Playing Doctor: A Central West End Story (5 page)

“Dr. Dixon is the chief of residents not the principal. And no, I don’t want you running in to protect me.” Even though he knew she was kidding, her offer warmed him and he felt thankful for the close relationship he’d always had with Sara. At least, after she forgave him for chopping off her long brown hair when she was twelve. “I guess I was just surprised that the games continued at this level. I would have thought once we were out in the real world the players would be too busy to keep up the crap.”

“You’re in a competitive field. I think you’ll always have those types. Even at the preschool, we have teachers who have to win. Maybe it’s just genetically hardwired into some people.”

A car horn blared close by and Troy jerked his head toward the street. Two women were slipping between cars to the sidewalk. “Idiots. There’s a cross walk up at the light. Why would they risk traffic like that?”

“Who?”

“The two women over there walking toward the apartment building.” Troy pointed towards the pair just as one turned and looked right at him. He called out, “Annie?”

Annie’s face flushed red as she recognized him. Then she turned and almost sprinted away, dragging her friend behind her.

She had recognized him. And then ran. What the heck had he done today to make her react that way? He thought over their conversation at the gym. Fun, friendly, and yes, maybe a little flirty. But then when she’d seen him at the hospital, she’d changed. Maybe he’d misread the signals, but he thought she’d been into him at least a little.

“Annie’s looking good tonight. I’ve never met a girl who can pull off the scrub look as well as she can.” Sara’s voice brought him back to the conversation.

“Whatever. I can’t be looking. All we need to do is get through these three months and I’ll probably never see her again.” Troy groaned. “Except she works on my floor. She’s one of the new nurses assigned to the team last week.”

“So? You must work with a lot of cute doctors and nurses. Why is she special?” Sara stopped in front of the restaurant, waiting for his answer.

“I don’t know. She’s just different.” Troy watched Annie and her friend walk toward the apartment building. Toward their apartment. Where she slept in the next room. Troy looked down at his sister. “What? What’s got you all happy?”

“I think that’s the first girl whose name you’ve even known in four years.”

Troy pulled open the door to the restaurant. “Well, don’t start hearing wedding bells. I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t kill me in my sleep.”

Sara shook her head. “No one hates you that much. You always were prone to exaggeration. Maybe she’s confused.”

As they waited for a table, Troy wondered if he’d be able to make it the full three months.

He was going to act like pretty Miss Annie didn’t even exist. At least once they left work and were off the floor. And maybe he’d be able to ignore her at work too. He’d kept women out of his thoughts before—banishing Annie would easy be like all the others.

Only something told him that ignoring her wouldn’t be as simple as he hoped.

Annie sat on the couch, watching
When Harry Met Sally
, again. She loved the movie. When she’d surfed the two hundred channels Troy had ordered with their satellite provider, she’d been surprised to see the full selection of movie channels. The guy must love his television, she thought. On the other hand, she only had local free channels for most of the last four years, cable being an expense she couldn’t afford. Not and have buy food.

The door opened and Troy walked into the apartment. She’d seen him with Sara heading toward restaurant row, as she and Pam headed back to Pam’s parked car. She’d felt like she’d been back in high school, taking the wrong hallway, just so she wouldn’t run into the quarterback. Had he seen her duck and run?

He put his coat in the closet and headed to the kitchen. He called out, “What are you drinking?”

“The white zin.” She’d bought the bottle on a whim when she’d grocery shopped last weekend. Not being a huge drinker, when she made the purchase, she’d hoped she remembered right and this was the type she liked. She’d been spot-on.

He brought the wine bottle to the living room and filled up her glass, sitting his long neck beside the goblet on the coffee table. She leaned forward and moved a coaster under the beer, noticing his mouth curve at the action.

He nodded, “I get the point, I’ll be right back.”

When he slipped back into the room, he sat on the couch facing her. His dark hair needed a trim. Her fingers itched to unbutton that white shirt he wore so casually over his blue jeans. Instead, she grabbed the wine glass and took a long sip. Feeling the catch in her stomach, she took a second one to keep her mind off the image of him naked in the bathroom. She focused on the movie, then finally sighed and leaned back. “Can I help you with something?”

He smiled and her heart leapt. Geez, get a grip. What was she hoping he’d say?
Come over here and show me what you want to do to me?
Before he spoke, he took a sip of his beer. Were those nerves she saw?

Grabbing the remote, he turned down the volume. “Look, we need to talk. I kind of got blindsided today by my sister and I said yes when really, I should have asked your opinion first.”

Disappointment filled her at his choice of topic but she pasted on a smile. She chided herself for letting her imagination take over. “So she told you about the book deal. Isn’t that amazing? I didn’t realize your sister was a celebrity.”

“I don’t think celebrity is the right word. Pain in the butt is more like it.” Troy laughed. “Anyway, apparently this deal requires her to write a second book and she’s pretty freaked about getting it done on time. I told her she can use the apartment as her writing cave, but if you have a problem with her being here, I can tell her no.”

Annie took another sip of the wine. He cared about his sister. Family seemed to be important to the man. A good trait, her mother would say. Stop it, she admonished herself. She realized he was watching her. Waiting for an answer. “I don’t care. I’m usually only here in the evenings anyway. Besides, I like your sister.”

“But not me,” he countered.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand.

“Kidding.” He cocked his head, watching her, a slow smile crossing his face. 

Annie felt a flush of heat course through her body. Damn, the man could do things to her with just a look. Stupid. Two months, three weeks, and he’d be in his own apartment. She stroked the couch, his couch. “Look, I don’t not like you. I just don’t know you.”

“You’ve seen more of me than most people in the last four years,” he nodded his head in the direction of the bathroom.

Annie held her hands up in mock surrender. “I think I’ve apologized for that. I promise I’ll knock next time.”

“Who said I wanted you to knock?” He stood and disappeared into the kitchen, returning with the wine bottle and another beer. This time when he filled up her glass, he left the bottle on the coffee table.

“Thanks.” Annie sipped her wine. “Look, I’m kind of in a jam here. I’ll admit there’s an attraction between us. And our situation is, for want of a better word, unusual, but I can’t go there.”

Troy raised his eyebrows. “Who says I can? Or that I want to? Look, I know we’ve had a couple run ins, but I swear, I’ll be good. I’ll even lock the bathroom when I’m taking a shower.”

Annie shook her head. Still caught up in her thoughts she overlooked his questions. “My boss, Nurse Abbott, is a stickler for protecting the interns and she sees me as a bird of prey instead of just wanting to do a good job.” The words rushed out of her like a held breath.

He nodded. “The woman’s a witch. I mean, she’s so into her rules, she doesn’t get that we have brains in our heads. I guess I should be thankful she’s protecting us from the wanton women out there.”

Annie threw an accent pillow at him. “You’ll do great as a doctor. You already have the arrogance part down pat.”

Troy scoffed. “You don’t know me at all. I’m not looking for a relationship. Not right now. Friendship? Yeah, maybe. Unless you don’t think we could be friends?” He sighed. “Having my sister as my best friend makes me look more like a loser than I really am.”

“Give me a break. You have to have other friends.” Annie took another sip of her wine.

“Let’s say I have acquaintances and leave it at that. During school, everyone was so competitive, and, unfortunately, it seems the intern pool is the same way. Hard to trust someone if you know they’re looking to stab you in the back so they can use your body as a stepping stone.”

For once, Troy didn’t look as confident or arrogant as she’d thought. He looked scared and a little lonely, just like she felt. She let the impulse take her and she stuck out her hand. He stared at it like he’d never seen a hand before then he met her gaze. She nodded and jiggled her hand. Finally he took it and she shook his hand.

“Hi, my name is Annie Baxter.”

Confusion filled his face.

She laughed. “Now you say, Hi, Annie. My name is Troy Saunders.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Just do it,” Annie said, exasperated.

“Okay. Hi, Annie. My name is Troy Saunders.” He shook her hand. “Now what?”

She smiled. “Now that we’ve started over, we become friends. Neither one of us wants a serious commitment so for three months, at least, we’re friends. After you move out, we can go our separate ways, but for now, we have each other.”

The restaurant scene where Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm filled the screen in front of them. Troy turned up the volume. “Sounds good, but do I always have to watch chick flicks with you?”

  The sounds from the television drowned out her response. By the time the movie was over, the bottle of wine was empty.

The wine was the problem, Annie decided. A very big problem. Her body ached in all the wrong, no, right places. The movie wasn’t helping, she wanted the man sitting next to her. Maybe not forever, but at least for now. She glanced over at Troy and started copying the fake orgasm sounds from the movie.

“You’re almost as good as that actress.” Troy finished his beer and stared at her.

“I’m better.” Annie met his gaze and realized, she really wanted his shirt off. Moving closer, she settled on her knees and began unbuttoning it, slowly. One button at a time. He stilled her hand.

“What are you doing? We only said friends.” The touch of his hand was electrifying.

“Your friend is helping you take off this stuffy shirt.” Annie smiled and stared at her hand. Troy must have gotten the hint because he released her and leaned back into the couch, kicking his shoes off. She finished unbuttoning his shirt then ran her hands down the muscles of his chest. He groaned as she slipped off the shirt.

“You’re killing me here,” he muttered.

“Good to know.” She unbuttoned his jeans and put her hand on the zipper. “Remember high school?”

His gaze had been on her hand, but now, he looked up into her eyes, questioning. “Yeah, so?”

“Remember making out?” She unzipped his jeans and slipped her hand underneath his briefs grabbing on to his manhood and pulling it free from the clothing.

He swallowed. “Only so far?”

Her blood heated and she felt her body tingle. “That’s the game.”

He put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her movement. “Are you sure?”

With that one question, she knew she’d never been more sure of anything in her life before this moment. Smiling, she raised her eyebrows as an answer, and she surrendered to her need.

When he put his hands on her in response to her attention, she wanted him fully. She didn’t want to play the game anymore. Wanting all of him. But he kept the rules of the game and the next thing she knew they were spooned together on the couch sated. She felt the weight of a blanket cover over the top of them and his arms wrapping around her before she slipped into sleep.

She woke the next morning alone on the couch. Troy had already left for the hospital.

So far, she hadn’t run into him on the floor. Which, with her pounding head, was probably a good thing. Besides, she didn’t know what she would say. She’d initiated the action last night. How could she tell him now it was a mistake?

A wiggling against her body drew her attention back to the very cute ten-week-old puppy in her arms. Doggy detail. Four years of college and she was stuck carrying around a buff colored cocker spaniel, visiting the patients.

Annie knew pet therapy was important. Especially to long-term patients whose own beloved dogs and cats were home, missing their owners as much as the people missed them. However, Abbott had given Annie the assignment as punishment. There was no other explanation. Bess wasn’t assigned mundane chores. She was working the nurses desk, helping patients, giving medications. You know, nursing.

Annie had been babysitting a puppy, along with reorganizing the supply closet and updating HIPAA privacy forms with the patients. This was how her week had gone. All necessary duties, but not once had Annie been assigned to the one reason she’d become a nurse, patient care.

The cocker nuzzled her neck as she walked down the hall to Mr. Mathews' room. “You get it, right, boy? You know I love holding you, but I’m a nurse. Shouldn’t I be nursing?” 

Apollo, the cocker, listened to her voice and tilted his head to one side, like he was trying to understand why anyone would want to do anything but be with him. He pulled his head back and gave a short bark.

Laughing, Annie hugged the dog closer. “Okay, you win. No more complaining out of me today.” 

Knocking on the door, she announced herself. “Mr. Mathews? Apollo would like to come meet you if you have some time.”

She came into the room and stopped short. Mr. Mathews wasn’t alone. Dr. Hunky was standing next to the bed. Troy looked at her with a sultry bedroom smile filling his face.

“Looks like you have a couple of visitors.” He took the blood pressure cuff off Mr. Mathew’s arm.

“I can come back later.” Annie started to back out of the room. She’d been able to stay away from Dr. Troy Saunders at work. This was just bad luck. If Abbott even thought she was talking with one of the residents, she’d be on puppy duty until she retired.

Bob Mathews reached out his arms, “No, bring the baby over here. I want to see the little guy.” 

Annie glanced up at Troy. “You don’t mind? I mean, you’re not doing anything important?”

Troy waved her over. “I was just going over the test results. Nothing that can’t wait a few minutes.”

Annie stepped to the other side of the bed and handed Apollo over to Mr. Mathews. 

Apollo walked across the bed, right to the man’s face and started giving puppy kisses.

“What a good boy. What’s his name?” A hand withered from multiple chemotherapy rounds smoothed the puppy’s hair.

“Mr. Mathews, meet Apollo.” Maybe Annie had been wrong about her assignment. Maybe this was patient care at its best. She watched the puppy cuddle in to the crook of the man’s shoulder, enjoying the attention.

“Apollo, the god of messages. Do you have good news for me today, Apollo?” The old man curved his head into the puppy hug.

“I think you mean Hermes. But if he doesn’t have good news, I do.” Troy answered the question addressed to the puppy. “Your red blood cell count is up enough for us to do your last scheduled treatment tomorrow. You should be home and out of here by the end of the week.”

“Apollo, you’re my lucky charm.” Mr. Mathews' smile brightened as he looked up at Annie. “Can he stay for a few minutes?”

“Of course he can,” Troy spoke first. He gave her a measured stare. “Nurse Baxter and I need to discuss another patient. We’ll be right back. You know patient privacy and all.”

Troy met her at the end of the bed and took her arm, leading her out of the room. She glanced back at the man cradling Apollo. Now that’s effective medicine. Puppy kisses and hugs. If not the cure for cancer, it was at least an successful relaxation technique. She felt her body tingle as she walked out into the hall with the even more attractive Troy Saunders. Maybe she should have brought Apollo?

“I’ll go check out the call board and come back in ten minutes. That should be enough puppy time.” Annie started to walk away, but Troy pulled her into an empty room across the hall.

“About last night,” Troy started.

Annie shook her head. “Not here. What can I help you with, Dr. Saunders?” Annie straightened her back and crossed her arms in front of her.

“Why not here?” Troy put his hands into his white lab coat.

Annie groaned. “Didn’t you hear a thing I said last night? About my job,” Annie glanced out into the hall and pushed Troy farther into the room and shut the door. She lowered her voice. “About Abbott?”

“Look, I’m not trying to mess things up between you and your boss.” Troy ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up enough for Annie to want to reach up and smooth it back down. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine.” Annie hoped her fibbing skills were believable. She hadn’t completely processed everything from last night, and she sure didn’t know how she felt about it. She added, “Dr. Saunders.”

He stared at her. “Calling me Dr. Saunders is one thing, but the other night you almost got run over by a car trying to get away from me.”

“I wasn’t trying to get away from you. I only saw you when the car’s horn blared.”

“So you did see me.” He looked like he’d won the lottery.

Oops, she hadn’t meant to tell him that. The street had been busy, he could have faded into the dim evening light and she wouldn’t have been able to see him. But Troy Saunders would stand out even on a moonless night. She’d locked eyes with him and a feeling had gripped her. Sensations and emotions she hadn’t experienced in a long time. Desire. The feeling she’d acted on last night.

“So,” Troy prompted. “Did I say something wrong? Leave towels on the bathroom floor? Or, heaven forbid, the toilet seat up?”

Annie slapped her hand against his chest and glanced back into the hall. “Stop talking like we live together. You’re going to get me fired.”

“I hate to tell you this, but we do live together. In the same apartment. We even slept together last night.” He pulled her closer, brushing his lips against hers. He whispered, “I didn’t have a chance to thank you yet.”

Annie breathed in the smell of him just as she’d opened his shampoo bottle this morning during her shower. The fragrance took her back to their couch encounter last night. Distracted, she closed her eyes and he leaned her toward the wall, melding into her body. He untucked her scrub top and slipped his hands underneath, pulling her close into a kiss. The feel of skin on skin contact brought her body to quick fire. She returned the kiss, teasing his lips with her tongue, wanting him. Then her back hit the cold wall. The hospital wall. Reality seeped into her awareness and one word cooled her desire. Abbott. “Stop, we can’t do this here. What if she sees us?”

Troy stepped back and held his hands up. “Sorry.”

Annie bit her lip. He didn’t look sorry at all. “Co-workers. Polite, friendly, hands to ourselves, co-workers.”

“As long as you don’t treat me like a complete stranger. You’re nicer to my freeloading sister.” Troy stepped back closer to the door.

“Sara’s good people.” Annie shook her head. “Besides, we agreed to be friends last night, remember?”

“Believe me, nothing about last night has escaped my memory. So I can expect a friendly greeting now and then.” Troy watched her for an answer.

Annie tried to grab an easy response, one that wouldn’t hurt his feelings or escalate the tension between the two of them. But nothing came out of her mouth. Ad lib had never been her strong suit, even in high school drama class. She liked her lines written out and rehearsed. But what she really wanted to do was lean closer and…

“Is there a problem here?” A loud female voice came from behind Annie and her face went tight. Annie’s heart pounded, not because of Troy’s closeness, but from Abbott’s implications. Fear for her job washed over her.

Troy glanced at Annie, concern covering his face. “Not at all, Nurse Abbott. I was just expressing my appreciation for Nurse Baxter’s kindness for including Mr. Mathews in her puppy therapy day. He’s over the moon with Apollo.”

Nurse Abbott looked at Troy and Annie. Annie could just see the wheels turning as the older woman calculated the honesty of Troy’s words. “Well, our nurses are responsible for much more than the physical health of our patients, Doctor Saunders.”

“You should be proud to have such a caring professional on your staff. The animal therapy was just what Mr. Mathews needed today.” Troy nodded at Annie and then Nurse Abbott. “If you ladies will excuse me, I’ve got a pile of charts to review before I leave.”

And with that, he spun around and headed down the hall, leaving Annie to face Abbott on her own. 

Abbott glared at Annie. “Don’t you think you should let other patients visit with Apollo? You know his owners will be back at five sharp to retrieve him.”

“We only have two more rooms to visit, Nurse Abbott. I’ll have him back at the station long before his owners return.” Annie blessed Troy for his quick thinking, even though now she had to thank him. Then she could go back to hiding in the supply closet when he walked down the halls. Friends with benefits wasn’t her normal style.

She walked back into Mr. Mathews' room, ending any further conversation with the woman who held her future in her hands.

“Are you tired of him yet?” she asked watching the two playing tug of war with the blanket.

“How could I ever be tired of something this cute?” Bob Mathews answered his voice stronger than Annie had ever heard him speak.

With that, Annie wondered the same question. How was she going to keep her emotions, no, scratch that, her desire for Troy Saunders under check when she was faced with seeing him daily? All she had to do was get through the next three months without Abbott finding out they were sharing an apartment. Then, if the secret slipped, it wouldn’t be a big deal. He would already be moved and she would have her own space. Spilt milk, so to speak. But how was she going to do that when her body went into overdrive every time she saw him?

Annie mentally made a date with the treadmill for a long run. A run that would help wear out her body so it wouldn’t betray her emotions.

Walking into the hall, she ran into Bess.

“Hey girl, I’ve come to relieve you of puppy patrol. Apollo needs to head down to the grass patch, and you look like you could use a pick me up.” Bess swept Apollo out of Annie’s arms giving the puppy a kiss on the nose. “What is it about puppy breath that makes someone get all mushy? That’s what the scientists should be working on. A formula out of puppy breath that makes everything okay.”

“I think they call that a pleasure drug.” Annie liked Bess. She’d saved Annie’s bacon by teaching her the ins and outs of the computer. 

“So what’s your drug of choice, Miss Annie?”

“Chocolate. The deeper the better.” Annie headed to the break room where she could scan the vending machines for anything close to what she was wanting.

“I know you aren’t talking about a man,” Bess said beside her, “since that fine Dr. Troy is about as far from chocolate as you can get with his creamy white skin. You two would make a great couple in a Nancy Drew and Ted sort of way.” Bess punched the button for the elevator.

“I’m not looking for a man.” Annie just wanted a candy bar. Was that too much to ask? When she got up this morning she’d run so the fat wouldn’t glob to her hips. Or if she was honest with herself, she’d run because she didn’t know how to process what had happened. She’d been so aggressive, so brazen, but her fingers still tingled when she thought about sliding them across his sculpted chest.

“Sure, that’s what they all say and then…Pow—Cupid takes over. Don’t you read romance novels, girl?” Bess stepped into the elevator car. She waved Apollo’s paw at Annie while the doors closed. “See you soon.”

Annie pushed the door to the nurses lounge open. Empty. Perfect. She dug into the pockets of her scrubs and came up with four quarters. Just enough for the larger size Reese’s if they had any. “Read romance,” Annie muttered to herself. “Who has time to read anything but charts and orders?”

* * *

Troy smiled as he picked up his charts from the nurses station and headed to the intern room. He’d thrown Annie off her game. She’d been surprised when he’d stepped up to defend her to crazy Nurse Abbott. He’d heard from the other interns that Abbott tended to ride the new nurses pretty hard, especially the cute ones. Annie definitely fell in that category.

He wasn’t at all sure about this new truce between them. But if it led to nights like last night, he’d go with it. Annie had been so soft in all the right places. And what she did, she totally was a keeper. But something nagged at him about her proclamation they were just friends. What if he wanted more?

“What are you so happy about, Saunders? Didn’t Dixon double your patients today?” Matt pointed to his short pile of charts. “Looks like you’ll be missing lunch with the gang today.”