Page 13 of Lovesick

“Okay then. Margo, you work on the PR, Louise, you source the high-end products that will relate to our theme, Annie, you work on decorating, and Will, you’ll need to work up a budget and target revenues.”

“What will you do?” Max asked George. Laughter erupted.

“Exactly what I’ve been wondering all my life,” Louise said, putting a hand on his arm and leaning in.

“I’m keeping all of you in line. Doc, you’ll need to make yourself available as a resource for talking points on your experience as the quintessential company doctor.”

“Sure. I’ll call on old Doc Howard for more background.”

George nodded.

Louise squeezed his arm. Warmth flooded him. Why all of a sudden could he not wait until dinner to get her alone, when not too long ago he’d been resigned to the impossibility, the unwiseness of an affair?

In truth, he’d wanted her since he first laid eyes on her. It was his willpower to resist the temptation of what was sure to be trouble running out. Now, whether it was wise or not, complicated or not, he wanted to see her, to have at least this one night with her. All night if he could, but he knew that would be pushing it, would be asking for more trouble. He wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of guy. He wasn’t a hot-affair kind of guy either—or hadn’t been in the past. But now?

When he turned to her as everyone rose to leave the meeting, buzzing with energy and ideas, she winked at him, her foolish grin wide and a lock of hair fallen across one twinkling brown eye. Without thought, he lifted his hand and brushed the lock aside with a finger, touching her soft skin, getting lost in her gaze.

His pants tightened, his arousal pressed against his zipper. Good luck trying to stay out of her bed tonight, Doc.

When George, smiling and looking less burdened, ended the meeting and people started filing out, Max took the opportunity to open the folder with the financial proposal from the investors. He’d been the only one in the room who hadn’t seen it before. He glanced at the first page with the number in big bold print, the top line, labeled Total Offer Value and blew out a whistle.

“That’s some serious cake. I can understand why there’s a concern.” Louise and George were the only ones left in the room with him.

“Cake?” she said. “I see we chose the right man to play the old-fashioned doctor.”

When he looked at her as she skimmed through the folder, her diamond-studded Tiffany-blue reading glasses perched on her pert nose, a no-nonsense expression on her face, he didn’t see a speck of worry, only determination. And sexiness. He ought to be flayed for thinking of sex at a time like this, when she was fighting for her business. For her family.

She slapped the folder closed and looked at him.

“Max, tell me honestly, if you were a Regal, say a cousin who had a secondary job in the management, but full voting rights, would you take the money or keep the company? What would you do?”

He knew this was a test, even if she didn’t mean it to be, knew there was no right answer. But he wasn’t going to cop out on an answer and considered his words. If ever there was a case for honesty being the best policy, this was the time.

“Even though I’ve only been with Regal’s less than a year, after my apprenticeship with Doc Howard, I feel like I learned a lot about the company and the family and what I learned is that this place is special, the kind of place I want to stay until I retire, the kind of place that treasures and celebrates family. And so, yeah, I would want to keep the company exactly the way it is when it comes to management.”

She smiled. His heart bucked. That couldn’t be healthy. But he’d meant every word. He didn’t have the kind of family she had and wished to hell he did, envied the Regals and not for their money and success in business, but for having a close, functional family.

“You’ve been listening. You gave me the perfect answer.” She tilted her head and he should have said, might have said that he’d meant every word, but he wanted, needed for her to believe him without his trying to convince her, wanted her to understand him, know him, have that faith in his character. Based on what, he had no idea, and he was probably stupid expecting this of her. It was a fantasy that he’d find a woman who believed in him, had faith in him, who would give him the benefit of the doubt every time and not always be suspicious. He didn’t need a shrink to tell him that was overcompensation for his failed relationship with his wife.

It didn’t matter. He couldn’t get past his irrational fantasy woman. Couldn’t get past the notion that he was staring at her right now.

“I believe you, Max. And I have no idea why.” She shook her head and stood.

His chest tightened around his overtaxed heart. He wanted her so bad. Wanted so bad for her to be right for him—right for Tim. And there was the rub. She wasn’t that woman. She was the fantasy woman he’d needed to meet fifteen years ago when he was starting out, not today with all his baggage.

But that was a fantasy inside a fantasy. She wouldn’t have been right for him then either—maybe less so. He’d been a poor medical student going to school on the GI bill after being a medic in the army, barely scraping by. He’d always been scraping by. His family had been poor all his growing up and now he had no family to speak off—lost his parents while he was an undergrad and had lost his sister before that when they’d been in high school. One after another, they died. And there was nothing he could do about it. Now he was busy trying to save the world. One poor indigent patient at a time.

Louise came from the exact opposite kind of upbringing and family, one of privilege.

It was too bad she was so adorable. And so absolutely out of reach for him. Even if he didn’t work for her, as a woman committed to her career, he didn’t picture her as someone who’d appreciate the fact that he had a son. That he didn’t care about money and lived in 750 square feet in Brooklyn with his son. Didn’t see her as the motherly type. Not that he was looking for a mother for Tim. Was he? Hell no. Tim had a mother and she was a good one. Even if she did have a new, improved husband and another child now.

He only needed someone to have a fling with, right? Why was he having such a hard time allowing himself to pursue her? She was perfect.

Almostperfect. She was a Regal and that made her desirable and unattainable at the same time. It still wasn’t a good idea to mix business with pleasure. He’d stand to lose his job if things went wrong between them.

Finding this high-paid job with regular hours had been miraculous for him and Tim. He’d been afraid he’d feel unfulfilled treating minor ailments for the relatively affluent, but the lack of high-stakes pressure was refreshing. He’d needed it, needed a change from the constant life-and-death dire circumstances surrounding him when he was either abroad or back home at the Free Clinic. He was convinced he’d found the perfect spot as the Regal’s flagship store’s company doctor.

He stood and he and Louise left the conference room together, walking side by side down the hall.