Page 32 of Dr. Scandal Claus

I gasped, arching my back, throwing my head back, and shutting my eyes.

"Look at me," he growled, his voice raw with lust and something else. "I want to see your face when you come."

I opened my eyes and met his, and I watched as he drove himself inside me. His hands moved up my torso, one finding my breast, the other guiding me where he wanted me to be. He angled upwards, driving us both higher, and I realized what he was doing. The pleasure coiled in my abdomen as I clenched my muscles around him, squeezing his length. His thumb pressed on my clit, rubbing in a tiny circle as I whimpered and dug my nails into his perfect Adonis chest.

"That's it," he panted, winded from exertion. "Take it all."

The orgasm built again, swirling low in my belly and then exploding outward like fireworks on the Fourth of July. My body tensed and spasmed around his length as another orgasmcrashed over me in waves. This one was more powerful than the first, emanating from deep inside me where his cock hit my cervix. It had me screaming and writhing, sensations so intense I wanted them to stop and never stop all at once.

Nick continued to move, his hips bucking against mine. Then he pulled on my body until I was draped over him, and I felt him growl against my neck as he joined with me in climax. I could feel his warmth spill inside me, our mingled scents mixing with the air conditioning circulating through the room. His dick pulsed, and I squeezed it with my strong muscles, lying on his chest, listening to his heart pounding under my ear.

"I love you, Nick," I whispered, nuzzling him. His arms came over my back and I sighed peacefully.

"Scarlett, I want us, but that doesn't mean we don't have things to work out." The hint of caution in his tone was fair. He'd been hurt badly and not just by me.

"I'll never purposefully hurt you, Nick, and I'm here to work through any of the issues you have." I raised my head and looked him in the eye, propping myself up on one arm, my hand splayed next to his head on the mattress. "I will do whatever it takes."

His eyes searched me earnestly. "I want to tell Ethan. He deserves to know…and I want to be there for him now. Not just as his doctor. As his father."

I chewed the inside of my cheek and nodded. Nick had every right to ask me this. I just didn't know how to even bring that topic up with Ethan. It was always inevitable, just like Nick finding out, but the idea of Ethan feeling scared or overwhelmed terrified me. This was the happiest moment I'd had in months, reuniting with Nick when I thought all was lost. And Nick just turned it into something terrifying.

"We'll do it together, Scarlett. Okay? When we both think he's ready."

I lay back down on his chest and let him hold me, but it didn't stop me from worrying. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. That was what my mom used to say. I knew what it meant now.

24

NICK

"Thank you, Dr. Edwards. You literally saved my life."

I looked down at the grateful expression on Cherry Phillips's face and smiled at her. "You're very welcome. Now, you rest up. We'll have you home in no time."

With my rounds complete, I was now free to head out to the lake with Scarlett and Ethan. For the past few months things had been going so well between the two of us we were both walking on air. And the rumors spread by Marjorie weren't as bad as we feared they'd be, though Scarlett did see a downtick in sales. I encouraged her that it would pass and we'd be fine, and we went about our lives like normal. Like today—we'd made plans to take Ethan to the lake, and finally after weeks of waiting patiently for Scarlett to tell me it was time, we decided today was the day we'd tell Ethan I was his father.

I strolled toward my office in the hospital with a bit of nervous anticipation. Telling Ethan the truth wasn't something we could delay anymore. Kids at his school were talking and he'd asked a few questions about what it meant for me to be Scarlett's "baby daddy" which was the phrase people were spewing in their nonsense gossip.

It irked me that they had no respect for a child's heart or Scarlett as a mother, but small-town gossip wasn't exactly a polite thing to begin with. I wished I could've spared both of them all of the hassle and frustration of it all, but I knew we had to do things the right way. Ever since Scarlett told me, this was the one thing on my mind—making sure Ethan was okay through all of this.

"Well there, Dr. Edwards, how are you doing?" I heard the voice call out from behind me and before I even turned to see who it was, I knew the voice. A feeling of dread washed over me, and I gritted my teeth. It wasn't a conversation I could walk away from, so I slowed my pace and turned to face him.

"Dr. Bradshaw…" I stated his name calmly, but my chest was suddenly anything but calm. I thought I'd gotten Fiona off my back weeks ago. After she came to my office to bring me lunch and I rushed her out, racing to Scarlett's to tell her what a fool I'd been, Fiona hadn't come back. Now her father was approaching me? This wasn't good.

"Nick, it's good to see you." He thrust out his hand and spoke to me like we were old friends.

I hated this man.

Between him, his daughter, the reporters, and the board of my former hospital I was almost buried alive. They twisted facts following a surgery to make me look negligent, so the full brunt of a malpractice lawsuit hit me, all so the hospital wouldn't take the hit. And while the courts stopped short of taking my license to practice, it cost me twenty million dollars and I couldn't find any patients who would trust me.

I shook Marvin's hand, but couldn't stop the glower from creeping across my face. "I can't say the same," I told him, though I kept my nastier thoughts to myself. Thoughts likeI wish you'd walk in front of a moving train. He was a board member here, capable of manipulating other board membersinto firing me. If Fiona could suck up to Daddy Dearest and promise me promotions and pay raises, certainly Marvin could twist the knife again and have me terminated.

"Ah, well I'm sorry to hear that. I was just going to invite you to a family barbeque I'm hosting this evening. I thought we could put the past behind us and forge a new friendship. There are some exciting changes happening here at General and I want to discuss them with you."

The snake slithered backward, retracting his hand as I very visibly wiped my hand on my lab coat. Fiona may have backed off for a time, but I knew what this was. She'd gone crying to Marvin, probably telling him she just had to have me back. If she couldn't weasel her way back into my life, she'd have him put pressure on me from the top down. I wasn't having it.

"Sorry, Dr. Bradshaw, I have plans this evening at the lake, and tomorrow too." I thought of my son and the things we had to discuss with him. I had to make myself available all weekend in case he had a negative reaction to the news. Scarlett told me she assumed he already put some of the pieces together, but he was seven. I didn't think so. And neither of us knew how he'd respond. I just wanted to be there for both of them.

"Well, again, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm surprised you're not taking your career more seriously after everything that happened. I'm opening a door for you with the higher ups, Nick. You shouldn't be passing up any opportunity to rise in the ranks. After what you did?—"