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I really should have taken Emily up on her offer. Now Alex is going to think I owe him for playing savior, even if I am a tiny bit thankful that someone is making me go to the hospital. I never would have chosen to go on my own. If Alex can get me seen for cheap, it might be worth dealing with him being creepy for a few more weeks because I’ve never felt more sick in my entire life.
I just hope that Uber hurries.
The lights of the emergency room lobby are almost painfully bright, making my headache so much worse. I try to pull my hood down over my face with a pathetic moan, cringing away from Alex when he tries to stroke my back in comfort.
“You can go, Alex,” I tell him. “Really. I’m here now, so just go home.”
“You’re going to need me here if you want to get the low price from the doctor.” He sounds so smug, but the possibility of having little to no cost for being seen is way too tempting. Novels-A-Plenty doesn’t exactly pay a ton, and emergency room visits are almost obscenely expensive. So, miserable and wishing desperately I could be by myself, I sink lower into the waiting room chair and resign myself to waiting here with Alex until it’s my turn to be seen.
It doesn’t take as long as I expect, especially when Alex goes up to the check-in counter to speak with the nurse checking people in. I stand when they call my name, stumbling again when I do, prompting the nurses to bring out a wheelchair for me. It’s embarrassing, being a relatively healthy 20-year-old being wheeled back into the exam rooms like I’m critically injured, but I’m done protesting. The closer I get to passing out, the more sure I am that I really do need some medical attention.
Both the nurse pushing my wheelchair and Alex try to help me into the hospital bed, but I cling to the female nurse hard enough that I think she gets the picture and tells Alex to step back. He pouts but does as he’s told. They take my vitals, give me an ice pack for my forehead and a barf bag in case I get sick again, and let me know that the doctor will be in shortly.
Time moves sort of funny as I wait for the doctor. Alex tries to talk, but I can’t do much more than moan and groan in response, not wanting to talk to him anyway. Finally, I hear a single knock at the door, and it opens, the curtain being pushed brusquely aside.
I crack my eyes open just enough to see my new visitor. As soon as I get a blurry idea of him, my eyes snap fully open, and I try weakly to raise myself up onto my elbows from where I’m curled in the fetal position.
He’s…wow. He’s one of the biggest men I’ve ever laid eyes on and in all the best ways. Tall, at least 6’3”, with broad shoulders that taper to a trim waist, thighs that are stretching the limit of his scrub pants, and a jawline that could cut glass. The doctor has the most feminine parts of me waking up even through all the sickness. His hair is immaculately cut and mostly silver at the temples, salt and pepper at the top, same as the short beard he’s sporting.
There’s an annoyed frown on his sensual mouth as he frowns down at the chart in his hands, his chocolate brown eyes narrowing beneath heavy black eyebrows. Looking at him, it’s like I’ve split into two different people—the woman who is horribly ill and the one that is practically buzzing with interest in the doctor. I’m drawn to him so much that I actually manage to sit up, even if my stomach immediately makes me regret it.
When he lifts his gaze, I suck in a breath, thinking that he’s going to meet my gaze and see how much he’s affecting me. But to my surprise, he looks straight at Alex instead, the annoyed look on his face getting even more intense.
“Do you think my job is a joke, Alexander?” he growls, his deep voice skittering across my skin even if he isn’t talking to me. “That you can just walk into this hospital and demand my time?”
I’m shocked to my core when Alex answers.
“Dad,” he pleads. “It’s not for me, it’s for her.” My ex motions toward me, and I feel like a deer caught in the headlights. “She’s really sick, do you think she’s going to be okay?”
Finally, Doctor Dad turns to see me in full, and his eyes go wide, gripping his chart so hard that I hear the plastic cracking under his large hands. In that instant, something forms between us—something without a name and fully unfamiliar to me. It’s so powerful that it takes my breath, but the shock of it is too much for my exhausted, sick body. With a whimper, my elbows fail me and I fall back to the hospital bed, right before I feel the gentle touch cradling the back of my head before it can hit the thin mattress.
“Easy,” the doctor murmurs to me. “You’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.”
2
HUGH
She’s like a nuclear bomb to my system, and when I look into her eyes, I forget everything else. All my many years of medical school, working in this damned hospital, and dealing with my chronically adrift-in-life son. It all narrows down to just her. The gorgeous, irresistible girl on the hospital bed.
What the hell is wrong with me? She’s a patient, for fuck’s sake, and I’m ogling her like I’ve never seen a woman before. What's worse, she’s ill. Otherwise, Alex wouldn’t have bothered bringing her here. The boy avoids me when he can because he knows how annoyed I am with his choices in life. The choice to bring this hot little thing in here though…I can get behind that one.
I can get behind her, too, if she’d let me. Jesus Christ. I need to get a hold of myself!
The girl is staring at me with this wide-eyed intensity that makes me wonder if she’s feeling the same sort of shocking connection that I am. But past that, there are such obvious signs of illness that I automatically feel like shit for ogling her in the first place. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to ignore this woman, whose mere presence is making my subconscious chant mine mine mine, but first, I need to make her well.
Just as this thought crosses my mind, she makes the softest sound, and I see her arms quivering for just a breath, and I know she’s going to fall. I rush over, managing to get a hand behind her head before it hits the bed. It’s an instinctual thing, but now I see how strange it must look. Especially to Alex. But there’s something about the dazed way she’s staring up at me that makes everything fade away.
“Easy,” I tell her before I can think too hard about the words coming out of my mouth. “You’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.”
I can sense the confusion rolling off Alex behind, but who cares? My entire world is narrowing down to the woman whose head is in my hand. The dark, silky fall of her hair, her wide, bloodshot emerald eyes, and a sinfully full mouth that has parts of me that I usually ignore stirring.
Slowly, I lower her down and step back, clearing my throat as I go. I pick up my chart again, struggling to get myself back under control and handle this situation like the seasoned professional I’m supposed to be.
“Now, my name is Dr. Harvey…” I flip to the page the nurse has filled out for this room. “It looks like you’re here for gastrointestinal issues, Miss Lyons?”
“Dad, she’s–” Alex starts, but I hold up my hand to stop him.
“I think she’s old enough to speak for herself, son. So, once again, you’re having gastrointestinal issues, Miss Lyons?”
