Jacquelin Thomas - Case of Desire

She walked inside, carrying a medium-size plant. “I thought your office could use some brightening up.”

He smiled. “Thank you, Isabelle. That was very sweet of you.”

“It needs lots of light, so I’ll put it over here,” she was saying.

The scent of her perfume was distracting—mostly because it was the same scent that Kendra wore.

“How are you enjoying our city?” Isabelle asked.

“It’s nice,” he replied. “I’ve always liked Alexandria.”

Isabelle gave him a sexy grin. “Really?”

“It’s nice here and I love exploring the rich history, but I’m a New Yorker for life.” He noted a flash of disappointment in her eyes. Maxwell didn’t want to give her false hope.

“Ray mentioned that you were thinking about going into pediatrics,” Maxwell stated.

She nodded. “I love children.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Since you’re here, I’d like to talk to you about Terrence Matthews.”

“Okay,” she responded. “What do you want to know?”

“Did you ever notice anything that you considered odd behavior?” Maxwell asked.

“There were a couple of times that he didn’t seem quite himself, but I thought it was because he was tired. We work some pretty long hours from time to time. Oh yeah, he did miss a couple of staff meetings, but I’ve missed one before. Time can get away from you.”

Maxwell played with his pen. “So you never suspected that he was abusing drugs?”

“No, I didn’t. To be honest, I was shocked when I heard that he was stealing them from the hospital.”

Maxwell silently noted that almost everyone had the same sentiment. He’d read many of the witness statements over the weekend. Terrence Matthews was apparently a functioning drug user.

She ran her fingers through her hair. “Do you have any more questions for me?”

He went over his notes. “This is it for now.”

“Well, I’ve kept you from your work long enough,” Isabelle said with a short laugh. “I want you to know that we’re really glad you’re here. This hospital needs someone like you in our corner.”

Maxwell pushed away from his desk and stood up. He knew that Isabelle was vying for his attention, but he was not attracted to her, although he considered her extremely beautiful.

“Thank you for speaking with me, Isabelle. Everything we discussed will remain confidential.”

“I’m not worried,” she told him. “I like Dr. Matthews, but what he’s doing to this hospital is wrong.”

“Thank you for the plant as well.”

She glanced up at him, smiling. “It was my pleasure, Mr. Wade.”

“Call me Maxwell,” he told her.

“Sure thing.”

He laughed. “I’ll walk you out.”

Maxwell wasn’t sure what happened next, but the next thing he realized she was falling. Reacting quickly, he reached out to grab her.

Camille eyed the calendar and decided that since today was Maxwell Wade’s first official day at Hopewell General, she should do something nice for him. He had not only protected her from Dr. Dudley, but had gone out of his way to make sure that she was okay.

She left her office before she could change her mind about asking him to have lunch with her.

Camille’s pace halted at the presence of Isabelle Morales in Maxwell’s arms when she arrived at his office.

Camille was astounded. He had been in the hospital for less than a day and already had one of the interns in his arms.

She sent Isabelle a sharp look. Camille couldn’t believe that her coworker would behave so blatantly.

Without a word, she returned to her office in a huff.

The thought of Maxwell getting involved with Isabelle bothered Camille to the core, as much as she hated to admit it. She had to sheathe her inner feelings as a sense of inadequacy swept over her.

A few minutes later, Maxwell appeared in her doorway.

“You ran off before I could explain.”

“You don’t owe me any explanation,” Camille responded stiffly.

“What you saw back there …it’s not what it looked like.”

She met his gaze. “You really don’t have to explain anything to me. Who or what you do in this hospital is not my concern. However, you should at least close the door. Especially after the conversation we had this morning about sexual harassment. I can’t believe you would place yourself and Dr. Morales in a position to be gossiped about.”

“Isabelle …Dr. Morales was about to fall. There—”

Camille interrupted him by saying, “We need to block out some time to discuss the legal issues the hospital

is dealing with. If it’s okay with you, I’ll email you with a time to meet.”

“That’s fine,” Maxwell said. “Is that why you were coming to see me?”

“Yes,” she lied.

Camille picked up her phone, silently dismissing him. She was aware of Maxwell watching her, but pretended not to notice that his presence had overtaken her off ice.

He stood there for a moment in silence, then turned on his heel and left.

Camille waited until she was positive that Maxwell was gone before hanging up. She wasn’t really planning to make a call; she just wanted him to leave her office.

“Isabelle was right,” she whispered. “She said he wouldn’t be alone for long.”

She really liked Isabelle, but for some reason, Camille did not like the idea of her friend getting involved with Maxwell. After all, Maxwell seemed to enjoy his life as a bachelor. He was often linked with actresses or socialites when he and Kendra weren’t involved. Camille didn’t want to see Isabelle get her heart broken.

She didn’t want to consider that there could be another reason why she didn’t want to see Isabelle with Maxwell.

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