Free The Doctor's In Love (Pathway Series) by CJ Butcher Page A

dizzy.
    “I will not pass out. 
I will not pass out.” She kept repeating under her breath.
    “Hey there green eyes. 
I never thought I’d see you here.” Dr. Josh Maddox said smiling broadly.
    “Hi there, Doc, it’s
good to see you.”  Couldn’t Marisol come up with anything more original than that? 
She could crawl into a hole.  She held out her hand and he enveloped it with
his.  She shook vigorously and then suddenly stopped,  thinking that she was
treating his hand like a dog with a chew toy, shaking it back and forth.  She
flushed and withdrew her hand.
    “When did you start
working here?  I know I would have seen you here before.  I can pick you out of
a crowd.” He said winking.  He was a charmer; he could charm a snake out of its
skin.
    “About a year ago, but
I worked in the satellite office in Tree Lane.  I just moved to this office at
the end of October.   Almost 5 months here and my one year will be coming up in
March.” Marisol said rambling.  At her diarrhea of the mouth, Josh just laughed
and shook his head.
    “You should try
breathing in between some of those sentences.” At Marisol’s slightly embarrassed
look he said, “I’m just pulling your leg.  You always were a talker, but then
so am I - takes one to know one.   I was just dropping off charges from the
weekend admits.  You look good Marisol, really good.” She didn’t have glasses
any longer thanks to LASIK and she had lost at least fifty pounds.  She still
weighed about one hundred and fifty so she wasn’t wafer thin, but she had still
changed quite a lot.
    Marisol stared at him
in mute adoration before realizing that her mouth was hanging open and she
might be drooling a little.  She snapped it shut and said, “You look really
good too.  It’s been a long time.”
    “Too long.” Josh said
sadly.  “Look, I have to get back to the hospital, but are you doing anything
after work tonight?”
    “Doing anything?  Nope,
just going home.  I still don’t have much of a life besides work.” Oh God, why
did she just say that?  Was she losing what was left of her mind?  She dealt
with doctors all day and she didn’t just blurt things out to them.  I mean, she
did when it called for it but not like this.  What was she thinking?  Maybe it
was time to schedule that follow-up with her psychologist.
    “Great.  How about we
have coffee or something and catch up.  It’s been so long since we’ve seen each
other and I have so many questions.”  Josh looked over her shoulder and
whispered, “I think the dragon-lady is giving us the evil eye.” Marisol didn’t
have to ask who that was.  Her boss was the dragon-lady.  She had about as much
feeling for others as a table lamp.  Marisol glanced over her shoulder and sure
enough, she was being glared at.
    “You betcha.  She hates
me, but I’ll tell you all about it tonight.”  Marisol smiled and Josh leaned
over and kissed her on the forehead.
    “That’s great.  That
you’ll go out with me - not that she hates you…boy that didn’t come out right. 
So, I’ll see you tonight.  I really have missed this smile.  Let’s give her
something to talk about.” He touched her mouth with his thumb and rubbed her
bottom lip.  Marisol watched in amazement as he walked around her and walked
towards her office manager with purposeful strides.  Never in the 10 years
since she’d known him had he ever done anything that physical towards her
except maybe a hug.  She turned around and watched as he walked down the hall. 
She was in big trouble.  Her office manager glared at her and walked into her
office.  Just one more reason for Marisol not to be liked; not that she needed
one.  Her boss made it her point in life to make Marisol’s life miserable and
that was okay because she could handle it most days.  She just dealt with it
and put in her 8 hours and then went home, but some days were worse than
others.  Marisol could deal with the