‘You are such a bad girl,’ he whispers into my ear, shifting his finger down to where I want it to stay. ‘You really are a very naughty girl.’

He’s right. I am a bad girl. Two senior consultants in almost as many weeks. At least we aren’t in the operating theatre change room, I think, acknowledging the irony.

He starts to unbutton his pants and I realise that in another fifteen seconds Dr Lucas Lang’s cock is going to be deep inside me. I’m tantalisingly close to the best feeling, my body exploding … I want him so fucking badly. Sex is, after all, the world’s best distraction. From work, from life, from reality. Sex is the furthest thing from death, isn’t it? Doctors know that better than anyone. We try our hardest to avoid death but remain preoccupied by it, and we’re preoccupied by sex but force ourselves to avoid it, especially with the wrong people.

Until we don’t. Then temptation isn’t even temptation, it’s full-blown reality. Jack Prince lies in the shadow of death only a few hundred metres away, while I am sitting on top of Lucas Lang, every nerve alive.

He pushes my stockings down. It’s been so long since I’ve had any kind of sexual encounter I feel my legs turning to liquid.

‘Come on, babe,’ he groans, shifting me further onto him and parting my legs even more. ‘I can feel how wet you are.’

I’m obsessed with sex, but preoccupied by death. It stands there in the corner of the room, a woman wearing lacy lingerie but holding a scythe.

Suddenly I can’t breathe. I want Lucas so badly, but the scythe is raised and the man beneath me becomes Jack. I feel as if I am on the verge of a panic attack, and I don’t even really understand why. I stand up abruptly, pulling myself away from Lucas and clearing my throat.

‘Ah …’ I say, wondering what is happening to me. ‘Fuck, I want to have sex with you so bad.’

Lucas leans back on the couch and sighs. ‘This isn’t happening.’

‘Like, it nearly is, but …’

‘You just killed me,’ he says ruefully. ‘My old student has just killed me.’

He doesn’t realise what he’s saying, but the figure in the corner slinks away, scythe lowered. Lucas is all sex, and life, beating hearts and throbbing desires. No death here tonight.

‘I think we should call it here,’ I say, letting out a breath. ‘I just don’t know if this is the right, ah, time, you know.’

He doesn’t argue but pulls me back towards him. We kiss. He is warm and strong, and I already feel regret starting to course through my veins.

I tap his chest with my finger. ‘You’d better go, Dr Lang.’

‘Very sensible, Dr Holliday,’ he says, fixing his clothes.