Don’t Fall for the Doctor by Lacey Bolt

Chapter 15

Ashley’s face grew hot, and she pulled the earbuds out. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to sneak up on people at night?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” He raised his hands in a truce but kept the smirk on his face.

“You didn’t scare me.”

“It sounded like you screamed before you threw that heart at me.” He bent down and picked up the heart model by his foot while keeping eye contact with her.

“I was singing to my music and cleaning. It fell out of my hand when I turned around.”

“Guess I misunderstood you.”

“I guess you did.”

She stared at him for a minute. At least he wore clothes. Maybe she could actually focus enough to speak coherently.

He shifted his weight and raised his hand to rub his jaw. “What were you listening to?”

“Nothing really.” No point telling him what music she liked. He probably listened to something elitist or intellectual, like Gregorian chants.

She held out her hand to take the heart model back from him, biting the inside of her lip to stop herself from groaning. She shouldn’t have messed up his display. It seemed childish and immature now.

He placed the model in her hand, letting his fingers graze hers for longer than needed. Or maybe that only happened in her imagination.

He cleared his throat. “Here, let me help. It looked like you had fun rearranging on my shelves. You didn’t like the way I had them arranged?”

“No—yes, I mean . . .” Ashley trailed off.

“That’s ok. They get moved around all the time. I probably have too many, but I like to collect them. Part of my job, I guess.” His hand brushed hers as they both reached for the same model. She held her breath.

He sounded like a normal, nice person. Her stomach churned. He smelled good, too. Intoxicatingly good.

He turned and faced her, voice level and steady. “How’s your hand today?”

She released her breath. He didn’t feel any spark. Her presence didn’t affect him. She needed to control herself. He only wanted to check on her injury from last night.

“It’s fine, didn’t bother me at all.”

“I thought you might have texted me or stopped by my office to let me know. Did you get my note?”

“Your note?”

“I taped it to your locker. Or at least, Gwen told me that was your locker. Don’t tell me I put my number on the wrong locker.”

She turned back to the shelf and rotated a model. “You didn’t put it on the wrong locker. I just didn’t read it.” She grimaced. “I mean, I didn’t have time to read it. Busy day, I had to work late last night to cover for Kelly, and then work my regular shift today and now do her night shift too, and I missed dinner and . . .” She paused and glanced at him. “Now I’m just rambling.”

He raised his eyebrows.

She reached into her pocket, stomach fluttering. She pulled out the note and tried to hide its crumpled state with her hand as she opened the page. She read the scribbled handwriting. How’s your hand? Here’s my number so you can give me an update.

Oh. Her legs tensed, poised to run away. He really only cared about her hand. How could she be so naive? They weren’t in high school. He wouldn’t write something like Do you want to be my girlfriend? Circle yes or no.

“Fine. My hand is fine. Here.” Ashley held the paper out to him to return his number.

Michael’s eyes darkened as he frowned.

Ashley paused, hand still extended. He didn’t take the paper.

A lump formed in Ashley’s throat.

He was the doctor. She was the cleaner. He didn’t recycle the paper for her—that was her job.

She broke eye contact and shifted her weight on her feet. “Never mind. I’ll take care of this for you.” Not that it would kill him to do an ounce of work for someone else.

He turned and walked to the couch. He ran his hand through his hair before leaning back and settling into his seat.

He looked entirely too comfortable, and he just stared at her.

Ashley cleared her throat, glanced at the door on the opposite wall. She’d never been in a room with him, alone, for this long before. Except for last night, which didn’t count because it was too embarrassing to even think about. And why didn’t he say anything? Was he going to sit there and watch her while she finished cleaning the office?

She wouldn’t put up with this. She deserved better than to be treated as someone’s entertainment for the evening.

“I have work to do. I’ll come back and finish your office later.” She glared at him and walked a few steps towards the door. She paused. She forgot about her wireless headphones, sitting on the shelf next to the model that showed the inner chambers of the heart. She turned around to get them. So much for storming out of his office.

As soon as she touched her headphones, Michael spoke again. “I’ll be here awhile. I’m going to order delivery for dinner.”

Her stomach let out a loud rumble at the mention of food. She shoved her headphones into her pocket and shrugged. “Fine. Leave the containers in the hall, and I’ll pick them up later.” She turned around again. He didn’t need to remind her how to do her job. The doctors always left food containers in the hall for cleaning staff to pick up at the end of the night. No one wanted their office to smell like stale onions.

“Do you like Thai food?”

“There’s a good place on Fourth Street that delivers here. The menu is in the kitchenette.” He better not expect her to find the menu for him. He could walk down the hall and get the menu himself or look it up on his phone. She walked toward the door.

“That’s not what I meant.”

She paused and glanced over her shoulder.

He stood in front of the couch, his lips twisted in a weird way. He tousled his hair with his hand and looked at the wall next to her. “I meant, do you want to order some food too?”

She shook her head. “No.” Her stomach growled again, louder than before.

“My treat. As an apology for the other night.”

“What do you mean?” Her cheeks grew warm as the image of him standing, in only a towel, grew stronger.

“The restaurant. When my friend and I came over to your table.”

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

He cleared his throat. “I should have said something sooner, I guess.”

“I have work to do.” She turned back to the door.

“We can order something different. Italian?”

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “I’ll finish cleaning your office later.”

“I heard your stomach growl. You must be hungry.”

“It’s none of your business if I’m hungry.”

“Won’t you give me a chance?”

“A chance for what?” The words rushed out, louder than she meant, as she turned to face him again.

He stared at her, eyes dark. “To apologize.”

“Fine. Apology accepted. I’m going back to work.” She threw up her hands in the air.

“Let me make it up to you. Let me at least explain myself.”

She straightened her back and lifted her chin. “I don’t need to hear your excuses. I’m not stupid. At first, I thought you didn’t recognize me outside of the hospital, which makes sense because you barely acknowledge my existence inside the hospital. Unless you are mad because I don’t clean your exam rooms fast enough. I received your message, loud and clear. I’m on probation now, and I really don’t want to lose this job. If you are actually sorry, you will leave me alone to clean.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. He ran his hand over the dark stubble. “I recognized you immediately. I should have said so. And I never complained about your work.”

She shook her head. “So you deliberately pretended that you didn’t know me at the bar. Let me guess. You were too embarrassed to be seen in public with a hospital cleaner? Afraid that someone would see us together? But now that everyone left for the day, you’re willing to buy me dinner and talk to me like I’m an actual person.” Her heart raced in her chest while her mouth went dry. She studied his face carefully.

He leveled his eyes on her, eyebrows pinched together and jaw tense. The color had drained from his face, and he didn’t look as tall as usual. He looked . . . Ashley tilted her head. She couldn’t figure out why he’d look hurt.

He fixed his gaze on her and took a few steps to close the distance between them.

“Do you really hate me? Do I really have no chance to apologize? Make things better with you?” His whisper sent chills down her spine.

She lowered her gaze, staring at his broad chest instead of his face.

“I don’t see any reason to give you a chance.”

He took another step closer, invading her personal space. She took a small step back and bumped against the wall. She closed her eyes halfway, letting out a deep breath, her stomach fluttering. She didn’t even like the man, but her hands ached to reach out, grab his arms, tear off his shirt, and kiss him all over. Feel his mouth on her, run her hands through his hair.

He took one last step, closing all the distance between them. She could still leave if she wanted to. Push him to the side and walk out the door.

But she didn’t want to.

He looked into her eyes and let out a quiet noise as he placed one hand on the wall next to her head.

“I know who you are. I’m just an idiot sometimes.”

“That’s a weak excuse.”

“I know that you work in my clinic every Monday. You are on the inpatient ward at least once a week, and the patients are always happier after you clean their rooms. I know that you are an amazing baker. I made Kelly promise to give me some of the treats you bring to work each week. My favorite were the strawberry macaroons.”

Her head started to spin. She couldn’t stop staring at his lips while he spoke. She reached one hand out and tentatively placed it on his chest. His heart pounded against her hand.

“You never talk to me unless you have a mess for me to clean up.” She frowned as she spoke but didn’t move her hand off his chest.

He leaned his head down in response. “I tried to talk with you. Things get messy, and I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I greeted you in the hall last week, and you dropped your water. We were in an exam room together two weeks ago, between patients, and you spilled your bottle of cleaning solution on the floor. Remember? Soaked my shoes, I smelled like lemon and antiseptic for the rest of the day.”

She remembered. He had asked her if she knew of any good hiking paths in the area. She started to tell him about her favorite nature trail when the bottle fell right out of her hand and probably ruined his expensive shoes. She ran out of the room to grab a clean mop. By the time she returned, he had moved to another exam room with a patient. She avoided him for the next two days, which wasn’t easy.

He gently put his hand under her chin and lifted it, meeting her gaze.

She searched his eyes. There were no clues of him mocking her. He looked gentle, caring. Her legs felt weak.

“Then there was the broken jar of tongue depressors, the hand sanitizer that spilled all over the floor, the—”

Ashley groaned and looked down. “You made your point. But in my defense, the bracket for the wheel on my cart bent months ago, and Gwen refuses to fix it.” She took her hand off his chest, but he shifted and took her hand in his, pressing it back against his chest.

“Wait. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just need to get to know you. Don’t go away.” He sounded sincere.

Her vision narrowed as the image of Michael and Theresa, standing together, burst into her head. She straightened her spine, reaching her head towards the ceiling. “You say that, but just the other day, you yelled at me to clean up the coffee you spilled when you could have cleaned it up yourself. You also called me by the wrong name.”

“I had a bad day.”

“Doesn’t give you the right to take it out on other people.”

“It doesn’t. I’m sorry for that. I made a bad decision.”

“I need more of an explanation than that if you really are sorry.”

He sighed. He let go of her hand, which still pressed against his chest, and tentatively touched her chin. His thumb traced the edge of her jaw. “Dr. Evans went after me for something stupid. He didn’t like that magazine article. Then Theresa tried to hit on me. She’s not my type. She dropped her coffee, and I used that as an excuse to get away. It wasn’t fair to you.”

“You called me Katie.”

“I did. I didn’t want Theresa to know how I feel about you.”

Her stomach churned. “Because I’m a cleaner?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Because she’s jealous and would stop at nothing to destroy you if she knew how I feel about you.”

A lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed hard.

He lowered his gaze to her mouth but hesitated. “So you’ll give me a chance? Even if I don’t deserve it?”

She couldn’t think with him standing so close to her. She could only imagine kissing him, over and over again.

She focused on inhaling and exhaling. Kissing him would be a mistake. Men like him didn’t fall for women like her. Nothing would change if they kissed. He’d continue to ignore her, she’d regret everything, and she’d have to hide from him in the supply closet during every work shift.

But . . . what if they kissed, he fell in love with her, and all her problems were solved? She’d have someone who cared about her, someone to say hello to in the morning and to eat dinner with at night. For the first time since her parents died, she wouldn’t be alone.

She raised her face towards him, keeping one hand on his warm chest, and placed the other on his neck. Dr. Sexy, the most eligible bachelor in the city, could be hers.

He adjusted his grip on her chin and leaned in closer to her. She closed her eyes and moved her hand over the silky smooth fabric of his shirt.

Ashley froze. She had never touched a shirt like that before. It had to be expensive. She turned her head to the side and opened her eyes. The couch across the room definitely cost more than her monthly rent. Several shelves were lined with big textbooks, ones you only get after spending a fortune at medical school. Even his office desk and chairs screamed money.

This would never work.

Michael’s lips brushed her cheek. She inhaled sharply, and he jumped back as if he’d touched a hot iron.

“I’m sorry, I thought you wanted this too.” He frowned and stepped back. He turned around and started pacing, his hands running through his hair.

Ashley hung her head and walked towards the door. “I’ll come back later and finish your office. After you go home.”

He mumbled something in reply but Ashley didn’t look back.