Page 33 of Dr. Grump's Surprise Baby

He raised his eyebrows at her and said nothing.

Emily blushed, understanding the implication. It wasn’t like either one of them thought it would be a good idea if he treated all the interns the way he did her. And that, more than anything else, served as proof that the line had already been crossed. If he couldn’t treat the others the way he was treating her, that meant she was receiving special treatment. And she shouldn’t be. She knew that.

That didn’t mean she wanted it to stop.

She changed the subject. “Were you treated that way when you were an intern?” she asked. “Did you have a supervising doctor who never connected with you as a person?”

“It was by my own choice,” Dominic said.

“What do you mean?”

He took a sip of his drink. “I was the hardest worker in my group,” he said. “I was always the one to show up early and stay late. If there was any optional work to be done, I did it.”

“Yeah, that sounds like you.”

“There was one night,” he murmured, the look in his eyes distant. “One night when I caved. My friends insisted that I join them at the bar. We had just finished our internships and gotten our assignments. Everyone was happy. We were celebratingbeginning the next phase in our careers… and I gave in. I went out to the bar with them.”

“It sounds like you deserved it,” Emily said gently.

“My cell phone died when we were out, and I missed the call from the hospital,” Dominic said. “My mother had had a stroke.”

“Oh my God.”

“I didn’t even find out until the next morning. By the time I made it to the hospital, it was too late. She was already gone.”

Emily felt as if she had been punched in the gut. “Dominic… that’s awful,” she whispered. “I am so sorry that that happened to you.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if I had been at the hospital that night. Any other night, I would have been there, and I would have seen her come in. But on the one night I decided to go out…” He closed his eyes.

Emily could imagine what he was thinking. She wasn’t going to hurt him by putting it into words, but she knew what it was like to lose someone, so she understood the desire to try to claim some responsibility for what had happened. She knew he knew better than to actually believe that he’d caused his mother’s illness, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling it. Because if he could blame himself, he wouldn’t have to face the truth — that what had happened was just a tragedy, outside his or anyone’s control, that could have happened to anyone at any time.

If they had been friends — if their relationship hadn’t fallen under the umbrella of the professional — she would have put her arms around him.

She almost did it anyway. Who cared that they were going to have to work together tomorrow? Tonight they were just two people sharing their stories, and he was clearly hurting.

Dominic swallowed, opened his eyes, and continued. “I know I come across as harsh,” he said. “I know that people think I’m mean. The truth is that I have to be, because one time I took my eye off the ball, and I paid the price for it. I’m never going to let that happen again.”

Emily couldn’t keep herself from saying something. “You know that what happened to your mom would have happened anyway, don’t you?” she murmured. “There wasn’t any avoiding it.”

“But she shouldn’t have died alone,” Dominic whispered. “I should have been there.”

“You didn’t know. You can’t blame yourself.”

“Maybe not — but I can make sure I’m the kind of person she would want me to be from now on,” Dominic said firmly. “She was always so proud of what I was doing, all the work I was putting in to become a doctor. She would love to see what I’ve down. The best thing I can do for her now is work hard all the time and be the best in the field, so I’ll know that she would be proud of me if she were here now.”

“I’m sure she would be,” Emily murmured.

She wasn’t even conscious of the fact that she was reaching out to rest a hand on top of his until she had already done it. If she had been thinking about what she was doing, she probably would have restrained herself. She probably wouldn’t have had the courage.

But her hand was on his, and his hand was warm, and before she knew what had happened, he had turned his hand over beneath hers so that they were palm to palm.

Somehow, that simple act felt as intimate as an embrace. Skin against skin. Emily imagined she could feel his heart beating in time with hers where they touched.

She looked into his eyes and knew that she wasn’t imagining it. He was as electrified by this moment as she was.

The distance between the two of them narrowed. Emily wasn’t aware of drawing closer to him intentionally, but she also knew that she wasn’t capable of staying away. It seemed to be happening without her thinking about it, as if the two of them were being pulled together magnetically.

She wondered distantly if it were even possible to resist this attraction anymore.

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