The Daddy Series Books 1 - 4

by Hamel, B. B.

  As I finish, Dr. Sexy returns. He yanks open the curtain with a frown, not bothering to ask if I’m decent.

  “Let’s go,” he says. I get up and he walks me out of the room, depositing me into a wheelchair.

  He pushes me down the halls. Nurses and other doctors smile and greet him, and he grunts back in response to each person. I catch more than a few women give him a double-take as we move, and I can’t blame them.

  He really is freaking gorgeous.

  We turn a corner and he pushes me past a bunch of desks. One of the nurses starts to say something to him, but he glares at her and she stops. He pushes me into a back room, helps me out of the chair, and lays me down on the table.

  “I’m positioning this over your ankle,” he says, moving a machine down my body. “I’ll take the pictures.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “Just lie still.” He puts it right over my ankle before grabbing one of those heavy lead blankets and putting it over the top of my body. “I’ll be back in a second.”

  I stay still as he leaves the room. I stare at the ceiling, wondering how pissed my boss is going to be. The machine makes some loud noises, and I’m left there on the table for almost ten minutes.

  I’m about to sit up and get the hell out of there when the door flies open. Dr. Sexy comes in, a frown on his beautiful face as he turns on one of those lightboxes and tacks the X-ray up on it.

  “This is your ankle,” he says, pointing. “No breaks, no fractures. You just sprained it.”

  “Oh, that’s good.”

  He shrugs. “Ice and elevation. How are you getting to work?”

  “Walking,” I say.

  He sighs. “I’ll find you crutches.” He walks over and helps me to my feet. He deposits me back in the wheelchair and pushes me back to the original room.

  I keep glancing up at the guy, trying to read his expression. Based on the way people are treating him, I’d guess he’s pretty important. I can tell he wasn’t supposed to just take me back and X-ray me the way that he did, but nobody stopped him.

  This guy is something else around here. I’ve never seen a doctor navigate this hospital the way he is, just taking whatever he wants and doing whatever he wants.

  Once we’re back in the original room, he gets me up but doesn’t put me on the bed. “Stay still,” he says, and starts to examine my body.

  I blink, biting my lip. His hands move from my ankles up my leg, up my hips, up my sides. He gently brushes against my breasts but doesn’t seem to notice as he finishes, hands moving down my arms.

  “Right-handed?” he asks.

  I nod, dumbfounded. He takes my right hand and inspects it.

  “Smoke?”

  “Never,” I say.

  “Drink?”

  “Some.”

  “Exercise?”

  “Not as much as I should.”

  That gets a little smile. He squeezes my palm and I swear a chill runs down my body.

  “Okay,” he says, and helps me down onto the bed. He’s so close, his hands are on my basically naked body, and I’ve never been so turned on in my entire life.

  I’m absolutely soaked. It’s stupid and weird. I know this guy’s a doctor. But the way he touched me, inspected me, it just… it drove me insane.

  I don’t even know what he was doing. I mean, I hurt my ankle, but he’s touching my whole body. Normally I might stop someone, but it feels so fucking good coming from him.

  “Stay here,” he says. “I’ll be back.”

  He leaves the room again. He doesn’t pull the curtain.

  I lean back on the bed and sigh. I close my eyes and picture Dr. Sexy going through a full body inspection, really examining me. I wish he’d do it for real, actually. I wouldn’t even need him to touch me, just use those gorgeous eyes and scan my body and…

  “Excuse me, miss? What are you doing in here?”

  I sit up as a large nurse stares in at me, a frown on her face.

  “Uh, a doctor put me in here,” I say.

  “What doctor? This is supposed to be empty, sweetie.”

  “I don’t know his name,” I admit.

  She sighs. “Tall guy? Short guy? Seriously, honey, this room’s supposed to be empty.”

  “He’s… uh…” I blush a little. “He’s really hot,” I say.

  She hesitates before laughing and shaking her head. “Shit, girl, I know the one you mean. I’m not surprised.”

  “Why?” I ask, flustered.

  “Dr. Hill is an asshole. Good luck.” She laughs again and walks off, shaking her head as she goes.

  I frown after her but I’m not really surprised. From my brief interactions with Dr. Sexy, I mean, Dr. Hill, he’s definitely an asshole.

  I don’t have to wait long for him to come back, fortunately. I glance at my phone and frown at the time. I’m going to get so much shit from my boss when I finally show up.

  Dr. Hill watches me from the doorway for a moment. He’s holding a pair of crutches.

  “Here,” he says, walking over. He helps me up and gets me situated on the crutches. “Try it out.”

  I crutch on down the room and out into the hall. “Not bad,” I say.

  “Stay off that ankle. I know it’ll be a pain, but it’ll heal faster if you’re careful.” He watches me crutch around a little and turn back toward him. I think I catch a slight smile as I move closer. “Ice it and elevate it, if you can.”

  “Yes, sir, doctor, sir,” I say, grinning at him.

  He finally does smile. “Call me Aiden.”

  “Aiden,” I repeat. “I’m Ruby.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ruby,” he says softly.

  “Thanks for taking care of me.”

  “No problem. And be careful coming down stairs in the future.”

  I smile stupidly. “I’ll try. Although I don’t get to run into handsome doctors when I’m careful.”

  He smirks, cocking his head. “True. I guess it is always nice to have a pretty girl bounce off me.”

  “Bounce off you?”

  “I was like a solid wall.”

  “Please.”

  “You couldn’t move me an inch if you tried.”

  “Not with this messed-up ankle, but normally I could easily shove you around.”

  “Please,” he says, grinning now. “You weigh, what, ten pounds? I could toss you across the room.”

  “Try it,” I say, grinning back. For a second, I think he might actually do it, and I want him to. I want his hands on my body again, like during that weird examination.

  Instead, he turns away. “Have a good day, Ruby,” he says.

  “Thanks again, Doctor,” I say.

  He shrugs and waves as he heads down the hall, leaving me alone.

  I stare after him. I wonder how I got myself into this situation, wearing a hospital gown and using crutches, but it doesn’t matter. I was being stupid and reckless and now I’m paying for it.

  I sigh and head back into the room. I pull the curtain, get dressed, and crutch back out to the elevator. I take my time, making ground slowly. The crutches hurt my armpits a little bit, but they’re not awful.

  At least I got to run into Dr. Sexy. I know what I’ll be thinking about tonight in the shower. Those blue eyes, those hands on my hips…

  2

  Aiden

  One Week Later

  The nurse looks up at me with a frown on her face.

  “Excuse me, Doctor, but you can’t be in here.”

  I slowly look at her. I think her name is Mandy, or Tina, or maybe it was Louise. I give her a smile. She’s young and new, and her smile in return is almost hopeful.

  I feel bad for a second, but it quickly passes.

  “Can you please fuck off?”

  Her eyes go wide. I resist the urge to laugh. I bet she’s never heard someone talk like that in a hospital, much less talk like that at her. I know it’s rude, and mean, and a little much, but I’m doing it for effect.

  I could sit he
re and argue with her, or I could help the guy that’s struggling to breathe.

  She blinks as I move away. I unlock the crash cart and pull out some epinephrine. I inject the shot into the guy’s leg and his gasping breaths slowly calm down and even out.

  “He’s having an allergic reaction,” I tell the nurse. “Take care of him.”

  I leave the guy’s room without another word. I commandeered this space when he first came in, his lips starting to turn blue, his eyes wide. They wanted to rush him off to surgery, but I knew better.

  I’ve seen it before. I’d bet anything he got stung by a bee.

  I sigh as Jackie falls into step with me. “Were you nice to the new girl?”

  “Nope,” I grunt.

  “Typical. You didn’t make her cry though, did you?”

  “Not sure,” I admit. “She looked very deer-in-the-headlights when I left.”

  Jackie sighs and shakes her head. Of all the nurses at Jefferson Hospital, she puts up with my shit the most. I secretly like her a lot, although I won’t ever admit it out loud and risk my reputation.

  People at Jefferson don’t like me. They respect me because I’m good at what I do. Liza Cutter, the Director of Medicine and my boss, has threatened to fire me a million times for the way I speak to people.

  But she doesn’t, because I save more lives than anyone else in this place.

  That, and I bring in a ton of business. Rich people seek me out, because I’m known as one of the few doctors in the world that can diagnose them.

  She keeps me around because I make her money. If that ever changes…

  Well, I don’t care about that.

  “Seriously, Aiden, be nice,” Jackie calls after me as I stride away. “Your luck’s gonna run out sooner or later.”

  I wave to her as I turn a corner and step into the stairwell.

  I sigh and lean back against the wall, closing my eyes, steadying my breathing. Jackie’s right about that, my luck really is going to run out sooner or later.

  But I don’t care. I love the rush of saving lives. I love solving puzzles and helping people, but I hate being slowed down by all the bullshit that goes into running a hospital.

  People think it’s a fucking business around here. I’m not in this for the money, though. I want to help people, and if I have to bend some rules to save a life, I’m going to.

  I stretch slightly. I’ve been here for six hours now, and I can feel fatigue starting to set in. I will it away, closing my eyes and picturing that girl.

  I keep seeing her. Whenever I’m tired, or bored, or there’s just a spare moment, I picture her. Long, thick, dark hair, wide, deep beautiful pools of green for eyes, full lips, white teeth, beautiful body. I keep feeling her skin under my hands as I touched her, examining her for any imperfections, anything that needed to be addressed.

  But there were none. Just smooth skin, beautiful eyes.

  I’ve seen her around the hospital since then, crutching around with a smile on her face. She comes most evenings after work to visit her grandmother. I did a quick look into the old woman’s chart and it’s not looking good. Her doctor is clueless and an idiot, so I doubt she has much of a chance.

  I’ve kept my distance. There aren’t a lot of rules in my life, but there is one that I keep above all others: don’t get close.

  I can’t let myself, especially not with patients. Then again, she’s not a patient, just a visiting family member.

  Still, I don’t have time to get involved. I’m forty-one, I’ve had romances, but they never last. I work too much, and they never understand. Woman after woman enters my life, thinking she’ll fix me, but she always came second to my job.

  Now I’m getting older, and I still don’t have a wife. There’s a part of me that hates it, hates coming home to an empty apartment, but I drown out that part with more work.

  My feet take me up a couple floors, almost on autopilot. I step out onto the fourth floor and head back toward Ruby’s grandmother’s room. I want to check on her, like I do most evenings, although really, I just want to catch a glimpse of Ruby.

  I get close to the room when the door opens. I duck back into the nurse’s station and sit at a computer as Ruby leaves, saying something over her shoulder.

  She’s not on her crutches. I frown and slowly stand against my better judgment.

  She should still be on the crutches. There’s no way her ankle is totally healed.

  Without thinking, I walk toward her. My mind’s blank as I step into her path. She nearly runs into me again but stops just in time to look up into my eyes as I glare down at her.

  She’s so fucking beautiful. It strikes me all over again. She’s curvy in the right ways, almost sultry, with a pretty pouting mouth and an ass I want to squeeze until she screams.

  Fucking hell, I shouldn’t be doing this. She’s just another woman I’ll lose sooner or later, another fucked-up milestone in my life. I should just concentrate on being a doctor and helping people.

  Instead, I step closer to her. I remember touching her that morning and how badly I wanted more.

  “Where are the crutches?” I ask her.

  That seems to snap her out of a trance. Her eyes narrow. “At home,” she says.

  “I see that. Why?”

  “My ankle feels better.”

  “Maybe it does, but you’re not healed yet. You shouldn’t be walking around on it.”

  She sighs. “Look, it feels fine. Seriously.” She does a little dance, putting too much weight on it. I can see the slight wince of pain she tries to keep off her face. “I’m all better.”

  “Liar,” I grunt at her.

  She stops her dance. “Why do you care?” she snaps.

  I hesitate, not sure how to answer. “You shouldn’t be walking on it,” I say, avoiding the question entirely.

  She sighs. “Fine, yeah, okay. You’re probably right. Everyone says you always are.”

  I smile a little at that. “They do?”

  She rolls her eyes. “You should hear the nurses talk about you, like you’re some kind of genius.”

  I snort a little. “Maybe I am.”

  “Doubt it.” She gives me a skeptical look.

  I suppress a grin. “How’s your grandmother doing?” I ask, changing the subject again.

  “Okay,” she says, glancing back. “They don’t know what’s wrong with her. Breathing issues, heart flutters, fatigue…” She trails off. “I’m getting worried.”

  “Who’s her doctor?”

  “West.”

  I nod. “Dr. West,” I say, “is a fucking idiot.”

  Her eyes go wide. “Uh, what?”

  “West is a fucking idiot,” I say again. “He’s a liability to this hospital. I’m honestly surprised your grandmother is still alive.”

  She stares at me like I have two heads. “Are you insane? Or just an asshole?”

  “Both,” I grumble at her. I walk toward her grandmother’s room. “Come with me.”

  I don’t look back to see if she’s following. I step into her grandmother’s room, a frail-looking woman with a shock of curly white hair on her head. She looks up and smiles at me.

  “You again,” she says.

  Ruby steps in behind me. I glance back at her and she’s frowning, wondering what her grandmother means.

  “Hello, Dot,” I say, taking her chart. “Still alive?”

  “Still alive,” she confirms. “Make any new friends today?”

  “None,” I say.

  “To nobody’s surprise.”

  Ruby is gaping at us both. I grin a little at Dot. I like the old woman, she’s got a lot of spirit, although she really isn’t doing well. The chart tells a deep story, a complicated story.

  It’s like Finnegan’s Wake, that insane, practically unreadable book by James Joyce. It makes no sense at first, just a jumble of random words and garbage on a page, unless you learn it, really learn it. Not a lot of doctors do in this place.

  I’ve studied the
charts of thousands of people. To me, it’s like reading fucking poetry.

  “I’m going to take over your case from now on,” I say to Dot. “Is that okay?”

  She shrugs. “Fine by me. You have an awful bedside manner, though.”

  “I know,” I grunt.

  “But I think that other guy’s gonna kill me.”

  I grin at her and Ruby gasps. “Grandmom!” she says.

  “What, it’s true,” Dot says, shrugging. “He’s a moron.”

  I look back at Ruby. “Told you.”

  Ruby gapes at the two of us. The old woman laughs a little and coughs, hand to her mouth. I listen closely to her chest, not happy with what I’m hearing.

  “I’ll keep you around, Dot,” I tell her. “But I can’t promise I’ll make you smile.”

  “Keep me alive and you can be the biggest asshole in the world,” she says.

  “Grandmom.” Ruby laughs, shaking her head.

  “Don’t bother with her, dear,” Dot says to me. “Ruby’s never heard me talk like that before. But I’m just speaking your language.”

  “I appreciate it,” I say, and put her chart back down. “I’ll be back to check on you later.”

  “Okay.”

  I leave the room. Ruby comes out a few minutes later, shaking her head.

  “Why’d you do that?” she asks.

  “Come to dinner with me.”

  The words leave my mouth before I have a chance to think about them. She frowns, clearly surprised.

  “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” she asks.

  “Absolutely. Come to dinner with me anyway.”

  “I don’t know.”

  I step closer to her, heart racing. I want this girl so badly I’m willing to break any rule to get her. It’s fucked and stupid and I can’t turn back now.

  “I want this,” I say softly. “Come to dinner with me.”

  “Okay,” she says back.

  “Good. I’ll pick you up from here tomorrow night after my shift. I get done at eight.”