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“But you don’t think he wants it.”
“I know he won’t apply. And your ability to manage new residents is well documented, but managing an experienced physician like Dr. Maguire, a peer, will demonstrate your range and breadth of ability to recruit talent.”
Margo cringed, trying to think of a rebuttal.
“Unless there is another reason you don’t want to work with Dr. Maguire?”
“How do you know I’m even interested in the deputy director position? Maybe I’d rather someone else take over the residents and get back to basics.”
The director leaned forward and held Margo’s gaze. “Because I, too, started in the ER, and you look how I felt when it was time to move on. Margo, you are an excellent advocate for this hospital. The residents love you, and I think you love teaching them. I also think we will work well together, so you’re my top choice.”
“You’re recruiting me?”
“Yes.”
“If you’re saying my application for the selection of deputy director is contingent on my demonstrating further range of supervisory abilities, wouldn’t it be more prudent for me to take on the trauma residents?”
“I am saying I need you to help me convince him to stay at Mercy. Dr. Maguire is here on a temporary two-month hiatus from his practice in LA. He needs to be trained and convinced to stay at Mercy, and we’re depending on you to do it.”
“We, as in you and the board?”
“Correct. Even if you don’t want to apply for the deputy director position, we’re relying on you to recruit Dr. Maguire. It will help bolster your resume and give you more sway when negotiating your next contract with Mercy.”
Her hands shook. She had no choice either way. She still owed Mercy six more months on her current contract, and if she wanted this new position, or any job, she had to not only manage Drake but convince him to stay at Mercy. She needed to suck it up. Even if it meant working with the one man that could drive her crazy.
“Are we clear?” the director asked.
“Yes, ma’am. If Dr. Maguire can be convinced to love working at Mercy, I’ll manage to convince him.”
Chapter Six
Drake
Nine hours of grueling moments with extreme action, followed by tons of paperwork and dozens of superficial injuries, and Drake felt alive. He hadn’t been bored once, not even when he fed an elderly woman Jell-O while they waited for her family to pick her up because she’d wandered out of her assisted living apartment.
The only bad part had been the sensory overload of working with Margo. Or rather, working in the same 10,000 square feet of hospital space. She was fast to pawn him off on a gorgeous redhead in her last year of residency in emergency medicine. But he remained completely distracted by Margo’s presence, from her dark brown hair she kept in a thick long braid to her high cheekbones and full, pouty lips. Some people would categorize Margo as thick or full-figured, but he thought she was the perfect image of a woman. The sway of her hips only emphasized her round bottom, and he knew she was hiding a 1940s pin-up model beneath her scrubs. If anything, she’d only gotten more attractive with time, which seemed like a cruel joke at his expense.
“Hey, did you hear me?” Margo said, standing on the other side of the nurses’ station where he’d been writing patient notes and fantasizing about her. “Go home. The second shift has arrived,” she said. “I’ll be your attending for the duration of this experiment you’re playing with your career, but I need to meet with Dr. Hart to turn over the patients and I usually cut my shift loose once their replacements arrive.”
“Dr. Hart? The same doctor you’re dating?” Drake asked, keenly interested in seeing how serious they were.
Margo stiffened and looked to the other nurses that were listening and not even remotely pretending not to.
“Good night, Dr. Maguire.” She walked away down the hall to the small office clearly not willing to talk about her personal life.
“How serious are she and Dr. Hart?” Drake asked the nurses, but they just laughed and ignored the question.
“Who told you Dr. Monroe and Dr. Hart were dating?” his partner Nina asked, grabbing her things from off the counter.
He was getting the feeling this wasn’t a well-known relationship.
“I just assumed when I saw them together at the hospital event last week,” he said, not wanting to be the one spreading gossip.
“Well, you know what they say about assuming. See you tomorrow, partner.”
Drake couldn’t help but smile. There was only one way to find out if Margo was really dating Dr. Hart. So after grabbing his things from his new locker, he knocked on the office door where Margo and Dr. Hart sat close in the small space.
“Excuse me, I just wanted to pass Dr. Hart a message,” Drake said, leaning into the doorframe. They both looked up, but Margo grimaced at him with narrowed eyes. “My cousin Finn said hello. He also said I should probably steer clear of you because you’re, and I quote, ‘just as likely to use a can opener as a scalpel and don’t believe in anesthesia.’”
