Carol Marinelli - Hot Docs On Call - Surgeon's Seduction

“Is this where you’re going to start spouting off at me about how my chosen specialty is for dinosaurs?” Sam teased. “That there will be no need for pediatric surgeons or neonatologists?”

Mindy laughed. “I’m sorry, Dr. Napier. As I said, I was quite annoyed to see you as a resident.”

“I know. I know. Trust me, I felt the same.”

“You were annoyed I was an attending?”

Sam nodded. “Of course. A woman I’d had an amazing night with was now off-limits.”

Mindy snorted. “Like you had every intention of calling me again.” She walked out of the NICU and Sam trailed after her.

“You don’t know that,” Sam protested. Though she was right. At the time he hadn’t had any intention of calling her again, but spending a week with her on her service had made him think differently about her. He’d seen her in a new light. If it wasn’t a bad idea, if he had more time to commit to a relationship instead of being tied to the hospital, he would pursue a woman like Mindy Walker.

“We didn’t exchange numbers,” Mindy said.

“Ah, but I know where you live. I could’ve found out if I chose too.”

Mindy chuckled. “That sounds mighty stalkerish, Dr. Napier. Mighty stalkerish indeed.”

Sam groaned. “Oh, come on. It’s not stalkerish at all.” He leaned over the charge desk as she pulled a chart from behind the counter. “How is the new resident on your service going?”

“That’s not any of your business,” Mindy said, not looking at him.

“I’m just curious, that’s all.”

“No, you’re not. You’re competitive, you shark.” It wasn’t said in an accusatory tone, there was a twinkle to her eyes.

“I swear, it’s not competitive in nature. Just curious. I heard some… complaints.”

Mindy’s mouth dropped open. “Complaints? What do you mean, complaints? From who?”

Sam grinned. “I can’t say, unless I want to get attacked by a pod of sharks. Do sharks come in pods, I wonder?”

Mindy frowned and then playfully pushed. “Jerk!”

“What was that for?”

“What complaints?” Mindy demanded. “As your superior, I demand you tell me.”

Sam cocked an eyebrow. “As my superior, you demand I tell you? I don’t think so.” He turned to leave but she grabbed his arm.

“Come on, tell me. This is my first job in a teaching hospital and I want to make sure that I’m imparting my wisdom on the residents well.”

“You’re doing a fine job. Really, the complaints were that you were a bit demanding and a workhorse.”

Mindy smiled then, but then cleared her throat. “Is that all?”

“It pleases you to know you’re being tough.”

“It does. I want them to be afraid of me and my service.”

“You want to be like the Godzilla of the OB/GYN floor?” Sam asked.

“If you can survive my toughness then you can make it in my field.”

“Ah, but there’s a problem. The residents currently rotating on your service aren’t OB/GYN residents. You have a whole smackerel of them who are chomping at the bit to work with you. You’re working with residents who are eyeing a pediatric fellowship with Dr. Chang. So it might be lost on them.”

Mindy smiled smugly. “That may be, Dr. Napier, but I deal with kids when they’re still developing. I have to be hard on all residents who have any kind of inkling of wanting to work with children. They’re a precious commodity. If you can’t stand the heat…”

“Get out of the oven?”

Mindy laughed. “Kitchen, Dr. Napier.”

“So, I have to ask, did Dr. Snow do well in the procedure?”

“I wouldn’t know. She never did make it to surgery.”

Sam was confused. “I can’t see her missing something like that. She’d as soon as skin me than let me have a shot at any specialized procedure. Of all the sharks, she’s the nastiest.”

“You think highly of her,” Mindy teased, and then she sighed. “Actually, I didn’t let her into my OR and she’s effectively off my service.”

Now he was intrigued. “And you’re not going to elaborate any further.”

“It’s not prudent. You are her competition.”

Sam didn’t say anything further as Mindy finished her charting and set the binder back in its place. The only thing that would have kept Dr. Snow out of surgery was if she’d done something really bad to anger her attending. In their first days, Dr. Snow had been a bit pompous, but she was a talented surgeon and Sam couldn’t help but wonder what Dr. Snow had done. Well, whatever it was, it wasn’t his business to know.

Mindy was right. Dr. Snow was his competition and he didn’t want to have any unfair advantages.

“That’s foolish, Samuel! Take whatever advantages you can get. Given the chance, another surgeon will stab you in the back to take your spot.”

His mother’s cutthroat attitude had never sat well with him.

It was his father’s gentle soul which always seemed to win out. His mother’s downfall was that sometimes she acted before she thought and Sam was a bit more methodical. He didn’t gossip; he didn’t jump into the fray unless it was during a medical emergency.

“I’m going to go grab a coffee. I still have a few more hours left on my shift. I’ll see you around.” Mindy moved around to the other side of the charge desk and headed down the hall.

“Dr. Walker… Mindy, wait.”

Mindy spun around, stunned, but she didn’t chastise him for using her first name.

“Would you like to get a cup of coffee with me? I’m on call, but I thought you might like some company.”

What are you doing?

He didn’t know. He never acted this spontaneously, but he couldn’t help himself. All he knew was he was probably setting himself up for something he wasn’t sure he was ready for.

Mindy stood there for a few moments, absolutely dumbfounded. It felt like she was standing there for hours, but of course that was foolish.

She was surprised that Sam had asked her to have coffee with him.

Say no. You can’t trust him. He’s just using you .

“Sure.” She couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

What’re you doing? She didn’t know at that moment. She was actually surprised at herself, but she was lonely. She knew hardly anyone in New York. There was no harm in getting a cup of coffee.

Sam smiled the grin that melted her heart. Darn him .

“Good. I have to get my post-op notes off to Dr. Chang. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria in thirty minutes?”

“No, not the cafeteria.” If she was going to go through with this then she was going to do it outside the hospital.

“Where, then? I’m on call and I can’t go far.”

“There’s a coffee shop next to the hospital. You’ll be close enough to run back if you get called in.”

“Okay.” Sam picked up his notes. “I’ll see you there in half an hour.”

“Sure,” she said nervously, and then quickly walked away before she did something ridiculous like blush.

This was not going according to plan. Her plan had been to swear off Sam, even though she knew that was going to be a hard thing to do. There were so many things about him that she liked and admired. She also had a hard time forgetting about the way he kissed, even though that had been nearly a month ago.

Sam was also the only person she’d really connected with in New York. She’d spoken to other attendings, her patients, nurses, but there wasn’t a connection. Mindy had been so busy she hadn’t had the time to form any friendships or to get to know anyone. And she had a hard time opening up.

Perhaps she was blocking them out because she was scared of trusting people. Especially after what had happened in California.