Free Expecting the Doctor's Baby by Teresa Southwick Page A

asked.”
    â€œI know.” Darlyn smiled. “And I know this man pushes some professional buttons for you.”
    Some personal ones, too. But she wouldn’t say so. “Yeah. He does,” she agreed.
    â€œIf there was any other way, I wouldn’t ask you to do it.”
    â€œI know.” There was no point in trying to wiggle out of this. Her back was against the wall. “I’ll do my best.”
    â€œThat’s a given. Thanks, Sam.”
    â€œDon’t mention it.”
    She stood and walked back to her office. It shouldn’t surprise her that Mitch was still there, but his presence took her aback.
    â€œSo, what’s the verdict?” he asked.
    â€œAs if you didn’t already know.”
    â€œI take it you’re my new counselor?”
    â€œOh, please.”
    â€œExcellent,” he said with a grin. “So I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
    â€œNot the way you mean.” She looked up at him and got a smidgen of satisfaction when the grin disappeared and his eyes narrowed. The fact that he’d completely disregarded her ultimatum—wishes, needs, whatever you want to call it—was proof that this was wrong. The only way to make it right was to lose herself in the job.
    â€œYou can make an appointment on your way out,” she said.
    If there was any good news, it was that he’d changed the professional dynamic and there was no way she would sleep with him again. No matter how he tempted her personally, she’d never jeopardize her career. Showing her father that she wasn’t a flake took top priority. Violating the ethics of her office wouldn’t get the job done.
    Mitch Tenney with his devil grin and killer bod might tempt her to compromise something she’d worked so long and hard for but she’d never give in to it.
    Â 
    Mitch wanted more of Sam, but not here at the hospital. He leaned against the wall outside of trauma bay three and studied her, taking notes on him. She’d told him that before his next appointment she needed to observe him at work—or as he liked to say to her, in his natural habitat.
    She looked so darn cute with her square, black-framed glasses on her turned up nose and curls pulled back in a ponytail that skimmed the spot on her neck that he knew was particularly sensitive. If the E.R. wasn’t teeming with employees, he’d take that spot out for another spin and see if history would repeat itself and he could coax a moan from her Cupid’s bow mouth.
    He’d really enjoy giving her something else to do with her hands instead of writing down everything he said and did, evaluating his people skills she called it. Have clipboard will document every interaction. When he’d insisted on her as his counselor, he’d figured to spend time with her and dispel whatever reservations she had about seeing him. But being shadowed on the job wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind.
    â€œHow’s the hand?” he asked.
    She glanced at him and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “What?”
    â€œGot writer’s cramp yet?” he said, pointing to the clipboard. “You’re taking a lot of notes. I can’t imagine that someone with the flu, or a broken arm and a bump on the head, is grist for the great American novel.”
    She held the clipboard to her breasts like armor. “It’s not fiction. In fact the material I’m gathering on you will be incredibly helpful in your retraining.”
    â€œRetraining?” He folded his arms over his chest. “What am I? A seal?”
    â€œYou’re a talented and dedicated emergency room doctor whose people skills need tweaking.”
    â€œYou think I’m talented?” he asked.
    â€œNo one disputes that,” she said, a faint pink creeping into her cheeks.
    She was remembering that night, too, and he was glad not to be the only one. He sincerely hoped the talented she