Forbidden Prescription: A Stepbrother Romance by Stephanie Brother

you caught him?”
    “Not a thing,” Jordan said after a gulp of her drink. “He pretended like it never happened.”
    Isabella laughed. She was sad she missed out on these moments.
    “Speaking of keeping things secret,” Jordan pried, “When were you going to tell me about your secret affair with—”
    “What?” Isabella exclaimed.
    “—Justin?” she finished. “I’m kidding. That’s obviously a ridiculous rumor.”
    Isabella’s heart was pounding. “Wait, what?”
    “Oh, nothing,” Jordan said casually. “It was just a short-lived rumor that you were hooking up with Justin. Apparently, it didn’t make its way down to the lab.”
    Isabella took a deep breath to steady herself. For a second, she thought her secret rendezvous with James was public knowledge. She took a long sip of her drink.
    “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jordan noted. “Honestly, everyone’s already forgotten about it. It probably helps that you already have the reputation of being a sexless try-hard,” she said matter-of-factly.
    “Seriously?” She wasn’t upset by this since it wasn’t that inaccurate.
    “Yeah, but don’t be offended. People around here still like you well enough.”
    “How the hell do you know all of this?” Isabella asked.
    “I’m friendly with a lot of the nurses. They are the eyes and ears of that hospital, and they truly run the show. It’s astonishing that more doctors don’t try to have good relationships with them.”
    Isabella snickered. James was correct about his early assessment of the girls—they were the ones to look out for.
    “I also forgot to tell you,” Jordan said, taking a second drink from the waiter. “I think James is seeing someone.”
    Isabella’s heart dropped into her stomach. “Seeing someone?”
    “Like, dating a girl,” Jordan clarified. “I was looking at a reference book in the office, and he was on the computer, searching for romantic restaurants in town. I think he’s got a girlfriend.”
    Isabella took a drink. “Good for him,” she said nonchalantly.
    “I’m not surprised,” Jordan continued. “If a hot surgeon can’t find love, what hope is there for the rest of us?”
    Isabella felt sick. She didn’t want to be in a serious relationship with James, but she also didn’t want to be the other woman in an affair.
    “I should be going,” Isabella said, looking at her watch. “I have to get up early tomorrow for surgery with Dr. Jensen.” It wasn’t completely true, but she needed a good excuse to leave.
    “Okay,” Jordan said, draining the rest of her drink. “This was fun. We need to go out more often.”
    “Agreed,” Isabella said.
    Isabella left the bar and thought about driving over to James’s house right then to confront him. However, as she soon remembered, she had no idea where he lived. In fact, she didn’t know anything about him. For all she knew, he could be married with four kids.
    The next morning, she purposefully left her apartment later than usual. She didn’t want to run into James. Not today.
    When she opened her locker, there was a box in there with a note attached.
    You said you needed a new one of these. You can thank me later. –J
    She opened the thin box to reveal a new, state-of-the-art laptop.
    Her computer was old, and she had complained to James the previous week about how slow it was. She had the money to buy a new one, but she just hadn’t gotten around to picking out a new computer.
    It was a lovely gesture, but it was too much. Any guy who had enough money to buy her expensive gifts made her uneasy. It reminded her too much of her mother’s lovers.
    She slammed the locker shut and went looking for James. He was in the cafeteria, speaking with another doctor.
    “Dr. Johnson,” she said. “When you have a moment, I’d like to discuss a diagnosis I made yesterday.”
    He excused himself, putting his arm on her shoulder to lead her to a more private place.
    “Did you get the surprise?” he