Healing the Doctor (BWWM Interracial Romance) (3 page)

Chapter Six

As soon as Hailey slid into the spacious silver Volvo with Greg, she felt nervous and shy. Her hands were shaking and she tried her best to control her apprehension, but to no avail.

Greg, on the other hand, suddenly couldn’t come up with anything to talk about. He felt dowdy and dull, and very inexperienced with small talk. Hailey’s soft perfume filled the car, and his senses were alive to her nearness and the fact that they were completely alone with each other.

Somehow, this road trip seemed more intimate than spending the night together in his suite.

“So,” he began, clearing his throat and focusing on the road.

Hailey turned toward him expectantly.

“What do you do, Hailey?” he asked. “Where do you work?”

“I just received my Master’s degree in economics.”

“Wow! That’s terrific. Do you have any job prospects line up yet?”

She sighed. “Not yet. Especially with the economy being so tough right now. So I’m taking a few weeks off. I’ve applied to my father’s financial investment firm, but he doesn’t know about it yet,” she said with a chuckle.

Greg sensed some mystery in her answer. “Why doesn’t he know?”

“Well, he’s not very interested in hiring me. I applied the usual way and submitted my resume in the HR department directly. Let’s see how it goes.”

“You should apply at Brandon Memorial Hospital,” Greg suggested. “We have a finance department. I can check for any openings if you’d like.”

“Oh, that would be very kind. But you shouldn’t go to all that trouble. I’ll check into it myself.”

Greg smiled. “Want to do it the hard way, do you?”

Hailey chuckled. “Yes. I’d like to do it on my own. I want to finally feel like I’m standing on my own two feet without anyone’s support.”

“That’s admirable.”

“So where do you live in Seattle?”

“Seventh and James. What about you?”

Hailey was smiling, her eyes shining. There was just something about Greg’s profile that made her heart flutter like butterflies. His eyelashes were the most gorgeous she had seen on any man, or woman for that matter. His sandy hair was streaked naturally with blond, but there was nothing feminine about him. With his strong jaw and bold chiseled lips, his wide shoulders dominating a seemingly toned and worked-out body, he was one hundred percent virile male.

“So where do you live, Hailey?” he asked again, glancing toward her.

“I live pretty close, about three blocks away from Seventh and James.”

“That’s nice,” Greg said, and Hailey bit her lip. This was already not working out like she’d planned in her head when she had agreed to come with him. She was falling for him, big time, and it was even more disastrous that they lived so close.

***

Two hours later, they were seated outside a small restaurant and having cheeseburgers while Greg told her about some of the patients that he had been especially close to.

Hailey was mesmerized, and her face shone as she listened attentively to his stories about patients, both children and adults.

“It must feel good, I mean, out of this world to be able to do that for someone, to be able to save someone’s child and see the gratitude and respect on their faces.”

Greg sighed, biting his lip. “Well, it’s hard. As doctors you’re taught time and again that getting emotionally attached to a patient is good for neither of the two parties, but you can’t always help it, you know?” he said and Hailey nodded. “I mean, how can you forget a small two-year-old child suffering from cancer, who wants you to carry them in your arms when you go to check on them? It’s special.”

“You really like kids, don’t you?” Hailey said with a smile and stilled as Greg’s face became hard.

He clenched his jaw and looked away from Hailey’s face, swallowing audibly. “I think we should get going. It will be dark in a couple hours. We should use the light.”

Hailey watched in shock as Greg hurriedly stood up and walked towards the car parked nearby, and she followed suit.

What the hell happened to him?

He was so lively and exuberant when he had talked about his patients, and suddenly he became cold and weird.

Hailey wondered if he had remembered an old patient and that had destroyed his mood, but she couldn’t think straight anymore. She was unhappy to learn that Greg was extremely unpredictable.

***

Greg put the car in gear as he waited for Hailey to get in, and suddenly felt like a monster for behaving the way he had. He had invited Hailey to join him, and then he acted like a lunatic. What he was dealing with was not her problem, and she surely shouldn’t have to suffer for it.

“Hailey,” he said softly and she turned to look at him. She was so close, her perfume filled his nostrils and he inhaled sharply. “I’m sorry if I was too…weird... just a moment ago. I was thinking about something else.”

Hailey felt all mushy and soft inside at his words. He was apologizing – he was so sweet. She had known countless men who were incapable of apologizing, even when they were dead wrong about something.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t bothered,” she said, and then her breath stopped. Greg wasn’t looking at her eyes anymore; his gaze was glued to her lips. In a second, the moment had passed and Greg looked away, hitting the accelerator and taking them speeding out of the parking lot.

Chapter Seven

“Do you mind if I check the radio?” Hailey asked Greg as he slipped back into the car. They had stopped on the way for snacks.

“Sure,” Greg said as he put the car in gear.

“Oh, I love this song,” Hailey cried as an old
Grease
song spilled from the car speakers. “Have you seen the movie?”

“Uh, yes. A long time ago. I don’t really watch movies.”

“What about music? Do you listen to music?”

Greg chuckled. “I have some old classic soundtracks. I listen to them on repeat when I have the time.”

Hailey snickered, looking at his profile with shimmering eyes, “By old, do you mean ‘before you and I were born’ kind of old?”

Greg laughed a deep, throaty laugh that made him feel wonderfully carefree. “Before you were born for sure.”

Hailey’s laughter filled the car like chimes, and Greg smiled as he concentrated on the road.

This was so much better than driving alone. He had taken several road trips before. His thoughts trailed off, and he gritted his teeth in frustrated anger at himself. He shook his head to clear it. That was long time ago. He knew he was doing the usual, destroying his mood by forcing himself to think about the past.

“So what kind of music do you like?” he forced his bleak thoughts to the corner of his mind.

“I’m not really a big fan of music, but I listen to some good,
new
songs,” Hailey replied pointedly. “What about hobbies? Do you play any sports?” she asked.

“Enough about me,” Greg answered. “Do
you
play any sports?”

“I asked first,” Hailey said, tilting her head.

Greg saw her from the corner of his eye, and bit back a smile. “Well, I play basketball with a couple of friends once a week, if I get the time.”

“Oh, I do too! We have a team. A couple of my friends, and their friends, and some family members. We arrange a small tournament every three months.”

“Are you guys any good?” Greg asked.

“I’m sure we’d beat you,” she said with a chuckle and Greg joined in her laughter. “I sprained my ankle once and had to sit out of the tournament. I was so fidgety. I despised sitting out. We should play you. Your doctor team and my team. I want to see what you’ve got.”

“Done,” Greg said, and was insanely looking forward to see her play already.

Hailey's long legs were a few inches away from his hand where he had it resting on the gearshift. He pulled his hand away because the nearness was just too much for him to handle. He felt like a kid. It sucked that he was driving, he thought. He would’ve liked to sit next to her while she drove, so he could watch her while she had to look at the road. Inspiration struck.

“Would you like to drive for a bit?”

“Sure. If you trust me with your car, that is. Most men tend to think women are awful drivers.”

Greg chuckled. “It’s all right. The car’s not mine,” he said with a wink and parked the car on the side of the road.

Hailey gave him a pretend hurt expression and Greg slid out of the driver’s side. When he opened the passenger side door for her to get out, she was already in the driver’s seat by sliding across the middle, over the gearshift.

Greg hid a smile as he got in. Everything she did seemed sweet and childlike, and he suddenly remembered that she was more than a decade younger than he was. She was bound to seem childlike to him.

***

Greg was having the time of his life. Hailey was a good driver, and a fantastic sight to behold. She talked animatedly and her face was full of life and expressions.

He rested his back slightly against the door as he watched her. Her eyelashes were long, her nose straight and dainty, her full lips pink and full. For the first time in a long time, he was actually admiring a female’s assets with interest.

“I had a friend in college who was terrified of dating. She was pretty cute, but she just couldn’t wrap her head around being alone with a guy. So I kind of had to train her. By the time I was done with her, she had dated the whole basketball team and the debate club. It was hilarious.”

Greg’s smile faltered as he processed that information. “So you could say you were a pro at dating in college?”

Hailey choked back a horrified laugh. “No! That’s not what I meant. It came out a little wrong, I guess.”

Greg laughed at her discomfort. “I was kidding Hailey,” he said affectionately. “You’re embarrassed.”

“No, I’m not!” she said. “You’re so mean. You’re making me uncomfortable on purpose.”

“What did I do?” Greg asked, suddenly turning playful.

“I don’t know, just don’t. I don’t know,” she said slowly.

“Come on Hailey. How old are you again?”

Hailey bit her lip and punched his thigh, making his laughter sound through the spacious car.

“You’re incorrigible!” she exclaimed.

“And you…are just perfect,” he said with a smile. He felt so relaxed, and completely at ease with her.

“What’s that?” she asked as she eased upon the accelerator.

Greg glanced at the road, and saw a huge semi truck standing sideways in the middle of the highway, with patrol cars parked near it.

“Looks like an accident. Stop by the side of the road. I’ll go and ask."

Hailey did as he asked, and Greg stepped out of the car.

***

Hailey sighed in relief. She needed a moment to compose herself. She was having so much fun, but she felt filthy and disgusting. To the best of her knowledge, the gorgeous, sandy-haired man was married, with a beautiful child, and she was enjoying every second she spent with him.

“Oh God. Help me. I’m so bad!” she cried and rested her chin on the steering wheel. Greg was walking toward the patrol cars, his faded jeans encasing slim hips and thick thighs. 

“Help me!” she whispered fervently, but she knew she had to stop this on her own. She had to set some boundaries before this – whatever it was – got out of hand.

Greg slid his hands in his jeans pockets as he talked to the police officers, and glanced in Hailey’s direction. Hailey’s heart skipped a beat, and then another. Her mouth had gone completely dry.

Greg looked so hot. He was clearly several inches taller than the police officer. Hailey felt like a freak for watching him like this. He slipped back into the car while she pretended to study her nails.

“There’s a bit of a problem,” Greg began tentatively, not knowing how well she was going to take the information.

“What?” Hailey asked.

“A semi flipped over and crushed a car. There’s a huge pileup up ahead, so we’ll have to take another route.”

“We could cut through Tenaco and then get on the highway again,” Hailey suggested.

“Actually, I didn’t realize this before but,” he stopped, looking at the expression on her face. “I was planning to drive straight through to Seattle tonight when I planned this road trip. Now with you, I don’t think it’s safe to be driving so late.”

“Do you think we should stop somewhere for the night?” Hailey asked, and Greg sighed in relief. He had thought she might jump to the wrong conclusions about his intentions.

“Yes. If you’re okay with it, I mean.”

Hailey smiled and put the car into gear. “Of course, as long as it’s safe.”