Dr. Grump’s Surprise Baby (Bossy Bachelors #2)

12. Dominic

CHAPTER 12

DOMINIC

O h, no .

It was the first thought to go through Dominic’s head when he looked up at the brunch and saw that Emily had come to the conference alone. He had known that she intended to be here, of course, but he had expected her to come with Sara. He had expected it to be more like it was at work, where the other interns served as a barrier to remind him that he couldn’t get caught up in his feelings for her.

But it wasn’t like that. She was here on her own. And that was a problem, because it meant there was nothing to keep him accountable. There was nothing to stop him from staring at her, fantasizing about her, daydreaming about what he would have liked to do if there was no professional conflict between the two of them.

Did he need to go over to her? She was on her own, and he didn’t want her to feel alone. What was his responsibility toward her right now, on a professional level — and how could he balance that against what he wanted to do on a personal level? Because if he was honest with himself, he would have had to admit that he wanted to have breakfast with her.

The choice was made for him when a young woman he didn’t know walked up to Emily, clearly introducing herself. A relieved smile spread across Emily’s face, confirming his sense that she’d felt insecure about being the only member of her group in attendance. He kept an eye on her long enough to see that she was joining the woman at her table. Good. She would be looked after well enough there.

After breakfast, they split up into breakout groups. Everyone had the freedom to attend the seminars and lectures of their choosing, and Dominic was both relieved and disappointed to see that Emily wasn’t present in any of the ones he chose. Of course, it made sense — she was at a different place in her professional development than he was. It wouldn’t have been reasonable for her to attend the same lectures he was going to.

Still, he sort of wished she had done it. They could have sat together in the back of the lecture hall — it would have been perfectly legitimate for them to do that. He knew he would have spent the whole time feeling acutely aware of her presence, and that was the closest he dared come to fulfilling the desire he felt every time he was around her now.

By the time lunch rolled around, Dominic was feeling more relaxed, and he felt that he was to be congratulated on having resisted temptation.

And then he saw her coming into the dining room from the opposite side, working her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head, looking distracted but engaged in what was going on around her.

His resolve crumbled as she finished tying her hair, exposing her long neck, and stretched her shoulders with her hands braced against her lower back. Before he could even think through what he was doing, he was on his way across the room to her.

She didn’t notice him until they were nearly side by side. “Oh,” she said. “Dr. Berger.”

“So you made it to the conference,” he said, as if he was noticing that fact for the first time, as if he hadn’t been thinking about her all day long.

She nodded. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked her.

“I’ve learned a lot,” she said.

“Why don’t you tell me about it?”

She looked around. People were lining up to get their lunches. “Right now?”

“Are you doing anything else? Did you make arrangements to have lunch with those women you ate breakfast with?”

She blinked. “You saw who I had breakfast with?”

Dominic cursed himself. He shouldn’t have let her know that he had been watching her that closely. “I keep an eye on what my interns are doing,” he said, wondering if she was going to see through that, thinking that she probably would.

“Well, no, we didn’t make any explicit arrangements,” Emily said. “They wouldn’t mind if I ate with you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to disrupt your plans, if you have them.”

“No, they know I’m interning under you, so they’d understand why I made that choice,” Emily said. “I can have lunch with you. I’d like to have lunch with you.”

They went through the line and got deli sandwiches. Dominic wondered what he was doing. He had told himself that he was going to keep his distance from Emily. That it wasn’t a good idea for the two of them to be together. He still felt that way, so why was he allowing himself to cross his own boundary and have lunch with her? This couldn’t possibly lead anywhere good.

And yet, he was doing it.

They sat down at one of the tables. Dominic didn’t fully register until they had set their plates down that it was a two-seater — nobody would be joining them. Had he made that choice, or had she? He wasn’t sure. Thinking over it now, he wasn’t certain which of them had led the way to this table.

“So,” she said, sliding into her seat, “what lectures have you been at today?”

“Advances in surgical technology, mostly,” he said. “There are a couple of good ones on that subject tomorrow, if you think you might like to sit in on one.”

“I’m not sure,” Emily said. “I don’t know if surgery is the best fit for me, to be honest with you.”

“You didn’t enjoy the OR the other day?”

“It was exciting,” she said. “I really liked how competent I felt while I was in there, don’t get me wrong. But I think I prefer working with patients when they’re conscious.”

Dominic chuckled. “Well, you still have time to try out other specialties, if that’s what you want to do.”

Emily nodded. “I know,” she said. “I’m still thinking through a few options. I think those women I met this morning might try to recruit me for their private practice.”

“Oh, God, you’re not going into private practice, are you?”

Emily laughed. “You don’t want me to?”

“It’s such a waste of a good physician.”

“Remember the first time we met?” she asked him. “You threatened to cut me from your intern program. And now you like me so much that you don’t want me to go into private practice.”

“What can I say? You won me over.” He shrugged. “You must have known that would happen.”

“Well, I did hope it would,” Emily agreed.

“So tell me how the conference has been so far,” Dominic said. “You said you’d been learning a lot?”

“Yeah, it’s been great,” she said. “I’m glad I came. You know, you should really make this mandatory for interns in the future.”

“If I have to make it mandatory, they’re not the kind of interns I want to come anyway,” Dominic told her.

Emily grinned. “Fair point, I guess,” she said. “So it’s kind of a test?”

“Well, not really. I didn’t think any of you were going to show up,” he said. “I wasn’t testing you. But I do feel as if I’ve learned something about you, now that I see you here.”

“I wasn’t the only one from our group to sign up,” Emily said, opening her bag of chips.

“I noticed that too. Any thoughts on what happened to the others?”

“I know Sara had a personal conflict.”

“I would have been surprised if she’d made it,” Dominic said. “I know she only put her name down because you asked her to.”

“No, I don’t think that’s true…”

“You don’t need to cover for her. Dr. Nash was in the room when you two signed the sheet. He told me how it went down.”

Emily sighed. “I wanted to have a friend here with me,” she said.

“Understandable. And I think it’s all the more impressive that you went through with your plan to come after you found out you were going to be on your own. What about Cassidy Cook?”

“I don’t know. She and I never really talk.”

Dominic shrugged. “My guess is that she never really intended to come,” he said. “I’m sure her father put her name down, or persuaded her to do it — I don’t think she takes her career seriously. There are several members of the intern group who are in this for the wrong reasons, and she’s one of them.”

“Am I one of them?”

He looked at her. “You know the answer to that question. I know you do. If you don’t, you’re not the woman I thought you were.”

She gave a little smile. “All right,” she agreed. “I do know. I only meant to ask you what you thought.”

“You’re doing this because you care about patients,” he said. “Because you want to give them the best care you can. That’s the only good reason to get into medicine.”

“Do you think I might be able to get a job at Chicago Grace after I finish my internship?” she asked. “I mean, I know you can’t make me an offer or anything. I’m just asking whether you think it’s possible.”

“I’d recommend you,” he said at once.

Immediately, he couldn’t believe the words had left his mouth. That was a massive thing to promise. He shouldn’t have offered it. And yet, looking into those bright blue eyes that made him feel like he was staring at a cloudless sky every time he looked at her, he knew that he would follow through on what he had said. He would recommend Emily for a job at the hospital, if that was what she wanted — and he hoped that she would, because he wanted to go on working with her. He didn’t want her going into private practice, and not only because it would be a waste of her talents. It would also mean separating the two of them, and that was a thought he couldn’t stand.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I don’t know how to tell you what your approval means to me, Dom— I mean, Dr. Berger.”

“Dominic is fine,” he said, wondering what the hell he was doing letting the last vestige of professionalism slip away so easily. “We’re not in the hospital right now.”

She looked at him across the table. God, those eyes… it felt like she was showing him things he had never seen before. It felt like he was looking at the world in a new way.

“Dominic,” she said, and Dominic felt as if he had never heard his name spoken aloud before.

He shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t be getting this close to her. It was dangerous for the both of them. It could put both of their careers at risk.

And it was too late.

He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t pull away from her now. Even though he knew it would be better to get her out of the hospital and into some other work environment, he couldn’t. And he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from her and keep things entirely professional either.

He was supposed to be the champion of the idea that people should disconnect from their emotions. He was the one who told everyone who came through the hospital doors hoping to pursue a career in medicine that it couldn’t be done if you weren’t able to switch off your heart and your sentimentality. And now, here he was, developing feelings for his intern.

If only it had just been her looks, he might have been better able to control himself. But he knew that wasn’t all it was. Emily wasn’t just pretty. She was sharp and bright and brought an optimism to her work that he hadn’t felt in years — perhaps not ever. Having her around would refresh him. It would allow him to look at his profession with fresh eyes.

He couldn’t lose her — but he knew that if his feelings for her became known, he definitely would lose her. So he was going to have to figure out a way to contain all this for as long as he could, and he would just have to hope that eventually, his feelings would fade away — even though that seemed impossible right now.