Tom was gone when Ross’s alarm went off, but the air in the bathroom was still a little steamy and the towel he’d used was still damp. He must’ve just left.

Ross ignored the odd pang of loss at not getting to say goodbye. Tom seemed like a really great guy—but so had Jeremy, when he’d first met him. It was safer not to get involved in the first place.

The moment he stepped into the emergency room, of course, it was chaos. “We just got a new one,” a nurse told him. “Car crash, drunk driver ran the red light, hit the passenger side door. Leg got pinned, we’re looking at a couple fractures.”

Ross snapped right into operation mode. It was so easy, after so many years, like flipping a switch. He thought differently, acted differently, when he was in that mode. More like a robot than a person.

But that was how it should be, if you asked him. Patients in pain didn’t need a person who could get emotional and second guess themselves. They needed someone with a clear, calm mind, someone who could analyze and calculate and figure out what needed to be done.

There were definitely a couple of fractures. He’d expected a lot worse, though, from the way the nurse had been talking. After being in the ER and dealing with all kinds of trauma, after a while, everyone’s voice took on the same frantic notes. Whether it was a stubbed toe or a heart attack, it was all delivered in that same rushed tone.

But this guy was going to be okay. It wouldn’t be fun, of course. The leg would have to be in a cast for a while, and there’d need to be some physical therapy to make sure the leg didn’t shorten or anything as a result of the lack of movement. Overall, though, lucky break.

Ross checked up on everyone he’d operated on after his ER shift ended. He liked to double check things. Oftentimes the patients weren’t assigned to the same follow-up doctor who operated on them, but he always wanted to say hello before he left.

After all, if there’d been a problem during the operation, it wasn’t the fault of the nurses or follow-up doctor. It was the fault of the person who’d performed the operation, and that was Ross.

The idea of messing up and then losing a patient when it could have been prevented if he’d just done some checking up was a huge fear of his. He’d heard horror stories—everyone had in medical school—and he thought it was better to be paranoid than to lose a life.

The patients were all doing well, some still asleep, but others awake and happy to chat. They all thanked him, but Ross just tried to force his blush down. It was an important job, but it was still his job at the end of the day. Praise made him uncomfortable.

And then he got to the last one.

He walked into the hospital room, paused, and then took a step back to double check the file on the wall outside the door. No, this was the right one.

But how…?

“Holy shit,” Tom blurted out, apparently as shocked as Ross.

It wasn’t a surprise that Ross hadn’t recognized him on the operating table. Patients’ faces were almost completely covered by the oxygen or anesthesia masks they wore to keep them stable. And he hadn’t been focusing on what his patient looked like—he’d been focused on saving his leg.

What was a surprise was just—the sheer coincidence of it, the timing, the … how on earth…?

“What are you doing here?” Tom asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“I work here,” Ross replied. “This was my shift, I was just … checking up on the patients I’d operated on.”

Tom looked down at his leg, now firmly in a cast, then looked back up at Ross. He was blushing furiously. “I guess I should be thanking you, then. The nurse told me you did a great job, saved my leg.”

“What happened, exactly?” Ross asked, curious. “But I mean—if you don’t want to talk about it—”

“No, it’s okay, there’s just not much to tell.” Tom shrugged. “I got an Uber to get home, and some guy ran the light, slammed into my side of the car, pinned my leg. I blacked out, woke up in here with the nurse checking up on me and my leg in a cast.”

Ross felt a rush of guilt. He’d said that this was just a one night stand, that he didn’t do relationships, so Tom probably hadn’t felt like he had a right to stay.

“I’m sorry—I could’ve given you a ride home before my shift. I should’ve said something.” He could kick himself.

“No, really, don’t worry about it,” Tom replied, smiling reassuringly. “It’s not anyone’s fault except the guy who was drunk. I’m just—wow, kind of in shock over the coincidence.”

“Trust me, so am I,” Ross replied.

He tried to ignore the voice in his head that told him that this was fate laughing at him. He hadn’t recognized Tom at the time, and having a one-night stand with someone before you operated on them was entirely different from sleeping with someone after you’d started a doctor-patient relationship with them.

Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face, despite his attempt to hide them, because Tom frowned in concern. “You okay? You look upset.”

“It’s nothing.” And really, it was nothing. It was just one of those crazy random happenstances that the universe sometimes threw out there. It was his own paranoia that was making him all panicky.

“It’s obviously something,” Tom replied. His tone was gentle, not accusatory. “You look like you’ve swallowed a mouthful of sour milk.”

Ross shook his head. “It really isn’t anything. It’s just that—well, we slept together. And then I operated on you.”

Tom immediately understood the implication of that, if the way his eyes went wide was any indication. Ross nodded. “Yeah, exactly. But it’s okay.”

“Am I going to get you in trouble?” Tom whispered, looking around like a member of the hospital board was going to jump out of the woodwork.

“Technically, no,” Ross replied. “We aren’t in a relationship, we slept together before I operated on you, and I didn’t know who you were during the operation. That pretty much removes any possibilities for review. I think.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone,” Tom said. “Just in case. Better safe than sorry and all that.”

“Aren’t you an employee at a law firm?” Ross replied, unable to keep from teasing just a little. “Shouldn’t you be advocating for honesty?”

Tom gave him a flat look. “Very funny.”

“I think I’m hilarious, thank you.”

Tom sighed, but he couldn’t quite keep the amused look out of his eyes. “Thanks, again. I know it wasn’t personal and you were just doing your job, but I mean, we’d all be screwed if there weren’t people like you taking the time to learn all this shit and help us when some idiot rams into us.”

“I am sorry. I should’ve offered to drive you home on my way to my shift or something. You shouldn’t have felt like you had to leave.”

Tom shrugged. “I’ve never done a casual hookup before. I thought that it would be awkward if I stayed. I only know how to do the whole … ‘Have a good day at work, honey’ thing. So I thought it would be easier for both of us if I just skipped out.”

Ross really could kick himself now. He’d known that Tom was a little unsure, that he’d never done the casual thing before. He should’ve been more considerate of that.

“Well hey, if you ever sleep with anyone casually after this—you’re allowed to spend the night unless they tell you otherwise. Okay? And if they’re an ass about it, that’s them being an ass. You can stay the night, and then just thank them in the morning and head out.”

Tom laughed a little. “Thanks, sensei, I’ll be sure to remember that.”

Ross smiled back. Tom really was adorable. Especially now that his hair was all rumpled and his golden brown eyes looked a bit sleepy, all tucked into the hospital bed. “Hey, let me know how you’re doing, okay? You can get my cell number from Adam.”

“Will do. Your shift over?”

“Yeah, I need to officially clock out and head back home, get some more sleep.”

Tom grimaced. “Sorry about that. You must’ve only gotten, what, forty five minutes?”

“Don’t worry about it. My sleep schedule’s always fucked up. And you were definitely worth the time.”

Tom blushed and Ross couldn’t regret saying it, even if flirting with Tom was now definitely off limits. Sleeping with him beforehand, just the once, and then operating on him when he didn’t know who he was, that was one thing. Continuing to sleep with him was entirely different.

Ross looked around. He didn’t see any purses or jackets, no sign of anyone else who was sitting there with him. “Hey, have you had a chance to call anyone?”

Tom shook his head. “My folks live out of town. In Florida, actually. Adam and Enid are asleep, and I don’t really have anyone else to call.”

He said it so plainly, so matter-of-factly, and Ross’s heart squeezed tight in his chest. It was like Tom wasn’t even aware of how sad that sounded.

“Let me officially get off work, and I’ll sit with you until it’s a more reasonable hour and you can call someone.”

Tom looked surprised, which only made Ross’s heart go out to him more. “You really don’t have to go out of your way for me.”

“It’s no problem, honestly. I’m still wide awake. And I happen to like your personality.” Ross didn’t sleep with people who were assholes just because they looked good. At least, not anymore.

Tom blushed a little. “If you’re sure, then … yeah, that would be nice. My leg doesn’t hurt, but it feels awkward, and I can’t seem to get back to sleep.”

Ross signed out, made sure that the next doctors had come in for the shift and that he really wasn’t needed, and then changed back into his street clothes and rejoined Tom. “I could swipe you some magazines from the lobby or something.”

Tom laughed. “I’m good, but thanks.”

“So why are your folks all the way out in Florida?” It wasn’t much as far as small talk went, but Ross was resolutely refusing to flirt with Tom anymore—not when the line had become so blurred—and it was the first thing he could think of to ask him about.

Fortunately, Tom didn’t seem to mind the somewhat awkward subject change. He explained how his parents had retired a couple of years ago, and that he was an only child, and how he still had the lingering feeling that his dad was upset that he was “just” a paralegal instead of a proper lawyer.

“I’m not super close with either of them,” he explained. “I mean, I love them, I do, and I know that they love me. But I just see them for holidays, and we call each other about once a month, and that’s it. I was never a mama’s boy or super close with my dad. It was never bad, just, you know…” Tom shrugged.

“I was raised by my single mother,” Ross said. He wasn’t sure why he was telling Tom this. He tended to keep things pretty close to the chest. But they were talking about families, and he didn’t have to tell the full story—he could just focus on the good parts.

“She worked really hard and encouraged me to always do my best. She sacrificed a lot for me growing up. I never knew my dad. She didn’t talk about him much, but I think he wasn’t ever really in the picture. But it didn’t matter; we were super close, and I knew I could always count on her.

“When I told her I wanted to be a doctor, she really encouraged me. Told me I could be anything I wanted. I have to tell you, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

Ross grimaced. “I’m sorry. That makes it sound like I’m dissing on your parents or something, and I’m definitely not.”

Tom shook his head. “No, I mean, I told you about my parents, you were telling me about yours, it’s fine. I’m glad you had such an encouraging mom. What made you want to be a doctor?”

“You know, everyone always expects it to be some big important story,” Ross said. “I had a doctor who really helped me when I was younger, or I was sick as a kid, or I had a close family friend or relative who was a doctor.

“Honestly, I just really found biology and anatomy fascinating. My mom would watch medical dramas sometimes, and I never cared about the whole relationship drama stuff, I just wanted to watch the medical part of it—the patients with the weird conditions that they had to operate on or something. I loved playing Operation as a kid. I thought it was really interesting how the body worked, and the more I learned the more I wanted to learn, and the more I liked the idea of doing something with my life by helping people.”

“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t anything tragic,” Tom said with a small laugh. “It feels like people always have these tragic backstories attached.”

“I can’t blame anyone who’s experienced grief and wants to do something to help others or prevent them from feeling that grief. I’m just not one of those people. I found it interesting, and I like the adrenaline of the operation room, I like thinking on my feet, I work well under pressure—and I like helping people.” Sometimes it really was as simple as that.

“I get that. I think it’s nice. And you’re not sugarcoating it or making it too glamorous. I know people who do that about high pressure jobs.”

Ross definitely knew people who did that as well. Jeremy, specifically. He shook himself out of his thoughts. “It’s probably late enough, you could call Adam.”

“Probably Enid. She lives in the city with her wife, she’ll be able to get here much faster.”

Ross nodded, standing up. “Let me know if you need anything. Here.”

He put his number into Tom’s phone. He really shouldn’t, but it was just in case. What if Enid was out of town or unreachable for some reason?

“Text me when you get home okay.”

“All right, Mom,” Tom teased, but Ross saw him save the number onto his phone. “Thanks for sitting with me and everything. You really didn’t have to.”

“Honestly? It was my pleasure.” And it was. He’d enjoyed talking to Tom. It was easy, much easier than talking to almost anyone else. He felt comfortable with Tom, like he’d known him for weeks instead of just a day.

Ross double checked that his patient was comfortable, then forced himself to head out. He wasn’t going to necessarily get in trouble for sitting with Tom—at least, he didn’t think so—but if one of the nurses caught him hanging out with a cute patient for an hour, he’d never hear the end of it.

That was the one thing TV dramas got right about hospitals: they were hotbeds of gossip.

“I’ll see you around, then,” he said, wincing inwardly at the lame farewell.

Tom waved. “See you!”

Ross headed out. There had to be something that he could do to help Tom out. He’d said that there wasn’t any reason for Ross to feel guilty, but still, it was on Ross for making Tom feel uncomfortable, like he couldn’t stay the night. He should’ve offered to drive him home before passing out like an idiot, should’ve told him to make himself at home—something, anything.

But he did have a pretty damn good salary as a surgeon. He had all of his debt paid off, and some good savings set aside.

He could definitely afford to take care of a few things like, say, Tom’s hospital bill.

It would raise some eyebrows if the medical board heard about it, but there was no reason for them to learn that; it wasn’t like they looked into the insurance side of things. That was a whole mess that absolutely nobody wanted to deal with. But it would be easy enough for him to talk to one of the administrative people and see how much insurance covered and what Tom owed, and then arrange to pay for it himself.

Yes—that was the least he could do, seeing as he was the reason that Tom had left so early. Thank God it hadn’t been any worse; Tom had gotten lucky, but he wouldn’t have to deal with any of this shit if Ross had just remembered to be a decent human being.

Feeling a little better, Ross swung through the administrative wing. It would take a little while, but hell, he could sleep all afternoon anyway.

It would be worth it.