Katie’s brows rose. “Eight? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Get the hell out of here. Eight? And you let him go? I’d have called in sick today and had him give me eight more.”
She laughed. “Shut up. I don’t call in sick to have sex. I don’t call in sick, period. Even when I am sick.”
Katie shook her head. “Then you’re doing it wrong, Aubry.”
“Come on.” She pulled on Katie’s sleeve. “We have work to do. We’ll talk about sex later.”
She immersed herself in her job, trying to shove thoughts of Tucker out of her head for the next several hours. Fortunately, she was busy. Not as busy as when she worked nights, but she’d had a steady stream of work. A broken arm from a job-related injury, a sick infant, and an elderly gentleman with a bowel obstruction.
Fortunately, Dr. Chen hadn’t noticed she’d barely made it on time this morning, so she’d dodged a bullet there.
Late afternoon she finally found time to get a bite to eat. She got a salad in the cafeteria, grabbed her medical notes and sat in the lounge, enjoying the few minutes of peace and quiet so she could study.
Until Katie came in with her bag of food. She pulled up a chair across from Aubry at the table, laid her iced tea down, and opened her bag.
“Surely you’re not going to study. Don’t you ever shut off that brain of yours?”
Aubry looked up from her notes. “We have a lot to learn in a short period of time. And you never know when Chen is going to ask us about some complex brain trauma we’ve never heard of.” She pinned Katie with a stern look. “You could stand to study more.”
Katie pointed to her temple and bit into her sandwich, talking with her mouth full. “I’ve got it all right here, honey.”
“Sure you do. What you’ve got is balls enough to bullshit your way through Chen’s tough questions. Or you just don’t care.”
Katie took a sip of her drink. “Of course I care. I just don’t walk on eggshells around Chen like you seem to. He wants us all to do well, and his bark is way worse than his bite. You need to relax. Didn’t those eight orgasms do the trick, or are you going back for more tonight?”
“I . . .” She paused, not sure how to answer. She’d left Tucker at her place early this morning, without thought as to when, or if, she’d ever see him again.
She didn’t date. She spent days and nights at the hospital, and when she was off, she studied and caught up on things she had to do at home. She’d used one of her rare nights off to go out with him last night. Surely Tucker would understand that she wasn’t looking for a relationship, right?
“You what?” Katie asked, interrupting her thought process.
“I don’t know. We had a fun night. Isn’t that enough?”
“Of course it’s not enough. You two had awesome sex, Aubry. Wouldn’t you want more of it? I mean, it isn’t often we can find a man to give us one orgasm, let alone eight. Why would you let a guy like that go?”
She laid her fork down. “Because I don’t have time for a guy. There’s work and study and those are my priorities.”
Katie sighed. “You need to reset your priorities, honey. Men can give you great orgasms—as you know so well—which reduces your stress and allows you to fully focus your efforts on work and study.”
She couldn’t help herself. Her lips lifted. “You have that all figured out, don’t you?”
“On a spreadsheet and everything.”
Aubry laughed. “Men can also be complicated.”
Katie took a bite of her sandwich, swallowed, then shook her head. “No. We’re complicated. Men are simple. Keep them well fucked and they’re happy as can be.”
Sliding Katie a look of disbelief, she said, “I don’t believe it works that way.”
“Trust me. It works that way.”
“So you’re saying all I have to do is fuck Tucker’s brains out on a regular basis, and I won’t have to worry about any emotional entanglements?”
“Absolutely. If he’s an average male. And from what I’ve seen of him? He looks like an average male to me. Quite possibly above average.”
Aubry couldn’t believe she was even entertaining the idea. She had no time for this. But she had to admit the idea was tempting.
And there was no denying the side benefits would be well worth it. Tucker had seemed fun and easygoing last night. Not at all intense.
At least not until they’d gotten in bed. Then? The intensity level had been off the charts amazing, which she had no complaints about.
She hadn’t been lying to him when she’d told him it had been a long dry spell for her in the sex department. Sex on a regular basis sounded so good, especially with all the pressure she was under at work.
And if she could get that without an emotional tie?
Even better.
Tucker had said he’d call. He’d pushed her about going out, so she expected her phone to buzz sometime today.
They’d make plans, and she’d see where she could fit him into her schedule.
At least sex-wise.