Free PATIENT CARE (Medical Romance) (Doctor Series) by Bobby Hutchinson

She was moving to Las Vegas in the hope of becoming a showgirl, she’d told him, and she had a word of advice for him before she left. He needed to take a long, hard look at his priorities. Any guy who’d choose to hang around the ER just in case there might be a surgical emergency rather than go to a club with her— well, a guy like that had some major issues he ought to deal with.
    He’d brushed her words aside at the time, reminding himself that it wasn’t Heidi’s brain that had attracted him in the first place. But these past few days, with job action making it impossible for him to immerse himself in his usual routine of surgeries, her words had come back to haunt him. If his work was factored out of his life’s equation, there wasn’t one hell of a lot left, was there.
    James turned to Melissa. “How about you? What d’ya do for fun?”
    “Fun? Gosh, I don’t know—”
    She shrugged, and it was reassuring to James to see the confusion in her expression.
    “I’ve been so busy these past few years, going to school and working at the same time, I guess I haven’t given too much thought to fun.”
    “What did you guys used to like to do, when you were kids?” Rudy wasn’t letting either of them off the hook.
    She pursed her mouth, thinking. She had a lush, full mouth, made for kissing, James noted.
    “Roller-skate. And dance, I loved to dance.”
    “There ya go.” Rudy sounded triumphant. “Why don’t the two of you go dancin’? It would do you both good. You need to get out more.”
    James shook his head. “I don’t dance.” It was one activity he hadn’t been able to master right away, so he’d stopped trying years earlier.
    Luckily, Melissa was also shaking her head. “I don’t have time enough these days to breathe, never mind go dancing.” She glanced at her watch and let out a squawk of horror. “My God, I’ve gotta run. Thanks, Rudy.” She flashed a smile at James. “See you later, Doc.”
    James watched her hurry off, long legs making the flippy little chestnut skirt swing, red hair gleaming like brass in the morning sunlight.
    “She’s one good-lookin’ woman,” Rudy said with an appreciative sigh. “How old is she, anyway, thirty, thirty- one, maybe?”
    “Thirty-six.” James had made it his business to find out.
    Rudy whistled. “She’d better get cracking with the babies. Her clock is on fast-forward,” Rudy said. “You got a lady friend, Doc?”
    Although it wasn’t any of Rudy’s business, James shook his head. “Nope, not at the moment.”
    “Then, why don’t you ask Melissa out? Sounds to me like she could use some R and R. Sounds like all she does is work, work, work. That can’t be healthy, right? In fact, you ask me, both of you are on the wrong track there. It’s kinda pathetic.”
    Pathetic? Who did Rudy think he was, calling two professional people who took their work seriously “pathetic”?”
    “I did ask her to dinner,” James snapped.  “She turned me down.”
    “So you got rejected. It happens to the best of us.” Rudy gave him a disparaging look. “So ask her again, Doc.”
    James’s temper flared. He didn’t appreciate being given advice. Didn’t Rudy know that meeting Melissa here at 6:45 in the bloody morning wasn’t exactly an accident? It had been an inspired move on his part, James felt. And he wasn’t exactly a charity case when it came to dating. Rudy needed to mind his own business.
    A few days ago, James might have told him so. Now, though, he had to admit he’d grown fond of Rudy, in spite of the endless personal questions and the banal advice on life in general. He didn’t want to hurt him, so he swallowed his irritation.
    “Maybe I’ll do that. See you later, Rudy.” James headed for St. Joe’s. He was a doctor, a surgeon, responsible and hardworking, and a benefit to society, he reminded himself.
    He certainly wasn’t pathetic. But as he showered and changed into the fresh pants and the newly laundered golf