He flipped through the paperwork. “She’s tenacious, I’ll say that for her.”
“Better than not, right?”
“I suppose. So what’s up with you?”
I smiled nervously. “You know how it goes.”
“Problems with the boyfriend, I’m assuming?”
I nodded.
“Guys mess up a lot. It’s our calling card.”
“This one doesn’t mess up much. That’s the bad part.”
He grinned. “How’s that bad?”
“Because he’s so perfect and I’m so...not. I just keep thinking he’ll wake up one day and realize it, too.”
“I’m going out on a limb here and saying that he thinks you’re pretty perfect. And I’m giving you my professional opinion that he’s right.”
I couldn’t help the red that crept across my face, yet I rolled my eyes. “You’re full of shit.”
“Probably. But I’m also right,” he smirked. “I know you like to control everything, keep everything in order. But what he thinks about you isn’t your decision. You can’t control that, Ms. Stanley.”
“He’s just...” My voice trailed off as my eyes met a pair of green ones coming around the nurse’s station. His smile, so sweet and shy, made me melt into a little puddle on the floor.
“What?” Dr. Manning asked.
“Max,” Iwhispered.
Dr. Manning turned around and saw Max standing at the counter. He looked to the doctor and then to me. I could tell he didn’t know what to think and the fact that he seemed jealous made me happy.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Max asked, his voice full of caution.
“No,” I said softly, ignoring the looks from the other nurses shuffling around. I was standing between two of the best looking guys I’d ever seen—it wasn’t a bad place to be. “You okay today?”
“Yeah.” He looked from me back to the doctor again.
“Max, this is Dr. Connor Manning. Dr. Manning, this is Max Quinn.”
Connor extended his hand to Max and they shook firmly. Connor had a coy smile on his face and Max looked apprehensive, his jaw tensing.
“I was just telling Kari here that you can’t make decisions for people. You have to let everyone decide what’s best for them. Would you agree?” Connor asked him.
A slow smile spread across Max’s face as he realized what Connor was getting at. “I do, actually.”
Connor shot me a wink and started towards the hall. “Nice to meet you, Max.”
“You, too, Dr. Manning. If you don’t mind me asking, have we met before?”
He stopped in the hallway and turned around. “Unless you’ve been in here with a gunshot or pneumonia, probably not.”
“Dr. Manning? There’s a Kellie Manning on the phone for you. She said she’s your mother,” Chanda said from the front of the station.
“I need to grab that. Nice to meet you again.”
I looked back to the beautiful, dark-haired man in front of me. His eyes were on me. As he realized I wasn’t going to throw him out of the station, his dimple popped.
