Page 19 of The Doctors Will See You Now

He chuckled at that. “Kind of like how I don’t normally try to shake hands right after performing a pap smear?”

Hmm. I guess he makes a point. I smiled. “Yeah. Kind of like that.”

“Did Betty show you around this morning?”

“No.” Will’s brow furrowed in confusion, so I explained further. “Actually, she had Marlene show me around.”

He sighed and shook his head. “Yeah. That’s not going to work. I’ll make sure Betty takes the time to show you around and then has another nurse give you an actual orientation.”

Obviously, Marlene’s give-no-fucks attitude wasn’t something new.

The overhead vents inside his office creaked and groaned, and suddenly, the room started to fill with hot air. And it wasn’t the good kind of hot air. It was like ten times hotter than a sauna kind of hot air. It didn’t take long for my pores to respond to the desert-like warm temperature.

“Christ,” Will cursed under his breath. “Can you give me a minute?”

I nodded.

Picking up the phone on his desk, he tapped one of the speed dial buttons. “Harry,” he greeted. “How’s it going?”

I tried to ignore the heat while he continued with this phone call, but eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to de-layer or else I’d find myself in another awkward situation of fainting in his office.

Be proactive—that was my goal.

“That’s great, man. I’m glad to hear it,” he responded into the receiver. “Listen, I’m still having issues with the temperature in my office. The vents are blowing more heat than the sun. I can actually feel my skin shriveling.”

He was right. Not even lizards could live like this. Good God, it’s hot. I moved into survival mode, removing my button-up scrub jacket and sliding up the sleeves of my long-sleeve white shirt. Even though the room was still insanely hot, I sighed in relief from the slight decrease in temperature less clothing had allowed. Anything was something when the vents in Will’s office were on a mission to kill us both via heatstroke.

“Okay, perfect,” he said and looked toward me for a brief moment. His eyes went wide, and he blinked several times before hurriedly moving his gaze in the complete opposite direction of the room. “Yes… No… Shit… I’m sorry, what did you just say, Harry?” he stuttered into the phone.

What the hell?

Will’s eyes moved toward me again, and his reaction only got more absurd when he nearly dropped the receiver in his hand.

Okay…seriously…what was happening? Did I have something on my face? Did I have pit stains from sitting inside the office that could now be used as an actual steam room?

Surreptitiously, I glanced down at my shirt. I wished the reason for his hysteria had been less obvious, but it wasn’t. Not even a little. There for all to see were my braless boobs—underneath a white shirt no less. I didn’t know if I should sprint from his office like my ass was on fire or crawl under the desk and curl up in the fetal position.

How in the hell had I forgotten to put on a bra this morning?

I wasn’t the kind of girl who just free-boobed without a care in the world. Hell, I only ever free-boobed in the privacy of my own home.

Could this day get any worse?

A part of me wanted to say that there was no way anything could top this, but then again, I’d naïvely thought the whole vaginal-fluid-handshake thing was the climax of awkward. It wasn’t. Not even close. The true peak of embarrassment had just officially occurred—with my nipples on display like donuts beneath a clear-glass cabinet in a bakery shop.

Quickly, I tossed my scrub top back on and stood up from my chair once navy blue was securely over areolas and white. Will watched as though my breasts were a car wreck before jerking roughly away and staying gone.

“Uh…” I fumbled for something feasible to say that would allow me to exit Will’s office. “I’m going to go see if…Betty can give me a walking tour… Yeah…I’m going to go see Betty…” I stammered. Will nodded with the phone still firmly pressed to his ear, but his eyes never met mine or me.

I couldn’t blame him.

My first day on the job and I’d inadvertently given my boss a peep show.

Happy motherfucking first day of work, Mel.

For the past week and a half, I’d been doing my best to avoid the one woman I thought I wouldn’t be trying to avoid at all.

After the Vagina-gate and Nipple-ghazi scandals of Melody’s first day, neither one of us had been able to do more than mutter a few words to one another while studiously avoiding looking into each other’s eyes. In fact, direct eye contact felt like a solar eclipse—stare too intently and one of our special parts would pop out and blind the other before they had the chance to look away.