Page 12 of Auctioned to Dr. Daddy

I can’t help myself, leaning forward and telling her, voice low, “I think it would be a better look on you.”

“Maybe. But you certainly won’t find out before dinner.”

“And after dinner?”

“There’s a bigger chance of it after dinner.”

The waiter brings us a bottle of preselected wine, but we’re allowed to choose our own food.

I go for the salmon steak, rare, with a brown butter sauce that helps finish cooking the outside of the fish, and a seasonal vegetable medley, complete with rainbow asparagus and carrot roses.

Food—that doesn’t interest me the way that cars do. I don’t see the point in cutting carrots into flowers or getting specialty vegetables brought in when normal asparagus tastes exactly the same.

Demi seems happy with the choices on the menu but still has trouble picking something.

“Alright,” I say, taking a shot in the dark. “Let me guess.”

Demi looks up at me, amused. “Guess at what?”

“You’re a steak girl usually,” I say.

“Burgers,” she corrects. “Or anything that you throw on the grill.”

In the end, she just gets the same thing that I’m having and gives me a smile like she’s hoping it’s the right choice.

It’s a brief flash of uncertainty, like she wants to make me happy, or wants to make sure that things go well.

I smile back at her.

She doesn’t need to be nervous, though.

I’ve already fallen for Demi, hook, line, and sinker.

The moment I saw her, I realized that she was the most gorgeous thing I’d seen in years, and the more that I speak with her, the more pulled into her undertow I become.

“So,” I say. I reach across the table, pressing a hand on her left wrist. “Tell me more about you. “What made you decide to go with cardiac over internal medicine?” I ask.

“That’s what my mother used to study,” she explains. “I wanted to be able to go through the same training that she did. I was so, so not prepared for my first day as a resident. The waiting room was so crowded. I almost couldn’t get the first IV put in!”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t remember much about my first day,” I say. “The nerves got to me.”

“You, nervous? I can’t imagine it!” she says, with a shake of her head. “You just seem so put together, almost infallible.”

I laugh. “There’s a lot of pressure in living up to your parents’ expectations.”

She nods. “Even when they aren’t around anymore.”

“Do you regret this specialty?” Tyler did mention something about the hospital losing her.

“Not at all. Especially not when it’s the only reason that I get to work with you,” says Demi with a nervous laugh.

“What are you talking about?”

“Yeah… It seemed strange to bring it up last night, but I’m getting a transfer in just a few days. I’ll be heading to Mercy General.”

“No shit?” My eyebrows raise.

I pull my hand back, but the motion is reluctant. Her skin is soft—I want to keep touching her. “Why are you transferring over? An issue with another doctor? Or is the drive more convenient?”

---