Doctor Gu's Little Secret

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Cole slammed me hard against the freezing solid wood desk, his weight caging me in. My wrists were pinned behind my back, bound tight by his expensive silk tie.

One month ago, I had finally gotten sick of his repressed, ice-cold act. I tied him up in the backseat of my SUV, rode him until he was completely drained, then zipped up my clothes and kicked him to the curb.

"We're done," I had told him. "You're too boring. I need a real Alpha who can actually satisfy me."

Now, his pupils dilated, swallowing the light as his gaze locked onto mine with a dangerous, freezing heat. His chest brushed against mine with every ragged breath.

"You like it wild, do you?" he murmured, his voice a low, rough scrape against my ear. "Beg for it."

Chapter 1

My period was weeks late. I stared dead-eyed at the two glaring pink lines on the stick. Out of options, I dragged myself to the hospital to confront the baby daddy.

I hadn't seen Cole in a month. He sat there in a crisp white lab coat, sleeves rolled up over his forearms, a blue surgical mask covering half his face. His narrow eyes cut through the lenses of his glasses, locking onto me with zero warmth.

"Crawling back?"

I dug my manicured nails into my palms to keep from slapping that arrogant look off his face. "My period is late."

"Get some sleep. And stop downing straight tequila." Cole didn't even bother looking up from his charts. He spoke with the detached, clinical tone of someone diagnosing a stranger. "If you need a gynecologist, the reception desk is down the hall."

He kept his walls up, treating me like just another patient file. Fair enough. I was the one who relentlessly hunted him down in the first place, and I was the one who zipped up and kicked him to the curb. It made perfect sense that he wanted me dead.

I slammed both hands flat on his desk. "I'm knocked up."

Cole's eyes darkened instantly, his cold, clinical mask finally cracking. His gaze dropped, locking onto my flat stomach with a dangerous, predatory heat. "The backseat of your SUV?" His knuckles turned white as his long fingers crushed the expensive pen in his grip. His voice dropped to a rough, gravelly rasp. "I warned you I didn't have protection that night. But you just had to push me."

The memory of that feral night flashed in my mind, sending a sudden spike of heat rushing to the tips of my ears. I had been planning to dump him that day. But the thought of walking away without tasting a prime cut like Cole felt like a massive waste. So, completely ignoring the fact that he was dead-on-his-feet exhausted after a twelve-hour surgical rotation, I dragged him into the back of my car and tied him up.

I straddled his hips and ripped my shirt over my head. The perpetually disciplined Dr. Cole looked like his brain had short-circuited.

"Sloane, I don't have a condom. This isn't safe."

"Sloane, someone is going to walk past."

"Sloane, stop. Think about this."

I shifted my weight, grinding down hard against his powerful thighs. I ripped off my silk lingerie and roughly shoved it into his mouth, silencing his lectures. "Shut the hell up. Your only job right now is to satisfy me."

Once I was totally wrecked and thoroughly satisfied, I zipped up my jeans and shoved his muscular body out the door. I left Cole standing on the cold concrete, clothes completely rumpled and chest heaving, while I floored the gas and peeled out. My thighs were trembling so violently I could barely keep my foot steady on the pedal. As for him, I doubt he could even walk straight.

He tracked me down the very next day. I was at a club, throwing a welcome-home rager for my little brother, Tucker. I didn't even put my drink down. I just looked at him over the rim of my glass and dropped the bomb. "We're done, Cole. You're way too vanilla for me. I need someone a little more savage."

I had played that breakup perfectly. Ice cold. Total boss energy. Now? I wanted to punch a wall for not making a pit stop at the pharmacy first.

"Just pull some strings and get me a discreet doctor. I need an abortion." I blew out a harsh breath, absolutely done with the small talk.

"Sloane, don't be reckless."

"I'm not being reckless! We are literally broken up. What, did you expect me to actually hatch your offspring?"

"Sloane, stop acting crazy for one second."

"I'm not acting crazy, Cole! Fine, if you're going to be useless, I'll just drive to another clinic and handle it myself!"

I was ready to flip his desk. He was rubbing his temples like I was giving him a migraine. Finally, his rigid posture softened. He dropped his voice, using that maddeningly gentle tone on me. "Sloane. Let's just go get a proper ultrasound first. Okay?"

"Fine."

I crossed my arms tight over my chest. I had zero clue how any of this medical stuff worked, and beneath my armor, I was actually terrified.

Cole fast-tracked my paperwork. I sat on the examination bed, totally zoned out. It wasn't until the cold gel and the ultrasound wand pressed against my bare stomach that a sudden, crushing wave of reality hit me. My throat tightened. "You're a bastard, Cole. I hate you so much."

The thought of ripping a piece of life out of my own body triggered a raw, suffocating panic. The tears broke through, spilling hot over my cheeks. "Is it going to hurt? Are they going to cut me open?" I choked on a sob, my fingers digging blindly into the sheets. "What if it ruins my body?"

Cole's cold exterior shattered. The rims of his eyes flashed red. He reached out, his large hand gripping my trembling fingers tight enough to anchor me. "Sloane. We'll keep"

He didn't get to finish. The ultrasound technician cut right through the tension. "Dr. Cole, your girlfriend isn't pregnant."

She tapped a manicured nail against the monitor. "See for yourself. Uterus is completely clear." She clicked over to my STAT blood work file, sealing the verdict. "HCG levels are practically nonexistent. Absolutely zero chance of pregnancy."

Cole stood up slowly, his tall frame looming over the monitor. He stared at the empty screen for a long, heavy second. I couldn't read the flash of emotion in his eyeswhether it was crushing disappointment or just raw relief.

"She's right, Sloane. You're not pregnant."

Chapter 2

Now it was my turn to look like a complete idiot. Did I waste all those tears? I swore I saw two lines. How the hell does a pee stick pull a fast one on me?

"I... I took the test at home. It was positive."

Cole reached out, his large hand brushing over the top of my head in a soothing motion. "IT's fine."

What did 'fine' mean?

"You don't think I faked this, do you?" Faked it just to get an excuse to see him, just to beg for him back.

"No." A faint, helpless smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Then he dropped a low add-on: "But I wouldn't mind if you did."

What the hell did that mean?

Yeah, fine. I was the one who stalked him relentlessly in the beginning. I had been rushed into the ER for an emergency appendectomy, and Cole was my surgeon. One look at his flawless, ice-cold face, and my superficial heart flatlined. Crisp white coat, gold-rimmed glasses, broad shoulders, and legs for days. He was a walking billboard for pure, repressed temptation. And his handsGod, his hands. Whenever he looked down to type up patient charts, those long, perfectly sculpted fingers hit the keys with a rhythm that practically beat directly against my chest. The man was custom-built to ruin me.

After that, I practically lived at the hospital. I faked backaches, stomachaches, phantom chest painsjust to show up morning, noon, and night to aggressively flirt with him. But he was like some untouchable ice sculpture, shutting me down every single time with the exact same freezing rejection: "We are not a match."

But I was addicted to him. He was arrogant and impossible to crack, which only made me want him more. When he rejected my catered lunches and coffee deliveries, I escalated. I sent a massive, custom floral basket straight to his office, complete with a glaring, neon-bright card:

[To the hospital's sexiest Hands of God.]

Just like that, I became a legend in his department.

I showed up so often that the other doctors couldn't stop themselves from grinning whenever I walked in. "Dr. Cole, your hot little demon is back on the prowl."

Finally, Cole threw in the towel. "Sloane, let's just try this."

He said 'try,' but the guy was colder than a monk. No kissing, no touching. We dated for three solid months before he even held my hand. My best friend swore that doctors were just desensitized from seeing so many bodies, that it made them frigid. I wasn't having it. What was the point of having a trophy boyfriend if he was completely useless in bed? I wanted to completely wreck his pristine vibe. My only goal became getting Cole into my bed.

On my birthday, I bought practically sheer lingerie and set up a massive candlelit dinner at my place. I finally managed to lure him over, but he hadn't even been sitting for three minutes before his pager went off. His job was brutalovertime, night shifts, emergency surgeries, constant recalls. He needed me to be the understanding girlfriend, and I really tried to play the part.

But that night, when I drove to the hospital to pick him up, I caught him holding another girl. She was buried against his chest, sobbing her eyes out. Something inside me snapped. I dragged him into my SUV, took exactly what I wanted from him, and dumped him right there on the pavement.

Sure, while we were dating, I used to throw fake tantrums and threaten to break up whenever he pissed me off. He never knew how to coax me down, so I'd always be the one crawling back just to get my hands on him. Damn it, I was hooked on his body. But this time was different. The image of him ditching me on my birthday just to hold another woman made me want to throw up. I had zero intention of getting back together with him, but he clearly didn't buy it.

I had no idea how to explain why my home test screamed positive when his hospital monitor showed pure static.

"Look, I took the test at my house, and there were two lines."

He didn't even blink. "Okay."

"Okay?" A fresh spark of rage ignited in my chest. "You don't believe me, do you?"

His tone stayed flat. "No, I believe whatever you tell me."

Believe whatever I tell him? He absolutely thought I faked the whole thing.

I glared at him. "If you don't believe me, come back to my place right now. I'll show you the damn stick."

"Alright."

He actually agreed. Fine. I needed to clear my name. But the second I stormed into my bathroom, I froze. I ripped apart the cabinets, but the test was nowhere.

"Cole... I think I threw it in the trash."

All my aggressive, self-righteous energy instantly deflated.

"Okay." The absolute faintest ghost of a smirk played at the corner of his lips.

Chapter 3

Damn it, the bastard didn't buy a single word.

"Look, I didn't drag you here on purpose," I snapped, crossing my arms tight.

A low, dark chuckle vibrated in his throat. He turned, two long fingers hooking a scrap of fabric, and dangled it right in front of my face. "Was this an accident, too?"

I stared at it. It was the sheer, practically non-existent lingerie I had bought for my birthday. Since I never got to use it, I had just tossed it aside.

Before I could even fire back, he tossed a small foil box onto the mattress. His gaze locked onto mine, heavy and taunting. "And I suppose this was just lying around?"

Oh my god. The condoms I had stashed in my nightstand.

A massive wave of heat rushed straight to my cheeks. I glared back, but Cole's expression made it painfully clear he could see right through my bullshit.

I ground my teeth together and doubled down. "I bought them for my new boyfriend."

"Heh." A dark smirk played on his lips. He took a slow step forward, his tall frame casting a heavy shadow over me. "The one who's wilder than me, right?"

"O-Obviously," I stammered, refusing to break character. "He's young, obsessed with me, and totally savage in bed."

Suddenly, his large hand clamped around my waist. He yanked me forward so hard I crashed flush against his solid chest. He tilted his head down, trapping my gaze.

"The price tags and plastic wrap are still on them," he murmured, his breath brushing my skin.

I jerked my head away, avoiding his eyes. "None of your business."

His grip tightened. One arm locked around my waist like a steel band while his other hand slid up to grip the back of my neck, completely caging me against him. His eyes burned with a freezing heat, and his normally clinical voice dropped into a dangerous rasp. "Sloane. You better keep that mouth running."

Before I could even process the threat, he smashed his lips down on mine. My mind blanked.

Whenever we kissed before, he had always held back. But right now, Cole was acting completely feral. I gasped for air against his mouth. He kept my head pinned with one hand, while his other reached up to rip off his gold-rimmed glasses. He yanked his tie loose and tossed it onto the bed. I barely managed to drag in half a breath before he was kissing me again, deep and bruising. While his mouth devoured mine, his one free hand expertly popped the buttons of his dress shirt.

Seconds later, the fabric hit the floor, revealing the muscular, perfectly sculpted torso I had been obsessed with for months.

Damn it. The bastard was deliberately using his body against me. He knew my weakness, and my willpower vaporized. I swallowed hard.

His chest heaved with ragged breaths as he leaned in, his lips brushing my earlobe. "Sloane," he rasped out. "You like it wild?"

"Cole, what... what are you doing?" I pushed weakly against his hard chest.

He just stared down at me, letting out a dark, predatory chuckle. Next thing I knew, that sheer scrap of lingerie was forced onto my body, and his silk tie was knotted tight around my wrists.

It barely took a few minutes for him to completely take over. He stared down at me from above, ripping his shirt all the way open with one hand to expose his sculpted, hard chest. His voice was hoarse, dripping with dangerous, aggressive dominance: "You want this? Then beg me for it. Tell me you belong only to me."

Like hell I was going to let this bastard manipulate me that easily.

"Please..." I whimpered out.

"Who did you buy those for?" he demanded.

"You, only you..."

"You like young, savage boys?"

"No, I hate them. I only want Dr. Cole..."

"Are we still broken up?"

"No, we're not..."

Whatever pride I had left was officially dead. I spent the entire night begging him.

Hours later, my brain completely fried, I hazily watched him standing by my nightstand. He was holding a small box, looking deeply amused.

"What are you staring at?" I mumbled, my voice completely shot.

He turned the box around and tapped the label. "You bought the wrong brand. This isn't a pregnancy test."

The bold letters on the packaging clearly read:

[Ovulation Test Kit]

Oh my god. Did I really click the wrong item on the delivery app? Did I literally just set my own trap?

As wild as last night was, waking up the next morning was just pure confusion. When I finally cracked my eyes open, the clock read past 11:00 AM. I blindly patted the empty mattress beside me.

He was gone.

Perfect. So that bastard Cole was pulling my own "hit it and quit it" move on me? I rolled over, ready to be furious, but my eyes caught a small sticky note left on my nightstand. I ripped it off. The handwriting was neat and precise:

[Sloane, I had to head into the hospital for my shift.]

Right. He had work today. I stretched my aching limbs, finally sitting up, and scanned the room. Cole had actually completely cleaned up the absolute wreck we made of my bedroom. He even washed my clothes and hung them out on the balcony to dry.

Chapter 4

I cursed him out in my head. Of course, the damn doctor was an absolute neat freak.

We were up half the night, and he still had to clock in for his early morning rounds. I wondered if his back was as completely wrecked as mine. Right now, my muscles burned in places I didn't even want to think about.

Cole was a complete hypocrite. In public, he was this rigid, untouchable saint who wouldn't even hold my hand in front of his colleagues, let alone kiss me. But the second the bedroom door clicked shut? Total feral savage. He was into things that would make a priest blush.

Sure, I was obsessed with his body, but last night I almost bit off more than I could chew.

I massaged my lower back, my eyes catching the sheer lingerie drying out on the balcony, and a fresh wave of heat instantly scorched my ears.

Damn it. Did we just hate-fuck all our problems away?

I was still half-zoned out when my phone started vibrating violently against the mattress.

"Sloane! Hey, sis~"

Like a grim reaper calling to collect.

"Screw off, I'm not giving you money."

I was a second away from hanging up on Tucker when he started practically begging. "Wait, wait, don't hang up! Guess who I just spotted?"

"I don't play guessing games."

"My ex-brother-in-law. And he's currently having brunch with some chick."

My screen buzzed immediately with a photo attachment. I squinted at the bright screen. It really was Cole. And the girl sitting across from him? It was the exact same girl I caught crying in his arms last month.

"Send me the location. Now."

Cole, you dead man walking. I'm going to physically castrate you.

I threw on my clothes and drove there like a bat out of hell.

"Sloane, look. The cheating bastards are coming out." Tucker pointed at the restaurant entrance. The two of them were walking out shoulder-to-shoulder. Pure, homicidal rage spiked in my chest.

"I got this. I'm going to wreck him for you." Tucker was even more pissed than I was. He charged forward, grabbed Cole by his expensive collar, and threw a brutal punch straight at his jaw.

Cole stumbled back, his icy eyes snapping up to lock onto Tucker. "You."

Without missing a beat, he drove a vicious left hook right back into Tucker's face. In seconds, the two of them were violently brawling in the middle of the street.

"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" The girl standing next to Cole screamed, her face draining of color. "Stop hitting him or I'm calling the cops!"

I stood frozen, watching the fight escalate into chaos.

"Tucker, back the hell off! Don't touch his hands, he's a surgeon!" I screamed, lunging into the crossfire. "Cole, if you hit my brother one more time, I swear to God!"

I grabbed them and violently shoved them apart. Cole stood there, chest heaving, his eyes burning with unconcealed fury as he glared at me.

"Wow, Sloane. You're really something," he spat out. "Dragging your new boy toy right to my face?"

Ha. The bastard was actually trying to play the victim?

"I could never compete with you, Dr. Cole." I fired back, my voice dripping with absolute venom. "You worked your ass off in my bed all night, clocked into your 8:00 AM shift, and still had the energy to take your little side piece out for a date? You're a real fucking master of time management."

Cole's brow furrowed sharply. "What side piece?" He stared at me like I had lost my mind. "Sloane, are you hallucinating?"

"Hallucinating?" I pointed a sharp finger straight at the girl next to him, glaring daggers. "It was her last month. On my birthday. I caught you holding her right outside the ER. And don't you dare try hitting me with that clich 'she's my distant cousin' excuse."

Cole stared at me, his expression twisting into a very complicated knot. "She's not my distant cousin." He took a breath. "She's my first cousin. Sadie."

I went dead silent.

"...It appears I have made a slight miscalculation."

Cole looked absolutely speechless. He slowly turned his head, his sharp gaze locking onto Tucker for a long, calculating second. "Sloane. Please don't tell me this is your cousin."

I let out a heavy, defeated sigh. "He's not my cousin. He's my blood brother."

Mystery completely solved. On the day we broke up, Cole's uncle had suffered a massive heart attack and was rushed to the ER. Sadie, being just a kid, was completely terrified. Cole had simply been comforting her out frontright when I pulled up. I was so blinded by jealousy at the time that my only thought was punishing him. I didn't even bother to ask for an explanation. After I wrecked him and kicked him out of my car, he tracked me down the next day to talk. I was throwing a welcome-home party for Tucker, who had just flown back from Europe. Cole saw me with him and automatically assumed he was my brand-new toy boy.

The atmosphere instantly dropped into a suffocating, deeply awkward silence.

"Heh... so, uh. What's up, brother-in-law..." Tucker rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he wanted the concrete to swallow him whole.

"Hi... sister-in-law... I mean, Sloane..." Sadie offered a stiff, incredibly awkward little wave.

Cole and I just stood there, both of us forcing the most painful, tight-lipped smiles in existence.

Chapter 5

Catching sight of the bruised cut on Cole's mouth, a sharp pang hit my chest.

"Does it hurt? Let's go get some ointment for that." I gently brushed the swollen skin with my fingertip.

He caught my hand, his voice dropping low. "I'm fine."

"Sloane, I got hit too! It hurts like hell!" Tucker rubbed his jaw, glaring from the sidelines.

"Too bad he didn't knock you out. Who told you to throw a punch? You lunged at him like a rabid dog!" I shot him a lethal glare. The little brat had been nothing but a walking disaster since we were kids.

"Ow, seriously, I'm dying here..." The kid was instantly milking it, dramatically groaning. "Sis, I need financial compensation to heal."

I rolled my eyes, directly pulling a stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills from my limited-edition Birkin bag and smacking it flat against his chest. "Take the cash and get out of my sight."

Tucker snatched the hush money and practically vanished into thin air. Sadie quickly grabbed onto an excuse to bolt as well. "Cole, I'm going to head up to the hospital to check on my dad."

Cole nodded, then shifted his intense gaze back down to me. "Have you eaten?"

"No..." Like I had the appetite for food when I was busy plotting his physical castration.

Cole took me to a high-end bistro down the block from his hospital. Knowing he had to scrub in for his afternoon shift, I spent lunch ruthlessly teasing him before getting ready to leave.

His hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist, anchoring me in place. "Sloane, we need to get you a prescription before you go."

I blinked, totally lost. "Prescription for what?"

"To regulate your cycle," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh..." Right. My period was still incredibly late.

While we were standing at the exclusive VIP pharmacy counter picking up the meds, he suddenly leaned down, his breath grazing directly against my ear. "Are you still sore?"

My brain misfired for a second. "What?"

He cleared his throat faintly, dropping his voice to a rough, private rasp right against my skin. "Do you need me to buy you a soothing cream?"

When it clicked what he was referring to, even a thrill-seeker like me felt heat detonate across my cheeks. "No!"

"You don't have to be embarrassed. Does it really not hurt anymore?" The man was relentless.

"Shut your mouth..." Now he wanted to play the caring doctor? Last night, my voice went completely hoarse from screaming, and the bastard didn't show an ounce of mercy. I had no idea where he even got that kind of feral stamina.

Furious, I reached over and pinched the hard ridge of his abs right through his shirt. His brow furrowed instantly. "We're surrounded by colleagues, Sloane. Keep it professional."

Ugh, he did this every single time. In public, he put on this impenetrable saint actno touching, no kissing, strict boundaries. But the second his clothes came off, he turned into a starved, feral beast who hadn't seen a woman in a decade. He made me feel like some dirty little secret he was keeping in the dark.

"You're right. Considering we're broken up, we should definitely maintain boundaries." I pushed his buttons on purpose.

"Broken up? Who was it that begged me not to leave last night?" He stared down at me, his gaze heavy and calculating.

I let out a soft, mocking hum, flicking his collar. "Dr. Cole, you should never trust a word a woman says in bed."

"Then what exactly are we right now?" he demanded, his voice dangerously low.

"Friends with benefits." I snatched the paper bag with my meds, shot him a wicked glare, and strutted out of the pharmacy