My Forbidden Doctor - Stephanie Brother Page 0,24

up over my taco, mouth open, my eyes widened at the intense, laser focused gaze on me across the picnic table. We'd gone to a beach truck rather than a brick and mortar place, just because it was close. The salty sea breeze sucked the moisture from my mouth, and Carl frowned slightly under tightly knit brows.

"You said we hadn't slept together yet."

My chin almost hit the tabletop as flames engulfed my face, and I tensed at the slow, cautious emphasis. Carl held my eyes and refused to back down, and I set down my taco in its boat before I dropped it.

"Um— ah— yeah— I... I mean... I just... I was really mad, and— you're very— um... attractive..." Stuttering wildly, I covered my cheeks with my hands to keep them sliding off their bones.

Carl didn't look at all convinced by my sputtering, and a dense lump formed in my throat, growing the longer he stared at me. Cautious uncertainty swirled in his eyes, and I managed a shallow inhale when I managed to tear mine away.

Oh, my God, I really did say that. I was mortified— Carl would never sleep with me as long as he was my doctor, and maybe not even after that! What's wrong with me that I said something like that?

"I know this is something we've tried to avoid every single time, Melissa." His voice dipped, as if even talking about it was taboo and he could be punished— and he could be! My eyes found his again unwittingly, and I clenched my teeth together as my gut started to rot with dread. "I think it would be best if I referred you to another pulmonologist."

"W— wait— what?" Alarm colored my tone, and I leaned back as weak, initial panic slammed into me. "Why? Will I have to be re-prescribed my CPAP? I finally got to sleep all night. The closest pulmonologist is in Providence— that's an hour drive from here. What if I die of an asthma attack?"

"No, you won't have to give back your machine, and it may be an hour away, but in a medical emergency, I'd be the one on call."

My brows rose higher even as relief slumped my shoulders, and Carl smiled softly. Propping his elbows on the table to fist his hands together, he held his chin on laced fingers.

"To be honest, this whole thing with HR and Eva that happened this week scared the absolute shit out of me, Mel. I realized at some point that if there really wasn't anything going on between you and I, there'd be no reason to be that worried. I want to refer you out because I'd like to take you out on a date."

"O— oh... but... is that allowed? Isn't that unethical or something?"

His expression grew troubled from my probing, and I gnawed on my inner cheek diligently. My heart did a little flip as excitement trilled in my ears faintly, but knowing Carl was essentially jeopardizing his job to date me... well, it put a damper on things.

"We haven't done anything wrong..."

"I want to."

My lips parted in an 'o' when Carl spoke up immediately, biting the affirmation through his teeth. His bare chest rippled powerfully when he inhaled deeply, and my eyes slid down before I caught myself. The ropes of muscles in his arms strained slightly under his skin, his arm hairs bristling, and I gulped down the lump in my throat.

"It's not unethical unless I use your medical information illegally, like looking up your phone number or where you live in your file for personal contact. If I refer you out, you won't be my patient anymore. There's no set time in my contract that I have to wait. You just can't be a current patient."

"Yeah..." I couldn't even imagine the struggle Carl was enduring, and all because he thought I was attractive and vice versa. "Ha— have you ever had a crush on a patient before?"

"Not beyond very brief admiration of their looks. Most of my patients during my residency came to me because they had cancer or COPD or had destroyed themselves from decades of smoking."

Despite the heaviness of the conversation, the gentle sea breeze carried away the dense atmosphere. Suddenly, the awkwardness seeped down the bench legs, and I leaned forward to pick up my almost forgotten taco with a small nod.

"Did you go to college, Mel?"

"Yeah. I just did two years at the community college in Warwick for business. I figured it was the