15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

possible. I squeal when I feel a piercing sting on my right butt cheek. I
spin around and Ryle is grinning, holding two bottles of wine.
“Did you just bite me?”
He gives me an innocent look. “Don’t tempt the scorpion if you
don’t want to get stung.” He eyes me up and down while he opens
one of the bottles. He holds it up before he pours us a glass and says,
“It’s vintage.”
“Vintage,” I say with mock impression. “What’s the special
occasion?”
He hands me a glass and says, “I’m going to be an uncle. I have a
smoking hot girlfriend. And I get to perform a very rare, possibly
once-in-a-lifetime craniopagus separation on Monday.”
“A cranio-what?”
He finishes off his glass of wine and pours himself another one.
“Craniopagus separation. Conjoined twins,” he says. He points to a
spot on the top of his head and taps it. “Attached right here. We’ve
been studying them since they were born. It’s a very rare surgery. Very
rare.”
For the first time, I think I’m genuinely turned on by him as a
doctor. I mean, I admire his drive. I admire his dedication. But seeing
how excited he is about what he’s doing for a living is seriously sexy.
“How long do you think it’ll take?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Not sure. They’re young, so being under general
anesthesia for too long is a concern.” He holds up his right hand and
wiggles his fingers. “But this is a very special hand that has been
through almost half a million dollars’ worth of specialty education. I
have a lot of faith in this hand.”
I walk over to him and press my lips to his palm. “I’m a little fond
of this hand, too.”
He slides the hand down to my neck and then spins me so that I’m
flush against the counter. I gasp, because I wasn’t expecting that.
He pushes himself against me from behind and slowly slides his
hand down the side of my body. I press my palms into the granite and
close my eyes, already feeling the rush of the wine.
“This hand,” he whispers, “is the steadiest hand in all of Boston.”
He pushes on the back of my neck, bending me further over the
counter. His hand meets the inside of my knee and he glides it