LITMIR.BIZ

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his head. “When I can’t justify expenditures, it’s my reputation on the line. My ass in a sling.”

      “As is mine,” she said.

      Jake glanced in the direction of the body part in question which she was currently sitting on. From what he remembered, it was an excellently curved butt that fit nicely in his hands.

      “This is not the time or place to be discussing financial arrangements. I suggest you speak to the administrator regarding your concerns. Bottom line,” she said, momentarily glancing at Jake as if she could read his thoughts, “I need your assurance that you’ll be prepared with an in-house radiologist around the clock.”

      The radiologist stared at her for several moments, then finally nodded, albeit reluctantly.

      “Good,” she said, smiling sweetly. “And last but not least, I’d like to discuss who should respond to a codetrauma page.”

      Jake knew how he wanted it to go and was acutely interested in how she’d present this.

      After glancing at her notes, she looked around the table. “In my opinion there should be someone from the lab, Radiology, Respiratory Therapy, Admitting and an ICU nurse. Just in case.”

      “How about housekeeping and dietary?” Jake asked. “Or lions and tigers and bears, oh my.”

      “Excuse me?” She met his gaze.

      “You’re aware of the limited space in the trauma bays?”

      “I am.”

      “If you get all those people in there, it’s like an IV push of adrenaline. Looky-loos show up in droves. It will be a three-ring circus and you might as well sell tickets.”

      Around the table everyone laughed and Hope narrowed her gaze on him.

      “You didn’t let me finish, Doctor.”

      “So you were going to say that the key to an organized trauma team response is …”

      “Security,” she finished, one eyebrow raised. “Security will be trained to monitor who should and should not respond to a code trauma.”

      He nodded, more than satisfied with her response. She knew her stuff. She was a smart cookie and sexy as hell. Damn inconvenient this thing arcing between them.

      “That’s it for me,” she said, glancing at everyone around the table. She looked at him. “Dr. Andrews, it’s your meeting.”

      “Gripes anyone?” They all got a chuckle out of that, including the radiologist. It took the edge off the tension of moments before. “Any other business?” Before they could answer, he stood and said, “Hearing none, I call the meeting to an end.”

      Jake figured that everyone had had enough for today. Especially Hope. The room cleared quickly, as if they were afraid he’d change his mind and bring up something really complicated, like open-heart surgery with a cheese grater.

      He remembered Hope telling him if he was as good in surgery as everyone thought, he could get a positive outcome with a potato peeler and a watermelon scoop. That made him smile.

      “Something funny, Doctor?”

      “Nope. Not a thing,” he said. Her frown said she wouldn’t find his thoughts amusing.

      “Not even throwing me under the bus with the three-ring circus remark?”

      “It was an attempt at humor. To keep tempers in check.”

      “At my expense,” she accused.

      “Did it occur to you that they were testing your resolve? That I set you up to show these guys you know what you’re doing?”

      “Actually, no.” She folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the table. “Did you?”

      “Actually, no.” He wished that had been his motivation. “I was testing you.”

      “You didn’t think I knew that a free-for-all in the trauma bay is a whole different kind of trauma?”

      “I only know what’s on your résumé. Not your philosophy on setting hospital protocols.” Or anything else for that matter. Part of him wanted to know everything about her and that was bad.

      “Apparently I passed.”

      Oh, yeah. His gaze settled on her mouth and the memories came flooding back. One minute they’d been on opposite sides of the money-versus-medicine debate and she’d skewered his last nerve with her stiletto. The next he had her up against the wall and both of them were breathing hard while he kissed her senseless.

      And she kissed him right back.

      Another thirty seconds and he’d have been inside her. He’d been almost grateful when his partner’s call interrupted what would have been a huge mistake. But he carried around a big fat regret that he would never know what loving Hope would feel like.

      “Yes,” he finally said. “You passed the test. Obviously you’ve been through a trauma situation with no one directing traffic.”

      She nodded. “You do the best you can to think of everything, all the medical consequences. Sometimes you forget to factor in human nature. Basic curiosity.”

      “Speaking of that—” He was so damn curious about her. If only he had internal security to direct that somewhere it wouldn’t bite him in the ass.

      “Yes?” She tilted her head and her hair swung sideways, revealing the smooth expanse of sexy skin on her neck.

      “Edwards is a pain in the butt. I’ll speak to him and make sure he backs off.”

      “Why would you do that?”

      Good question. He hadn’t planned to offer his help. Watching his own back had been top priority for a long time. “I know him. It might help.”

      “Thanks. But it’s my job to deal with him.”

      He nodded. “Okay, then.”

      She was right; not his responsibility. Since when did he run interference for anyone? That was way too easy to answer. Hope Carmichael had tripped the switch on his protective instincts. There was something fragile about her that made him want to keep her safe when she should be dead last on his priorities list.

      He hadn’t worked his ass off and scraped out a living all his life just to let sex with a tempting coworker derail his career plan.

      “Okay, then,” she echoed. She straightened from the table and started to walk away. “I have work to do and I’m pretty sure you do, too.”

      “Wait, Hope …”

      She stopped and looked up. “Yes?”

      “We need to talk.”

      Something flickered in her eyes. Heat? Awareness? Regret? “I really have to go, Jake. You’re the one who ended the meeting because there was no other business.”

      “It’s not about the hospital.”

      She tucked a silky strand of honey blond hair behind her ear. “Then this must be about last night.”

      She’d blamed herself, but he’d been a more-than-willing participant. He hadn’t meant for it to happen. He’d told her common sense was highly overrated, but that was lip service. No pun intended. Common sense had gotten him to where he was now. His career trajectory was right on target.

      “Yeah. About last night—” He pushed his suit jacket aside as he rested his hands on his hips. Kissing Hope came under the heading “Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.” They’d even agreed that kissing common sense goodbye was a very bad idea. Then they’d turned the bad idea on its ear and went for each other again.

      It was time to clarify the mistake, clear the air and put the personal behind them. Get back on a professional footing because he had a lot at stake.

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