Page 38 of Dr. Grump's Surprise Baby

“People are saying that you’ve been… looking at me.” She blushed. It was embarrassing even to say it out loud. “People have noticed it. I don’t know what’s going on, but people are noticing you noticing me, and that’s something we need to be careful about.”

“Shut the door.”

“What?” The break room door was never closed, not even at night.

“I said, shut the door. Lock it.”

Adrenaline and excitement shot through Emily. She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew at once that she was going to do what he wanted her to do. She pushed the door closed behind her and turned the latch, feeling like she was falling down a hill.

He crossed the room in three steps. His hands were on her biceps, gripping her, backing her up into the door behind her. He was gentle enough — he wasn’t hurting her — but his grip was so firm that she couldn’t have escaped him if she had wanted to.

All the breath left her body, and it felt like his hands were the only thing holding her upright.

“I don’t know what you expect me to do,” he growled. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to be around you every day without looking at you. I don’t know how to go back to seeing you as just that irresponsible intern who showed up late on her first day.”

“You don’t have to see me as irresponsible?—”

“Stop talking.”

Emily didn’t know whether she would have stopped talking of her own accord or not. She never had the chance to find out. His mouth was on hers at once, silencing her, swallowing up whatever she would have said next.

She knew they shouldn’t be doing this. Not here. Not at work. But that fact only made it hotter. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer, a part of her wondering whether this had always been her intention when she had come to confront him. Had she always meant to provoke something like this? She couldn’t have known it would happen, but could she really deny that she had hoped for it?

As suddenly as he had initiated the kiss, he broke free and held her at arm’s length. “It’s a miracle all I’m doing is looking,” he said in a low voice. “It’s making me crazy trying not to pull you into supply closets every hour of every day. I’m losing my mind. And there you are, acting like everything is normal between us. Like it never happened.”

“It’s not like that,” Emily stammered. “It’s just that — I have to move on. We have to move on. We agreed to keep it professional. If you don’t watch out, people are going to start guessing that something happened between us. And if that rumor gets around, we may not be able to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Both of our careers are on the line here, Dominic. We have to be careful. We can’t afford to indulge ourselves.”

He closed his eyes briefly.

“Have lunch with me,” he said.

“What?” That threw her completely.

“Have lunch with me,” he repeated. “Nothing fancy. Just meet me for lunch in the cafeteria today.”

“Are you kidding? This was a conversation about how we can’t let people see us getting too close.”

“We can if we have professional reasons. I’m going to take you on as my personal mentee.”

“Can you do that?”

“Sure I can. Lots of the doctors here play mentor to a particular intern they think shows promise. I haven’t taken one before, but for me to choose you now would be a big boon to your career.”

“You’re not just doing this because you want to spend more time with me, are you?”

“Well, Idowant to spend more time with you,” he admitted. “But no, that isn’t the reason.”

“Because that’s a terrible reason,” Emily said. “I don’t want to get ahead in my career because of what happened between us. If it’s ever like that, you should just cut me from the program right then and there.”

“Do you think I’m that unethical?” he asked her. “It would be easier on me if youwerecut from the program, but I couldn’t do it to you, because you’re the best intern we’ve got. That’s why I want to mentor you. You’re going to be an amazing doctor, and I think I can help you get there — but itisconvenient that making that relationship official will give us an excuse to be around each other without provoking gossip. Or at least, if there’s going to be gossip, it’ll be the right kind of gossip — it’ll be talk about what a good doctor you must be if you’re earning mentorship like this.”

Emily bit her lip. Everything he was saying sounded pretty perfect, but there was still the question of what was motivating him. She believed him when he said that he thought she was skilled and he wanted to help her become the best she could be, but he had also said he wanted an excuse to spend more time around her. What wasthatall about?

She didn’t know. But if she questioned it too much, he might change his mind, and she was beginning to realize that she didn’t want to stay away from him any more than he seemed to want to stay away from her. If they could come up with an excuse to spend time talking to each other, eating meals together, and generally indulging in some one-on-one time, she’d take it. She probably would have taken it even if it hadn’t enhancedher career prospects the way it was going to, and that was a terrifying thought. She didn’t know what to do with the fact that she was making such unwise decisions.

But he had asked her if she wanted to have lunch with him, and there was only one true answer to that question.

“I’d be happy to have you as a mentor,” she said. “And I’d be happy to have lunch with you. Thank you, Dr. Berger.”

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