Page 9 of Dr. Stone (Billionaires’ Club #9)

My eyes stay locked on Ruth’s heart, watching its erratic, stuttering rhythm. “She told me last week that all she wants is to dance with her granddaughter again,” I said.

“Then we’re going to make damn sure she does,” Jake answered before leaning forward, his hands steady and eyes hard. “Okay. Let’s get her old heart out and get her new one beating.”

I nodded as a slow, confident smile curved beneath my mask. This was the moment Ruth had been waiting for. The one we were going to own.

Jake’s eyes met mine, and for a second, everything else faded away. It was just the two of us—two men who never lose in this room.

“You ready, Stone?”

“Always,” I answered, my voice as hard and determined as his. “Let’s bring her back.”

The OR felt like a battlefield after a fight. The tension that had held the room in suspense for the past five hours slowly unraveled, leaving a heavy, exhausted silence in its wake.

“Fuck,” I finally said, feeling like I could finally breathe again.

“No other word sums up that experience so well,” Jake said as he pulled off his gloves.

Both of us were covered in blood smears across our forearms, which was a blunt reminder of how close we came to losing Mrs. Alberta. But we didn’t. No fucking way were we going to lose that woman. We busted our fucking asses, and now, her new heart was in and beating strongly.

Jake’s eyes met mine, his jaw still tight, and his expression unwavering. “Finish up here and assist with transport to the ICU. I’m going to speak with the family.”

I nodded and glanced down at Ruth’s chest. Her incision site was a neat line of dark sutures, another trademark of Jake Mitchell’s perfectionist work.

“I’ve got it from here,” I said.

Jake eyed the monitors one more time. “Keep me posted,” he said, leaving the room to clean up.

After assisting with the transport to the ICU, where Ruth would be under constant monitoring by our staff, I was finally able to release the patient. What an excellent fucking day.

After my final check of the monitors, I smiled, ensuring she was tucked away nicely and on her way to recovery.

Every patient had an important story and a damn good reason for us to bust our asses like we did today to keep them alive.

Each one was different, and every one was special.

Today we helped a young grandmother reclaim her dreams of living a full life, dancing with her granddaughter, and never looking back.

This was what I loved about my job and why I was thankful I’d pursued this field.

It was hard to top the days when I could give someone a second chance at life.

Thank God Jake and I were going out for drinks tonight—sometimes it took a few to calm down after adrenaline had been flooding my body all day like a broken dam.

“Nice work in there today, Stone,” Jake said after we were showered and changed into our regular clothes.

“Thanks, man,” I said, still on the adrenaline high from earlier.

“You’re going to need a drink, rookie,” he taunted, treating me like it was my first year on the job instead of my fifth. “And a change of subject to sleep tonight.”

“Rookie my ass,” I said with a laugh. “Just because I can’t contain my excitement about this shit doesn’t mean?—”

“Sure it does,” he chuckled. “And that’s how I know you suck in bed.”

I rolled my eyes. “My God, you can’t help yourself,” I shook my head as we walked out of the hospital. “I’m not saying a fucking word about Andie.”

“I’m just saying your excitement gets the best of you, and that’s why you can’t perform. Look at your excited ass right now after that surgery?”

“Yeah, after the fucking surgery,” I said as we crossed the bridge over to the doctor’s parking area, “not during it. You saw how focused and flawless I was and always am in that OR. It’s always afterwards that I can’t seem to come down so easily.

And if we’re relating my performance in surgeries to how I am in bed, then it’s all the same. I’m probably even better in bed.”

Jake stopped as soon as we reached our cars, “Why the fuck aren’t you saying anything? I’m just curious why you’re suddenly a locked-up vault.”

I shrugged, “Maybe my days of bragging to you about my sex life are over?”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit.”

“No. There’s a reason.”

“She’s your wife’s employee, dude. I’m not going to let this fuel the gossip lines between everyone. You guys can talk all the shit you want about me and my past hook-ups, but this one I’m just not going to give you?—”

“Ah,” Jake said as if he had just discovered the miracle cure to some dreaded disease, “you’re protecting her.”

“Call it what you want. I’m not going?—”

“I had a feeling,” he started laughing. “Oh, you’re so fucked.”

“What are you talking about?”

He smiled, “When have you ever given a shit about how you made a woman feel? Or if anyone talked about her?”

“Well, I…”

“That’s why you’re fucked. You actually care about her.”

“What? No, I don’t. I mean…I do, but not like that.”

“Get in your car, lover boy. We got men at Darcy’s waiting for us, men who have been in your same shoes,” his eyes studied mine in humor.

“Oh, man. This is better than I could’ve hoped for.

It looks like another playboy is about to meet his match.

Trust me, if she haunts your mind for more than a day, she’s got you by the balls.

” He stepped back and laughed, “And that fucking expression just told me you think about her and that night every damn day.”

I stood there, waiting for Jake to back his stupid car out so I could get in mine, still reeling that he’d read me that fast after only three minutes of trying to pry details out of me.

The second my thoughts drifted there, I saw her breasts, heard her moans. I blinked it away. Holy fuck. No. I’m not doing this. It was one night, and it was perfect. That’s all. Right?

Shit. I needed to get out there and find another gorgeous woman to erase these images. If there’s one thing I don’t do, it’s let a woman take up space in my head like this. Ever.

Jake could mess with me all he wanted, but he was wrong. I didn’t want more than that one night.

Or maybe I did. Fucking hell.