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She walked away before Ryder could say anything more or before she did anything further embarrassing.
Dumped.
Again.
Ugh.
The back of her neck tingling as it often did around Ryder, McKenzie turned, found he stood exactly where she’d left him.
He’d not moved, just stared after her. His brows were drawn together, as if he was deep in thought and not pleasant ones.
Pursing her lips into a tight line, she shot Ryder a look of disgust at his gender, then, head held high, she retreated into her office.
McKenzie closed the door, leaned against it and gave in to the waterworks.
* * *
Dr. Ryder Andrews stared at McKenzie’s closed office door and felt torn into a thousand directions.
Just walk away, he ordered himself.
She obviously does not want to talk to you about whatever is going on. He sure didn’t need to talk to her about whatever was going on.
The less he had to do with Dr. McKenzie Wilkes the better.
Because, when they’d first met, he’d found himself rapidly falling for her. Once he’d discovered she was seriously involved with another man, he’d quickly put a stop to those feelings and avoided her as much as possible to prevent any reoccurrence of his fascination with her.
She’d been upset this morning. Very upset.
When she’d turned from where her head had been pressed against the wall, almost as if for support, her face had been pale, her eyes glassy, her expression almost sallow. As if she were ill.
Walk away, he repeated.
Only, he couldn’t not check on her. He was a doctor. She obviously wasn’t feeling well. He might do his best to avoid her, but what kind of person ignored when one of his colleagues was sick?
Going to their clinic’s break area, he got a glass of water and a pack of crackers. Maybe she hadn’t eaten anything that morning and just needed to get a little something in her stomach.
Maybe he was ignoring the obvious, that McKenzie had not been having a hypoglycemic attack in the clinic hallway.
Something more had been wrong than her needing food.
He’d do the right thing. He’d take her the water, make sure she was physically okay, then go back to barely acknowledging her existence.
It’s the same as he’d do for any coworker.
Only when he knocked on her closed office door, she didn’t respond.
Walk away. Walk away. Walk away.
Why wasn’t he walking away and just minding his own business?
“I brought a glass of water and some crackers for you,” he told her through the door.
Although he hadn’t realized it when they’d met, when he’d looked at her and felt something deep in his gut he’d never felt before, there had always been barriers between them.
No answer.
He knocked again.
