Flirting with the Society Doctor / When One Night Isn't Enough (32 page)

No longer hungry, she picked up her yogurt, grabbed a banana for later and tossed her tray on the stack. In line for the cashier, her eyes drifted back to his table. A perky brunette had entered the fray. Ignoring the blonde’s I’m-about-to-rip-your-earrings-out glare, she chatted away, holding him enthralled.

“You squeeze that banana any tighter it’s gonna be mush,” the cashier said when Ali reached the front of the line.

“I like them that way.” Ali smiled, paid and got the heck out of there.

Seconds from a clean getaway a hand closed around her arm. “Wait up.”

Jared.

“Take a break for a few minutes. Come sit with me.”

She pulled her arm out of his loose grip and turned to face him. “I’d rather suffer through a bikini wax.”

He laughed. “There’s a visual that will keep me smiling for the rest of my shift.”

“How nice you find the thought of me in pain entertaining.” Ali looked past him. “I see you’ve already moved on. So why are you here, bothering me?” She turned and exited the cafeteria.

He followed.

“Hey.” He stopped her again. “For the record, Jilly and Tara sat with me.”

“You remember their names. Good for you.” She hated that she sounded snarky.

“Funny,” he said, his voice turning flirty. “I never took you for the possessive type.”

Ali gasped. She wasn’t. Never had been before. “I most certainly am not possessive. I couldn’t care less what you do and who you do it with, Doctor. Makes absolutely no difference to me.”

“Doctor.” He threw up his hands. “We’re back to Doctor. If it doesn’t matter, why are you all ticked off?”

Because he was supposed to be pursuing
her,
paying attention to
her.
She had sixteen days left. “I can’t do this,” Ali said. “Wipe that smile off your face.”

“You’re jealous,” he said, sounding far too pleased with himself. “I like it.”

“What I am is disgusted.” That she’d allowed herself to fall for him. God help her, her eyes filled with tears.

“Whoa. Come over here.” He guided her to an arrangement of potted plants off in the corner. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She wiped at a tear before it ran down her cheek. “I’m not upset. It’s been a long day. I need to get back to work.”

As if on cue, with two pings the hospital operator’s voice came over the PA system. “Dr. Padget and Allison Forshay return to the emergency room. Stat. Dr. Padget and Allison Forshay to the Emergency Room. Stat.”

His meal forgotten, Jared took off for the stairs, Ali followed behind. He held the door for her then took the steps two at a time. “After work, you and I need to talk.”

Yeah. Good luck with that.

Jared watched Ali duck into the rear hallway. He followed. She looked tired. And a bit sad. Not in front of her patients or the staff, but when she thought no one was around to notice. Jared wanted to lift her into his arms and hold her
while she rested. She’d probably whack him in the head if he so much as brushed up against her.

And who could blame her?

They’d spent a terrific night together, a ten out of ten in every category from start to finish. And yet the next morning, instead of sending her chocolates and flowers thanking her for the best night ever, he’d spent his time overanalyzing their time together. Had it really been as perfect as he’d recalled or had his memory skewed the details to make it appear so? Had he been out with the real Ali, or had she been playing a role meant to entice? Like she’d done with Michael. Like Cici.

She stood, her back and head resting against the wall, her eyes closed. They were alone. She reached up to wipe her eye. Damn it. He’d done that to her, when hurting her was the absolute last thing he’d wanted to do.

But she’d tossed his well-ordered life into chaos. A loner, he no longer liked being alone. He sought out every opportunity to be with Ali, to see her and talk to her. He took on extra shifts to work with her.

When they weren’t together he wondered where she was, what she was doing and with whom. She held him in her power, affecting his every thought and action.

Like years ago when Cici had invaded his life, altered his sanity.

It had to stop. He needed to detach.

He walked around the corner. “Look, I’m sorry. But—”

“Don’t be.” Ali pushed off the wall. “You’re you. You can’t help it. And I’m me. I won’t stand for it.” She stepped around him. “It’s over, Jared.”

He hesitated, enjoying the sound of his name coming from her mouth, before processing what she’d said. “Wait.”
It’s over, as in she’d moved past the incident with Nurse 42 triple D, or over as in the two of them?

“The X-rays are back on the girls in Exam Six,” she said without looking back. “They’re eager to see their bones.”

He followed her, his eyes focused on the hypnotic sway of her hips, the graceful movement of her perfect butt. He felt the tug of attraction. To heck with his idiotic issues, the physical part of their relationship was far from over.

Completely focused on her work, Ali walked straight to the light box and turned it on. She handed him the first of two sets of X-rays, reminding him which patient was which. Her organizational skills were unmatched. She smoothed the hair off one of the girls’ foreheads, made a joke and they both laughed.

She’d make an amazing mother. After their dinner date, he’d experienced a twinge of disappointment that she wasn’t pregnant with his child, had fallen asleep trying to visualize what a baby of theirs might look like, how a future with Allison might play out.

He’d awoken in a cold sweat after a horrific dream, a replay of a terrible fight he’d had with Cici, only it’d been Ali he fought with. It’d been Ali’s face contorted in rage, scrunched into a look of utter disgust, Ali’s mouth and voice spewing Cici’s vicious words and threats.

Jared would not live like that again. Ever.

“Dr. Padget.” Ali brought him back. “Anna asked you a question.”

“Sorry.” Jared turned his attention to the little girl now in Ali’s lap.

The rest of the night passed quickly in a blur of patients, young and old. Through it all, Ali comforted concerned parents and relatives, calmed upset children and kept him organized and on task. Before Jared knew it, it was midnight. Today had been his day off, so he didn’t start work
until he was called in at three in the afternoon. Ali, however, had been working seventeen hours straight and he hadn’t seen her sit down once.

When he exited his office after finishing his chart documentation, the E.R. was quiet. Most of the children had been discharged home with minor injuries and instructions to follow up with their private physicians. Sixteen had been admitted.

“Is Ali still here?” he asked the unit secretary on duty.

“Last I heard she was in the staff lounge, reviewing her charts.”

And that’s where Jared found her, sitting alone at the large round table, her head resting on an open patient chart, fast asleep.

He watched Ali, her face completely relaxed, beautiful, one he would never tire of. Her dark lashes, the natural glow of her cheeks and the deep coloring of her full lips didn’t need cosmetic enhancement.

It’d been pure male stupidity run amok to attempt to use another woman to purge Ali from his brain, even for a few minutes.

“Ali.” He gently shook her arm. She didn’t move, lay there conked out like a kid after a day at a theme park. “Come on, honey.” He shook her again. “Wake up. I’ll drive you home.”

She opened one eye, gave him a warm, sleepy smile, and his heart melted.

One more night. He needed one more night with Ali. In the morning he’d tell her the truth.

A
LI
awoke slowly, keeping her eyes closed, trying to delay the process for as long as possible. She held on to the last vestiges of a deliciously erotic dream, the firm male body beneath her seeming so real, his chest rising and falling, his chest hair rough under her cheek, his heart beating a steady, rapid rhythm. She lay straddled on top of him, his heat permeating her body, his aroused flesh pressing just the right spot.

She rocked her hips, shamelessly using him, so close. On the verge, one more minute.

Her dream thrust up his pelvis, tightened his arms around her waist and said, “Now this is what I call a good morning.”

Ali sucked in a breath and jerked up onto her arms. Strong hands anchored her lower body in place, maintaining their intimate contact, making it difficult to think. Bright sunshine assaulted her eyes when she forced her lids apart to see Jared, a sly smile on his handsome face.

“What are you doing in my bed?” she asked after a quick glance to assure herself she was, in fact, in her bedroom.

“Getting cold. Come back here.” He inched his hands higher up her back, applying downward pressure.

“Stop it.” She locked her forearms.

He moved against her, heightening her arousal, making
her want to slide along his length, up and down, again and again. Orgasm first. Questions second. Wrong. “Stop that, too.”

“Killjoy.”

“I’m mad at you.”

“You fell asleep in the staff lounge.” He ignored her statement. “You’re welcome for driving you home.”

“I must have really been out. I have no memory of you bringing me home.” Or him crawling into bed with her. She looked down at her thin white tank, her nipples protruding, stretching the thin, worn fabric. “You undressed me?”

“I had my eyes closed the entire time.”

His satisfied grin said otherwise. “Yeah, right.”

“I couldn’t leave you in your dirty scrubs, now, could I?”

Apparently that went for his scrubs as well. “I was wearing a bra.”

“It looked uncomfortable.” He reached up and cupped her breasts. “I thought it best not to confine these beauties.”

She swatted his hands away. “I have a drawer full of pajamas.”

“Didn’t want to jostle you around too much—afraid I’d wake you.”

How considerate. “Did I sleep through anything else?”

He let out a breath and shook his head. “Honey, you are hell on a man’s ego.” Not again.

“Don’t look so horrified. Nothing happened. I’m kidding.” He laughed.

Not funny. She twisted his nipple. Hard.

“Ouch.” He grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

She reached out with her other hand and twisted his other nipple. Her arms no longer supporting her, Jared
pulled her down and rolled on top of her, pinning her on her back, holding her hands on either side of her head.

“That was not funny,” she said.

“I know. I shouldn’t have teased.” He tried to look repentant, didn’t come close. “Let me make it up to you.” He swiveled his hips, rested his elbows on the bed and ducked his head down by her ear. “I saved all the good stuff for when you’re awake to enjoy it.”

And it was so good. His hips wedged between her thighs, his hand caressing her breast, his erection rubbing, probing through her skimpy panties. She should be angry, shouldn’t she? She’d caught him flirting with another woman. He’d slid into her bed without an invite. But as much as she hated to admit it, she enjoyed having him there. Especially when he … “I can’t think straight when you do that.” Waves of pleasure rippled from between her legs to every part of her body, becoming more intense, her need for him more urgent.

“Good. Don’t think. Feel.”

Feel. The weight of him pressing her back to the mattress, the damp trail of his tongue on the side of her neck, the humid heat of his breath on her ear, the contours of his muscled back and firm butt. She slipped her hands below the elastic of his boxer briefs and squeezed, urged him closer.

He stared into her eyes, mere inches separating them, his body straining to get inside her, his expression intense. He watched her. Her eyelids heavy, she fought to hold his gaze when what she really wanted to do was allow them to close, immerse herself in the pleasure of his touch, pull him down for a kiss and hold him tight. Love him for hours and hours.

“Ali, there’s something I need to … I …” He hesitated, seemed to consider what to say next, looked conflicted.

Ali played fill in the blank. Want you. Need you. Can’t live without you. She waited.

A noise distracted him. He turned his head to look toward her open bedroom door, disrupting what might have been a pivotal moment between them. “I think there’s someone in your kitchen,” he said.

Not now.

What? Someone in her kitchen? Who? “Shoot.” She planted both hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could. “Get off of me.” She rolled out from under him. “Gramps, is that you?” she called down the hallway.

“Yup,” he called back. “I brought you breakfast.”

Used her as an excuse to go for donuts, no doubt. “Stay where you are. I’ll be out in a minute.” Twenty-five-years old and she felt fifteen, caught with a boy, again.

She grabbed her robe from the hook on the bathroom door and put it on, ran her palms over her hair. “Stay here,” she whispered to Jared, pointing at the bed for emphasis. “I’ll get rid of him.”

As Ali walked down the hallway to the kitchen, she realized that trying to hide Jared’s presence was useless. To the left, his big man-boots stood on the mat by the front door. To the right, his man-size black winter coat hung over the back of a kitchen chair. In case that wasn’t enough to clue Gramps in, Jared’s stethoscope, complete with a big white label identifying him as the owner, lay coiled on her kitchen table, right next to his photo hospital ID badge, his watch and a white bakery box.

Plan B. Ignore the obvious, maybe he will, too. “Morning, Gramps.” She kissed his cheek.

He picked up Jared’s ID badge. “Dr. Padget is here?”

Okay. Plan C. Except she didn’t have a Plan C. “Shh. Keep your voice down.”

“I like him, Allison. He seems like a good man, he’s well-liked around the hospital.”

His reaction took her by surprise. No look of disappointment? No telling her men didn’t respect women who were easy to get into bed? No lecture warning her men engaged in premarital sex to avoid marriage, like he’d given her while she’d dated Michael?

The good man chose that moment to enter the kitchen. “Good morning, sir.” Jared, fully dressed in the same blue scrubs he’d worn last night, his lab coat buttoned over the top, reached out to shake Gramps’s hand. “You saved that boy’s life. Nice work.”