Page 11 of Silver Fox's Intern Dilemma

My heart pounded again and my God, did I want him to kiss me. I knew it was wrong, and we had just listed every single reason it couldn’t happen, but here we were, about to make the same damn mistake.

"Jack, I…” I couldn’t even protest because I wanted him.

"Dr. Thornton, there you are." Dr. Briggs's words halted Jack's forward momentum and he swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing briefly before he turned to my co-intern. Savedby that interruption—or maybe not. Maybe I didn’t feel relieved. Maybe I felt really ticked that he'd walked in just when he had.

Of course, that was better than him walking in and seeing us kissing. Yes, definitely better. This couldn’t happen.

So why did I still want it to?

10

JACK

After a long day, the last thing I wanted was to disappoint Leah by telling her I had to cover an on-call shift tonight, and Dana would have thrown a fit. So, having no other choice, Leah joined me at the hospital. She sat across from me at the small dinette set in the on-call room with her workbook doing her homework as I typed my recorded patient visits into my computer to keep the transcript. She was quiet and well behaved, and we'd done this a few times before now. I had a few nurses who would step in and help watch her if I got called away.

"Daddy, what's this word?" Leah asked, pushing her notebook toward me. I glanced down at the page full of English terms and their definitions. She was supposed to match the term with its meaning by drawing a line from one to the other.

"It says, 'friend'. Do you know what that means?" I pushed the book back toward her and she grinned.

"That means Sophia. She's your friend." Leah's huge smile beamed, and I found myself smiling back at her.

"Yes, Sophia is a friend. Now finish your homework so we can watch a movie." I nodded at the book, hoping she didn't bring up my beautiful infatuation again. Sophia and I had a rough week.If she wasn't being flustered and distracted by me, I was gawking and admiring her poise and beauty.

That one little kiss had been the spark that ignited the forest fire of desire I felt in my body every time someone even said her name. I tried to focus back on my recording and transcribing the conversation, but I found myself staring at the screen, not really listening. Instead, my mind was fixated on this afternoon's interaction and how Sophia brought up our one-on-one session.

I winced and pinched the bridge of my nose. I was supposed to have met with her right now, in my office. I had been so busy trying to work out arrangements for Leah to be with me that I totally forgot I was meeting with Sophia.

Glancing at the time on my screen, I shut the laptop and stood. "Baby, I have to go to my office real quick. I'll be right back. You just do your homework, okay?"

Leah didn't even look up as she said, "Okay, Daddy." Her attention was fixed on her homework and I slipped out the door.

Before I even rounded the corner, I bumped into the person I was looking for. "Dr. Chen," I said hastily, watching the stack of index cards from her hand flutter all over the hallway.

"Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." Sophia dropped to her knees and started scooping up the cards. I crouched alongside her and helped, feeling bad for running her over.

"I totally forgot I was helping you tonight." I felt foolish kneeling in this hallway as nurses walked past watching us, though they didn't say anything to us.

"It's okay if you don't have time. I know you're pretty busy." Sophia sounded disappointed, and I felt bad for that too.

"Not at all. I just have Leah here with me. We're in the on-call room. We can go over some things there if you don't mind a seven-year-old doing her homework."

Sophia looked up at me and smiled as I handed her the stack of cards I had collected from the floor. She added them to her stack and nodded at me. "I don't mind at all. I really appreciate your taking time to help me." We both stood, and when I stretched to my full height, I realized for the first time how much taller I was than her. Her petite frame probably only rose to my shoulder. I thought it was cute.

And the way a single dark strand of hair snuck out of her scrub cap and hung by her temple made my fingers itch to tuck it behind her ear. I was used to seeing her makeup-less face and hospital scrubs, but tonight she looked more beautiful than normal. Maybe it was the lighting, or maybe I was just paying more attention.

"Should we go, then?" she asked nervously, glancing around the hallway while I stared at her like an idiot.

"Oh, uh… Yes." I turned and walked back around the corner and dipped into the on-call room. Leah wasn't at the table with her book anymore. She was on the bed with the Xbox remote in her hand, staring up at the screen mounted on the opposite wall. Her homework looked finished, and she grinned at me when I walked in.

"Daddy, what movie can we watch?" Her eyes lit up when Sophia followed me into the room and she tossed the controller and dashed over toward us. "Sophia, you're here! Want to watch a movie with me?"

I watched Sophia's eyes trace a line from Leah's face to the workbook on the table and then back to mine. She smiled and chuckled, then said, "I have to do a bit of homework. Maybe you can help me first? Then we can watch a movie. I heard there is a new superhero show."

Leah clenched her hands into fists by her face and shook a little as she grinned. "Yes! I will help. Then we will watch a movie." She reached up and snatched Sophia's hand and pulledher toward the bed. It was cute watching them interact. I shut the door and turned to see Sophia trying her hardest to sit up on the bottom bunk. Leah was able to sit up easily, but Sophia was a few inches too tall for that.

She hunched over and started sorting her cards, and I felt sorry for her. I grabbed two chairs from the dinette set and dragged them over, then positioned them so that she and I could sit facing each other while Leah sat on the bunk.

"Oh, thank you," Sophia said, blushing. She climbed off the bed and sat in the chair, and Leah took her stack of cards with a bit of authority. I'd seen the way she took charge while interacting with friends after school sometimes. I knew it was the influence of being an only child and being surrounded by adults who were constantly telling her to do things. She had a bit of an edge, but Sophia didn't seem to mind.

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