Page 48 of Auctioned to Dr. Daddy

Tyler’s waiting for me at the front counter. He’s got a tall glass of something, but it doesn’t look as though he’s been drinking a lot of it. There’s condensation pooling from the glass onto the dark marble bar top.

“Sorry,” I say, sliding into the stool next to him. “The sitter canceled on me last minute. I had to wait for Demi to get there.”

“Demi, huh? You know, I didn’t think that you were going to get so serious about her when she showed up on the auction platform,” says Tyler, with a shake of his head. There’s an amused smile on his face. “I thought that you were going to end up, I don’t know, having dinner with her out of the auction obligation and moving on.”

“I was expecting the same thing,” I admit. “But she’s— Fuck, Tyler. She’s something special. I wouldn’t mind settling down with her.”

Tyler’s eyes widen. “Is that so? You’re telling me that you’re thinking about popping the question? Don’t you think it’s a little soon, after that whole mess with Emma?”

“I don’t mean right now. But… eventually,” I tell him. “She’s been calling me a lot this week, you know. Emma, I mean. Practically blowing up my phone.”

“Have you answered?” Tyler asks.

I shake my head, frowning. When the bartender comes over, I order one of what my brother has. “I just can’t make myself do it. I know she wants to try again.”

“Damn, she’s persistent.”

“She’s bored,” I say. “And she wants my money.” A purse of the lips. “I’ve got better places to put it than my ex’s closet.”

Tyler nods, patient as always, but I don’t want this to turn into a personal bitch fest for me. That’s not what the night is about.

Shaking my head to clear out the thoughts, I tell him, “You wanted to talk about something though, not listen to me gripe about Emma. What’s on your mind?”

Tyler hums and takes a long sip of his drink. “I like working at Mercy General,” he says after a moment.

“I’ve noticed,” I tell him. “You seem to get along with everyone.”

“Dad’s getting ready to buy a hospital out in Texas,” says Tyler. “And they want me to go out there and give them some eyes into how things are run. See what staff needs to be cut.”

“Texas?” A frown crosses my face. “That’s a little far, isn’t it?”

“Guess they found it in a small town, out in the middle of nowhere,” says Tyler. “It’s supposed to be the only hospital for the tri-county area.” There’s a pause and a heavy sigh. Finally, my brother admits, “I don’t want to go.”

Without missing a beat, I tell him, “I wouldn’t want to go to fucking Texas either. It’s hotter than hell out there. Miles away from—” I make a gesture. “All of this.”

Me. Our parents. Home.

Except that home for Tyler tends to consist of a fancy hotel in one city or another. I can’t remember the last time that he got himself an apartment somewhere. He’s never in one place long enough.

Tyler turns fully to me on the bar stool and says, “I want to stay at Mercy. I know that you’re planning on buying the place.”

“Who told you that?” I ask, affronted.

Tyler snorts. “It’s a hospital, Nate. Did you actually expect it to stay secret for more than an hour?”

“I guess not. Don’t care if it’s a secret or not, either. The director is looking to retire, and his son’s just coming back into the country. He’s too young to run a hospital if you ask me. Least where the funds are concerned,” I shake my head. “And his dad’s a stubborn jackass. The hospital is practically falling apart, and he won’t take any of the checks that I’ve offered him.”

“Wonder why that is?”

“He’s just old school. You know the type. All hand-outs are bad, even when it solves a problem that you can’t solve yourself.” I shake my head.

It baffles me that he would rather let the east wing of Mercy stay practically unusable after the storm and the subsequent water damage from the broken pipe rather than he would take a check from me.

Fuck, I know that Jackson’s offered to hand him a check, too!

It’s insane.

But sometimes, you can’t convince someone to use common sense. What’s that old saying; you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink? That’s what it’s like dealing with this guy. I can lead him to water all I want, but he won’t drink even from the outstretched hand.

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