I didn’t answer. I just nodded.

“I need all those categorized by the end of the week, so I suggest you get started with the patients who are the most current on sessions. It’ll make your job a lot easier. Any questions? It looks like you have something to say.”

Are you bipolar?

“Um ... Did you by chance forget to take any med —” I hesitated to continue when I noticed him narrowing his eyes at me, daring me to complete that sentence. “With all due respect, Dr. Ashton, I need to practice something. That’s kind of the whole point of a residency. I can’t just file papers all day.”

“That’s exactly what you’re going to do all day.”

“No ...” I crossed my arms, hating the fact that even in the midst of him being an utter jackass, he still had the ability to turn me on. “The program that you and your team graciously put together said my first three months would be spent working directly with you and learning about better ways to handle cognitive therapy. It didn’t say anything about reading over charts and files all day.”

“Are you defying me?”

“I’m warning you.” I wasn’t going to let him push me over, no matter how wet my panties were right now. “I don’t mind doing the files in order of importance, and I don’t mind working overtime hours to get them done.”

“I’m not paying you overtime hours.”

“Regardless,” I said, narrowing my eyes right back at him. “I don’t mind doing those files in order of importance, but if you think that you’re going to hinder my career in any way because you’re having a bad day and haven’t taken your meds, you have another think coming, Dr. Ashton.”

“Is that so, Dr. Madison?”

“Yes, that is so.” I looked right into his gorgeous blue eyes. “That is very so.”

“Hmmm ...” A slight smirk crossed his lips, but he didn’t let it stay. “So, what you’re saying is that you were promised a certain type of outcome for the residency and you expect me to show up and honor exactly what you were told, correct?”

“Yes. That’s precisely what I’m saying.”

“So, the idea of me suddenly changing my mind at the last minute and not honoring what you originally agreed upon would be, how can I put this ... Fucked up?”

“Um, yes ...” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “Yes, I guess you could say it would be ‘fucked up.’ Does that mean you understand where I’m coming from?”

“No.” He glared at me. “No, the fuck it does not. It means that you are indeed a resident. That means you report to me for this part of your program and you do exactly what I tell you to do, whether you think it’s important to your career or not.”

I bit my tongue before the words, “Who the hell do you think you are?” could leave my mouth.

“I even did you a favor,” he said, pulling a small sheet of paper from his pocket and handing it to me. “I wrote down the most important files for you. The top twenty I need completed by tomorrow morning at nine o’clock — specifically the Yarbrough family files. No exceptions. Are we clear?”

I didn’t answer him. I remained standing there with my teeth clenched, with the words I really wanted to say tucked tightly beneath my tongue.

“Dr. Madison?” He stepped closer to me, closing the gap between us. “I said, are we clear?”

“Crystal clear, Dr. Ashton.” I forced a smile. “I understand you completely.”

“Good.” He looked me up and down and then he headed toward the door. “Oh and by the way,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Everything you’re probably feeling right now is more than justified. It’s exactly how I felt when you stood me up, JERSEYGIRL7.”

My jaw immediately dropped to the floor.

“Too bad I didn’t get to test how wide your mouth could open the night we were supposed to meet,” he said, looking far more upset than he was minutes ago. “If your shocked expression is any indication, your mouth is quite impressive.”

THE DOCTOR

New York, New York

Garrett

I took sixteen flights of steps to my floor early the next morning, needing to clear my mind and find a way to apologize to Natalie. Well, I was only going to ‘somewhat’ apologize for everything I’d said to her yesterday. I was still going to make her do more paperwork than was necessary because she needed to be punished in some type of way for ruining our perfectly good online friendship. But I wasn’t going to prevent her from sitting in on sessions with me.

She was more than right about needing to get as much practice as possible and I wasn’t going to hold her back. That, and she was actually quite impressive when it came to analyzing the sessions afterwards. I found her insight and intellect quite refreshing.

“Good morning, Dr. Ashton!” Emily greeted me as I emerged from the stairwell.

“Good morning, Emily. Anything I need to know before I lock myself in my office?”

“Your three o’clock canceled, so I moved up your five o’clock session to four. Dr. Laurel just signed a new book deal, so be sure to tell her congratulations. Dr. Anderson just found out his wife is pregnant, so same thing. And I’ll need you to sign off on those lab results you sent for when they arrive around noon today.”

“Thank you very much, Emily.”

“My pleasure.”

I walked to my office and unlocked the door. Then I hit the lights and blinked several times to make sure that what I was seeing in this moment was real.

Natalie was sitting at my desk. In my chair. With my Twizzlers.

She was leaning back with her red heels perfectly perched atop a stack of books, and it looked as if she’d rearranged everything in my office to how it was when she first started here. Looking even sexier than she did yesterday, her lips were coated in a bright pink and she was raising her eyebrow — looking at me as if she were waiting for me to say something.

I didn’t.

I hit the lights and walked out of my office altogether, knowing I had to be imagining this shit.

I had better be imagining this shit ...

I’d fantasized about her wrapping her tempting mouth around my cock while she sat at my desk mere hours ago, so I figured this was just a vivid, real-world projection of that. Besides, what reason would she have to be at work four hours early?