Free Anyone but You by Jennifer Crusie

the only opening in the unit. People will notice that you're playing favorites."
    "Nonsense. The whole damn hospital knows about the work you do in the ER. You can go anywhere.
    They know that."
    I don't want to go anywhere, Alex thought. I like the ER, but his father rumbled on.
    "It's time you built a life, Alex. Got married. Settled down. And a wife isn't going to put up with the ER as a career."
    As if you'd know, Alex thought, and repressed the urge to point out that being a cardiologist hadn't done much for his father's three attempts at marital stability. "I'll think about it, Dad," he said. "But I've got to go now. I have a date."
    "Debbie? Fine, fine girl. She'll make you a good wife, Alex. And a good mother for your children.
    Don't screw up this time."
    Alex picked up a tie and sank back onto the bed. "I already did," he said as he threaded it one-handed around his neck. "Debbie and I decided we'd be happier if we weren't dating. I'm taking Tricia Webster to dinner."
    As usual, his father was fast on the recovery. "The little blonde in the business office? Seems very responsible. And sweet. Make you a good wife. And a good mother for your children."
    Alex shook his head. His father wasn't going to rest until Alex was a married cardiologist with offspring.
    At this point, he could introduce him to Fred and his father would say, "Seems very loyal. Make you a good wife. You can adopt."
    Thoughts of Fred led to thoughts of Nina. Now, she would make a good wife. She was pretty and warm and kind and she kept Oreos and milk on hand and she had a great dog.
    And a great body. The thought sprang to mind unbidden, and Alex stopped fighting with his tie and closed his eyes and thought of her, round and warm in her kitchen, laughing up at him with that soft pink mouth, and the memory fogged his mind and made his breath come quicker. He wanted to be taking Nina to dinner, not Tricia, but he knew better than to ask. She was used to older men, successful men like her ex-husband, the rich lawyer. She was used to big bucks and caviar, and he was med-school loans and Oreos.
    Of course, if he became a cardiologist, he'd have big bucks and caviar.
    His father's voice broke the thought. "Alex, are you listening to me?"
    "Yeah," Alex said. "Believe it or not, I am." He must be losing his mind. He needed a better reason for becoming a cardiologist than trying to get a date. Then thoughts of Nina clouded his mind again, Nina sitting across her big oak table from him, her chin in her hand, shaking her head at him, arguing with him, leaning back and smiling lazily at him. He remembered how graceful her neck had been as it curved into the loose pajama top, and how he'd wanted to draw his finger down that curve and pop her pajama buttons, one by one...
    There were worse reasons to become a cardiologist. "Alex?"
    "Yeah, Dad. Let me think about this some more." "Well, don't take too long. I can't hold on to this appointment forever."
    "Right," Alex said, bemused with visions of holding on to a naked Nina. "I really am going to think about it."

    * * *
    Ninas phone rang at ten that night while she was struggling with the final chapters of the upper-class twit's memoir.
    "Uh, Nina?" Alex's voice sounded harried. "Could you come down here? I need some help."
    "Help?" Nina swallowed. Alex's voice made her first grow tense and then grow warm, which wasn't good. She shouldn't see him. She thought about telling him she was busy, but there was panic in his voice, and if she could help, she should be neighborly...
    Five minutes later, Nina was in Alex's apartment, sitting on the couch and patting his weeping date, a tiny blonde with an enormous capacity for loud sobbing, who made Nina feel fat and sloppy in her jeans and pink T-shirt.
    "Meet Tricia," Alex said, and Tricia wailed louder, dripping tears onto her flowered slip dress no matter how fast Alex passed her Kleenexes.
    "What did you do to her?" Nina asked him, trying not to notice how great he