The Doctor’s Simple Life (Love Heals All Wounds #3)

18. Sienna

CHAPTER 18

SIENNA

I wake up on Monday morning in my own bed, and I’m almost disappointed. Reece and I spent the entire weekend together.

And by together, I mean in bed.

It’s like he’s changed into a whole different person in just a couple of days. He’s sensitive and loving and keeps showering me with compliments that are so nice they’re almost embarrassing.

For the first time since he’s been here, I’m looking forward to seeing him in the morning at work, and I try not to think about what’s going to happen when he goes home. For good.

What’s going to happen to us?

Not that we’re a real thing. I doubt we’ll ever be a real thing.

But he wants me now, and I want him. I guess we’ll have to just see what happens next.

I get dressed and try to stop thinking about it. Instead, I let myself smile as the memories of yesterday wander through my mind. I’m not totally surprised, but by God, Reece knows how to use his tongue, for good as well as evil.

Everything is the same on my morning commute. I get into the car, sit in the traffic, then head through the front door of the hospital. Nothing is different.

Nothing except my heart.

For a change, Reece is early and smiling when I get there. I comment on it, and he shrugs. “I have a professional standard to maintain,” he says.

I raise the most dubious eyebrow I can muster. “Do you now? And how much of that professional standard is coming from seeing me this morning?”

“Hey,” he says teasingly, coming over to place his hand on my shoulder. He gives me that look again — that smolder — and my knees go all weak. “I’m very professional and good at my job, and everyone loves me.”

I raise both eyebrows even harder. “You just keep thinking that, Dr. Westbrook. Whatever makes you happy.”

“All right,” he says and grins. Then he leans in to kiss me, our lips colliding just as they have been all weekend.

I freeze in surprise, and he pulls back straight away. “Sorry, I just thought…” he starts, and I shake my head to cut him off.

“No, no, you’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

“No?”

“No. It might not be the height of professionalism, but… do that again.”

To my delight, he obeys.

We totally should not be doing this in the office. At least nobody is likely to walk in on us here, but it doesn’t stop it from being wrong. Just because we won’t get caught doesn’t mean we should be making out on work time.

Not that that’s ever stopped anyone else before. I hear the gossip all the time: who’s kissing who, who’s been caught in a compromising position, who’s been asked to stop. If all those people can do it, why can’t I?

This is just a harmless kiss, anyway. I don’t think even Reece would be so impulsive as to do anything more at work.

Then again, nothing feels harmless about this kiss. I can’t help the way it grows deeper, more frantic, and the thrillingly illicit fantasy of taking him here and now does cross my mind, like some awful sitcom. I get why people succumb to that kind of temptation now.

Resisting him is almost impossible.

But I do, because I’m a professional and don’t want to tarnish my reputation. “Reece,” I whisper. “Stop.”

He groans but pulls away. “Does it have to be Monday?”

“Unfortunately, yes, it does. And that means we have a job to do,” I reply. He pouts at me, his big blue eyes all wide, and I giggle. “Stop it! We’re busy today. We always are on a Monday.”

“Define busy,” he winks, and I punch him gently on the arm.

“We’re busy for us .”

“I can think of a whole bunch of things we could be busy doing.” He grins cheekily and swoops in for another kiss.

I give him five seconds before I pull away. Not that I want to. I can also think of a bunch of other things we could be doing right now.

But unfortunately for us, we are at work.

What we do later is our business.

Eventually we pull ourselves together and head out to do some work. I force my face into a neutral smile and deliberately leave at least a foot between us at all times. We’ve been ice cold to each other for as long as he’s been here. If something changes now, it’ll be beyond suspicious.

The last thing I need is for people to start gossiping about my personal life.

I’m on medication duty today, going round to the patients in their rooms and checking that they’re getting what they need in the appropriate amount. Nobody ever gave Reece his own job to do, so he’s still following me around like a puppy. It’s not like too many people need cosmetic surgery around here.

He did help in the case of a woman who came in after an accident with some bad burns, and he did a great job. But for the most part, he’s been kind of bored.

And now he’s bothering me in a way I can’t even be mad about.

“Hello, Mr. Whitney,” Reece says, greeting the patient with what could almost pass as a smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Not so great, Dr. Westbrook, if I’m honest. I’m dizzy and too cold.” Mr. Whitney has been with us for a few days now, recovering from a hip replacement.

This is usually the point where I step in and deal with the caring side of patient care, but I’m interested to see what Reece will do today. He’s in an unusually good mood, and I want to see if that will translate to patients. I’ll step in for an intervention if I need to, but for now, I let him proceed.

He picks up Mr. Whitney’s chart and doesn’t even complain about the paper. Instead, he flicks the sheet over with a flourish, absorbing the information. He throws me a smirk, and I resist the eye roll. “Are you in any pain at all, or is it just the dizziness?”

Mr. Whitney frowns. This guy is usually difficult, stubborn, and argues with everything you say, but I guess his meds are still making him dopey. That, and maybe Reece’s charming disposition is winning him over.

“It’s my head. And it’s cold in here. Won’t you get them to fix it right?”

Reece smiles that dazzling smile, and I have to force myself not to react. I can’t go swooning in the middle of the hospital. I am a professional. I can ignore the devastatingly handsome man next to me.

“I’ll see what I can do,” says Reece, “And while I’m at it, I’ll get them to alter your meds to see what we can do about that head, okay?”

“Thank you, young man,” Mr. Whitney says, and though he doesn’t smile, he’s as close to happy as he ever gets.

“Don’t forget,” I add. “The PT will be coming around later today to talk to you about your exercise program.”

Mr. Whitney groans. “I’ve got to do it, huh? You can’t get me out of it, Sienna?”

I smile and pat his shoulder comfortingly. “If I could, I would, but exercise is an important part of your rehabilitation.”

“Sienna is very good at exercise,” says Reece, and I shoot him a glare.

Mr. Whitney says nothing to that, and I only hope he didn’t pick up on what was being insinuated. Trying not to panic, I say goodbye and usher Reece out of the room.

“What the hell was that?” I hiss.

“What? I was being nice. I thought you’d be happy.”

“You can’t make that kind of comment in front of patients!”

He grins at me, and I take a deep breath. I will not weaken. “Mr. Whitney is basically senile. He’s not going to know, and if he does, he’s not going to care.”

“I care,” I huff. “It’s good to know you do too, though.”

Reece’s face falls as he realizes he doesn’t have an argument for that. He sticks his tongue out at me and says, “I know you like me really.”

“I know you like being here really,” I shoot back. “You’re starting to belong around here, kiddo.”

He folds his arms and storms off ahead of me, then pauses smack bang in the middle of the corridor to wheel back around to face me. I catch up and raise a quizzical eyebrow. He sighs and says, “Where are we going now?”

With a giggle, I shake my head. “I have some admin stuff to do.”

“Back to the office?” A sly smile spreads across his face.

I shouldn’t because I know exactly what’s going through his head, but I give him my own cheeky grin. “Back to the office.”

He glances around to make sure nobody is around, then leans in to whisper in my ear, “After you, then.”

It sends a shiver down my spine. As soon as the office door shuts behind us, his lips are on mine, and I don’t resist at all.