“I just wanted an update on how my daughter is handling herself.”
“She’s doing great.” I don’t even pause to try to lie to him. Sheisdoing great. Better than great. She’s further along than most second-year residents are, and it’s exciting to watch. Even if I wasn’t spellbound by her as a woman, it’d be impossible not to love watching her work in the OR. Her passion doesn’t falter against the exhaustion that comes with eighty-hour workweeks or wild on-call shifts. Her beautiful brain is always working, thinking, dissecting the research she’s reading, and soaking in every experience laid out for her.
Richard’s expression shows how displeased he is, and I groan, leaning back as I run a hand through my hair. “I know you don’t want her to leave in a few months, I get that.” He has no idea how much I truly get that, especially now. “But put yourself in my shoes. You want her to be a successful doctor, yes? There isn’t a way to encourage someone to continue through their residency while simultaneously getting them to hate what they do. If you want her to move back to the States and work closer to you, then why don’t you, I don’t know…” I shrug, “get to know her. Take her out to dinner and learn about what she’s been up to since she was a teenager. Ask her what she likes, Richard. Maybe reconsider your stance on her becoming a surgeon.”
He cocks a brow. “You’re speaking like someone who knows my daughter on a more… personal level. One that wouldn’t be appropriate for an attending to be on. Especially one much, much older than her.”
The tiny hairs on the back of my neck rise with his words, but I school my expression. “I’m speaking as a trusted attending who has seen a lot of residents move through this hospital. I’m speaking as your trustedfriend, who is telling you that you should be proud of your daughter.” I’m speaking as someone who has fallen head over heels for a woman who is completely out of my league.
It’s Richard’s turn to sigh. He pulls his glasses from his face and tosses them on the desk in front of him. With both hands he vigorously rubs up and down his face. “I have to make difficult decisions every day of my life, Dr. Andrews. In my personal life, when I have a patient on the operating table, and as Chief. I have to make decisions that others may not like, but they’re decisions that allow me to obtain my desired outcome.”
“And what is your desired outcome when it comes to your daughter?”
He pauses to think for a moment, pulling his glasses from the desk and reaching his free hand out to open a side drawer. He takes out a silk cloth and rubs the fabric over the lens of his glasses in slow, circular movements. He watches his hands as he lets the awkwardness ride out between us.
When he’s satisfied with his polish, he tosses the cloth back into his drawer and slams it shut. “My desired outcome is my daughter living stateside, and not being a surgeon. I’ve worked my whole life to build my career and reputation into what it is today; I won’t have her mistakes soiling my hard work.”
I stare at him in disbelief. How someone can be so bullheaded, so arrogant, that they refuse to believe when another compliments his daughter is something I’ll never grow to understand.
The sexist comments he has made over the years about women, about his ex-wife and alimony checks, and remarks behind the backs of his inappropriately younger girlfriends I thought were all made as jokes. Jokes in poor taste, but jokes.
But now I see it. The most alluring woman I have ever known was raised by a man who led her to believe she didn’t have what it takes, because in his own cruel mind, he actually believes that.
I stand abruptly, ready to excuse myself when Richard calls out after me.
“Don’t let our history impede your judgement with Annaliese.”
Snap.
The final, spindly string that had held me back breaks. My chest expands, and I’m able to take my first full breath.
I’m thankful he can’t see my face because it’d show him that he’s a joke. That Ididlet my history with him impede my judgement with her. I pushed her away, hurt her, both physically and emotionally, wasted months between us when I should have known better, all in Richard’s name.
I spin on a heel, keeping my expression neutral as I look him in the eye. “I promise you, Richard. I’m ready to doexactlywhat needs to be done.”
He takes my words as I expected and a slimy smirk moves across his face. I nod, excusing myself as I leave his office.
I shut his door behind me, moving swiftly down the hall to my own office. Staff roaming the halls are a blur as my mind is focused on one thing, and one thing only.
She’s right where I expected her to be, perched in her chair with her legs crossed. Still wearing her scrubs from our last case and bouncing her knee erratically as she reads through the papers in her hand. She turns at the sound of my door shutting, smiling since she knows it’s me, but that smile turns to confusion when she sees the look on my face.
“Colt, what’s wrong?”
Snap.
I click the lock shut behind me, and in two strides I’m next to her. I pull the papers from her hands and toss them on the desk. She gives me a puzzled look, reaching over to grab her papers again.
“Seriously, what’s wrong? What are you doing?” Her worried eyes search my face, but they won’t find anything.
I tug the documents from her hand again and toss them on the desk next to us, not caring when most of them scatter to the floor. When she lifts herself from the chair to gather them, I grip her hips, forcing our bodies together. My hands slide around her hips to land on her ass, and she gasps, bottom lip popping open. She likely plans to question if I’ve lost my damn mind, but when I use my hold on her ass to lift her up, she lets out another small gasp.
Her legs wrap around my waist and she crosses her ankles as I spin us around until her back is pressed firmly against the wall.
Her hands come up to grip my face, thumbs pressing against my cheek bones. “Colt, what… what are you doing?” She is as breathless as I feel, her chest rising and falling with rapid movements.
“I’m doing what I should have been doing for the last four months, Annaliese.”
I’m about to crash my mouth to hers, to finally give in to the gut-wrenching desire I’ve tried to stifle, when she stops me.
