Club Prive: Sweet Escape (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

Don’t look back here
, I silently beg, but of course, he does. He has such a pleasant smile as he scans the perimeter of the room. I slink down in my chair, wishing I could melt and slide right off the edge of my seat and flow through some unseen crack in the floor.

I can’t breathe. I honest to God am unable to make my lungs inhale as his eyes pass my face, then snap back to bore into mine. The dark blues widen, and the smile falters the tiniest bit before he continues on past me.

Dr. Brown is singing the praises of Dr. Atwood. Board certified this and board certified that. Inventor. Brilliant businessman. Blah. Blah. Blah.

It’s all white noise in my ears as my heart gallops in my chest. Dr. Atwood looks around the room again, and this time, his gaze rests on me a little longer. Something rumbles in my core, a deep, primal yearning for the man I never expected to see again.

And here he is. My new boss.

Sir.

He begins to speak, that deep timbre that had affected me so much last night. He talks about how honored he is to be selected for such an important role and how his research and business background will support us in proving the necessity of hospitalists across the country. I’m enthralled with each word. The way his lips move as he speaks. How his hands gesture. His confidence.

And when the meeting is over, I practically run from the room.

Chapter Nine – Gray

Holy fucking hell.

The second my eyes met hers, I’d simultaneously wanted to groan and thrust my fist into the air in celebration. It took everything inside me not to leap over the table and drag her to the floor.

Of all the departments in all of the hospitals in all of the world, she ends up in mine.

Mine.

Meaning she’s one of my employees.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She looked horrified. Mortified even. And she was the first one out of the door when the meeting reached its conclusion. I wanted to give chase, pull her into a closet somewhere and, do what? Hump her leg?

Damn it.

That’s what it feels like, has felt like since the second I saw her walk into that club last night. Like I’m a dog sniffing out a partner and have found the perfect one.

And now I’m shaking hands with these pricks. No, that’s not fair. These are hard working professionals, most of whom want to do a good job. So I turn my attention to them. Speak at the appropriate time. Appear interested. Laugh or look serious when the moment calls for it.

It’s the longest hour of my life.

Finally, the room is cleared, and I pick up my folder to search for the list of staff members. I scan the list of physicians, then turn to the page of physician assistants and find her. Avery Beck. ICU.

“Ready for your tour?” Dr. Brown says from the doorway.

I brighten. “Yes, I certainly am. And I’d like to schedule one-on-one sessions with each provider, get to know each of them on a personal level.”

Brown claps his hands together. “That can be arranged. Now, let’s begin that tour.”

***

I thought “tour” would encompass only the departments in which hospitalists worked, but no, he takes me floor by floor, including the morgue in the basement.

By the time we step off the elevator and I see a directional sign for ICU, it’s hours later, and I’m pissed, hungry, and sick to damn death of this man.

“After this floor, I’ll take you to lunch,” Dr. Brown says, “I know the best…”

I tune him out, irritated that I can’t just tell him to fuck off.

The doors of the unit open in front of us, and I’m ushered into an ultra-clean, modern facility. An older nurse with bleach blonde hair is the first to greet me. I soon learn that she’s Tabitha and has been working for the hospital for nearly thirty-five years.

From the corner of my eye, I see a white jacket come out of a room. I turn enough to see that it’s Avery, and she’s smiling at a custodian, tiptoeing around the area he just mopped. Behind her comes another white jacket, this time belonging to the doctor I remember from the meeting as McGill. The jackass doesn’t even acknowledge the custodian and tromps right through the middle of the wet floor. I wish he’d fall on his pompous ass, but he doesn’t, and the young custodian just glares before he begins to mop over the area again.

The moment Avery sees me, she stops dead in her tracks, causing McGill to run right into her back, knocking her forward. His arms wrap around her waist, and he takes his time letting go, not taking his hands off her until she sidesteps him in what looks like a practiced maneuver.

The asshat hasn’t seen me yet and backs her into the wall, chastising her for being so clumsy. He’s still chiding her by the time I’m three yards away, and then a foot. When I grab his arm to pull him away from her, he comes around with fury on his face. It disappears the moment he recognizes me. The prick.

“Dr. Atwood,” McGill exclaims, “welcome to our little unit.”

I ignore him, looking at Avery. “Are you alright?”

She exhales and pushes her hair back from her face, then sticks out her hand. “I’m Avery Beck. Sorry I had to leave so soon after the meeting. I…”

She seems to have ran out of words, so I jump in, taking her soft hand in mine, forcing myself to not raise it to my lips. “Perfectly okay. I’m very glad to see you again.”

McGill coughs and Avery slips her hand from my grasp, pushing her hair back again. I still only look at her, unable to believe this magical creature is in front of me. She’s different from last night. Natural, but no less beautiful. And I’m no less drawn to her. Maybe even more so like this.

Dr. Brown approaches me from behind. “Are you about ready for lunch, Dr. Atwood? Dr. McGill, would you like to join us?”

If I’d had a bone in my mouth, I would have snapped it in two, as hard as I gnashed my teeth at that thought.

“I’d love to,” McPrick says then glances at Avery. “You can finish rounds.”

She lifts her chin and looks at me. It’s like getting struck by lightning and sinking into a warm bath at once.

“I’ll see you later,” I say to her, resisting the urge to touch her again.

The smallest smile plays on her lips, but she waits until I’ve turned around and am walking away before saying, “Yes, Sir.”

My cock pulses.

I hope I get the chance to make her pay for that.

Chapter Ten – Avery

“Did you see how he looked at you?”

I blush to the roots of my hair as Tabitha gives me a “this is juicy stuff” look. I roll my eyes and look away. “He was just being nice.”

Tab snorts. “Nice? That man is attracted to you.” She turns her voice down to a whisper loud enough that the entire hospital can hear. “I thought he was going to punch the lights out of McGill, and I was praying he’d do it too.”

I don’t say anything, just start clicking through all the joint commission bullshit I have to go through every time I touch a patient, doing it quickly because there’s a new online course on ventilator methodologies I want to begin, both for the continuing ed hours and because I’m a geek like that.

“Isn’t he handsome?” Tabitha prods, her voice going full-on sing-song. “And he isn’t wearing a ring…”

I wonder how she’d react if I told her it was because he liked to spank women in sex clubs, but hold my tongue.

“Come on, Avery. Didn’t you think he was cute?”

Cute?

The word makes me laugh. I have other words that I associate with that man and they all make my stomach twist, and my naughty bits do the electric slide.

I’m saved from having to answer by four little old ladies strolling through the ICU doors. Seeing them makes me smile because they look like they could all be coming home from church instead of from getting their STDs treated.

Pink-tip gives me an exaggerated wink while Dottie floats me an “ok” circle of her finger and thumb. The one on the walker looks too exhausted to do anything but put one foot in front of the other. Bun lady slips what looks like a candy bar in my jacket pocket. I sneak a peek. Snickers. Awesome.

They trudge on to Henry’s room, and I continue my charting while Tabitha busies herself answering the phone.

A moment of peace.

Well, if you can call a noisy, brightly lit ICU peaceful. But the sounds are comforting. The steady beeping of telemetry equipment, the suck and hiss of respirators, the endless ringing of the phone.

My stomach growls, adding to the cacophony of noise and I remember I’ve eaten nothing since my protein shake super early this morning. I wish McGill would come back so I could take my break. It’s nearly one, and I’ve had a shitty day.

Snickers!

Sticking my hand in my pocket, I unwrap the candy bar and take a big bite.

“Avery!”

I jump at Tabitha’s voice and hold the candy bar over my head when she tries to take it away. I manage another bite before she wrestles it from my grasp. She’s like a sumo wrestler in scrubs.

“I’ll get you a smoothie until you can eat a decent meal,” she chides. “This will do nothing but make your blood sugar land in your toenails.”

I pout.

Her eyes grow big, and the stage whisper is back, “He’s here!” She nods her wrinkled forehead at the door. “Cute doc at two o’clock. And you’ve got chocolate on your teeth.”

My finger becomes my toothbrush as I turn my attention back to the computer, pointedly ignoring the door. But, oh, do I feel him. I feel his eyes on me. I hear his footsteps as they draw closer. The hair prickles on the back of my neck as citrus and mint fills my nose.

“Avery.”

The heat from my cheeks swoops down to occupy the space between my legs, my body betraying me in an instant.

I can’t just ignore him, so I turn my chair and look up, centering my gaze on his left eyebrow. “Hello, again, Dr. Atwood. I hope you had a good lunch.”

“I did, thank you.” He raises onto his toes and shifts until I’m looking in his eyes. He grins at me and my mouth twitches, but I manage not to grin back. “I’m planning to meet with each staff member personally. As I’ve had an opportunity to spend the past hour with Dr. McGill, I was hoping you could spare some time as well.”

I panic. “Now?”

He licks his lips. “Yes, now.”

I look frantically around the unit, hoping for some distraction or that, God help me for thinking it, some patient would code real quick, and I’d need to jump to their rescue. But no. All my patients are beeping steadily along, which makes me ultimately very happy. But … I can’t go with him. We’ll end up having sex, I just know it. I look into his eyes. He knows it too.

Keep your panties on, Avery.

That has to be the most pathetic self pep talk I’ve ever given myself.

Because he’s patiently standing there waiting for my answer, and I don’t have a good reason to say no, I click the few keys to log out of my medical records session, then stand as if my bones weigh a thousand pounds.

“You’re about to hurt my feelings if you move any slower,” he quips, but only loud enough for me to hear.

It doesn’t speed me up, and he chuckles. I’m halfway to the door when Tabitha yells, “Where do you think you’re going?”

Gray reacts first, turning to face her. “My office for a meeting. An hour at the most.”

Tab frowns and marches toward us. “This poor thing hasn’t had a bite to eat all day.” She thrusts a green smoothie in my hand. “Drink this. You look pale as a ghost.”

I smile at her and lift it to my nose to sniff. She waggles a finger at me. “Don’t think, just drink.”

To satisfy her, I say, “Cheers,” and take a long swallow. “Thanks, Tab, it’s delicious.” It really is, so I sip again. I look up at Gray. “I’m fueled and fortified. Lead on, Dr. Atwood.”

He gallantly waves an arm, indicating that I should proceed him through the doors. “As I was saying, I’m planning to meet with each staff member individually in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each unit and…”

My vision goes blurry for a second.

“…best practices along with joint commission standards…”

My entire body grows hot, as if someone has lit a furnace in my chest.

“…the goal of creating situational…”

His words become slurred, echoing in my ears as I take one step and then another.

“…matrix using the organization…”

I reach for the wall and miss, my shoulder slamming into it instead.

“Avery?”

Hands are on my arms, holding me up as the cup of smoothie falls to the floor.

“Avery!”

“Oh my God, Avery!” Tabitha’s voice is so shrill inside my head. I lift a hand, trying to smack it away.

I try to inhale so I can tell everyone I’m okay, but there is no air coming inside.

“Anaphylactic shock,” someone says.

“She’s allergic to shellfish.”

Clawing at my throat, I try to make it open, but it won’t. My lungs burn for the oxygen that’s all around me.

“There’s no shellfish in there, only vegetables and fruit, I swear. She’s had it before.”

“Oh my heavens.” It’s a little old lady’s voice. “Someone help her.”

“Do something!” That voice belongs to Dottie, I’m sure.

I’m lifted. I’m flying. The lights above me beginning to blur.

“Epinephrine.”

“High pressure O2.”

There’s a bed under me now, the light above me too bright. My thigh burns as a needle bores into it. My face is covered with a mask and oxygen squeezed into my nose and mouth.

Air.

I sip it through the small opening in my throat. There isn’t enough, and the edges of my vision grow darker.

“Scalpel.” It’s Gray’s voice. “Prepare for emergency trach if needed.” A cold swab of alcohol is pressed against my throat.

A needle slips into my arm. “I’m in.”

“Diphenhydramine and ranitidine combo. Prepare another epinephrine injection.”

“O2 is eighty-four.”

Shit. That isn’t good. I put all my concentration into finding some bit of air.

Another injection in my thigh, the other one this time, and the gates begin to open and oxygen whistles in my throat.

“She’s coming around.”

“Come on, baby. That’s right. In and out.”

I make my eyes open, and Gray is there, just above me, his hand squeezing the ambu bag, forcing oxygen into my lungs.