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She took one of the two overstuffed chairs in front of his desk. It should be against the law for a man to look so attractive when doing nothing more than sitting at his desk. Heaven help her, she was losing her mind.
Cody clicked a key then looked at her. “I just wanted to let you know what’s going to happen.”
Her heart pounded. Happen? Between them?
“The senator’s son is going to be moved out here the day after tomorrow.”
Relief, quickly followed by disappointment, washed over her. She needed to focus. If she’d worried Cody might have felt something after their kiss she had just been assured he hadn’t. “Um, okay. I’ll see that the paperwork is in order.”
“Good. See it gets to Harborside Hospital. The boy will be doing physical therapy here and will need a couple more small surgeries when he has healed enough. I’ll also need you to run point with his parents as well as any reporters they require you to respond to.”
“Shouldn’t you be the one to speak to the reporters?” She didn’t do well with being in front of people. The thought of talking on TV struck her heart with terror.
Apparently that was evident on her face because Cody asked, “You don’t like that idea?”
“Not at all.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t do public speaking.” She wrung her hands in her lap.
Cody crossed his arms, leaned them on his desk and watched her with those amazing all-seeing chocolate eyes.
Stacey squirmed.
He said with slow emphasis, “You mean there’s something in this world that you’re afraid of? Who would have thought?”
Was he making fun of her? She sat straighter. Gripping the arms of the chair, she said, “I’ll have you know I’m afraid of a number of things.” Like you not kissing me again.
“I haven’t seen it. If you’re uncomfortable with anything to do with the reporters just let me know. As a general rule security will handle almost anything. The reporters know we put a high priority on protecting our patients’ privacy. For the most part they leave us alone.”
Cody sat back. “That being said, if the senator’s son’s history is any indication, I don’t anticipate him being one of our easiest patients. So don’t say I didn’t give you fair warning.”
“I can handle him.”
“There’s that confidence I was looking for.” He grinned. “If there’s anything you question or are not one hundred percent sure about, you can certainly run it past me first. I’ll be putting him in a semi-private room instead of a private one. His parents probably won’t like the idea, but he’ll be busy feeling sorry for himself and I want him to work at getting better while he is here. If for no other reason than he wants to get away from his roommate. No lying around in his bed all day.”
Stacey was impressed. Cody wasn’t only thinking about his patient’s physical well-being but his mental health as well. “I’ll see that he gets a particularly irritating roommate.”
Cody smiled. “Good thinking.” He pushed back from the desk. “Let’s get the rounds done. It’s dance night for the girls.”
“Don’t sound so excited.” She stood and headed toward the door.
He joined her. “I have to admit it’s the hardest night of the week. You really saved me last week. If you hadn’t shared your booth with us at the bistro, I would’ve been there waiting for ages with two whiny girls on a school night. Not my idea of fun. I owe you.”
They walked up the hall toward the patients’ rooms.
“I had payback with that lobster dinner you gave me on Sunday.” She pushed her hair out of the way to see him better. “You want me to go to the bistro again and save you a table tonight?” She was kidding but what if he took her seriously? Her goal was to put space between them, not see him more often.
He stopped at the room door of Alonso, the tennis star whose knee he had repaired the week before. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
She was glad to hear it.
Knocking, he then pushed the door open to see the room empty of tennis stars. He looked back at her. “Where is he?”
“This time of the day I bet he’s in the community room. He likes to listen to Salty tell the twins stories.”
They moved on up the hall.
“So, you have met Connor and Peyton Walsh?”
“Yeah, they’re hard to miss. Cute kids. Really nice parents.”
“It has been tough on them with their children both being hurt. But the twins are recovering well and should be going home soon. They’ve kind of become the clinic mascots.”
