Rebel Doctor's Boston Reunion
Author
Amy Ruttan
Reads
15.9K
Chapters
15
Working with an ex isn't exactly ideal. But when these two doctors are reunited, they're shocked to discover the desire between them hasn't gone anywhere. Ambitious oncologist Madison will do anything to further the fight against the disease that claimed her mother. Including accepting a position with Dr. Antonio Rodriguez! It's been ten years since she walked away from their doomed romance. Risk-averse Tony never approved of Madison's maverick streak, so she's braced for friction, not a red-hot reunion! Yet eventually it's their differences that makes them Boston's most elite team. And if work's great, a relationship could be, too. If the rebel doc can convince the cautious surgeon to take the biggest risk of all…
CHAPTER ONE
IT’S SO SHINY!
Which was probably not the correct thing to think silently, but Madison was ecstatic. She was squealing inside and it was hard to contain her giddiness and remain professional in front of her new colleague. The lab she had been given for the next year was bigger than anything she had ever worked in. All the equipment was brand-new and state-of-the-art.
It even had that fresh, unused smell. Like a new car.
Only better.
The best thing? Her name, Dr. Madison Sullivan, was listed as the lead doctor on the outside of the lab. The last lab she’d worked in she hadn’t been the lead researcher. Now she had a sparkling new lab and was an oncologist at a great research hospital.
It was a dream come true.
“What do you think?” asked Dr. Frank Crespo, head of the board of directors, following her discreetly. He was not a medical doctor, but he believed so much in her research that he had reached out and offered her this position at Green Hill Hospital in Boston.
“It’s amazing,” Madison gushed. “When can I start?”
Dr. Crespo chuckled. “Now, but I want to take you to the oncology wing so that you can meet the rest of the staff and of course, our department head, Dr. Antonio Rodriguez.”
“Right.” Madison hoped that Dr. Crespo didn’t hear the hesitation in her voice, because she was very familiar with Dr. Antonio Rodriguez.
Very.
Familiar.
She and Tony, as he’d liked to be called, had been residents together out in California years ago. They’d constantly butted heads and just didn’t see eye to eye on how things should be done. However, when they did agree, things were explosively good.
Hot.
Electric.
The sex had been phenomenal. No one ever had come close to the absolute magnetic pull that Tony seemed to have on her.
If they weren’t arguing about something, they were in bed together.
The times they did get along, they worked like an unstoppable team. The problem was Tony was too rigid and took too long to take a chance. He was always questioning her. It felt like he didn’t believe in her. He didn’t trust her judgment and it hurt.
Too much. And that’s why she’d ended it when their residency was over. How could she think of settling down with someone who didn’t believe in her abilities?
Not that he ever asked her or talked about a future. And she hadn’t asked him about his plans either. Tony had always been so closed off with his emotions.
Just like her father.
It had hurt to let Tony go. In the end it was for the best. Career came before love, marriage or the baby carriage as the old song went. She’d accepted a job in Minnesota and he went back to his home in Boston.
She was a bit worried that she would be working with Tony again and that he’d be her boss. Tony was head of oncology, but she was hopeful that enough time had passed that they could work together. Green Hills Hospital, or GHH, was one of the best on the Eastern Seaboard for cancer and research. This was about saving people’s lives by working to cure cancer.
She couldn’t save her mother, but she could save someone else’s loved one. A brief stab of sadness moved through her as her mind wandered to the memory of her mom. Her mother was her whole reason to pursue this medical field.
This new job at GHH was the next step in her journey. She just needed a good place to work, to research and to publish some more papers on her research into CRISPR-Cas9, an exciting new genome editing technology. When she got some more articles published, she was going to apply to work at one of the most world-renowned cancer research facilities in Europe and hopefully with her idol, Dr. Mathieu LeBret, a Nobel laureate and brilliant physician. He rarely took others under his wing, but she was hoping to be the next one. The research facility and Dr. LeBret had made it clear that she needed more credentials. At GHH she’d get what she needed.
She was so close to that reality and she wasn’t going to let a decade-old heartache get in the way of that.
Not at all.
Nothing tied her down and nothing would stop her from making her dreams become reality.
“Well, I’ll take you down to the oncology wing. It’s just down the hall, not far from your lab.” Dr. Crespo opened the door and extended his arm. “Dr. Rodriguez will be eager to meet you.”
Sure.
The Tony she had once known barely showed any emotion. She seriously doubted the inflexible Tony had changed that much.
Madison reluctantly left her bright, shiny new lab. Dr. Crespo shut the door and they walked side by side down the winding hall that led out into a beautiful atrium which had a gorgeous garden in full bloom.
“This is our cancer garden. Patients, caregivers and even staff can find respite here. We also have memory plants and trees,” Dr. Crespo pointed out.
“How lovely.”
And it was. It gave a sense of peace in the sterility of the hospital, a place for those hurting to find solace.
He nodded. “Ah, there is the man in question. Dr. Rodriguez!”
Madison’s heart skipped a beat and her stomach dropped to the soles of her expensive heels as Tony turned around from where he’d been standing in the atrium. It was like time had stood still for him, save for a few grays in the midst of his ebony hair at his temples. There were an extra couple of lines on his face, but he was exactly the same as she remembered. Stoic expression, muscular physique which seemed to be perpetually held stiff as a board. No smile on his face. He was just so serious.
His dark eyes fixed on her and a jolt of electricity coursed through her.
Her body was reacting the exact same way it always did when she saw him.
And she could recall, vividly, how his hands had felt on her body, the taste of his kisses, every sensation he aroused in her. His broody exterior barely expressed any emotion, but he showed her through every soft touch, every tender caress how he wanted her. She melted for him every time. It was all flooding back to her in that moment as she stood there staring at him.
Dr. Crespo was blissfully unaware, and for that she was glad. She was annoyed that even after a decade she was still like a moth to Tony’s flame.
Tony ripped away his gaze and smiled half-heartedly to Dr. Crespo.
“Dr. Rodriguez, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Madison Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan, this is our chief of oncology, Dr. Antonio Rodriguez.”
Tony’s eyes narrowed and the fake smile grew wider, but there was no warmth in his gaze. She wasn’t surprised he was being polite, but it shocked her how it bit at her. This was the way he was. Nothing had changed, so it shouldn’t smart like it did. She was over him.
Are you?
He held out his hand, as if it were perfunctory. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Dr. Sullivan.”
Her hand slipped into his and she was hoping that she wasn’t trembling. “Indeed, Dr. Rodriguez. A pleasure.”
Tony pulled his hand back quickly and she nervously tucked back a strand of hair behind her ear. She was suddenly very hot and she could feel her cheeks burning.
She always flushed when she was angry or sad or happy. Whatever emotion she felt showed up in her cheeks. It was frustratingly hard to keep a poker face.
“You two know each other?” Dr. Crespo aske, in amazement.
“I did mention that,” Tony replied stiffly. “We were residents together. We learned under Dr. Pammi out in California.”
“I must’ve forgotten. Dr. Pammi is an excellent oncologist. Well, this is great then,” Dr. Crespo exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
Madison swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yes. Great. It is nice having a professional acquaintance in a new place.”
Tony didn’t say anything but just nodded.
Curtly.
Big surprise. Not.
“I’m going to continue to show Dr. Sullivan around. Perhaps after lunch you can show her the oncology wing?” Dr. Crespo asked.
Tony’s eyes widened briefly. “Sure.”
Honestly, she thought he was going to say no.
He’s a professional.
And that she remembered all too well. He did take risks, but only those that were well thought out. Tony liked to play it safe and he was a rule follower. Never made a scene, but defended himself when he was sure he was right. Whereas she’d always been a bit of an emotional, exuberant student. She and Tony had clashed so much. And if she made a mistake he’d point it out, which annoyed her.
Greatly.
She went on a path toward oncology research, and he threw his life into the surgical side of cancer treatment. They both attacked the dreaded disease using different approaches.
She’d been foolish to fall in love with him, but being with him had been such a rush. At the time, he made her feel alive and not so alone. It was refreshing after spending a very lonely adolescence taking care of herself and her grieving father.
She was a fool to have those little inklings of romantic feelings for him still. They weren’t good together. Leaving him had been agonizing, but it was the right thing to do at the time.
She thought back to one of their characteristic interactions in residency.
“Why did you say that to Dr. Pammi? What were you thinking?” Tony lambasted her.
“Uh, I was thinking about all the research that I did! And how I was right in the end. It worked.”
“It was risky,” Tony grumbled, crossing his arms.
“And it worked,” she stated, staring up at him. “Is this why you dragged me into an on-call room? To yell at me for getting something right?”
Tony sighed. “You just have to be careful. This is a highly competitive program.”
“So?” she asked, shrugging. “I’m here to play and win. Don’t worry about me. I’m strong.”
Tony smiled at her gently and then ran his fingers over her face. “I know, but you’re hardheaded too. You didn’t have to call Blair a butthole.”
Madison sniggered and slipped her hand over his. “But Blair is a butthole.”
Tony rolled his eyes and then pulled her into his arms. “You drive me crazy sometimes. You know that?”
“Ditto.”
She snuggled into him.
She felt safe with him. Especially in those few scattered moments he let his guard down. This was the Tony she loved.
“Could you meet me at the main desk in oncology in two hours, Dr. Sullivan?” Tony asked, interrupting the memory that came rushing back.
“Sure,” she said, nervously. “Two hours. Yes.”
“Good. Well, enjoy the rest of your tour at GHH.” Tony nodded at Dr. Crespo and quickly walked away in the opposite direction.
Madison watched him striding down the hall, his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat, his back ramrod straight and other people getting out of his way as he moved down the hall like he owned the place.
That hadn’t changed.
Tony always had that air of confidence. It’s what she was first drawn to. It was clear he still affected her the same way.
Working with him again was going to be harder than she thought.
Tony had been completely off track all day and he knew the reason. It was because Madison was starting today. When he first saw the memo come through from the board of directors he thought about saying something, anything, to keep her from coming here, but that wasn’t very big of him.It was petty he prided himself on being professional.
Madison was a talented oncologist and researcher; it would be completely foolish to deny GHH that expertise and talent because he still had feelings for her after ten years. Try as he might, no one had ever held a candle to her.
And he had tried to move on after she left him. Only, he couldn’t.
He wanted to marry, settle down and have a normal life, something he’d never had growing up. Tony wanted roots. Except he fell in love with Madison, a wanderer.
Part of him hoped he could change her, but he’d been wrong and she’d left. For so long he’d wondered what had happened. He was sure it was him. He was too set in his ways. He had a path in his mind and nothing was going to deter him from that.
And nothing had.
The number-one complaint he always got from his exes was that he worked too much. It was true. Work never let him down.
Except that one time...
He’d forgotten that Madison was going to be starting today of all days. It was the anniversary of the day he lost his best friend. The one life he couldn’t save. The one time he decided to take a risk, act like Madison always did, and it hadn’t paid off.
Jordan died.
Even though it wasn’t Tony’s fault, it still ate away at him. He was reminded of Jordan every time he went to see his godson—Jordan’s son, Miguel—who wasn’t so young anymore. On the anniversary of Jordan’s death, he always went to the garden and spent some time there thinking about his friend and replaying what he should’ve done over and over.
Not that it did any good, but it was a habit. He’d just plain forgotten Madison was starting and that he would have to show her around. Today was the day that she was walking back into his life.
Not back into your life. Remember?
And he had to keep reminding himself of that.
When they had been together, it hadn’t been good for either one of them. It led to too much heartache, for both of them, and he knew firsthand what heartache looked like.
He’d seen the devastation in Jordan’s widow’s eyes and then he’d seen that absolutely soul-crushing and heart-shattering pain when his father eventually left his mother. His father had gambled away her future and then left them in ruin.
Trust was hard for Tony. That was also part of his problem. He just didn’t fully trust Madison. She’d left him before and she was so willing to try anything. She was a wandering soul and he wasn’t. He was settled here and he wasn’t going to put himself through a tumultuous relationship with someone who was going to leave him again.
So no, she wasn’t walking back into his life. And today was not a good day. He was struggling to compartmentalize everything, but he was a professional so he just had to suck it up and make it work. He wasn’t going to be, as Madison used to call difficult people, a butthole in front of the board of directors.
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he thought of her calling many obnoxious fellow residents buttholes. Usually under her breath, but he always heard it. Except himshe never called him that.
When he saw her there with Dr. Crespo, it made his heart stand still, because it was as if time hadn’t touched her. It was like the last time he saw her.
The only difference was, there were no tears of anguish and anger in her gray eyes. Her pink lips were as luscious as he remembered. Her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, the same way it always was, with that tiny wavy strand that would always escape and frame her face. Her cheeks were flushed with a subtle pink and he had no doubt that her skin felt smooth and silky.
He briefly wondered if she used the same coconut shampoo. She always smelled like summer. She exuded sunshine and warmth, especially during the hardest times of their residency. She always cheered everyone up. And she always looked so darn cute in her light blue scrubs and neon sneakers.
Except she wasn’t in her resident scrubs and trainers. She was professionally dressed in a white blouse and a tight pencil skirt with black heels that showed off her shapely legs. He recalled the way her legs would wrap around his hips. With aching clarity, he could still feel her skin under his hands.
How soft she was.
How good it felt to be buried inside her.
His blood heated and he scrubbed a hand over his face. He had to stop thinking about her like that. She was not his. Not anymore. It was going to take a lot of strength, but he could make this work. He had to make this work.