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The table’s discussion on the advancement of cardiothoracic surgery halted, and they all glanced towards the door.
Someone had entered, and I took a sip of coffee to wash down my food before standing to shake the newcomer’s hand. Jonah went straight in for a hug, and I could only see the back of this new man’s head. There was something strikingly familiar about the brown shade of his hair, the shape of his head, but I told myself it was just the hangover messing with me. Jonah released the man and turned him to face me with a broad smile on his face.
“Stephanie,” he said. “I’d like you to meet our head of cardiothoracics! This is our very own legend, Adrian Price.”
My heart dropped out of my chest, through my stomach, and flopped onto the floor, where it lay in a squelchy mess, just trying to trip me up. This wasn’t good. Wasn’t good at all. I did my best to recover my expression, even as I felt all the blood drain from my face. It was probably pooling onto the floor where my heart still lay.
I was pretty sure I could see the new man’s—Adrian’s—heart on the floor as well, and from one cardiothoracic surgeon to an enterprising one, I felt pretty confident in saying that it wasn’t healthy for them to be there.
Then again, I could argue that it also wasn’t healthy for your new boss to be your one night stand.
Chapter Five
Adrian
There were very few times in my life that I was at a loss for words.
Sitting between Jonah and Louise, with only my best friend as a barrier between myself and the girl I’d slept with, I was finding it hard to think of anything to say.
It didn’t help that Jonah almost immediately offered to switch places.
“She wants to go into cardiothoracics, Ade! If there’s anyone at this table she needs to talk to, it’s definitely you!”
So then, I was placed next to her. She was determinedly looking down at her plate, where a hardboiled egg and some salad sat. If I didn’t know what was happening, I’d have thought the food had some mesmerizing property. Trying to collect my thoughts into something coherent, I looked up, only to be met with the stern gaze of Dr. Aaron Christophers.
Fuck.
When I had been told we’d be meeting his daughter, and I’d met the girl at Sweet Nell’s that spoke about him with bitterness in her voice, I hadn’t made the connection. For someone supposedly so smart, I was freaking dumb. Everyone at the table thought he was just about the best Chief of Surgery you could ask for, and while he was efficient at his job, I also knew how ruthless he could be.
So not only had I screwed one of the new residents, I had managed to screw the chief’s daughter. I wanted to crawl into a hole for a few days while I figured everything out.
“So, um, Stephanie,” I said, turning to face her and wrenching my gaze from Aaron’s. “You’re interested in cardiothoracics?”
Clearly bracing herself, the girl I now knew was named Stephanie looked up at me and nodded. I should have braced myself as well.
She was just as stunning as the night before. Sure, she looked tired and nervous, but everything else about her was beautiful—something I hadn’t expected when the alcohol wore off. She was wearing a long, floral dress that buttoned up the front. It was beautiful on her—but didn’t suit the fiery girl I’d met last night.
It made her look more like the embodiment of spring, her chocolate-honey hair pulled into a ponytail and a few flyaway strands framing her face. Her eyes didn’t meet mine directly; she appeared to be making contact with a point somewhere just above my eyes. I was pretty sure she had makeup on, but it didn’t mask her natural beauty, only accented it. Her freckles made her look younger than she was, especially paired with the dress, but the dark warning I caught in her eyes suggested exactly the opposite.
We could never be together.
We could never sleep together again. What we needed was to move on, but it wouldn’t be possible with the proximity in which we’d be working, especially if she was planning to head into my area of expertise. It would be a cruel and unusual punishment to force her out of cardiothoracics simply for the sake of a job I had already secured. I was in a position of power, and her face said she knew that.
There was more to her though, more than a great night. I couldn’t shake the idea that she was someone I was supposed to know. We couldn’t be together, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends. I was curious what secrets those hazel eyes held, what richness they could grant to my life. It had been a while since someone had been so interesting that I knew I had to be connected to them, but then Stephanie Christophers apparently could change that.
“Well, it will be great to have you on the team,” I said with as much cheeriness as I could muster. “We’re always looking for new talent.”
“Thanks,” Stephanie said quietly.
I poured myself some coffee and hoped that the caffeine would be enough to stop me from embarrassing myself.
“So, are you going to put her through her paces, Ade?” Angela asked from across the table.
I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, Angela, because hazing is both humane and legal.”
“Probably was when you were a resident, old man,” Jonah laughed, nudging me.
