It was Friday and the end of the week couldn’t have come faster if I begged it to. I rolled out of bed and dragged my tired feet over to the bathroom in my suite. Undressing down to my bare skin I turned on the water and let the burning hot stream flow over my tense body.

I wasn’t used to this “take it slow” thing.

Usually, when I wanted something I got it almost immediately. And I wanted April, but something in me was being gentle with her. Walking her through those stereotypical courting motions. She was young and beautiful and it was taking every ounce of restraint I had to not do all the things I’d been thinking about doing all week.

I slid my hand down my cock which was already way too hard for words and leaned my head back and let the water hit my face.

Thank goodness my mind was in control, because if it was my body…oh boy.

I got dressed in a crisp fresh button up and ran my fingers through my hair. The sound of the doorbell ringing in the distance grabbed my attention. Jogging through the condo, I stopped at the front door and opened it quickly.

Each time I saw her she was even more gorgeous than I remember.

Her light blue dress hugged her curves neatly and her hair fell against her shoulders like a waterfall.

“Is this Dr. Paul Grays house?” She asked innocently and sarcastically and I couldn’t stop the toothy grin that crept over my face at the sight of her.

“It sure is, come on in.” I led her into the condo and grabbed her bags from her shoulder. She walked around the entryway and tried to take everything in all at once. I admit, the place was pretty impressive.

“You have a beautiful home, Paul. Wow.” I walked up next to her and placed my hands on her shoulder.

“It’s your place for today,” I whispered in her ear and felt her shiver at the feeling of my breath against her skin.

“Daddy! I have today off from school!” Dylan ran from upstairs and almost knocked me down charging me into a hug.

“I know buddy, isn’t that great? Hey look, there’s someone I want you to meet. Why don’t you say hi to April?” He turned around and faced April, squeezing her just as tight as he squeezed me.

“Hi April! Are you gonna build robots with me today?”

“Of course I am Dylan. We’re going to build some big, bad, awesome robots!” April picked him up and spun him around in a circle. Little man laughed so hard his face turned red as the rose bushes in our garden. I hadn’t seen him this happy since…his mother was alive.

“Sure looks like you two will get along just great. Hey April, I’ve got to run. If you need anything from me you have my number. Thanks again for doing this.” I almost leaned in for a kiss but stopped myself short.

“No problem Paul. I think me and Dylan are going to have a ton of fun today, aren’t we?”

“Yay! We are!” He ran to his toy robots and started putting pieces together. I gave April one last smile and a deep hug. She was really saving my ass right now and I had full intentions of paying her back tenfold.

* * *

I arrived at my office at the hospital to the sound of the most irritating shrieking down the hall that I’ve ever been subject to in my whole 44 years of living.

“Where is he?! I need to see him right now! Y’all said I can come back if I need anything and right now I need something. Where the hell is he?! I will not take no for an answer! Bring him to me!”

“Ma’am Dr. Gray hasn’t gotten into the hospital yet. He’ll be on his way any min-”

“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!! He needs to be here...RIGHT. NOW.”

That nagging voice.

The southern drawl.

It was fucking Courtney Townsend coming to terrorize me again. Just my luck. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about Dylan today. All I would have to worry about is myself.

I walked down the hall to see my med-tech assistant Lorrie trying to console the hysterical Townsend woman. Lorrie had missed work since she quit babysitting Dylan. It was awkward to see her after all of that but it wasn’t the time to start wondering about it.

I snapped myself to doctor mode.

“Mrs. Townsend, I hear you were looking for me. I’m right here. What would you like to discuss?” I definitely aged myself ten years with the excessive grinning I was doing. Smile lines and wrinkles etched on my skin, I gave her the most forced smile I could muster.

“Oh good, good. You’re here. Listen, I need to talk to you about my father’s surgery. Dr. Gray, it’s important that he has this particular kind of granola before you give him anesthesia. You see, he eats it all the time. Never been a day without it in his life. ‘Cept of course when he was a baby. He won’t be calm without it! And he also needs this 700-count Egyptian cotton sheet blend. There’s no way that the oper-.”

If this was some kind of cruel punishment for kissing my student, could I please be forgiven?

Because this was fucking mind numbing.

I brought my hand to her shoulder.

Absolute pain was a gross understatement. But her family was oh so important and powerful and I had to put on my good boy face as a result. Wouldn’t want Mrs. looney Townsend ruining my reputation, would we?

“Please Mrs. Courtney. I can assure you that your father is in the best hands in all of Los Angeles. I will take care of him like I would take care of my own dad. Doctors honor.” I placed my hand on my heart and really, I mean really rubbed her back. How else could I get this woman to calm down?

“Alright, I suppose I should relax. Y’all seem to have this place under control.”

That’s right lady, we do. Now you got the right idea. She was quiet for a moment and just stood there nodding her head.

“But you don’t understand!”

Dammit all....

“My father needs a lot of things for his surgery! The last nine that he had he was given exactly everything that’s on this list!” She shoved a crumpled paper that smelled strongly of her perfume in my face. I grabbed it without reading it and repeatedly nodded my head. “We are paying top dollar to make sure that y’all meet his comfort level exactly the way he wants it to be met!” She stomped her feet on the ground to every syllable she spoke. Every. Single. One.

Was it alright to quit now? Or…

“Mrs. Townsend, thank you for this list. My team will provide your father everything that is here and more. You don’t need to worry. Here’s my card.” I reached into my white coat and begrudgingly gave her my card. Thank goodness that phone number wasn’t personal.

“You can call me for anything leading up to the surgery. My job is to give your father the world-class treatment that I’m known for. You should have no doubts.”

I felt Lorrie holding in laughs from behind my back. Of course she thought this was hilarious.

And then I thought about what I told April after class a few days ago. I was singing a different tune about being a surgeon back then. Contrary to what I told her, I did care about people and making sure they were safe in my possession. Despite how infuriating, exasperating, tiresome, and obnoxious they might be.

I’m looking right at you Mrs. Townsend.

“Mrs. Townsend, this is Lorrie Wills. She’ll be assisting me with the surgery with me next week.”

Lorrie extended her hand out for to Townsend woman and smiled awkwardly, looking back at me every so often.

“I just want to echo what Dr. Gray said. Your father is in good hands. We’ll make sure he gets the best possible care that we can provide.”

Mrs. Townsend grabbed her purse and shot me a menacing glare for some odd reason. She turned back to Lorrie and gave her a hug that seemed to last for ages. I didn’t care that she clearly preferred Lorrie to myself. Anything to get her out of my hair.

“Thank you Lorrie. I guess I should be leaving now. I’ll be seeing you both next week. Expect a call from me Dr. Gray.”

Oh, I expect thousands…

“We’ll see you soon Mrs. Townsend.”

And she quickly left. Thankfully.

I turned around to Lorrie and sighed laughing slightly. I had an operation to perform and all I could think about was how many times that lady was going to call me.

“It’s been a while, Lorrie. You found some relief since ditching my babysitting gig?” She wrapped her wavy brown hair up in a ponytail and gave me a half-hearted smile.

“You could say so.”

I wasn’t really sure what was eating her. Last I remembered, we didn’t end on bad terms. “Well, that surgery next week will be a lot of fun huh? Let’s make sure to keep Courtney chained to the lounge door or something so we can concentrate while we operate.” She chuckled a little bit and then turned to the door.

“I’ll let the interns know.”

She walked away without saying another word.

It was pretty strange, downright mind-boggling even. I couldn’t understand why Lorrie had suddenly had a bone to pick with me. I didn’t put up any fight when she wanted to quit, even though it inconvenienced me like hell.

Rather than wasting any more time thinking about it, I walked back to my office to give April a call.

Sitting back behind my desk, I grab my phone and dialed her number.

It was odd.

Normally when I left Dylan with a new sitter, I’d be worried sick about my champ all day. But this time, I wasn’t. I trusted April a lot more than I ever thought I would.

Two rings and I heard her sweet voice on the other side of the line.

“Hi Paul! How ya doing?” Her bouncy vibrant voice lit up my mood and grabbed my focus from thinking about what the hell Lorrie’s problem was. She was whispering and I could hear the sound of a children’s show playing in the background.

“Hanging in there. You and Dylan sound like you’re having a good time! He’ll probably be knocked out by the time I get home.” I tried to stop the sound of a smile creeping on my face at the thought of that.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he will be. Hey, what time do you think you’re coming back? Is the hospital busy?” The town of her voice changed and became much more longing and sultry. I adjusted myself in my chair and cleared my throat. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was trying to seduce me over the phone. There wasn’t any harm in playing that game too was there?

“You sound like you’re expecting something little lady.”

Damn!

The sound of her sexy voice as she chuckled buzzed right to my eardrums.

I might just leave this hospital right now…

“You’re sly aren’t you Paul? I’ll see you soon.” She left me on the edge, listening to the static on the other end of the line after she hung up.

I thought about reeling myself in from this. Thought about nipping it in the bud before it became something dangerous. Obviously, it was too late. Who the hell was I kidding?

Here I was in the hospital, distracted from paperwork with the idea of seeing April’s voluptuous curves when I got back to my condo. Running my hands over her devilishly soft skin. Tasting the sweetness of her lips. All of the sudden it was all I was thinking about.

Shaking myself out of the thoughts, I grabbed the stack of papers on my desk and looked through them. It was a dumb idea seeing as though my brain was clearly on a different planet.

Now I found myself falling for the babysitter.

Just how the hell did I get here?