Smolder Read Online Free Page B

the office and was greeted by the effervescent Lee. She handed me a coffee and followed me into my office. A smile on her face stopped me from asking any questions. She gestured to my chair so I sat down, and she turned to make sure no one had entered the office.
    “So, Chief Mata or Dr. K?” she asked.
    “We had this conversation yesterday, nothing has changed.” I looked at her and she blushed. “Okay, what changed?”
    “Dr. K came in early today and was yelling at his residents. When they asked him why he was so upset he just said, ‘Someone I care about was threatened yesterday, and I'm worried.’” She glowed and her smile could not have been bigger.
    “I see you are still pro-Dr. K,” I noted. “He barely met me, so the someone he cares about could be someone else.”
    “Like you said, we discussed this yesterday. And now, it seems he is very interested in you. Even his residents came by to see if you were all right.”
    I shook my head. The speed gossip travels at hospitals wasn’t exaggerated by television medical dramas. If anything, it traveled faster and my assistant was part of the network. That would work to my advantage if it wasn’t me they were talking about.
    My phone messages consisted of a few concerned staff members checking on me and the rest were requests for help. I headed first to the intensive care unit. If you’ve never seen someone going through alcohol withdrawal, you should save yourself the agony. It was an ugly sight. Anger, pain, and hallucinations are present at the same time so I get yelled at, propositioned, and then accused of being evil all within one thirty minute interview.
    Family members stand by trying to apologize for the patient, appalled by what they hear, and offer stories of how wonderful the person tied to the bed really was. It was harder on them than me, and I tried to get them to stay home until the patient came out of it. Unless they were the ones giving their loved one alcohol, in which case keeping them nearby lessened the chances they'd buy them alcohol after the patient went home.
    It was a rough start to a day, but I managed to calm the person down and removed their family with a promise to have the nurse call when the patient began to recover.
    I next headed to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). This was where tiny bodies tried to recover from accidents and beatings. The older ones tried to tell me they weren’t attempting to kill themselves, they just wanted to see how many of their parent’s pills they could take at one time and survive. The experienced ones could say that to me with a straight face. At fourteen years old.
    I stepped out of the PICU when Chief Mata showed up.
    “Hello,” he said.
    “Are you following me?” He was sexy and a little dangerous. The warning bells went off in my head, the ones I ignored every other time a sexy man who would break my heart walked by. I was amazed by how persistent they were given that I’d never heeded the warning before.
    “I don't have to. We have security cameras everywhere.”
    I didn't want to tell him I was grateful after yesterday, but a part of me was also concerned the people who report to him could watch me everywhere I went. “That's a little creepy.”
    “I promise to tell them to stop looking if you pull me into a janitorial closet.” He laughed as he escorted me to the cafeteria.
    “That's nasty. Only on TV would they get it on in a room full of that many chemicals.”
    He looked like I slapped him.
    “Not when we are in a building full of beds,” I added.
    I smiled stepping in front of him as we entered the cafeteria. Chief Mata couldn't go into the doctor's lounge, so we dined in the cafeteria near a group of surgical residents. A few stolen glances from the residents didn't go unnoticed, but he didn't mention it.
    “We still have him locked up,” he said as he finished his meal.
    “I assumed that or you would have told me,” I replied. I wondered why he kept