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I pull her down to me, kissing her tenderly before making more demands on her. Even with her straddling me, she doesn’t try to steal the control. She lets me take the lead. I’m a bossy bastard, and she loves it.
When I break the kiss, she rests her head in the crook of my neck, taking soft breaths. I stroke the back of her neck, letting myself enjoy the feel of her against me. A warm blanket wouldn’t soothe me any more than having her body draped over me in this way.
“The show’s over,” I say a few minutes later when the credits roll. She mumbles something, and I crane my neck to look down at her. The woman has fallen asleep on my shoulder.
I’ll leave her for a few more minutes. As soon as I settle back, my phone vibrates on the armrest of the couch. I grab it before it can disturb her.
Need you first thing.
Mandy needsto get to work in the morning. I don’t want her on the train alone anymore. I know she’s been there countless times before and I have no doubt she’d take care of herself without me. She’s been doing just that for years. The full force of the world was thrust on her and she made it work. She took care of what she needed to take care of. No matter what her worries, I know she did everything she could for Gunner. She mentioned that he’d been in and out of rehab facilities while he was in high school. That’s not easy to get someone into when they don’t want it, and it sure as fuck isn’t cheap.
But she doesn’t need to be alone anymore. She doesn’t have to count only on herself now. Because I’m here.
I text Nikolai back that I’ll be there.
“Do you need to go?” She wakes up and climbs off my lap, half asleep and rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes.
“No,moy malen’kiy voin. I’m staying right here.” I get off the couch and scoop her up. She wraps her arms around my neck and sighs.
“You don’t have to put me to bed, Maxim.” She yawns. “I can do it myself.”
I shake my head as I lay her in bed and pull the covers over her. Max is already here; apparently the bastard’s been waiting for her. While glaring at me with all his betrayal, he marches up the bed and settles on the pillow right beside her head.
“Sleep, Mandy.” I kiss her forehead then turn my gaze to my treacherous cat. “It was me that saved you from those kids in the alley,” I remind him.
He simply closes his eyes, having made his choice.
Mandy
There isn’tenough coffee in the universe to get me through this meeting. Dr. Raleigh has to be almost finished complaining about his schedule. I’m not even sure why I’m stuck in this room with him and the administrators. I don’t make the doctor schedules. The most I have to do with any of this is inputting the template into the computer system.
“Mandy.” Dr. Raleigh’s beady blue eyes pierce straight through me as he peers down the length of the conference table at me. Heads turn toward me and suddenly I worry if I’ve forgotten to put my clothes on before coming to work this morning. Which can’t be the case; Maxim had me change my outfit twice before he was satisfied that all parts of me were covered to his level of acceptability. I would have found the entire thing completely barbaric, if he hadn’t been so fucking hot while barking his orders at me.
I clear my throat and sit up straighter in my chair. “Yes, Dr. Raleigh?”
“I want to be sure the girls up front understand the schedule template. I’m getting too many appointments scheduled in the wrong spots.” He’s forcing civility into his tone for the benefit of the room, but I already know his complaints. The same as the other doctors. They want specific appointments scheduled at specified times, then they get frustrated if there are holes in their schedules. Then they demand that no patient be put on another day if there are any openings for today. Which screws up the templates. It’s an unwinnable battle.
“We have a front office meeting scheduled for this Friday, I’ll do a refresher with them. Just so that I’m clear, if there are openings in the schedule and someone calls for a same day appointment, do I instruct the front desk to put the patient on even if it doesn’t fit the template criteria?”
His lips press into a thin line.
“For example, for Dr. Manado. If he has an opening for a cataract consult but someone calls and wants to come in today for a new eyeglass prescription, do we put them in the cataract consult slot or do we put them on the next available spot for general exam?” I hold my pen over my pad of paper, ready to jot down his answer. Which is the same answer as every time we have this exchange.
“If someone wants to come in today, and we have an opening, put them in,” he says.
Samantha, the practice administrator, groans under her breath beside me.
I scribble on my pad. “Of course. Thanks for clarifying. I’ll be sure they know what to do.”
His eyebrow quirks. My point’s been made, but he won’t admit that it’s that very policy that messes up his precious schedule. With a group of doctors in different specialties, it’s not easy to keep them all straight. Then to have a free for all at the last minute, there’s no chance to keep things as orderly as he wants them.
Dr. Raleigh is one of the owners, so what he says goes. The other docs are just as frustrated with him about this as I am, but they won’t speak up.
So, on and on this carousel of frustration will continue.
“You handled that well,” Samantha says to me once the meeting is finally over and the doctors and other administrators make a beeline for the door. The docs are already half an hour behind schedule because of this impromptu meeting.
“Is that the only reason he wanted me here?” I pick up my notebook and my empty coffee cup.
