Doctor Daddy (Dirty Daddies #1)

Chapter 1 Elias

Elias

Elias Kingston wasn’t sure how the hell he had gotten himself mixed up in this stupid auction.

What man, or doctor, for that matter, would allow himself to be auctioned off for charity?

Him—he was the dumbass who agreed to be a part of it when the president of the hospital’s board asked him to be one of the charity’s bachelors.

He didn’t have to do it—he had job security as the head of the cardiovascular department at the hospital, but when she asked, he found himself smiling and nodding like a fool.

He had been with St. Jacobs for more than half of his career, and he had no regrets about staying with them.

When all his former colleagues were moving on to bigger, and in their words, better, hospitals, he was moving up the ladder at St. Jacobs.

He had built quite a name for himself, too.

Most of the nurses liked to call him Doctor Daddy, although he pretended not to notice.

But he had overheard them talking about him, and most of the time, he found it amusing.

But lately, he hated that they were building him into some fantasy that he probably would never be able to live up to.

It's why he came up with the rule not to date anyone who worked at the hospital, which basically nixed his dating life. He spent most of his waking hours at the hospital, and not dating any of the women who worked there had him spending most of his time off alone, wondering if he needed to get out more. But at his age, the thought of going out to a nightclub wasn’t one that he wanted to entertain.

He was too old for that shit, not that he’d admit that to anyone.

Hell, he was too old for this fucking auction, but running out now wasn’t an option.

Not when the nice lady from human resources, who was hosting the event, had talked him up and convinced him that this was a good idea.

The host even went the extra mile, selling it to him by stroking his ego, which wasn’t usually something that he’d be into.

But he had a thing for brunettes with southern accents, and she fit the bill.

When she told him that he would be marketed as the charity’s hot “Doctor Daddy,” he nearly choked on his coffee.

He realized that she was going to push him out on a make-shift stage and try to pass him off onto some woman with daddy fantasies.

But with his luck, he was pretty sure that meant that he’d end up spending the night with a woman a few years older than him, talking about all her medical issues.

Older women loved him. Just the other day, he had a patient hit on him, and when she said that they were probably about the same age, he wanted to crawl under the exam table.

Especially after she left and he looked at her medical records to find out that she was sixty-five years old—and he had just had his forty-fifth birthday.

Elias spent the rest of the week trying to decide if he should dye his graying hair dark brown again or buy into the whole “Aging gracefully” thing that seemed to be all the rage right now.

Elias spent the rest of that week staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, debating whether it was time to dye the gray out of his hair again or lean into becoming a “Silver fox” as he had heard some nurses call him.

But when the hospital called, he had to settle for keeping his hair the color it was because he had surgeries to perform and no emotional bandwidth for existential crises.

And now, here he was, standing backstage in a tuxedo that fit him like a fucking glove, listening to the muffled hum of voices and laughter (mostly from women) drifting through the curtain.

“This is for charity,” he muttered under his breath, adjusting his bow tie.

“You’re doing a good thing,” he reminded himself.

Reassuring himself was the only way that he was going to get through this shit show, but even his own reassurances didn’t stop his palms from sweating and his throat from feeling as though it might completely close up.

The host was a woman with far too much enthusiasm and a microphone that made a god-awful squeal every time she moved, started hyping him up from the stage.

He had caught bits and pieces of her sales pitch.

She went on about him being a world-renowned cardiologist. She even tossed in that he was tall and distinguished, but her top-selling point was the fact that he was single.

Elias closed his eyes, inwardly groaning to himself. “Just kill me now,” he whispered to himself.

The curtain shifted, and the very perky host gave him a thumbs-up.

That was his cue. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and stepped out under the lights, forcing himself to smile as applause filled the banquet room.

He looked out into the audience as the crowd blurred at first, and then slowly sharpened into focus.

He saw a few familiar faces, but mostly people he didn’t know—and most of them were women.

He quickly looked around the room, his eyes landing on a woman who seemed to be out of place in the crowd.

She didn’t sit in the front row; instead, she stood in the back of the room.

She wasn’t dressed up like the other women, who seemed to want to impress each other with their clothes, jewels, and especially their money.

Her bid card hung in her hand by her side, not at the ready like the other women.

She stood in the back of the room with her arms crossed over her ample chest, her eyes sharp and amused as though she was there to watch the spectacle of what was about to happen—not to participate.

Her hair was dark and pulled back into a messy bun, and she looked to be younger than he was—definitely younger than him.

She met his gaze, one brow lifting slightly as a slow, knowing smile made her mouth curve as if she could see straight through the bullshit.

And for the first time that night, Elias felt something other than dread.

He was interested—in her, in her story, and that was something new for him.

Before he could even catch his breath, the bidding started, numbers flying around him as the crowd grew louder.

But Elias barely heard the commotion. His focus stayed locked on the woman in the back of the room who hadn’t lifted her card even once.

But he wanted her to more than he wanted his next breath.

His heart felt as though it was going to beat out of his chest as he stared her down, willing her to raise her hand and bid on him.

And then she did, just once, and his world felt as though it had slowed down. The room fell silent and then erupted into applause as he stood on the stage trying to catch up on what had just happened.

“Sold to the lady in the back of the room. Hold up your paddle so that I can see your number, dear,” the host said.

He watched as the beautiful brunette did as asked, and Elias exhaled, his smile turning real this time.

Well, so much for an evening of polite conversation with an older woman who wanted medical advice from him.

It looked as though the charity gods had other plans for him, and he was just fine with that.