling uncertain and her mind is willing to be changed from its current setting.

“What makes you such an expert on the female orgasm?”

I laugh. “Good question. And you’re wise to do your research and make sure the person you’re talking to knows their subject. I’m an expert, because I’m particularly adept at making women climax. I understand anatomy, I understand body language, I know how that particular part of the machine works, and I know how to tinker with it to make sure it performs better than hoped for.”

Steffi throws her hands over her face. “I cannot believe I’m having this conversation with you.”

I can’t either, but I want to continue.

“We’re not having that conversation, yet. So far, you’re skirting around the subject and trying to watch the television.”

Her shoulders are shaking. She’s laughing. “And I can’t believe, in all seriousness, you claim to be particularly adept at making women come! I’m going to get you some business cards: Doctor Noah Osbourne. Family Medical Practitioner — Orgasmicly Talented.”

She’s got a pillow over her face, and she’s rolling on the sofa, laughing so hard I think she’s going to bust something. Finally she stops and wipes her eyes. “Want to put your money where your mouth is and show me these mad skills of yours?”

“Yeah,” I say in all seriousness, “I do.” She’s flushed from all that laughing but her cheeks color even more.

“Really. When?”

“Now is a good time.” I try to tell myself I’m only doing this out of concern for Steffi, but that’s a fucking great lie. I really want to show her that orgasms are easy if you do it right, and I don’t want to spend the next three months just talking about it.

“How? What are you planning to do?”

“Whatever gets you off.”

“Nothing gets me off, Noah. I don’t think you’re hearing that,” she says, fixing me with a deliberate gaze. “And, you know, I’ve kind of beaten myself up about this, and I don’t think I can stand the humiliation of another failure.”

“Come here,” I say, pulling her into my arms. She fits against my body like she belongs there. “This isn’t about humiliation, or some sort of crazy challenge, even though it would rock my ego to be the first guy to get you off. This is about you, and some little switch that seems to have been overlooked. Do you masturbate? I mean, tell me you get off when you play with yourself.”

“Noah.” She says my name in a way that’s packed with solemn determination. “I’m not talking about the frustration of not getting off with my boyfriends. I’ve never had an orgasm.”

Some people call it a poker face, I call it my consulting face. I’ve perfected the art of showing neither surprise nor emotion when a patient tells me something astounding.

“Cool, let’s fix that,” I say.

That’s my ego talking because I’m so fucking attracted to her, and what guy wouldn’t leap at the chance to show off their perceived sexual prowess? But I’m also fighting to hide my astonishment. I can’t believe she’s not totally connected to her sexuality the way she is to every other part of her body.

Steffi’s movements are fluid and graceful, always. Her mouth is quick to smile, her eyes lively. She is strong and vibrant in every way, like this power pack of great energy that people around her feed off. There’s no way I’m going to let her down.

She’s warm in my arms, but a little tense. “First thing I want you to know is that you’re safe. I want you to communicate. If I do something you don’t like, please tell me. Likewise if there’s something you’re really enjoying. Remember, Steffi, the largest sexual organ in our body is our brain. It all starts there.”

“You’ve just given me the most erotic and inaccurate visual of what my brain looks like.”

“If you think it’s hot, stick with it. Otherwise, empty all the thoughts from your head, unless there’s some guy who turns you on, then you can pretend it’s him touching you instead of me.”

“I don’t have to pretend,” she says softly.

I swallow hard. “Good,” I say, rolling away from her and standing. I reach for her hand and she takes mine without hesitation. “We’re going to your apartment. I’m going to blow your mind, and leave you boneless, satisfied, and wanting only sleep.”