Doctor’s Duties by K.C. Crowne

Chapter 12

LOGAN

In my class with Abby, I had two goals. The first was to teach the material. The second was to avoid ogling her.

Damn, was it difficult. She’d come to class that day wearing a pair of dark jeans and a V-neck T-shirt that hinted at the perfect breasts I knew were underneath it.

“Now, who can tell me the two different modes of radiation therapy?” I turned my attention to the class, a few hands going up. But seeing as in all my classes, the ones to offer an answer were the ones who always volunteered to answer, I decided to call on someone new.

I glanced down at my seating chart, trying to pick a name I hadn’t called before. After selecting one, I raised my eyes to the class.

“Mr. Ben—,”

“There are two kinds of radiation therapy.” I glanced around the room, trying to find the voice.

When I spotted the smiling face of Ms. Emma Strange, I realized that I wasn’t going to have to do much seeking.

She stood up, which I didn’t require my students to do when answering questions. Instantly I got the distinct impression that she did this so that I’d be able to get a good look at her.

Emma Strange was tall and skinny, and always dressed in black from head to toe. Today she wore a pleated skirt, a black T-shirt with the band The Cure printed on it, and a black choker around her neck. Her skin was milk-white, her frizzy curls the same black as her favorite color of clothing. She was pretty enough, not that I thought that way about her, but the beaming, toothy smile she always wore, not to mention the overeager way her eyes lit up whenever she had a chance to answer a question, made me more than a little trepidatious.

I’d been with more than a few women in my day, and one of the things you learned to pick up on is which ones are trouble. Emma Strange sent out those vibes like a melted down nuclear plant put out radiation.

“The first kind is primary – useful for lung cancer, for example.”

“Very good,” I said. “Thank you, Emma. And does anyone want to —”

“The second kind is adjuvant,” she went on as if I hadn’t said a word. “Most effective for cancers like breast cancer. Adjuvant radiation is applied after initial treatment in the hopes of suppressing secondary tumor formation.”

I nodded.

“Thank you, Emma.”

She gave a pert nod and sat back down.

“As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, in the future I’ll be choosing who I want to answer questions. So, please, no interruptions.”

The smile faded from her face at the mild chiding. I glanced at the clock, realizing that it was only a minute shy of dismissal time.

“That looks like a good place to call it a day. For next class, I want you all to finish chapter two and be prepared for a possible quiz.” Everyone froze, and I smiled and winked. “This is your freebie – the rest of the quizzes will most definitely be of the pop variety. See you all next time.”

With that, the students rose and made their way out. I allowed myself exactly one glance at Abby’s ass as she left. My cock twitched as I remembered just how perfect it was, how good it felt in my hands as I drove into her over and over.

But when she was gone, I pushed thoughts like those out of my mind. Didn’t have time for stuff like that. And what good would it do to fantasize about a woman I wasn’t going to have ever again?

I made my way to my office, shut the door behind me, and allowed the peace to wash over me. I had a couple hours before my next class, and as I checked my inbox, I saw that I didn’t have any pressing matters to attend to. The morning rain that had forced me to drive to work instead of bike had cleared up, the sun outside brilliant and bright. I needed to get some exercise to make up for missing my morning bike ride, and decided a swim sounded good.

I decided to answer a few emails before heading over to the gym. After clicking the first one, which appeared to be a question from a student, I started reading.

But I didn’t get a word into it before a sharp, quick knock sounded from my office door.

It wasn’t office hours, and I had no appointments.

Was it Abby? I rose from my chair and headed over to the door, my heart beating faster with excitement as I reached toward the knob.

“Hey, Dr. Frost!”

The girl on the other side wasn’t Abby – it was Ms. Emma Strange.

“Emma,” I said. “Something…something I can help you with?”

“Um, just a quick question about class policy.” Before I had a chance to react, she slipped her slender frame past me, her frizzy black hair a blur as she stepped into my office.

I turned to face her, keeping my hand on the door to prevent it from shutting.

“Now,” I said. “Before I say anything, I should let you know that there are no office hours on Tuesday. I’ll meet with you this once, but in the future, you’re going to need to make an appointment and —”

“I know, I know,” she said. “And I’m sorry.” Emma looked past me at the office. “Wow! This is your office? It’s so…neat! I mean, not like ‘cool’ neat, but neat-neat. But it’s cool too now that I think about it.”

She stepped over to one of my bookshelves before coming to a stop.

“Look at this stuff!” she said, picking up something from one of the shelves. “Did you get this from traveling around the world? What is this, a spoon?”

My eyes flashed as I realized what she had in her hands.

“Emma!” I hurried over and slipped the spoon from her long fingers. “This is a spoon, yes. But it’s a special spoon – handmade in the Edo period of Japan. I got it during a summer I spent in rural Japan and it’s very delicate.”

“A spoon that you can’t use?” she asked as I carefully set it back down. “Kind of weird, but it looks nice.”

I’d already had an “off” feeling about Emma. And seeing the way she was blowing past boundaries was only cementing that feeling.

“Emma, I’m busy and don’t have much time between classes. Now, what is it I can help you with?”

She bounded over to my desk and sat on the edge, crossing her legs, and showing off far more skin than I was comfortable with. I had a feeling it wasn’t accidental.

“Right,” she said. “Anyway, I wanted to see if you offered one-on-one tutoring. I love your class so far, and I want to make sure I totally kick its butt. In a good way, of course.” She chuckled, her laugh so shrill that it almost hurt my ears.

“One-on-one tutoring? As in, with me and you?”

“Right!” she said. “What better way to learn than with the expert, you know? And if money’s an object, my parents have a ton of it.”

I didn’t even know where to begin with how bad of an idea it was. And more than that, I had a feeling I was going to need to handle this situation with care.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t offer that. And to save you some time in the future, professors tend not to offer one-on-one tutoring.”

She pouted, shrugging her shoulders, and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Really? That’s a bummer. I bet it’d be fun, too. I’ve got this awesome apartment downtown and you could come over and help me study. And like I said, you’d get paid really well.”

“It’s not a matter of money,” I said. “It’s a matter of propriety. Not to mention school policy.”

She waved her hand through the air dismissively. “Oh, whatever. Colorado Med’s not going to care if you take a little under the table to help a student. I mean, in ten years I’ll be a mega rich doctor and you know they’re going to be hitting me up for endowments then. I doubt they’ll be mad about how I got my awesome grades and graduated.”

I was getting a keen insight into how Emma’s mind worked.

“Well, you came to ask about tutoring and I told you the answer is ‘no.’ Now, if you don’t mind…”

I gestured toward the door, and she sighed, disappointment on her face.

Emma hopped off the desk and smoothed the front of her skirt.

“Well, fine,” she said with a smile. “But don’t be surprised if you end up at my apartment one way or another, Doc.”

With that, she placed her fingertip on my chest and dragged it up. A laugh sounded from her as she stepped out of the office and into the hallway. The door shut and I was once again alone.

Mental note – don’t ever be alone with Emma Strange.

However ready I’d been for a swim, the meeting with Emma made me even more geared up to work off some tension. I spent the walk over to the gym thinking about what had happened, how Emma had made it clear she didn’t much care for respecting boundaries and had all but said she was interested in me. I’d have to navigate the situation carefully, and I grumbled with frustration at the idea of having two students that I now had to worry about.

I reached the school’s massive physical fitness complex, giving the familiar faces at the front desk a quick wave as I checked in and made my way to the locker rooms. The gym midmorning was usually pretty dead, most of the students and faculty in class. And that was just how I liked it. With any luck, I’d have the pool all to myself.

But when I entered the pool room, the smell of chlorine greeting me, I saw that I wasn’t alone. Someone was already there, a slender figure in a black swimsuit moving quietly and quickly under the blue surface of the water. My eyes stayed on her as I made my way to the far end of the pool. I wasn’t quite sure why, but I couldn’t stop staring at her.

When I was near the end of the pool, she reached out of the water and placed her hands on the side, pushing herself up. Water cascaded down her body, drawing my attention to her long, shapely legs – long, shapely, and familiar legs.

She turned her attention to me, her hair hidden under a swim cap and goggles on her face.

Then she let out a shriek.

“Logan?”

The moment I heard her voice I realized why she looked so damn familiar – it was Abby.

“Abby!” I said with a smile.

I knew I should’ve been more guarded, but damned if I wasn’t happy to see her. More than that, her body looked all kinds of good in that swimsuit, the cut high enough to put her long legs and round hips on display. But I did my best not to stare.

The surprise faded, replaced by a broad smile.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked as she flipped around to let her legs hang in the water.

“Well, sometimes I like to come here and do my grading. It’s a multi-tasking thing. I’ll swim a lap, then grade a paper, then swim another lap…”

She cocked her head to the side, then let out a laugh.

“Wow, Logan,” she said. “That’s a little drier than I’ve come to expect from you.” As soon as she finished, her fingers shot up to her mouth. “Shoot, stupid of me to call you that.”

The back of my neck tingled at the idea of someone listening in. But a quick check over my shoulder confirmed that we were alone, the paranoia fading.

“Professor Frost,” she said with a sly smile that suggested she was into saying the words. “Or do you prefer Dr. Frost?”

“Take your pick. Just don’t say it with that look on your face unless you want people to start asking questions.”

“There was a look on my face?”

“Most definitely a look.”

The coy expression faded, replaced by one of concern. As if she had something on her mind but wasn’t sure how to put it into words.

“What’s up?” I asked, taking off my towel and sitting on the edge of the pool next to her. I dipped my legs in the warm water.

“You want to race? I have ten laps left before I’m done. You game?”

I could tell that wasn’t what she’d wanted to say. But I’d come to swim, after all. Not to mention that it’d look strange for anyone coming in that a student and teacher were talking and not using the pool.

“Let’s do it.”

We both lunged off the side of the pool and into the water.

“I should let you know,” I said. “I’m a damn good swimmer.”

“Maybe,” she said with a challenging smile. “But you’re all…big and bulky. Whereas I’m…”

She scrunched up her face as she tried to think of a way to finish that sentence. Sexy, slender, lithe, limber – I could think of a few words that would fit. None of them were appropriate in the slightest, however.

“Skinnier,” she said. “Now, go!”

She didn’t give me a second before pushing off the wall and disappearing under the surface, darting toward the other end of the pool.

Holy shit was she fast.

I stood stunned for a moment before beginning to freestyle swim as fast as I could to the other end. Right as I reached the far side of the pool, Abby was already pushing off and starting on her next lap. Maybe it was my imagination, but I was almost positive she flashed me a cocky grin as she started in the other direction.

I pushed myself as hard as I could, eventually catching up with her around lap five. By the time we reached lap seven, I was getting close to passing her. But her competitive instincts must’ve kicked in at that moment because she pulled ahead.

Not about to give up without a fight, I pushed myself even harder. We were tied again at lap nine, and by number ten it was neck and neck.

Come on – you’re not going to let a student beat you, are you?

She wasn’t the only competitive one in the pool. I used the last bit of energy in the final burst, but when I popped my head out of the water I saw, to my shock, that she was already sitting on the edge, a huge grin on her face.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked as I pushed myself out of the water. “Did I really just lose to you?”

She laughed, her full breaths causing her breasts to strain against the skintight material of her swimsuit.

“Better luck next time, old timer.”

That got a chuckle out of me as I caught my breath. As we sat on the edge of the pool, Abby reached over and offered me her hand.

“Good match.”

I took her hand, cool and soft and wet, and shook it.

“Good match.”

“Should’ve made a bet,” she said. “At least a lunch. Or maybe your car.”

I laughed. “Now you’re getting cocky.”

We caught our breaths, a serious expression taking hold on Abby’s face. I realized there was no time like the present to talk about whatever it was she’d had on her mind.

“Let’s hear it,” I said. “What do you want to ask me?”

“It’s…kind of weird.”

“I can handle weird. Shoot.”

She bit her lip and stared ahead.

“Would you…would you ever marry a student?”

What?