TANNER

“Wow, this is beautiful,” I said, removing the black Littmann Cardiology IV stethoscope from its snug packaging. After admiring the look and feel of it a few moments, I glanced up and smiled.

“Well,” Cece said, leaning back comfortably into the loveseat, “it seemed only fair. Why should I have to keep sharing mine?” Her tone was nonchalant, but there was a playful glint in her eye that I’d come to recognize. A sly chuckle escaped me.

“Thank you,” I said, moving closer to kiss her forehead. “I can’t wait to use it.”

“Then don’t,” she said simply. “Come here.”

We’d been dating for about six months, ever since that totally unexpected, scorching hot encounter in her office. I still couldn’t quite believe my good fortune, spending my free time with a fellow cardiophile … and a doctor to boot. This time last year, I’d never even heard the word cardiophile. Never one to pass up a stething opportunity, I slid over closer to Cece, my new instrument trustily in hand.

“Madame, may I?” I asked, securing the earpieces into my ears and staring into her gorgeous eyes.

“Be my guest,” she said, unzipping her sports bra halfway, providing a delicious view of her cleavage.

“With pleasure,” I smiled, coming to rest my left hand on her shoulder as I placed the diaphragm at the aortic point. In an instant my ears were filled with the most beautiful, steady thumping, and I closed my eyes so that I could take it in without distraction.

“How do I sound?” she asked quietly.

“Exquisite,” I said, shifting to Erb’s point and pressing slightly more firmly. Still savoring her heart sounds, I felt her mount me, straddling my hips, and I breathed in sharply.

“Mm hmm?” she said. I could feel her body coming closer, her lips nearly touching mine. “Good. And how do I taste?” she asked, running her tongue seductively inside my upper lip before taking my lower lip entirely into her mouth.

“Phenomenal,” I answered, listening to her beats accelerate. It was a gentle, probing, exceptionally sensual kiss. Something about kissing like this, with my hand on her chest and my ears acutely aware of what she was feeling … was so erotic and satisfying. It was a pleasure we indulged in and exchanged on a regular basis. I opened my eyes and unplugged the stethoscope from my ears with a satisfied sigh.

“It appears to work,” I said smartly. Cece laughed, falling out of my lap and sinking back into the loveseat.

“I’m so pleased. Otherwise, we’d have had to take it back,” she said with a wink. “So tell me more about this function tonight,” Cece said, sitting up a little on the love seat and hugging her knees.

She rested her chin on them, and I was struck once again – it happened fairly frequently – by how lovely she was. Just … lovely and graceful and beautiful. I was really looking forward to tonight. Cece had met my buddy Alex, and we’d met my sister Lorna for dinner a couple times, but I hadn’t yet had a chance to introduce her to my colleagues or clients. Truth be told, I was excited to show her off, though I’d never have worded it that way to her.

After a half sigh and a shrug, I said, “It’s just an open house … an opportunity for the firm to show off some bigger projects, maybe attract some new business, wine and dine our long-time clients …”

“So, are we talking smart business casual, or little black dress? I want to be sure I blend in.”

“Cece, there’s no way you could blend in even if you tried,” I said, pulling her into my side and squeezing her close. “You’re too stunning a woman.” She wasn’t having it. She returned immediately to the matter at hand.

“Tanner. How should I dress?” she repeated, making it clear she meant business.

“Oh, alright,” I finally said, rolling my eyes. “It’s probably more of a little black dress affair.”

She nodded definitively. “That’s good to know. Okay. What else do I need to know?” she asked, pulling away from my side squeeze to look at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, a little confused.

“You know, all the standard things the date should know so as not to put her foot in her mouth or otherwise look a fool: any disgruntled ex-girlfriends in the mix? Gay colleagues? Dirty old men I should steer clear of …?”

I thought for a few moments before answering cautiously. After all, I wanted to give her the opportunity to make her own first impressions of the people she met. I certainly had a colleague or two I’d rather not, but she didn’t need to know that. “Spencer’s probably the only one to worry about. He’s a colleague. When he finds out you’re a doctor, he’s probably going to corner you and ask questions all night.”

“Oh, I’m used to that,” she said with a laugh, “and have no trouble shutting it down. Next?”

“Seriously? People are really that bold and inconsiderate of your time?” I asked, surprised.

Cece shook her head and chuckled a little. “Tanner, you have no idea. Honest to God, a toll booth operator once asked me if I could take a look at his rash. From my car. It just comes with the territory. I certainly don’t need your protection from that. What else?”

“I honestly can’t think of anything else,” I said. “But you don’t have to worry about any disgruntled exes, I can tell you that!”

~~~~

At 6pm sharp I came by to pick Cece up, clanking the brass knocker on her front door. She opened the door in a whirlwind, darting back into the house as she spoke.

“Come on in, I’m just about ready,” she said, running into the bathroom to blend in some concealer, and then across the hall to her bedroom to grab her shoes. She reappeared in her living room looking like a runway model, a pair of black patent stilettos dangling from one hand. She took my breath away.

“Celia, you look exquisite,” I said, approaching her and drawing her chin up to plant a kiss on her artfully stained lips. Her hair was swept back in a low, loose chignon, with a few stray tendrils falling out. The little black dress – and that’s exactly what it was – fit her like a glove. The cut was ideally suited to her figure and featured a dramatic V-neckline that exposed the beautiful expanse of her upper chest and the top of her cleavage. A delicate diamond lariat fell seductively into the valley between her breasts, drawing my hungry eyes slowly downward. She smiled and bit the left corner of her bottom lip demurely. “Why thank you. Ready to go?” she asked breathily, bending over to slip on her shoes.

Then she stopped short and took a good look at me, and a suggestive smile spread across her lovely face. “Tanner, you look …” It wasn’t often that words escaped her, so I raised a curious eyebrow as she mulled over her choice of words.

“… edible,” she finally said, straightening up and taking my hand. “Let’s go.”

Score. Even better than expected.

There were lots of people at the open house, and as I looked around I spotted Cece, a cocktail shrimp suspended inches from her mouth as she laughed heartily at whatever Rick had just said. He was a partner at the firm and a decent guy. I hadn’t realized until quite recently that he graduated from Penn, just like Cece. So they were reminiscing about their college days. I think he graduated a year or two before Cece, but they were enchanted to discover that they had a few mutual friends. I strolled over and slipped my arm around her waist.

“It looks like you’re having an animated discussion over here,” I said with a smile, leaning in to plant a kiss on top of Cece’s head. Rick gave me a hearty slap on the shoulder.

“Yes, we were debating which vendor at Reading Terminal makes the best cheesesteak,” Rick laughed, throwing a dubious glance in Cece’s direction. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no contest. Carmen’s wins, hands down. But this one,” he said, jabbing a judgmental thumb at Cece, “is a Spataro’s girl.” He shook his head in mock disdain. Cece laughed.

“Okay,” she nodded confidently. “When you can prove to me that Carmen’s doesn’t get their meat and cheese from New York City, maybe we can talk. Until then … Spataro’s is it. All other things being equal – which they’re not, mind you, but if they were – the prize has to go to the one who sources local ingredients. Wouldn’t you agree, Tanner?” Cece batted her eyelashes at me, clearly counting on my unwavering support. I laughed uneasily.

“I’m not touching this. Anyway, I’m from Oregon. I’m out,” I said raising my hands in defeat, and shooting Cece an apologetic look. As we were finishing our conversation, a young man pulled Rick aside and said something to him, and he quickly excused himself.

“Huh. I wonder what that was all about?” Cece asked. I shrugged. “Who knows? He’s always getting pulled in ten different directions at these things. Some big fish is probably demanding his attention.”

Cece scanned the room, unconvinced. “I don’t know. He looked kind of rattled. I hope everything is alright,” she said, her forehead creased with worry as her eyes swept across the room again. Not a moment later a commotion ensued, and people could be heard gasping in shock.

“Is there a doctor here? We need a doctor!” a voice yelled from the other side of the room. Before I’d even had a chance to get my bearings, Cece had kicked off her high heels and was running over to help.

“I’m a doctor, I’m a doctor, okay?” Cece said firmly, pushing people out of the way. “Where’s the …?” Just then she saw what the commotion was about. A girl of about fifteen or sixteen was on the floor, flat on her back and apparently unconscious. Rick was on his knees beside her and a woman, presumably the girl’s mother, hovered behind him.

“Tanner,” she said with hushed urgency looking me squarely in the eye, “go grab my medical bag please? It’s in the backseat of your car.” I nodded, and ran off to grab my keys.

“Talk to me, Rick. What happened? Who is this?” Cece asked, reaching to the girl’s neck to palpate her carotid for a pulse, and placing her other hand flat at the center of the girl’s chest.

“She’s my niece. She’s my niece, Cece …” Rick responded.

Cece could tell that he was frozen in a state of shock, and she looked to the woman hovering over his shoulder. “Are you her mother?” Cece asked.

“No,” I responded, running back with her medical bag. “This is Abigail, Rick’s wife.”

She nodded in understanding as she opened her bag quickly and grabbed her stethoscope. “Okay, let’s clear some folks out of here please, give the girl some privacy,” she said firmly, untucking the girl’s shirt from her waist. “Can someone bring me a chair please?”

“What’s her name?” Cece asked.

“Lia,” Abigail said quietly, watching intently. “Her name is Lia. She’s sixteen.”

“Does she have any health conditions? Heart problems? Asthma? Diabetes? Food allergies?” Cece rattled off as she grabbed the chair that had just been provided to her and elevated Lia’s legs, propping them on the lower slats. Before the earpieces of her stethoscope touched her ears, she looked up one more time and said, “Nothing?”

“Nothing we know of,” Rick said, turning to Abigail with a desperate look on his face. “Abby? Is there anything?”

“Okay,” Cece responded, frustrated that she didn’t have more to go on. I watched as she auscultated Lia’s heart, and then her lateral lung fields. Then she pulled the earpieces hurriedly from her ears, leaving the stethoscope to dangle from her neck as she put a hand on each of Lia’s radial pulses. Her head was bowed as she concentrated on what she was feeling, and I looked on in amazement. She had pivoted instantly from cocktail party attendee to physician, without a moment’s hesitation. And now she was on her knees in an exquisite cocktail dress with a stethoscope around her neck. My own pulse started to quicken at the sight of her like that, and I suddenly felt incredibly guilty. Now was not the time or the place. I knew this. But it was a reflex over which I had very little control.

Movement from the floor snapped me out of my daze and I watched as Lia’s head moved back and forth in confusion, her eyes fluttering open. “Lia? I’m Celia. I’m a doctor. You passed out. How are you feeling?” Lia started to try and get up, and Cece put her hands on Lia’s shoulders and eased her back. “No, no, stay put for me. You lost consciousness and I don’t want you to get up too soon. Are you having any pain anywhere?”

“No,” Lia said quietly. From her position on the floor she could see a lot of people standing around, some looking down on her with concern. She turned to Cece. “Can you get rid of some of these people?” Lia said quietly.

“Okay, thanks for your concern, things are okay. Let’s give Lia some space and privacy here guys,” Cece said authoritatively, enlisting my help and Rick and Abby’s as well to clear out the onlookers. When Rick and Abby returned, Cece was listening to Lia’s heart again.

“Your heart rate is elevated, Lia,” Cece said, removing the stethoscope and tossing it back in her bag. “Are you having any trouble breathing?”

“No,” Lia said, shaking her head. “Uncle Rick, I’m so sorry,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“What? Lia, this wasn’t your fault sweetie,” he said, stooping down to stroke her hair. She started to sit up again, and this time Cece allowed it, but she helped her shift backward a few feet so that Lia could lean against the wall.

“It is,” Lia said, clearly upset. “It was really hot today. I knew I wasn’t drinking enough water. And then … all of this great food … I just ….” She sighed heavily and then dropped her head into her hands.

Rick and Abby exchanged a confused look, then looked to Cece, who appeared to be working something out in her head. I could see her diagnostic wheels spinning.

“Lia, have you seen a cardiologist?” Cece asked. Lia nodded, sniffling as she looked up.

“Yeah, just for the past few months,” Lia responded. “He said he thought I had something called POTS, because I’ve passed out a few times before.” Cece nodded in understanding. “I’m supposed to be drinking a lot more water than I’m used to …”

“Okay,” Cece said, stroking the side of Lia’s arm as she spoke to her. She glanced up at me.

“Tanner, could you grab a glass and a pitcher of water from one of the tables over there?” I moved swiftly to get the water and was back quickly.

Cece was still chatting with Lia. “That actually makes a lot of sense. You have to be really careful about not getting dehydrated with POTS because it can trigger an episode just like this. Did the cardiologist talk with you at all about dietary triggers?” she said, pouring a glass of water and handing it to Lia.

“He said to spread out smaller meals rather than having one big meal of the day,” she said, sniffling some more. “I guess maybe I overdid it here. I’m not used to having to think so much about what I’m eating.”

Over the next hour or so, we all sat at one of the dining tables while Lia hydrated and Cece explained to us what POTS was. She offered to talk with Rick’s sister, Lia’s mother, to let her know what had happened and to assure her that Lia was stable. Though the evening ended well, it certainly didn’t deliver on its promise of a relaxing, no-stress cocktail party, and by the time we headed out we were quite tired.

As we walked back to my car in contented silence, we held hands and breathed in the cool night air. “You know,” Cece said, “it was great to see what you do up close, to better understand what kind of work you do.” She looked up at me and smiled. “It was fun.”

She looked so pretty it took my breath away. She’d spent the better part of the evening working on the floor yet she still looked stunning, her loose chignon having fallen a bit, the longish layers that usually framed her face falling seductively in front of it instead … it had a just-fucked look about it that was sexy as hell. I had to smile.

“Fun, huh?” I said somewhat dryly.

“Totally,” she said without hesitation. “You didn’t think so?” She looked up at me earnestly as we finally reached the car. I unlocked it to quickly deposit her medical bag in the back seat. Then I hesitated, staring into her sparkling eyes.

“Um …” I said, shifting my gaze away from her … shyly? Nervously? I wasn’t quite sure. “Would it make me a bad person if I told you that seeing you spring into action like that was … fucking hot?”

She let out a loud, hearty, thoroughly genuine laugh. “Tanner, you can’t be serious!” I didn’t laugh back.

“I’m dead serious.”

I moved closer to her, put my arms around her, and gave her gorgeous ass a gentle squeeze, one hand on each luscious cheek.

“Do you have any idea how provocative you looked in this little black dress …” I said, shifting my hands underneath her dress – which wasn’t hard to do given its length – and palming her bare tush “… with that stethoscope hanging from your neck?”

Her laugh was quieter and more seductive this time. “Maybe not,” she said coyly.

“Well, you did,” I said definitively, slipping inside her panties and fingering her warm folds. After a sudden intake of breath, she moved slightly to help me stay on target, a satisfied hum escaping her lips.

“Does this feel good?” I asked, lowering my mouth onto hers and brushing my lips lightly over hers before taking her lower lip into my mouth and sucking on it. She was so delicious.

“Fuck, yes,” she whispered, our kiss deepening as my fingers pulsed slowly and methodically in and out of her wet slit. “Oh, Tanner …” she said, moving her body closer to mine, clearly looking for some additional friction.

“You made my dick so hard. It’s a good thing I had to go fetch a water pitcher,” I chuckled against her lips, “or I would’ve needed a change of clothes.”

“Clothes are overrated.”

“I can’t argue with that,” I said, pulling away and removing my hands from her now damp panties. “Shall I take you home, or bring you home?” There was a decision to be made. Cece thought for a moment.

“That depends,” she said seriously. The energy seemed to have shifted.

“Oh?”

“Yes. Your cock needs attention, so wherever we go I intend to strip you naked, throw you down onto the bed, and examine every inch of your body with my hands, mouth, and stethoscope until you come.”

Holy fuck.

“So, what’ll it be? Your place or mine?”