Page 12 of The Doctor's No-Strings Deal

Megan asked the patient, “Any cramping?”

The man nodded.

Charlie took the time to read the patient’s chart while he observed his competition. Something jumped out at him. “He has a fever, too.” He grinned to himself. “Get him a CT scan, Bright. It’s likely appendicitis. I’ll put money down that he’ll be in surgery by this evening.”

The patient’s wife gasped, and Megan turned back to address her. “It’s a good thing,” she assured her. “We caught it in time. The surgery is pretty routine. He’s going to be fine.”

Charlie narrowed his eyes at Megan. She couldn’t even let him have this one win without jumping in to be the hero. He dropped the chart on the desk and headed out to the break room. He needed to breathe for a few, but shortly after he sat down, Megan entered the room.

Charlie shook his head. “Don’t you have other patients to comfort? I’ll be in to do the real diagnosis in a few.”

She sat down across from him with her brown bag and thermos. It was the same lunch she ate most days, and Charlie took a moment to judge her for being boring.

“You know,” she said through a mouth full of sandwich, “diagnosis isn’t all there is to medicine. Studies have shown that environment and treatment make a pretty big difference, too.”

“Without diagnosis, there is no medicine.” Charlie stirred the dressing into the grilled-chicken salad he’d had delivered.

“You act like I’m abandoning one in favor of the other,” Megan said. “I’m not. The one who’s doing that is you.”

“I simply disagree that they’re equally important.”

“Even if they aren’t, that doesn’t mean you should completely abandon one of them.”

“I haven’t,” he said.

“I beg to differ,” she countered.

He could feel his own mouth tug into a half smile before he said. “Beg all you want, Bright. I’ll enjoy the sight of you on your knees.”

Her face turned the same shade as the raspberries in his salad, and she floundered a bit before she managed to respond. “I bet you would.” She stood and moved across the room, away from him. “Pervert.”

Charlie laughed to himself. “Not a pervert,” he muttered. But he couldn’t help imagining her cheeks turning red for other reasons. Did she have to be so beautiful? That was the biggest problem, truly. It wasn’t that he was in love with her. It was lust as far as the eye could see. He sat silently convincing himself that was true, while he punched down every warm, respectful thought he had about her.

The next patient they had together was a burn injury. Truth be told, neither one of them had been assigned this patient, who happened to be a man Charlie’s father once golfed with. Kayla had been assigned to him. But Charlie and Megan were both there to “help and advise,” which meant they were one-upping each other every chance they could get.

They stood behind Kayla disagreeing on treatment for no good reason, bickering like an old married couple.

After thanking them for their help ten times over, Kayla had finally had enough. “Guys, I think Mr. Stewart and I could use a little alone time? I’ve got it from here.”

Megan nodded and started out of the room, but Charlie couldn’t resist one more jab. He handed his card to the patient. “This is my personal number,” he said, allowing a sliver of pride to creep into his voice. “Both of these residents are relatively new and inexperienced, and while I’m sure they have great potential, they haven’t got legacy experience. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.”

The gentleman glanced down at the card. “Jon Sullivan’s son, huh? I certainly do know of your father’s reputation. Well, thank you for this.” He pocketed the card. “I’ll be sure to follow up if I need to.”

Charlie left the room behind Megan, who turned back to give him a dirty look. “That was practically poaching.”

“Not at all,” Charlie said. “He’s still Kayla’s patient. I’m just offering a consult if he needs one. He’ll be more comfortable with a familiar name.”

“That’s called nepotism,” Megan snapped, “and it’s a dick move.”

“Oh, stop being so protective of Kayla. You’re babying her, and I doubt she appreciates it. You baby everyone, you know. Some people prefer to be treated like competent adults.”

Megan shot back. “I’ll treat you like a competent adult when you start acting like one.”

“You don’t think I’m acting competent?” he asked. She was so angry and walking so fast that he had to jog to catch up to her.

“No, I don’t think you’re acting like an adult.”

He finally stepped alongside her and kept pace. “So you’re saying you’d like our conversations to be a little moreadult?”

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