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“Yup!” Haley chirps nervously, adjusting herself on the raised bed with a nervous laugh. I know I should feel worse about coercing a sick girl, but I don’t.
I’m affecting her. A lot, if the flush on her cheeks is anything to go by. I have a feeling I could push her further, lure her into letting me touch her more, but I have to hang on to the threads of my professional status.
“I’ll see you soon, Miss Lyons,” I tell her, sinking all the warmth I can into my voice. She doesn’t respond, but I don’t need her to. All I need is for her to know that I’ll be back for her.
As soon as I’m out in the hallway, I want to turn around and go back in. The thought of Haley leaving and never being able to see her again makes me want to tear the whole building apart. Breathing through it, I make my way toward the nurse’s station and let them know what the plan is for our VIP patient in room 7.
With that, I lower myself into my leather chair in front of the doctor’s computer terminal and sigh in sweet relief. I’ve been on my feet for almost twelve hours and was nearly out the door when one of the nurses grabbed me by the sleeve and told me there was a patient that had just arrived and was requesting me. When I asked who it was, they told me my son and my heart dropped to my feet, thinking something was wrong with him. For all that he’s an annoyance, he’s still my son.
But she had quickly added that my son was just with the patient, not the patient itself, and annoyance swept away any worry I might have been holding on to. Leave it to Alex to expect me to drop everything and cater to his whims.
I had expected one of his stupid friends to be in the triage room with him, maybe having blown a finger off lighting firecrackers or getting ill from drinking too much. What I hadn’t expected was the most intriguing girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.
With Haley being my only patient, I have a little bit of time before I have to sign off on her discharge papers. I pull my phone out from my pocket, smirking when I see loads of messages from my son. I delete them without even reading, sending him a simple, I’ll call you tomorrow. He’s already assumed that my time was worthless once tonight, I’ll be damned if I let him do it again.
The overhead hospital lights are harsh, and combined with the smell of the sanitizer and bleach and the constant sounds of alarm beeps and low voices, the hospital is definitely not a place that I ever expected to meet my match in. Yet, there she sits, just a few rooms away.
Haley might have a stomach bug, but I don’t expect that to last too long. I’m not worried at all about her health. She’s young and fit. If I had been concerned, I think I might have moved heaven and earth to get her well. As things are right now, though, sweet Haley just needs a few days before my seduction can really begin.
Discreetly palming my erection through my pants, I order the prescription for her anti-nausea medication and lean back in my chair for a moment to relax. Haley will be expecting me to tell her goodbye, and I need to think of exactly what words to use to make sure that I’m on her mind until I can see her again. I’m skirting a thin line between appropriate and inappropriate, but I find it hard to care much anymore.
Seattle Comfort Medical Center has never been my dream job, even as I passed my thirties and into my forties. Now at 41, I’m sure that my time here is finished. But the pay is damn good, and that has kept me here for quite some time. Being a doctor with a specialty in neurology means that I’m one of the highest-paid in the building, but it doesn’t get me out of my monthly ER shift, which is why I’m here tonight. Soon, though, I expect to be leaving this rainy city and go work somewhere that is both warm and much more prestigious.
I’ve aced both interviews with Los Angeles Neurology Group, and I’m more than ready to leave Seattle and my overly coddled son behind. Maybe he’ll become a real man once I’m gone.
I push aside any worries I might have about Haley still being in Seattle, though, even if they pull hard on me. She’s mine—I knew it immediately—so something will work out. It always does.
My mind wanders, and it isn’t until one of the aids is tapping me hesitantly on the shoulder that I realize I’ve fallen asleep in the comfortable leather chair. It really has been one hell of a long day for me.
“Dr. Harvey? Your patient in room 7 is ready to be discharged,” the aid tells me.
I sit up and stretch before standing. My blood is already pumping harder at the idea of seeing Haley for the last time tonight. I hope she’s well enough to pick up the hints I’m putting down. Hints that are meant to tell her I’m interested. More than interested, really, but I don’t want to scare her off so quickly.
When I enter the room and pull the curtain aside, Haley looks worlds better than she did when I left her last. There’s a bright blue bandaid on the inside of her right elbow, and her pallid skin is now rosy and bright with wellness. She looks up at me with wide eyes and smiles.
“I feel so much better!” Haley gushes. “I guess I really should have come sooner, huh?”
“Dehydration is nothing to mess with,” I comment, coming closer to give her a quick once-over before deciding that she really is well enough to be discharged. “Don’t wait next time. It’s dangerous.”
Nodding, she accepts the discharge paperwork I hand her and listens intently as I go over them with her. Then, I watch as she pulls her phone out and opens the Uber app once I’m done talking, and it makes me frown.
“Do you really think it’s safe for a woman like you to be taking a cab home?”
Surprised, she looks up and blushes at the intensity of my gaze. “Well, um, I came here with your son. And we were still in an Uber, so I guess that’s how I’m going to have to get home, too.”
I exhale loudly, annoyed. “Absolutely not.”
Now Haley bristles some, tucking her chocolate-colored hair behind her ears. “It’s not like I want to Uber home, especially since it’s an extra cost on top of this hospital visit, but–”
This gives me pause. Damn, I guess I didn’t make it clear that she’ll never owe a single cent as far as I’m concerned. “No charge for seeing me, Haley. And I’m going to drive you home.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but her eyes go even wider. “Is that…allowed?”
Shrugging, I tell her, “Once the two of us are out of this building, who cares? We’re both grown adults.”
Haley looks up at me, all 5’2” of her, and looks confused. “You’re different from most doctors I’ve met before.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” I chuckle, giving her a grin that makes her blush. It’s the truth, too. I’ve never fit into the mold that most doctors are forced into. I don’t need to be stoic to be good at my job, and I also don’t need to file down my rougher edges, either. I have the same degree that everyone in my position does, so who cares if my personality grates on the nerves of some of my colleagues? Frankly, it’s none of their business. If there was ever an opportunity for my aloof nature to come in handy, it’s now—when Haley needs a ride home and I just so happen to be off my shift.
