“No, wait! Could you also tell him that I’m open to talking about my sex life? Tell him he can ask me those questions this time, so it won’t be awkward.”

I nodded, as if she could see me, unable to say anything as my body began to tremble and shake.

“Hello? Are you there?”

“Are you, Dr. Madison?” He kissed my neck. “Are you there?”

“Yessss....” I moaned and dropped the phone, falling forward against his desk. He caught me before my face could hit the wood, and then he picked up the phone himself.

“Miss Yates, this is Dr. Ashton, are you still on the line?” He pounded into me harder as he found his own release, holding me against him as he kept his voice calm as ever. “Yes ...Yes, I was telling Dr. Madison that would be completely fine, so you don’t have to —” He kissed the back of my neck. “You don’t have to check later ... Okay ... Yes, that offer still stands ... Right ... Okay, see you then.”

He hung up the phone and slowly pulled out of me before laying me against the chaise. He took off the condom and threw it away, then he walked back over to me and helped me back into my dress.

He looked at me, slightly concerned. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. I’d never been fucked like that before, and I was pretty sure I would be replaying today in my dreams for months to come.

“Are you planning to stay the rest of the day, or —” He looked at his watch. “Is it almost time for you to pretend like you have an emergency with ‘Shan-Shan,’ so you can leave and keep applying to Manhattan Medical?”

“No, I ...” My cheeks reddened. “I wasn’t going to pretend.”

“So, there is an emergency?”

“No,” I admitted. “But there could be in a few minutes. You never know.”

“And is ‘Dirty Doctor’ what you call me behind my back?” He looked somewhat amused.

“I have a different nickname for you, actually.”

“Care to tell me what it is?”

“Never.” I smiled. “But if you’d like me to change it, you can drop the alpha-asshole thing as of today and try to be a bit more romantic.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You don’t want to know the answer to that, but it includes the return of email-only conversations.”

“Hmmm.” He adjusted my bra and stood up to buckle his pants. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Madison. Enjoy the rest of your day. No questions asked.”

“Really?”

He nodded and walked to the door — holding it open for me. “Really.”

I stood up and immediately grabbed the side of the chaise for balance, feeling just how weak and sore my legs were. I caught Garrett smiling as I slowly wobbled toward him.

Holding back his sarcasm, he pressed a kiss against my forehead before I stepped out of the room. “See you tomorrow.”

THE DOCTOR

New York, New York

Garrett

Subject: Thank you for the chocolate covered strawberries you had delivered yesterday.

I didn’t get a chance to see you at the office today, but I loved them. (Yes, that counts as being more ‘romantic’. The extra note about really enjoying how my pussy feels against your cock does not, though. O_o. )

—Dr. Madison

I laughed and set my phone down.

I shut my office door and headed down the wing, making sure everything was dark and in its place. The light at the end of the hall in the study room was still on, so I walked toward it, and when I stepped inside, I saw Natalie was reading and sipping a cup of coffee.

She immediately looked up at me and blushed. “I thought you were gone for the day.”

“Not yet.” I pulled out the seat across from her. “What are you studying?”

“The London family case,” she said. “They came up in research last week, so I pulled their files from your archives. You’ve been treating them for a long time and I found something odd. Something really odd.”

“Is there a question coming?”

“Maybe.” She picked up a few other files. “There’s actually something off about twenty percent of all your patients.”

“I’m still waiting for the question.”

“Every time I drop off certain files at the desk, they come right back within an hour, unmarked. There’s no payment method on file — yes, I checked illegally, but only because I was investigating.” She looked at me. “This month, not a single payment has been made for any person you’ve seen. Are you trying to go bankrupt or are you really just that generous behind closed doors?”

I smiled, but I didn’t answer.

“We’re talking about a loss of over two hundred thousand dollars here,” she said. “You can afford to lose that type of money?”

“It’s not a loss, but even if it was, yes. My father’s generosity rubbed off on me,” I said. “I run the practice the same way he did for the most part.”

She stared at me a long time before saying anything else. “Dr. Ashton—”

“Garrett.” I corrected her. “I believe we’re definitely on a first name basis now.”

“Yes, well, Garrett. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t necessarily strike me as the super-philanthropist type at all.”

“What exactly do I strike you as?”

“An asshole.” She laughed and I narrowed my eyes at her. “An attractive and charming asshole, though.”