Page 193 of The Doctors Will See You Now

“Well, then, with all due respect, you’re not listening,” I argued, and I watched as his jaw clenched. “St. Luke’s, along with ninety percent of the other hospitals in the city, are municipally funded hospitals. I’ve spoken with the heads of department at nearly all of their emergency rooms, and they all have the same concerns I do.”

“So what do you want from me?”

“To consult with me and other highly skilled and respected local physicians to restructure the public health policy, and to put your feather in the fight to actually get it passed and in place.”

He nodded thoughtfully. I held his eyes until he looked away, wanting to have one up on him, and then glanced to Pam, who was taking furious notes at our side.

“You get all that, Pam?” he asked suddenly, and she nodded.

“Good. Then let’s eat.”

Let’s eat? That was it?

“Relax, Scott,” he appeased, apparently seeing my look of what the fuck? “I need time to digest everything you said. Plus, if you really want to be involved in building a new policy, you’re going to have to be patient. None of this stuff happens overnight.”

I nodded. I guessed that was fair enough.

Food arrived at our table, and my eyebrows shot together. I hadn’t ordered.

The mayor laughed at my expression again. “Pam here ordered for you.” He smirked. “She said you like waffles.”

My eyes jerked to Pam and back again, put off by how pleased he was to have knowledge of our intimacy. I wasn’t pleased at fucking all, and I wanted to know why he knew in the first place.

Pam, of course, said nothing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t said anything the whole time. Just a lot of smiles and nods. She’d also implied knowledge of me that she didn’t really have. We hadn’t shared breakfast. We hadn’t shared anything more than a dance, a fuck, and some text messages.

But all of that was way too complicated to drag into a meeting like this, so instead, I went with it. “Sure. I like waffles.”

Brunch passed quickly enough, filled mostly by the sounds of us eating and polite small talk. Brent had asked a couple of seemingly probing personal questions, but I’d managed to avoid most of them.

I glanced to my watch as we stood up to leave and realized we’d run over by nearly half an hour. I guessed it was good Harlow waited two and a half hours.

The three of us moved as a group toward the door, but I picked up speed when I spotted Harlow lurking just inside the entrance. I didn’t think, didn’t hesitate, didn’t consider anything; I just went.

Straight to her and into a hug.

The sweet smell of strawberry jam radiated from her damp head. It’s got to be her shampoo.

The mayor cleared his throat behind us. I pulled back, keeping my arm around Harlow, and looking back to see his smile. There was something in it I didn’t like.

Pam looked jealous. And I didn’t like that either.

“Brent…” I paused, not knowing if Harlow knew he was the mayor or not—we hadn’t discussed politics. “Uh, Mayor, this is Harlow Paige, my…” I struggled for the appropriate word to use, but finally settled on, “friend.” It sounded all sorts of wrong.

Brent’s eyes, however, danced at its use.

Mine narrowed before glancing to Harlow. She looked almost panicked, recognition stark in her voice. “Brent?”

“Nice to see you, Harlow,” he said with way too much fucking familiarity. So much, it bordered on intimacy. Stepping right in front of me, he leaned down and touched his lips to her cheek, right at the corner of her mouth.

Fucking on her mouth, for shit’s sake.

I’d only waited inside of the restaurant for Scott for a minute or two before he found me and enveloped me in a tight, warm hug. All had appeared normal until he’d released me and I realized that his lunch company stood behind him.

The instant my gaze met all too familiar eyes, my heart dropped into my stomach like a rock.

Brent is here?

And who in the hell is this woman standing beside Brent?