“Can I help you with something, Doctor?” Xavier asked in his most professional voice.

“Oh, yeah,” Trent replied.

He gripped the nape of Xavier’s neck and pulled him in. Xavier was helpless to fight it. He let Trent take his mouth, inhaling sharply as those lips brushed against his for the first time in more than a decade. It was new, but also familiar. Trent tasted the same. A sensory memory rushed to the forefront of his mind of hours spent kissing after completing a study session at one of their houses, usually Trent’s because his parents weren’t home much and they could make out at their leisure.

The brief image of them tangled up in Trent’s high school bedroom was enough to bring Xavier to his senses.

He pulled away, lips burning with a yearning for more contact.

“Have a drink with me,” Trent said.

“I can’t.”

“Xav, please. Give me a chance to make amends.”

Xavier fought back a smile. “Is that what this is?” he asked. “Seems more like you want in my scrubs, Doctor.”

Trent chuckled, looking abashed, even as his gaze ran over Xavier head to toe. “You make them look so good. I didn’t think that was possible.”

Xavier laughed. “It’s not. That kiss scrambled your brain.”

“Oh, there’s no denying that,” he said, dropping his voice to an intimate tone. “You’re enough to make any gay man lose blood to his brain. Goddamn. How are you still single, Xavier?”

Xavier tensed. He’d gotten distracted by Trent’s looks and his gravelly voice, but he wasn’t going to let it go any further.

“Not for lack of trying,” he said flatly. “I’ve been with a lot of men since you, Trent. And I’ll be with more. But you and me, that’s over.”

Trent’s eyes flashed, and Xavier remembered that look too, from graduation day. Trent was pissed.

“That kiss says otherwise.”

“We have to work together,” Xavier said stiffly. “I suggest you keep it professional, Dr. Cavendish. If you’re in the market for a fuck buddy, find it somewhere else.”

“I’m not—” He faltered as Xavier finally gave up maintaining his personal space and brushed past Trent. “Damn it, Xav! You’re not playing fair bringing our jobs into it.”

“Seems like karma, huh?” Xavier said, as turned on the faucet and thrust his hands in the stream of water. “You left me because of your career, and now you can’t have me for the same reason.”