Page 29 of Dr. Grump's Surprise Baby

“Do you four all work together?” Emily asked.

“That’s right,” Kayla said. “We went into private practice together a few months back, and part of the reason we’re here today is to help get the word out. How about you — are you here by yourself?”

Emily nodded. “Yeah. One of my friends from the hospital was going to come with me, but she bailed out at the last minute.”

“I think it’s cool that you came anyway,” Kayla said. “I’ll tell you what. If you don’t have any other plans when it comes to who you want to spend the next couple of days with, you’re welcome to group up with us.”

“Really?” Emily felt warm all over at the acceptance. “That would be amazing.”

“I just know I wish I’d had a group of experienced women to step in and take me under their wing when I was your age,” Kayla said. “I’d love to help you out, if that’s something I can do.”

“That means the world to me,” Emily said. “And you’re right, I’d love to get to know some women who have found success in this field.”

She just hoped that they would stop talking about how attractive they found Dr. Berger.

Not because she didn’t agree with them — there was no doubt that they were right on the money. But she was doing everything she could to avoid thinking about her attraction to her boss, and hearing that it was a commonly held opinion was just about the farthest thing from helpful that she could imagine.

CHAPTER 12

DOMINIC

Oh, no.

It was the first thought to go through Dominic’s head when he looked up at the brunch and saw that Emily had come to the conference alone. He had known that she intended to be here, of course, but he had expected her to come with Sara. He had expected it to be more like it was at work, where the other interns served as a barrier to remind him that he couldn’t get caught up in his feelings for her.

But it wasn’t like that. She was here on her own. And that was a problem, because it meant there was nothing to keep him accountable. There was nothing to stop him from staring at her, fantasizing about her, daydreaming about what he would have liked to do if there was no professional conflict between the two of them.

Did he need to go over to her? She was on her own, and he didn’t want her to feel alone. What was his responsibility toward her right now, on a professional level — and how could he balance that against what he wanted to do on a personal level? Because ifhe was honest with himself, he would have had to admit that he wanted to have breakfast with her.

The choice was made for him when a young woman he didn’t know walked up to Emily, clearly introducing herself. A relieved smile spread across Emily’s face, confirming his sense that she’d felt insecure about being the only member of her group in attendance. He kept an eye on her long enough to see that she was joining the woman at her table. Good. She would be looked after well enough there.

After breakfast, they split up into breakout groups. Everyone had the freedom to attend the seminars and lectures of their choosing, and Dominic was both relieved and disappointed to see that Emily wasn’t present in any of the ones he chose. Of course, it made sense — she was at a different place in her professional development than he was. It wouldn’t have been reasonable for her to attend the same lectures he was going to.

Still, he sort of wished she had done it. They could have sat together in the back of the lecture hall — it would have been perfectly legitimate for them to do that. He knew he would have spent the whole time feeling acutely aware of her presence, and that was the closest he dared come to fulfilling the desire he felt every time he was around her now.

By the time lunch rolled around, Dominic was feeling more relaxed, and he felt that he was to be congratulated on having resisted temptation.

And then he saw her coming into the dining room from the opposite side, working her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head, looking distracted but engaged in what was going on around her.

His resolve crumbled as she finished tying her hair, exposing her long neck, and stretched her shoulders with her hands braced against her lower back. Before he could even think through what he was doing, he was on his way across the room to her.

She didn’t notice him until they were nearly side by side. “Oh,” she said. “Dr. Berger.”

“So you made it to the conference,” he said, as if he was noticing that fact for the first time, as if he hadn’t been thinking about her all day long.

She nodded. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked her.

“I’ve learned a lot,” she said.

“Why don’t you tell me about it?”

She looked around. People were lining up to get their lunches. “Right now?”

“Are you doing anything else? Did you make arrangements to have lunch with those women you ate breakfast with?”

She blinked. “You saw who I had breakfast with?”

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