“I don’t believe it,” I say, feeling the color drain from my face as I look at the results of Shane’s MRI.

“Don’t tell me another blood clot,” he says, looking even sicker than I feel.

I lower the iPad and look at him with a stunned look. “No,” I mutter. “You’re all healed.”

“Don’t look too happy about it,” he says, looking up at me with a chuckle.

“I am happy,” I say, recovering quickly. At least I think I’m happy. I want to be happy that he’s better, but I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’m losing my all-time favorite patient. It’s going to feel so lonely knowing that he’s not down the hall, waiting with a filthy comment that always gets my heart pumping whenever I walk into his room. I can’t help but feel like this is somehow the end.

“It’s just…” The words just stop coming, and I’m staring at the iPad not even seeing the image of Shane’s healed back through my blurry vision.

He seems to sense my sadness and steps up, swallowing my body with his big arms. “How about you come to my place after your shift,” he says after giving me a kiss, “and I’ll give you a proper thank you for fixing up my back. And this time, you can be as loud as you want.”

For some reason, I instantly feel better.

He has a house outside of the city, and I’ve been so curious to see it.

“You’re not working tomorrow, right?” he asks.

I shake my head as I look into his bright green eyes.

“Good,” he says with a grin. “You’re sleeping over. I’ll make you breakfast in bed, and then I’ll spend the rest of the day making your screams echo off the walls.”

I can’t help but smile. “That sounds like the perfect way to spend a day off.”

There’s a knock on the door, and I jump out of his embrace, cursing as I tuck my hair behind my ears. Shane sits on the bed as I answer it.

My second favorite patient is there: Walter Thatcher. I just came from dismissing him as well.

“Hi, Dr. Mendes. I just wanted to say goodbye to Shane before I left,” he says, looking over my shoulder into the room.

I swing the door open and let him in.

“He’s leaving today too,” I say, trying to sound like that thought isn’t killing me.

Walter congratulates him, and they chat for a minute before he turns back to me. “You’re both coming to the wedding, right?” Walter asks.

“As long as there’s no homemade arch there,” I say with a laugh. “I don’t want lead poisoning.”

He laughs. “That’s in the garbage. My daughter can get married under the bright blue sky. No arch necessary.”

“Sounds good,” I say with a chuckle.

“Are you two bringing dates?” he asks.

Shane and I glance at each other with mischievous looks.

“We’re going together,” Shane says with a smirk on his face. “As lovers.”

“Shane!” I shout, whipping my head back to face him. “Will you shut up?”

He just laughs. So does Walter.

“I knew you two were hooking up,” he says with a smile. My cheeks burn a fiery pink as I gulp.

“I didn’t tell him!” Shane says, throwing his hands up in surrender as I glare at him.

“This is an old hospital,” Walter says. “Thin walls.”

I want to sink into the floor and die. This is so unprofessional. This is so humiliating.

But Walter just laughs. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. And the rest of the floor.”

I drop my head and squeeze my eyes shut, wondering who else heard as Shane walks over and shakes Walter’s hand. “I’ll see you at the wedding,” Shane says. “With my hot date.”

I put my arm out for a handshake, but Walter just ignores it and gives me a warm hug instead. “Thank you so much, Madison. You were the only doctor who cared.”

I think back to how I was—so cold and distant toward my patients—and can’t help but think that this way is much better. It was only after I took down my walls and let Walter in that I discovered what was wrong with him. If I hadn’t asked him about his personal life and found out that he was using an old stain to make the arch for his daughter’s wedding, he would still be lying in the hospital bed next door rather than nearly bringing me to tears with a warm hug.

He pulls away and smiles warmly at me. “Thanks again, Doctor. Don’t screw it up with this one,” he says to Shane. “You have to know that she’s way out of your league.”

Shane just laughs. “I’m quite aware. Thanks.”

“I’ll see you two at the wedding,” he says, waving as he leaves. “On Saturday.”

It’s only four days away. Shit! I need a dress!

“Hey, Doc,” Shane says, smirking at me from his bed. He slides his gown down his naked torso as he stares at me with heated eyes. “Can I get one more examination before I leave?”

“Didn’t you hear?” I say with a grin. “I’m way out of your league.”

“That didn’t stop you before,” he says, tempting me with his round tattooed arms and muscular chest. “My cock is painfully hard, and I need a hot doctor to relieve the tension.”

“No problem,” I say, heading for the door. “I’ll go and get Ralph to help you out.”

“The guy with the hairy knuckles?” Shane asks, sounding horrified.

“Yup,” I say, smirking at him as I close the door. “I’ll make sure no one disturbs you two.”

I’m laughing as I glance down the hall and see my boss Mitchell shaking hands with Walter. They’re chatting away and smiling, looking like they’re good friends. I turn and rush away in the opposite direction before Mitchell sees me.

My chest aches as I head back to my small office to get Shane’s discharge ready. I didn’t think this would be so hard. I haven’t been thinking too much lately; I’ve just been enjoying the moment.

But now it’s all crashing down around me, and I don’t want him to leave.

I’m going to miss him too much.

I let out a long sigh as I sit down at my desk and rub my eyes.

“See, Madison,” I mumble to myself. “This is why you don’t ever get involved.”

* * *

I walk back to Shane’s room an hour later and he’s sitting on the bed wearing jeans and a fitted t-shirt. I’m so used to seeing him in a faded old hospital gown that the effect of seeing him looking absolutely gorgeous in street clothes takes me by surprise.

And my jaw drops. And my eyes widen.

And I forget how to talk.

“Are you okay?” he asks, laughing as he looks at me. My cheeks are getting as red as they were during our first encounter. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” I mutter as I shake my head, trying to clear all the fuzziness from it. It only works a little bit.

“My manager Christopher dropped off some clothes the last time he came,” Shane says, glancing down at his shirt. My eyes follow his, and I nearly let out a moan when I see the line that’s stretched tightly across his chest from pec to shining pec.

“I prefer the hospital gown,” I say, recovering with a laugh. He may look better in jeans and a t-shirt, but I’ll always have a fondness for seeing him in that green gown. He was wearing it the entire time I fell in love with him.

“So do I,” he says, grimacing as he moves around. “These feel so tight.”

“They are nice and tight,” I mutter as I try not to drool.

“Is that—?”

His eyes are on the papers in my hand. He’s officially discharged and free to go.

I swallow hard as I nod. “You’re no longer under my responsibility and are free to break as many bones as you’d like. But please be careful. I’ve grown attached to those bones.”

“Especially one in particular,” he says with a smirk.

I open my mouth to respond, but then I shut it instead. He does have a point there.

“Here are all of the papers,” I say, handing the stack to him. “Make sure to send them all to your insurance provider so you won’t get stuck paying.”

He sighs as he takes them from me. “Thanks,” he mutters.

“Do you need a ride home?”

His eyes dart up to mine. “Are you going to drive me?”

I shake my head and chuckle. “I have another five hours of work left, but I can call you a cab.”

“It’s okay,” he says with a mischievous grin. “My dirt bike is parked outside.”

Just the thought of him getting on that thing is making my palms sweat.

“Kidding,” he says when he sees my face. “My manager Christopher is coming.” Just then his thigh buzzes, and he pulls out his phone. “He’s here now.”

I gulp as he stands up. He’s so tall. He’s so gorgeous. He’s so intimidating.

I’m used to seeing him in hospital slippers, which always tends to lessen someone’s intimidation factor, but he’s wearing real shoes now. Damn. Even his feet are sexy.

“I’m coming with you. I have to take you down,” I say, anxious to see the look on his face when I tell him how.

“Great,” he says, holding his arm out for me to grab.

“Not like that,” I say, stepping into the hall for a second. I grab the wheelchair that’s waiting outside and roll it back into the room.

“You have to be kidding me?” he says, staring at the chair in disbelief. “No way.”

He crosses his arms and shakes his head.

“Hospital policy,” I say with a grin. “It’s for liability reasons.”

“It’s for ridiculous reasons,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “I can walk. I’ll probably be on a dirt bike in a few hours.”

“I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut as the image of him flying around on a bike with his just healed back makes my pulse race, and not in the good way.

“All right,” he says, shrugging his broad shoulders. “I’ll take a free ride from a pretty girl.”

He sits in the wheelchair, and my jaw drops when the top of his head comes up to my chin. He’s massive. Why did I think I’d be able to push him?

“Are you even going to be able to push me?” he asks, glancing at me from over his shoulder.

“Yes!” I answer quickly. Too quickly.

I try pushing with all of my might, but the only thing moving are my shoes as they slide backward making me more and more parallel with the floor.

Shane takes pity on me and turns the wheels with his hands as I hold the handles and walk behind him. There are butterflies in my stomach as we arrive at the main entrance of the hospital.

“Am I free to stand?” he asks, looking up at me with a grin.

“You’re officially discharged. You can do whatever you like.”

“Great,” he says, rolling the wheelchair a little further. “I’m going to do a wheelie down the stairs.”

I grab onto the handlebars with a tight grip and try to pull him back in a panic.

“I’m kidding,” he says as he stands up. Without his weight anchoring the wheelchair, I pull it right into my stomach. “Although the thought of getting injured and hanging out here with my hot doctor does sound quite appealing.”

“How about you don’t get injured and you hang out with your hot girlfriend instead?” I say, licking my tingling lips. I really want to kiss him right now.

“That sounds pretty damn good too,” he says as we walk outside. There are people everywhere—nurses on break, family members taking breathers, and sick people getting even sicker with their cigarettes.

An ugly old brown car pulls up and Shane waves to it. “That’s Christopher’s car.”

It looks like it belongs in a car hospital, not a people hospital. “Geez, Shane,” I say, staring at the car and waiting for the bumper to fall off. “He’s your manager? Don’t you pay the poor guy?”

“Way too much,” he says with a shake of his head. “Money goes in one hand with that guy and out with the other.”

Christopher parks the car and gets out with a smile that fades the second he sees me. He drops his eyes to the pavement and doesn’t look back up at me once. Even when Shane says that I’m his girlfriend.

What the hell?

I didn’t do anything to him. He should be happy that I healed his client, but instead, he hurries into the car without saying goodbye.

“I guess this is it,” Shane says, standing in front of me as my heart aches.

“I guess so,” I say, trying not to cry. “Try to actually break your spine next time so you can stay a little longer.”

“Will do, Doc.” He leans in for a kiss, and I turn my chin away at the last second. I’m in front of my place of work and it feels inappropriate to be kissing a patient. It is inappropriate to be kissing a patient.

Although…

“I’m not your patient anymore,” Shane says, reading my mind. Suddenly, he’s making a lot of sense and I step on my toes to kiss him.

“Mmmmmm,” he moans, licking his lips when we pull away. “I’ll see you tonight?”

I nod. It might be hard to say goodbye to him and not see him while I’m at work, but our relationship will be even better when we’re in a comfortable house, cuddled up on a sofa with a glass of wine in our hands.

I can’t wait for tonight.

He gets in the car, and I can’t help but feel a sense of loss as they drive away.

Just as a tightness settles into my chest, my resident-in-training Ralph comes out of nowhere and completely takes it away.

He’s holding the cutest little puppy in front of my face. A puppy that’s desperately trying to lick my nose.

“He’s perfect,” I say, cooing as I take him in my arms. He’s pure rambunctious energy. He’s radiating love.

It would be impossible to be lonely with this little guy bouncing around.

And I know just the person who needs it the most.