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Emily nodded and scribbled down her measurements on a pad of paper. “You’re going to have to let me pay you back for this, though,” she said.
“You really don’t have to.”
“No, I really do.”
Dominic nodded. He could understand where she was coming from. After spending the night together the way they had, it probably wouldn’t feel very good to her to let him shell out a bunch of money on her behalf. “All right,” he said. “I’ll make sure we get receipts so that we can settle it up later on.”
“Thank you,” Emily said.
Dominic picked up the phone and called the front desk. They were understanding, sounding as if they had handled requests like this one before — which they probably had, he decided. If enough money was involved, hotel receptionists could probably make a lot of things happen.
He hung up the phone and turned to Emily. “That’s not something I’ve done before,” he told her. “I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”
“I did wonder for a moment,” she admitted. “But it’s all right. You don’t have to tell me — I know you’re not out having a bunch of one-night stands.”
“You do?”
“Where would you find the time?” she laughed.
A smile cracked his face. “You have a point,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I would have found the time last night if it hadn’t been for the conference.”
“But you don’t regret it?” she asked him.
“No,” he said. “I don’t regret it.” He returned to the bed, even though it had taken him every ounce of willpower in his body to leave it in the first place, and sat down beside Emily. He touched a hand to her cheek briefly. “This was… really special,” he said. “Thank you for pushing me to talk about my past. No one has given me that in a very long time.”
“Of course,” Emily said. “I’m glad you felt like you could talk to me, Dominic. I feel closer to you because of it.” She bit her lip. “Although maybe that’s a problem.”
“I don’t think it has to be,” Dominic said. “I know we need to pay attention to keeping things professional. That’s important.”
“Are we going to get in trouble if people find out about this?” Emily asked.
“You definitely won’t,” Dominic assured her.
“But you might?”
“Probably not. There’s no rule against relationships between members of hospital staff. It might look bad, though, if people found out. There would be people who would say I took advantage of my position.”
“I would tell everyone it wasn’t like that,” Emily said quickly. “I wouldn’t let anyone hold onto that idea, Dominic. Don’t worry about that.”
“I know you’d speak up,” he said. “You always have, when you believe in something. It’s one of the things I like best about you. Still, rumors have legs of their own, and if this became hospital gossip, you and I would likely lose the ability to control it. We don’t want that. It wouldn’t be good for either one of us.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” Emily agreed. “That’s the last thing I want. So we’ll keep it to ourselves, and we won’t let it happen again.”
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “But thank you for a really wonderful night,” he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes full of mirth. “I just can’t get used to you talking like this,” she said.
“Talking like what?”
“Like someone who has feelings! Is this what you’re always like when you let your guard down around people?”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever truly let my guard down with anyone,” he said. “So I don’t really know what I’m like.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Emily said. “But also, I’m kind of honored that I got to be the person you did let your guard down with.”
“We’ll just have to be careful from now on,” he said. “Last night… I don’t know if I could have managed to turn away from you. I didn’t even have that much to drink, but I felt completely intoxicated.” He shook his head. “You had some kind of power over me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she said. “I asked you questions and listened to you. You know, you’re the best doctor in the business, and everyone looks up to you, but I wonder how long it’s been since someone tried to get to know you for who you are as a man.”
