Free The Procedure by Tabatha Vargo, Melissa Andrea Page A

looked sad. “After last night, I’m glad she met David today. That poor girl needed a good day.”
    “Thanks, Linda. I’m glad you were the one with her last night.” Leaning in close and looking around to make sure no one was in hearing distance, I whispered. “You know you’re our number one, right?”
    I smiled as a heated blush flushed the older woman’s cheeks. Picking up a few files on the counter, she pretended to busy herself with them.
    “I’m sure you say that to all the nurses, Dr. Roman.”
    I heard Samantha laugh next to me and couldn’t control my grin as I turned to face her. “Are you taking her side?” I teased her.
    She held her hands up in the air. “I’m merely an outsider, looking in.”
    “Uh-huh. Linda, this is Samantha Aldridge. Samantha, this is Linda. My favorite nurse.”
    Linda and Samantha both laughed, shaking hands. They began to talk while I looked over Tori’s file.
    Apparently, Tori had a rough night and needed extra pain medicine. It hurt my heart to read that part.
    I could feel Samantha’s stare on my profile as I read each file thoroughly. When I turned to face her, she was caught staring, and a sweet pink blush covered her cheeks. I loved that she even though she was a married woman, she still had enough innocence to blush. It was an extremely attractive trait.
    “Thanks, Linda,” I said when the women’s conversation came to halt. “Don’t tell them I’m here. I’d like to surprise them.”
    Turning away, I said, “Come on. There are some amazing people I want you to meet.” I headed down the hall to Tori’s room first.
    Her heels bumped softly against the carpeted hallway, and the soft smell of her perfume whispered across my cheek. I could feel her body heat on my side. She was that close. I liked it.
    I stopped suddenly at Tori’s door. Samantha wasn’t paying attention and walked into my side, igniting something searing inside of me.
    “Alright?” I asked.
    Shyly tucking a stray hair behind her ear, she smiled up at me and nodded. I longed to touch her hair the way she had. To run my fingers through her blonde strands of softness before bringing it to my nose and smelling the locks. Her shampoo smelled amazing. I’d gotten a few whiffs once when she adjusted the long strands beside me. It was an aphrodisiac.
    Again, I had to shake myself and adjust my way of thinking.
    Tori’s face lit up when I stepped through the door, and I couldn’t keep the cheek-splitting smile from my face. The young girl had become so special to me. Just seeing her made my day. It was even better on days when she smiled.
    “Dr. Roman!” she called out from her hospital bed.
    Her face was healing nicely, the burns still noticeable, but the new skin I’d grafted blending quite nicely. She would need more surgeries, but still, even with most of her face covered in burns, she was such a beautiful young girl.
    “Tori!” I called back, sounding as excited as she did. “How are you feeling today, love?” I asked, reaching out to ruffle the soft hair she’d grown back since the fire.
    “I’m okay,” she said. And then her face dropped, breaking my heart and making me feel as if my stomach had bottomed out.
    “Tell me. What is it?” I asked.
    “He never came.”
    He being her father, who had suddenly found it difficult to show up and visit his daughter. Her mother was here on a daily basis, but her father, I’d only seen him once or twice.
    “I’m sure he’s just busy, Tori,” I said, sorrow lacing my voice.
    Reaching in my pocket, I pulled out a new clamshell and sat it on her bed. Her downcast eyes brightened, and she smiled up at me.
    “You brought me another. Thank you so much, Dr. Roman.”
    She stood slowly from her bed and limped across the room to the table where all the seashells I’d brought her rested. She’d told me once in the beginning that she wanted to be beautiful like a mermaid. I’d told her she was already more beautiful than a mermaid and