Page 4 of Lovesick

“What? Oh. Yes, a little. I think I’ll be all right though.” She gave him her best shot at a smile even knowing it was sickly. Wan at best. His eyes stayed on hers, serious, attentive, probing.

Of course he was probing—he was her damn doctor. Snap out of it, Louise old girl.

“Do you think I have a fever?” she asked. Hoping, grasping at anything to excuse her outrageous behavior. Knowing even a fever wasn’t totally responsible. The dearth of dates in the past six months had to account for some of it.

“You’re definitely hot,” he said. Then he cleared his throat, looked away and mumbled. “Yes, your temp is a hundred and one. High, but not alarming.” He began putting his doctor things back in his bag. She couldn’t tell, but he might even be blushing.

Her tummy fluttered again, but this time it had nothing to do with being sick. Not unless you counted lovesick. The idea made her giggle.

Dr. Max looked up at her. The smile on his face unbalanced her and she swayed. He put his hands on her shoulders again.

“You’d better lie down. I’m going to get you some cola. My special elixir for wooziness. That and a cold compress for your head. Have you eaten anything yet today?”

“You asking me out to dinner? That would make date number two, Doc.” She felt the grin as she lay back, guided by his strong warm hands. They were large hands. That made her grin wider, wondering about the old adage about large hands being an indicator for other body parts being large.

The way his smile turned flirty made her think he’d read her mind. Maybe it wasn’t a hard thing to do. She felt as transparent as a thirteen-year-old. But the thing was, she didn’t care. She felt taken care of, felt like she was in good hands. Literally.

She liked the feeling very much. And she wanted more of it. More of him. Dr. Maxfield Pendleton. When he stood and left her side, she closed her eyes. He would be back.

* * *

Get your head on straight, Max. The poor woman isn’t feeling well and all you can think of is how sexy she is? Good God. It’s been far too long since you’ve been with a woman. He retrieved a glass of water and mixed it with the cola syrup and extracted the cold compress from his medical bag. She may or may not need more than he had to offer her, but he suspected she had the flu. Luckily he never got the flu. He’d developed a strong immunity after being exposed to every kind of flu the course of his doctoring over the years.

A quick test of her blood sample at the lab in Brooklyn that his friend ran would confirm his suspicions. Confirm also that she was not pregnant. As he stirred a spoon in the glass, he glanced at her. She was sleeping again.

Wondering if there was any way he could actually take her up on that notion of going on a dinner date once she was well again, he went back to her side and sat on the coffee table. For a minute he only watched her sleep, her skin pale, her dark lashes long against her classic cheeks, her rosy lips . . . well, never mind her lips. Time and place, Max.

There would be a time and place, he decided. She wasn’t technically his boss. Even though he knew perfectly well that she was an owner of the company, one of the Regals. A technicality was good enough for him. Could he make this happen?

Don’t even think about it. She’s way out of your league.

After a few minutes he touched her cheek and forehead and she opened her eyes. They looked clearer this time, not as glassy. He helped her sit up.

“Put this on your forehead.” He handed her the compress and she pressed it to her head. Adorable, vulnerable when he suspected she wasn’t often that, and compelling. Something about her called to him. He knew all the biological and chemical causes and mechanisms for attraction, embedded in the DNA long ago to propagate the species, but that didn’t seem to translate well to how he felt, how in the moment his awareness of her made everything else fade away, how his body heated up with the briefest gaze or the smallest touch. Didn’t account for the almost electric force field between them that sparked with a life of its own.

He was staring and she stared back and, for the life of him, he couldn’t look away, had no idea what to say, only that it should feel awkward but it didn’t. Damn, he was too old for this—wasn’t he?

None of the biology books indicated an age limit and if reproduction was the raison d’être for this . . . thing they had between them—call it extreme attraction—then the only limitation was their fertility status. It would seem they both qualified on that count. It also occurred to him that the chemistry between them probably meant she wasn’t pregnant.

The grin that was about to light his face as he reached forward derailed when the office door banged open.

George Regal walked in, agitation clear on his face and in his jerky movements as he approached them. Max tore his attention from Louise and stood, all the previously unfelt awkwardness unleashed now in the presence of her brother.

Louise sat up straight, dropping her compress. “How did the meeting go, George? Did you get the financial plan approved?”

* * *

Much to her chagrin,Max stood and said, “I should get going and let you discuss business.”

She said, “No, don’t,” at the same time George did. She looked at him for the explanation of his reason. It was definitely not the same reason she wanted Max to stay.

“Your job, Max, was the prime example of what would be changed, used as the symbol of the old-fashioned and what we needed to get away from. I used it as the symbol of what was right with the store, the old-fashioned part that should be maintained. The idea of a company doctor has turned into the flashpoint for whether or not we’re going to remain a family-owned company or a publicly-owned one.”

“I can’t lie, I’d be extremely disappointed to lose this job. I love it here. I didn’t think I would, but I feel like I’ve been a lot of help already, making employees and even customers on occasion, feel valued. It would be a shame for you to lose the family company to investors. But then, I wouldn’t blame anyone for taking the money.”

Louise said, “Of course we want to keep the store in the family.” Something like panic, though it could have been the flu, welled up in her. The company was the same as family to her. Losing it would be like losing her identity.

George said, “The investors are offering a lot of money and some family members seemed interested in taking the deal.”