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

“Right. I forgot.”

The waiter brought a tray of assorted sandwiches and blinis with caviar. Sam thanked the waiter and then held out a blini with caviar on it.

“So, you said you were how adventurous when it comes to your food?”

The smile returned to Mindy’s face. “No way out of this, is there?”

“Nope.”

She held out her plate and he gave her one. The rest of the tea went well. They talked about the hospital, about cases, about New York, and neither of them pried further into the other’s personal life.

It was a nice, friendly tea.

When it was over he hailed a cab and they took a taxi back to her apartment. He walked her to the door and stood under the canopy with her, not wanting their day to end but knowing that it must.

“I had a great time today, Sam. Thank you for showing this California girl around New York.”

“It was no problem. I’d been meaning to revisit some of those spots myself. I hadn’t been to the Statue of Liberty since I was a young boy.”

“Well, I’m glad you took me.”

“Me too.”

An awkward silence fell between them. They just stood there. He wanted to reach out, run his hands over her cheek and pull her into a kiss. That’s usually how he ended dates when he was dating.

Only he couldn’t with her.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Sam.” Mindy turned and disappeared inside.

Sam sighed, jammed his hands into his pockets and left to catch the subway back to his lonely flat in Brooklyn.

Not that he’d be alone as most of his roommates were off tonight, but without Mindy the world seemed like a pretty hollow, lonely and empty place.

It was the same world he woke up in every day, but after spending one day with Mindy he realized just how lonely he was.

MINDY TRIED NOT to let her gaze wander to Sam as she walked into the boardroom. It had been a week since their day in New York together. When he’d walked her to the door of her apartment she’d lingered.

She didn’t know why. Perhaps it had been habit. She had been waiting for him to kiss her, even though kissing him again wouldn’t have been wise.

Yet she’d waited there and he hadn’t done anything. Just stood with her, his blue eyes dark, his face unreadable.

She actually didn’t know why he’d waited there either, but the more he’d lingered the more she’d fought herself over inviting him up to her apartment. Of course, the last time she’d done that they’d slept together and she couldn’t do that again.

Though she’d wanted to.

Being with Sam was so easy. She admired and respected him as a surgeon; he was fun, sexy, intelligent. Sexy.

Stop thinking about sex and his sexiness .

Only she couldn’t when she was around him.

Focus .

Right now she had in front of her a skilled team of pediatricians, neonatologists, nurse practitioners, residents, anesthesiologists, just about anyone who could possibly help with her quint case. Mindy had been keeping an eye on Mrs. Jameson for about a week, but it was apparent to Mindy that with Mrs. Jameson’s condition they would have to prepare an elite team of practitioners in preparation for the quints’ birth.

It was coming sooner rather than later.

She glanced up quickly to see that Sam was sitting next to Dr. Chang, leaning back in the chair, focused on her intently. When their gazes met he smiled, just briefly.

It sent a zing through her.

Before she could get started, though, there was a knock and Professor Langley stepped into the room.

“My apologies, Dr. Walker. I hope I haven’t missed anything.”

“No, of course not. Come in.”

He nodded and then waved to someone else who was standing just outside the door. “I hope you don’t mind, but I read the case file on the quints. I noticed one of them had a brain bleed that might need to be addressed.”

“Yes. I was about to talk about the medical conditions of the babies.”

“I thought you might want the help of one of the finest neurosurgeons. So I brought in Dr. Hanley.” He stepped aside and Dr. Hanley stepped into the room.

Mindy’s eyes widened. There was a collective gasp. Everyone knew who Dr. Hanley was. Who didn’t? She was one of the most renowned and respected neurosurgeons.

“Thank you for allowing me to join you.” Dr. Hanley’s gaze fell on Dr. Chang and Sam. “Dr. Chang.”

There was an odd tone to Dr. Hanley’s greeting and as Mindy glanced at Sam she could see he was not happy. His lips were pressed together in a firm line of annoyance.

Mindy knew he had issues with Professor Langley, but open hostility wouldn’t be good for his career and could impede his fellowship.

“You can proceed now, Dr. Walker,” Professor Langley, the chief of surgery, said, taking a seat next to Dr. Hanley.

“Thank you.” Mindy turned to the computer and brought up an ultrasound and Mrs. Jameson’s medical records. “As you can see, Mrs. Jameson is a thirty-four-year-old female whose LMP was approximately thirty weeks ago today. She is Gravida One and Parity X. That pregnancy resulted in a forty-week-term delivery of a healthy baby boy who weighed approximately eight pounds seven ounces. There were no complications.”

Mindy went on with her presentation, explaining about the different quints, and began to set out the teams that would be responsible for each baby. Most of the babies didn’t seem to have a whole lot of medical problems. The fact that Mrs. Jameson had gotten to thirty weeks was a blessing, but she was starting to have frequent contractions and Mindy knew she had to get the teams prepared now, because once one of the waters broke that was it. It was time to get those babies out.

“As you can see, it’s baby C that has fluid buildup around his brain and baby C is the one we’re most concerned with.” Mindy clicked on a close-up of baby C.

Dr. Hanley got up and walked over to the screen. “Hmm, I would need some more comprehensive films, but it looks like a simple shunt would take care of that. We should closely monitor that buildup of fluid, Dr. Walker. If it continues, we shouldn’t delay in delivering the babies.”

“I agree, Dr. Hanley,” Mindy said. “I’ll have that set up for you right away.”

“Do.” Dr. Hanley didn’t even really acknowledge her as she headed back to her seat beside Professor Langley.

She’d heard rumors that Dr. Hanley was a piece of work. She could see why. Unfazed, Mindy went on with her presentation and went on to assign the teams that were responsible for each baby.

As she was about to assign Sam to Dr. Chang’s team, Dr. Hanley stood up.

“If you don’t mind, Dr. Walker, I would request that Dr. Napier be on my team for Baby C. I would like him to work on the shunt with me.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed and he scowled, not at all impressed.

“I think Dr. Chang requires Dr. Napier’s assistance,” Mindy said, and then regretted it. She didn’t want anyone to think she was playing favorites.

Dr. Hanley glared at her now. “Nonsense, he’s a resident and I require his assistance.”

“Dr. Napier can work with Dr. Hanley,” the chief of surgery said, standing up. “I trust there were will be no further discussions. Keep us updated on the patient, Dr. Walker.”

He excused himself and Dr. Hanley followed him.

Mindy was absolutely confused. She knew that Dr. Hanley was a brilliant surgeon but so was she. Yet they were bending over backwards to accommodate Dr. Hanley.

As people began to disperse Dr. Chang leaned over to a visibly angry Sam and whispered a few words, but he rebuffed her, stood and stormed out of the room.

What in the world?

She knew Sam didn’t like orders from Chief Langley and didn’t like time taken from pediatrics, but he was having a shot at working with Dr. Hanley. He shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.