Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
A week later Josie paused in the hallway outside the recovery room to make a note on a patient’s file.
An elderly woman wasn’t doing well in her physical therapy sessions.
Josie wanted to speak with the therapist and Dr. Sheinberg about moving her to a short-term-care nursing home until she was more fully recovered from her hip replacement.
Sticking her pen in the pocket of her scrubs, it hit the shark tooth she had been carrying around since Houston’s accident.
She hadn’t seen him since the underwear incident, and she didn’t expect to.
He had made his feelings X-ray obvious. He did not want to be friends.
And she couldn’t just have sex with him here and there, whenever the urge struck the two of them.
She wanted to be able to. She wanted to be the kind of woman who could have casual sex and leave her heart out of it, but she wasn’t.
Her heart was already in it, and burrowing deeper by the minute, so it was probably all for the best that Houston had kicked her out of his condo, pulling her up from her knees where she had been hovering in front of his delicious version of The Full Monty.
Sure, she believed that it was all for the best. And maybe she would suddenly grow six inches and develop fashion sense.
Instead she just walked around feeling like a bad hair day, PMS, and a chronic case of lust had all just collided under the heading of Bitchy.
She felt like she’d had a breakup from something that wasn’t even a relationship.
The end result of her night with Houston was that she was back to where she was before, dateless and depressed, only this time she knew what she was missing. Before she had only imagined that Houston had a hot body and magic hands, now she knew. And had the lost lip panties to prove it.
Even though she hadn’t seen Houston, she’d heard about him. Dr. Sheinberg had come to discuss Houston’s surgery schedule and the changes that were going to be made until another surgeon could be brought on board to handle the caseload.
Josie wished she were qualified to be that surgeon, but she just wasn’t.
Even if she held Houston’s position for him.
Dr. Williams hadn’t been overly optimistic about Houston’s future.
He had been confident that in time, with therapy, Houston would have a normal life, able to drive a car and do daily tasks.
But he didn’t think that would extend to fine motor skills like writing right-handed or performing surgery.
With the possible loss of some mobility, and the complications from scar tissue and arthritis. Dr. Williams had said they would have to wait and see, but that returning to surgery was a long shot.
Guilt clung to her, creating sleepless nights and a tension headache that wouldn’t go away. Houston was so much more talented than she was, and he had lost his ability while she just slogged on, inadequate. She couldn’t even be a good friend to him without messing up and fondling his underwear.
She sighed and started walking again, flipping back through the file.
“Don’t walk into me. I’m not up to it today,” a familiar voice said in front of her, with no small amount of urgency.
Josie stopped dead in her tracks and looked up. There he was. Houston. Dr. Hayes.
Standing in front of her, wearing khaki pants that revealed none of the patchwork of sutures on his left leg. His weight was resting on his uninjured leg, and his right hand was still in a splint and wrapped.
His face looked a little pale under his tan, and he had dark circles under his eyes that she wanted to kiss and soothe away. Her fingers itched to touch him, and she concluded she was hopeless. Did he have to get a restraining order for her to get the message?
He didn’t want her. She needed to remember that.
“Dr. Hayes,” she said in a voice that only shook a little. “What are you doing here?”
And how was she going to maintain a professional facade when preoccupied with thoughts of him naked and stealing another pair of her panties?
Houston grimaced. “I’m bored, so I came to check and make sure nobody’s moved into my office.”
It was probably meant to be a joke, but she could see he was partially serious. Trying to lighten the tension on his face, she gestured to the very small foot or two between them. “I can’t believe I almost ran into you. I’m such a klutz.”
He opened his mouth as if to politely dispute that, then his lip twitched. He was fighting a laugh.
Okay, so maybe she was a klutz, but surely he could see that it was his fault for being so gorgeous? It was not a reflection of her medical skills as a whole.
Besides, it had been days since she had dropped anything. Maybe even an entire week. Annoyed that he could laugh when she had spent the week suffering, she crossed her arms. “I know I’m a little klutzy. That’s true. But it’s not true where it counts, in the OR.”
Eyes dropped to her chest in a completely inappropriate manner for the hospital. Not that it had ever stopped him before. “You’re not clumsy in the bedroom, either.”
Nor was she going to be seduced by his sensual voice. He had a hell of a nerve to even try after their last conversation, which concluded with him telling her to get out of his house.
Though a part of her couldn’t help but thrill that he still wanted her.
Josie rolled her eyes at him. “Except when I brought your bike down on top of me.”
“That was in the hall, not the bedroom. And besides, you had a good reason.” He smiled. A smile she didn’t trust, full of teeth, and confidence, and shared lust-filled memories. “Your shorts were around your ankles.”
They were in the hall, people passing them left and right, and he wanted to talk dirty to her after effectively blowing her off seven days earlier. Swell.
His idea of returning to just co-workers didn’t exactly mesh with hers. She had never once felt the need to dissect her graceless bedroom maneuvers with Dr. Williams, and she didn’t want to with Houston, either.
Of course she had never actually performed bedroom maneuvers with Dr. Williams. While she certainly had with Houston, bedroom or not.
“I need to see a patient. Excuse me.”
Josie started past him, hot with annoyance and that pesky little desire that always managed to crop up whenever Houston was around.
He touched her arm, stopping her. “Tomorrow you’ll be operating and I’ll be assisting you. You’ll have ample opportunities to prove to me how capable you really are.”
“What? You mean I won’t be working with Dr. Liu? I’ll actually be doing the surgery with you?” Her voice squeaked a little at the end, and she clapped her mouth shut.
Finally. Her chance for vindication, to prove to him that she wasn’t a malpractice suit waiting to happen.
He nodded. “But I’ll be next to you watching your every move, so don’t get too excited.”
Without realizing she did it, her gaze dropped to his bandaged hand. He tucked it behind his back, his expression defiant.
“Are you ready to be back?” She cursed the words the minute they were out of her mouth. Being ready wasn’t the issue for Houston. Being in control was.
“I mean, standing on your leg for a three-hour surgery... it will be painful.”
His tone was icy. “I can handle it. They were just puncture wounds, for God’s sake. Why does everyone insist on treating me like I’m incapable of monitoring my own health?”
While she supposed he had a valid point, Josie was irritated. She wasn’t just anyone and she didn’t deserve his anger. And he needed to realize that people caring about him wasn’t an insult.
Before she could stop herself, she spoke. “Maybe because some people would consider a man who chooses to stand for three hours on an injured leg to be careless with his own health.”
His mouth fell open. Then he gave a tight smile while she considered all the ways he had already implied that she was incapable, since he was the only surgeon unwilling to let her slice. It was about time he realized what it felt like to be second-guessed from here to Christmas.
“My brain is functioning just fine. It’s my body I’m having trouble controlling.” Those roving eyes went to her chest again and he gave a soft laugh. “Damn, I just see you, and I want you.”
“I know the feeling,” she said ruefully, sneaking a peek at his khaki pants, enjoying the outline of his cock against the crisp cotton. Between her anxious libido and her overzealous appetite for ice cream as a replacement for the sex she could no longer have, her body was running the show lately.
“Stop that,” he murmured, stroking his thumb across her arm. “I can’t get an erection on my first day back.”
He could kick her out of his house, but he couldn’t control that he still wanted her. And Lord, did she want him right back. He had been right. Being friends was a stupid idea.
“Tomorrow, then?” she asked, leaning a little closer to him.
Houston shook his head and dropped his hand, his mouth squeezed shut tightly like he was holding back a frustrated laugh. “God, I don’t know how to do this, Josie. I don’t know how to go back to being professional and distant with you.”
Don’t. Just don’t. What was so hard to grasp about that?
“Houston...” Emotions rose, garbled, confused, and uncertain. She didn’t know what she wanted to say to him.
“Come have a cup of coffee with me.” He gave a tug on the sleeve of her white coat.
“Okay.” Who knew what illuminations might arise over a cup of mocha latte? Maybe talking would relax them both, so they could at least pretend when in the presence of other people that they shared a normal working relationship.
Houston walked slowly down the hall, favoring his left leg, and she adjusted her gait to his. Which was an improvement over the way she normally had to come close to running to keep up with him and his giraffe-like strides.
But she sensed his frustration and embarrassment.
“Sorry. At this rate, we’ll get there in time for dinner.”