Playing Doctor (12 page)

“Dr. North.”

Seconds ticked by, and then she took a breath. “Hi, Gabe. It’s Beth.”

“Beth?” Surprise resonated in his voice. “How are you?”

She swallowed. “I’m good. You?” Gah, could she sound any lamer?

“Good. On the road.”

Beth’s foot tapped a rapid tattoo on the carpet. A conversation like this could go on for hours without ever saying anything…or she could just spit it out.

“I…ah, just called to say…”
Please don’t let me mess this up
. “…I’ve been thinking about what I said, just before you left…”

“Yeah?” Was that hope in his voice?

“About things being good with Jamie at first…I wasn’t making a comparison. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

His hesitation in answering confirmed it. “Oh. Apology accepted. Don’t ever be afraid to say what you feel, Beth. Not to me.”

It’s now or never, Beth. Just say it.
“I’ve changed my mind.”

Silence. Her stomach plunged.

“Changed your mind as in…” Caution trailed words that were neither question nor comment.

“As in…us, if you still…”

“Yes, I still do.” The ring of finality in his voice left no doubt.

It was as if someone pulled the plug on the tension reserve stored in Beth’s body and happiness rushed in and filled it back up.

Someone knocked on Beth’s door, and as usual, a head poked in before she could either say yea or nay. The head of radiology held up his wrist and tapped the face of his watch. “Meeting at two.”

Beth checked her own watch and groaned. “Be right there.”

“You have to go?” His deep voice held both regret and resignation.

“I do, I’m sorry. Another meeting,” she sighed. “There’s so much more I need to say.” Another department head stopped at her door, waved for Beth to follow, and then dashed away. “But I really need to go.”

Gabe cleared his throat. “I need to tell you…” Her pager went off, another reminder to get it in gear. “But duty calls,” he sighed. “I’m glad you called, Beth. I’ve missed you.”

Her heart sputtered, and then resumed with a rapid thump against her ribs. The hollow cavity in her chest expanded and the oddest sensation crept in and tested the space. Joy, long absent when associated with the opposite sex, welled up and surrounded her heart in its warm embrace.

“I’ve missed you, too,” Beth admitted as yet another head peeked in and nodded for her to follow. “I’m sorry, I have to go. Talk to you after?”

“Oh, yeah, you can bank on it.”

Beth ended the call, grabbed a legal pad and a pen, and headed for the meeting. Her heels clicked on the shiny tile floor with renewed purpose as she clipped down the hall to the conference room. The Beth she’d seen in the mirror at the hotel was back and it felt damn good.

Chapter Twelve

Beth glanced at her watch and smothered another unsatisfying, closed-mouth yawn. The Chief Financial Officer clicked his remote, flashing yet another slide of brightly colored graphs across the huge, pull-down screen in the conference room. The nasal, monotonous drone of his voice caused her eyes to glaze over, and if he didn’t wind it up soon, she’d be drooling like Homer Simpson.

She cast a surreptitious glance around the long, oval table and saw the occasional neck rub or pencil tapping on a notepad. At least she wasn’t the only one having trouble concentrating. However, she was willing to bet none of them had been awakened in the middle of the night by a pulsing orgasm after a restless, erotic dream of a ponytailed doctor with a very talented tongue. The dream had been so vivid Beth could swear she smelled his scent on her pillow. Hopefully that dream would soon become reality. She didn’t know where this…
relationship
was headed or where it would end, but now that she’d made the decision to move forward with it, she was anxious to get started.

Papers rustled around the table. People shifted, rearranging themselves in their chairs.

Finally—
blessedly
—the screen went blank, the CFO resumed his seat, and the lights flickered back on. Blinking, Beth caught a glimpse of her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the conference table and quickly pulled herself up from her slump.

Straightening her small pile of handouts, she clipped them together as the CEO, Brad Crawford, began his update on the upcoming construction of the new Emergency Department. She jotted down dates for meetings and projected deadlines around doodles, squiggles, and hearts.

Hearts, for crying out loud!

Brad’s cell phone rang and he apologized before taking the call. “Great, send him up!” He ended the call and addressed the meeting. “Our new ER medical director is on his way up.” Murmurs of surprise and missed memos circulated the room. He held up his hand and order resumed. “As you know, we had narrowed it down to two applicants. I got the acceptance call this morning from our first choice, and didn’t see the point in sending out a memo as he was joining us for the meeting today.”

As administration and the medical executive committee were conducting the interviews, the only contact Beth had with the potential hires was during ER tours. She had been out of town at corporate meetings on some of those days and had missed meeting a couple of them.

Her phone made a little
zip
sound in her jacket pocket. She slipped it out and snuck a look at the screen.

Are your eyes crossed yet?

Connie was an evil twit, but at least it broke up the monotony of waiting for their guest to arrive. Beth reread the text and grinned. There was a good chance Gabe was in need of a boredom breaker at his own meeting.

She typed in her message, pulling from one of her favorite movies.

Pop quiz: You have a bottle of wine, no glass, and a powerful thirst. What do you do?

The little
zip
sounded and a green balloon appeared on the screen with her message inside it. Beth snickered and dropped the phone in her pocket—it could be hours before he got the message.

A knock sounded on the door at her back.

“Ah, good.” The CEO stood and walked around the table to open the door. “Welcome, Dr. North.”

Beth’s head popped up. Whaaaa…? No, it couldn’t be! She started to turn, and then caught the reflection of the two men in the window across from her.

Oh. My. God.

The CEO extended his hand and said something, but all Beth heard was a ringing in her ears. The man standing in the door looked up from the phone in his hand, a huge smile on his handsome face. A face she knew all too well—a face that had hovered over hers while he thrust inside her until she screamed her pleasure.

Gabriel North.

Her Gabe.

The ringing in Beth’s ears subsided as she watched Gabe slide his phone into his shirt pocket. He took the CEO’s hand, gave it a firm shake. “Thank you. Sorry.” He tapped his pocket. “A very important message that required an immediate reply.”

Zip!
Beth dragged her gaze from the window and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

Pour it on the freckle between your legs and lick it off.

Beth blinked down at the screen. The little sound that left her throat got her coworker’s attention. He craned his neck, trying to get a look at her phone. She dropped it back in her pocket like a hot potato and gave him a weak smile. “New horoscope app. Really…detailed,” she whispered.

“Ah.” He pursed his lips and whispered back, “Sounds like things are looking up.”

She gave him a noncommittal, “Hmm.”

People rose from their chairs, exchanged handshakes and introductions with Gabe and exited the conference room. His scent reached her just seconds before he did. Beth drew in a breath, filled her lungs with him. How could this be? She stood, took a breath, and turned.

“…And lastly, this is Beth Roberts, our nursing manager of the ER. The three of us will meet later in the week and get your take on the construction project for the expansion. You two will be working together with the architect on the layout, bouncing ideas off each other…”

Gabe’s smile softened as she slid her palm across his. Although his grin was a little too wide for two professionals meeting for the first time, no one seemed to notice as they shuffled out of the room and off to their prospective departments. She couldn’t believe he was here, in her hospital, and they would be working together. Her stomach took a low dip on the emotional roller coaster she was riding today. Less than an hour ago, they had agreed to start seeing each other. Well, they certainly would be, it seemed, but in a professional sense.

Of all the hospitals in all the towns, he walked into hers. Was her life a classic movie or what? Following up on a fling was a lot different than having an affair with a coworker. She studied his face, expecting to see the surprise and confusion bombarding her reflected back, but his eyes held the same determination as when he’d crossed the lawn and parked himself at her table at the wedding.

The shock of realization hit her full force. He’d known this was her hospital, that she’d be here, and he hadn’t mentioned it when they’d spoken on the phone. Conflicting emotions assailed her from every direction. Joy. Uncertainty. The gnawing pain of a lie by omission.

This could not be happening. Not now. Not when she’d just worked up the confidence to attempt a relationship with him. Every fiber in Beth’s body yearned to run to him, say, to hell with whatever reason brought him here, even as she struggled with the uncertainty squeezing her heart.

First things first, and right now she had to get through this moment as gracefully as possible.

“It’s nice to meet you, Dr. North. I hope you’ll be happy working with us here at Ridgemount.” She struggled to maintain an even, unaffected tone, but her voice came out a little tremulous, a bit on the husky side. He hesitated only a second before picking up on her cue to keep the fact that they’d already met to themselves. His fingers tightened around hers, just enough to reassure her they were on the same track…and send a sizzle of heat up her arm.

“Thank you, I’m sure I will be.” His eyes bore into hers, confident and sure.
Trust me
. The command was there, as surely as if he’d spoken it aloud. A flicker of hope sparked in her heart.

The persistent chirp of the CEO’s pager pulled Beth back to the moment. She tugged her hand from Gabe’s, curled her fingers into a loose fist, and let it drop to her side.

Brad clipped the pager back on his belt and glanced at his watch. With a grimace, he turned to Beth. “I have a conference call waiting. Would you mind orienting Gabe to the ER and then show him his office?” He took a set of keys out of his slacks pocket, handed them to Gabe, and shook his hand again. “Good to have you aboard, Gabe. I leave you in very capable hands.” His phone rang again as he walked through the door, leaving it open for Beth and Gabe to follow him out.

Questions continued to buzz through Beth’s head until she was dizzy with them. Staring up into Gabe’s soft brown eyes, Beth struggled to comprehend the turn of events. “I’m sorry, but I’m having a little trouble with what just played out. What are you doing here?”

“I’m your new medical director,” he said, giving her another hormone-scrambling smile.

Cursing those weak-assed hormones for turning her knees to jelly, Beth cut Gabe a don’t-give-me-any-shit look. “I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

The amusement faded from his eyes. Bracing one hand on his hip, Gabe rubbed the back of his neck with the other. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d taken this position when we spoke earlier?”

“I tried to, but you were interrupted. Besides, I wanted to tell you face-to-face.”

“Well, you’re here now.” She snatched up her papers, held them in front of her chest like a shield. A tumble of confused thoughts and feelings bombarded her—joy that he was here and a sense of betrayal that he had taken this job without her knowledge. She wanted to push him away, demand answers and throw herself into his arms at the same time.

“You’re pissed. I understand. I crossed a couple of lines, and I’m sorry.” He rubbed his hand over his head, tugged at the ponytail at the nape of his neck. His gaze dropped to the papers she clutched to her chest. “Hell, you probably feel like I’m stalking you.”

Some of her anger evaporated at his self-castigating tone. She forced her scattered emotions into order. “No, I don’t feel like you’re stalking me.” Gabe’s shoulders sagged with relief and he took a step toward her. Beth shook her head. “Why did you take this job? You could have gone anywhere.”

He moved quickly for a man of his size, closing the distance between them in an instant. His hands framed her face, forced her to look up at him. “Because this is where you are.” His jaw tensed even as his thumb gently grazed her bottom lip. “I came here for you.”

The raw urgency in Gabe’s whispered confession swept the last vestige of doubt away. Her breath slipped out in a tiny gasp just before his lips came down to claim hers.

The gentle ferocity of his mouth melted her bones. Passion was there, but it couldn’t compete with the strength of the other emotions passing between them.

Lifting his head, Gabe pinned Beth with a heated look that all but singed her panties.

“I’m here because I can’t get you out of my head—the way you blush, the way you squirm around in a chair and squeeze your legs together when you get hot. I’m here because when I lie down at night, I can still hear that soft sound you make when you come apart in my arms, and I want to make it happen again. I’m here because when I’m with you I don’t feel empty inside. You make me whole again.” He dragged in a breath and reclaimed her lips.

Beth felt as if she were drowning, swimming through a haze of euphoria and lust. She was about to go under for the third time when the sound of voices in the hallway as they passed the office door brought her back to the surface. Placing her hand on Gabe’s chest, she reluctantly pushed him back.

“At the risk of sounding repetitive, this isn’t the place,” she said, drawing in a shaky breath. “While the hospital is happy to welcome you to the staff, I don’t think this is what they had in mind as part of the welcoming committee.”