Page 14 of Lovesick

“I’m all in with the fight. You know I’ll do anything and everything for Regal’s, to keep it in the family. I’ll play the Norman Rockwell doctor. I’ll treat every customer with a bump or a bruise or a sneeze along with all the employees. You name it.”

“I like the idea of the Norman Rockwell doctor. You probably photograph well, don’t you?” She put a finger to her chin and took on a pensive look, as if she were seeing something very different when she looked at him.

“I know a costumer who can outfit you and we can set the stage to mimic the print exactly,” she continued. “The one where the doctor checks the doll’s heart with the stethoscope—we can re-create an old-fashioned office and have it set up for photographs with kids and parents. I can see it all now.”

He laughed. “I’m sure you can. I don’t know how photogenic I am, but—”

“No false modesty. You’re a handsome man by anyone’s standards. Don’t you see all the women looking at you when you walk by?”

“Isn’t that a line from a song? Only I think they’re talking about men looking at a woman. Like you.”

She wagged her finger at him. “Flattery? Really? I think we’re at the stage where actions speak louder than words, don’t you?”

They reached her office door and this was where he should peel off and move on, let her go to do her job, but she was flirting now, changing from serious business to teasing suggestiveness in one smooth quick stream of consciousness. And it worked. He didn’t want to be so easily controlled, so dick-directed, led around as if she had the leash to the collar strapped tight around his balls. But if the leash and collar fit, wear it, right? He sighed.

Then he followed her into her office, past the receptionist, and into her inner office and shut the door behind him.

“This is why office romances don’t work, why they’re discouraged,” he said.

“Why is that?” She leaned against her desk, facing him. He stood a safe five feet away from her and promised—swore—that he wouldn’t take a step closer. Time to pull out that famous self-discipline of his, the rock-hard determination that had gotten him through med school, that had pushed him to work long hours at the clinic and that had gotten him through the hell holes he’d been to with Doctors Without Borders.

“Because here you are fooling around with me when you should be working on the event.”

“You have it all wrong, Max.”

“I do?”

“I’m not fooling around where you’re concerned. I’m very serious.” She stepped forward. He felt the control slip, the rationalization starting. His promise to himself was not to move closer, nothing about moving backward if she moved in. He stayed where he was, felt her orbit hit him when her delicious exotic scent, her atmosphere, enveloped him.

“Serious about you. Seriously hooked on you.”

“I’m an irresistible hook?”

“Magnetic. Sharp.” She grimaced and clutched her right side.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. A minor pain. Probably a side effect from the antibiotics you gave me. I never did react well to them, but I’ll be fine.”

“Your white blood cell count was up, so you need to take them.” He wondered if there wasn’t more going on and looked at her more closely. Her color was poor, and her mouth tight, as if she was still in pain but trying to hide it.

“Come down to my office, Lou. Let me check you out more thoroughly.”

She smiled. “I don’t know when I’ve had a more tantalizing offer, but as you said, I do have work to do.” She went around her desk and sat down, finished with flirting. He wondered if it was work or pain that stopped her. Or maybe his concern and suggestion to examine her.

It didn’t matter, either way, he couldn’t force her to be examined. Couldn’t—and shouldn’t—force her or even try to tempt her to continue flirting.

“At least promise me you’ll rest—leave at a decent hour. Don’t push yourself too far.” He should have canceled their dinner date, but he didn’t. He was too weak. Besides it would give him a chance to assess her health further. And the rationalization begins.

“I will. You should go or you’ll tempt me to behave foolishly.” Her smile then was genuine and looked pain free, almost wistful.

Like he felt. At least they had that in common, a shared inappropriate flirtation, a need for a crazy hot affair.

On his way back to his office, he reminded himself that they were from different worlds. He was a poor do-gooder with a son and she was a gorgeous, wealthy business shark, the opposite of his usual type. His ex-wife was a lawyer working in a legal services office helping immigrants. They’d never had much money. He came up the hard way and wanted nothing more than to pass it forward, to help those who needed help and couldn’t afford it.

Louise Regal couldn’t have come from a more different place. A wealthy family, with a privileged and cushy life, though she worked hard, he could see. They did have that in common. That was all they seemed to have in common. That and the strangely urgent physical connection, that unexpected instant excitement. Something about her set him off as if he were a firecracker and she held the match. The only match he’d met in a very long time.

Ever, if he was honest.