by Sandi Lynn
After stabilizing my patient, I went down to the ER and found Jackie sitting behind the desk.
“You look tired,” she spoke.
“I’m fine.” I smiled.
She sat there and glared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Up all night with Dr. Finn?” Her brow raised. “Don’t try to deny it, Grace. He stopped by here earlier looking for you. He said he needed to give you your phone and key.”
I took in a deep breath. Damn him.
“Fine. He came over last night.”
“I can’t believe you caved.” She cocked her head.
“It wasn’t the first time. Please don’t tell anyone,” I begged.
“I won’t, but what do you mean it wasn’t the first time?”
“We met in New York and had sex the night before I left to come here.”
“What?!” she exclaimed.
“Shh...We met in a bar and we were never supposed to see each other again. I didn’t know he was a neurosurgeon and I certainly didn’t know he worked at this hospital. Imagine the shock.”
“Damn, Grace.”
“Tell me about it. I vowed it wasn’t going to happen again, but I had a weak moment. After all, look at him.”
“Trust me, I have. I get it. But you broke your rule. You let Dr. Jamieson Finn break your rule.”
“I know.” I placed my hands on my head. “It’s not going to happen again.”
“Sure it won’t.” She pursed her lips. “By the way, your new residents are waiting for you in the conference room.” She handed me three file folders.
“Thanks.”
As I was walking down the hall, I quickly examined their files. Pushing open the conference room door, I stepped inside and introduced myself.
“Good morning, I’m Dr. Harper. Welcome to Cedars-Sinai. It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Meadows, Dr. Sanders, and Dr. Adler.” I smiled. “You’re with me for your trauma rotation. Trauma can be tricky, so you need to be on your game at all times. We’re here to save lives people. So let’s go save some.”
I walked out of the conference room, my residents following behind.
“Dr. Harper, we have a trauma coming ten minutes out. Surfing accident.”
“Okay. Let’s get ready,” I spoke as I looked at my residents and we headed outside to wait for the ambulance.
The ambulance pulled up and I ran over and opened the doors.
“What do we have?” I asked.
“Twenty-four-year-old male, abdominal trauma, possible head injury. BP 90/50. Pulse is 126. You ready for this?” the paramedic asked.
“Oh my God,” Dr. Sanders shrieked before she hit the ground.
“I need some help out here. I have a resident down!” I yelled.
“Jackie, where am I?” I shouted as we raced the stretcher inside.
“Trauma three,” she replied.
“Anyone else going to faint on me? Because if you are, I suggest you leave now! Call the OR and tell them we’re on our way! I need as much O negative as you can get from the blood bank,” I spoke to Sara, one of the ER nurses.
“His BP is dropping, Dr. Harper.”
“He’s lost a lot of blood. Push one of epi and get me the crash cart.”
He flatlined.
“Charge to 200. Clear.” I shocked him and looked at the monitor. “Dr. Adler, start compressions. “Charge to 250. Clear.” I shocked him again.
“We got a rhythm,” Dr. Adler spoke.
“Let’s get him upstairs. Dr. Adler, you can scrub in.”
We ran down the hallway and to the elevator. Everyone was staring in shock as they saw part of his surfboard and intestines sticking out of his abdomen.
“Dr. Harper, there’s blood coming out his ears,” Dr. Adler spoke.
“Page Dr. Finn, stat, and tell him to meet us in the OR.”
Dr. Adler and I were scrubbing in when Jamieson walked in.
“You paged me?” he asked.
“Surfing accident.”
Jamieson looked through the glass at the patient and then over at me.
“Damn. Is that part of his surfboard?” he asked.
“Yes. He has blood coming from his ears. There’s probably an intercranial bleed somewhere. They’re getting the CT now.”
“Looks like I’m scrubbing in with you.” He smiled. “We really have to stop meeting like this.”
I rolled my eyes as I looked over at Dr. Adler and she was staring at Jamieson.
“Hello.” He grinned as he started scrubbing in. “And you are?”
“Dr. Adler.” She smiled like a school girl in love.
“She’s my new resident,” I spoke. “Let’s get in there, Dr. Adler.”
I walked into the operating room, where the scrub nurse put on my surgical gown and gloves. Walking over to the patient, I looked at the scans that were taken.
“The good news is the board didn’t hit any major organs and it isn’t too deep. We should just be able to carefully pull it out.”
“I’m opening up his skull,” Jamieson spoke. “He’s got a brain bleed. If you don’t pull that board out completely straight, you’re going to pierce something, Dr. Harper.”
“I know that, Dr. Finn.” I shot him a look as I could see the smirk beneath his mask. “Dr. Adler, we’re going to grab the board together and slowly pull it out. But make sure you pull up straight. One wrong move or slight curve and things will get a lot worse. On my count. One. Two. Three.” We slowly pulled the board out and blood shot out everywhere. “Damn it. Hang four units of fresh frozen plasma and four units of O neg.”
Five hours in the OR, and my surfboard patient was stabilized. Jamieson stopped the bleeding in his brain and I fixed his abdomen and put his intestines back in their proper place.
“Is his family here?” I asked one of the nurses.
“Yes, Dr. Harper. They’re in the waiting room.”
I sat in the on-call room with my knees to my chest as I read Sam’s text message.
“Stop blocking my numbers and call me. I need to talk to you. Please, Grace. You can’t spend the rest of your life not forgiving me. I screwed up. I know, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. You are the love of my life. Please, I’m begging you to call me. This is driving me insane. Especially since I don’t know where you’re at. I need to see you.”
I deleted the message and blocked the number. Things were quiet in the ER, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and saw that Jamieson was doing a craniotomy in OR three. I walked over and sat in the gallery to watch him. Why? I had no idea. He was a very skilled surgeon and I knew why they said he was the best in the country. Plus, I couldn’t stop thinking about last night. But I was pissed that he said something to Jackie.
“He’s so hot,” one of the nurses sitting next to me spoke to another nurse.
“I know, and he’s so amazing in bed,” the nurse sitting next to her spoke.
“You had sex with him?”
“I did. In the on-call room.”
“God, what I wouldn’t give to sleep with him.”
“Don’t expect anything. He’s got a heart of stone, and he has a rule. No commitment and no strings. Break those rules and you’ll never see him again. That’s why Julie up and quit.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. She somehow got it in her head that she could change him, and she told him she wanted a real relationship with him. He got mad, told her that she meant absolutely nothing and that he only used her for sex.”
I sat there, taking in deep calming breaths as I listened to their conversation.
“Sounds like a real asshole,” I spoke.
Both of the nurses looked over at me.
“As long as you don’t expect anything from him, the sex is worth it,” the nurse with the black hair spoke.
“Sounds like Dr. Finn gets around.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you?”
“I’m Dr. Harper. The new attending trauma surgeon.”
> “Oh. So you’re not familiar with him.”
“No.” I smiled. “I just came up here to see the famous Dr. Finn in action.”
“He does get around. To be honest, who could resist him. I mean, look at him. Neurosurgeon, hot, sexy, smart, rich. He’s perfect in every way except emotionally. Like I said, he has a heart of stone. But he can get away with it. He’s so dreamy.”
I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of coffee. Getting up from my seat, I walked out and headed to the ER.
Chapter 14
Jamieson
I looked up and saw Grace sitting in the gallery watching the surgery. Why would she do that? I finished my surgery and went to my office. As I was signing off on patient charts, Renata walked in.
“Good afternoon, Jamieson.” She smiled.
“Hello, Renata. How can I help you?”
“I’m sending you to Las Vegas to speak at a medical conference.”
“Awesome. I love Vegas.” I grinned. “When am I leaving?”
“Next Thursday. Your speaking time is Friday morning at nine a.m.”
“Excellent. I’m off that weekend, so I can have some fun while I’m there.”
She took in a long sigh.
“As much as I hate to do this, I’m sending Dr. Harper with you.”
“Why?” I furrowed my brows.
“Because she is speaking right after you at ten a.m. The head of the medical conference called me because he heard Grace was our new trauma attending and he wants her there to speak about new trauma procedures that are to be put in place in all of the ER departments across the country. She’s familiar with it because Manhattan Memorial already has theirs in place.”
“Have you told her yet?”
“No. I’m heading down there now. I’m putting you on warning.” She pointed at me. “You are to stay away from her. No flirting, being charming, nothing. Do you understand me, Jamieson?”
“And what am I supposed to do if she wants to take me back to her hotel room and rip my clothes off? Reject her? Do you know how that would make her feel?” I smirked.
“I swear to God, Dr. Finn. You’ve caused enough drama around here with your manwhore ways and I will not allow you to get to Grace. She’s important to this hospital and I will not lose her.”
“Do you honestly think if something happened between us that she would just up and quit her job? She’s a smart woman, Renata, and frankly, I’m surprised you’re giving her such little credit. After all, she was your resident. You raised her.” I smiled.
“She is smart, but I’ve seen even the smartest women succumb to the likes of guys like you and your charm. I care about her, Jamieson.”
“Did you just insult me?” I arched my brow. “Listen, I can’t help it if women fall all over me. But the one thing I can help is making sure they know exactly what I don’t want. These women know what they’ll get and what they won’t get when they consent to having sex with me.”
“Oh my God, I’ve heard enough.” She put her hand up and began to walk out of my office.
“You love me, Renata, and you know it!” I shouted before she shut the door.
A weekend in Vegas with Grace sounded good. It would get us away from the chaos of this place, we’d have a lot of sex, and I’d finally be able to find out what happened in New York. I loved how Renata warned me to stay away from her. Little did she know that Grace was the one using me.
“Hey, you got a minute?” Logan asked as he walked in my office.
“What’s up?”
“I think I’m in trouble.”
“What did you do?” I cocked my head.
“Riley told me today that she’s pregnant.” He rubbed his forehead.
“As in Riley the ICU charge nurse?”
“Yeah. That’s the one.”
“Wow. How the hell did you let that happen?” I leaned back in my chair.
“It was one night. The one time I didn’t use a condom because the only one I had left broke. She said it didn’t matter because she was on birth control.”
“Either she lied to you or her birth control failed.”
“She said she’s keeping it. Fuck, Jamieson. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be tied down to a kid. I like Riley but not enough to be her kid’s father.”
“The truth is, you are the kid’s father. If she’s keeping it, you need to step up and take responsibility.”
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you were in my position.”
I let out a chuckle. “I’m not stupid enough to fuck someone without a condom.”
“Thanks for your support. I appreciate it.” He scowled.
I got up from my seat, walked over to him, and placed my hand on his shoulder.
“I do support you, my friend. All kidding aside, Riley is having your baby. Did she say she wanted anything else from you?”
“No. She said all she wants is for me to be a part of the kid’s life.”
“Then you’re semi off the hook. You can still fuck whoever you want and be a part-time dad.”
He sighed and slowly shook his head. My pager went off, and I was needed down in the CT room.
“I have to go. I have a consult. Try not to stress over it and take it one day at a time. And you better be at my house tonight.”
I took the elevator down to the CT room and found Grace sitting there.
“You paged?” I smiled.
“Take a look at this.” She pointed to the images that sat on the screen.
“Damn. That’s a beautiful tumor right on the temporal lobe.”
“The patient is a thirty-two-year-old female who had a psychotic episode and went after her husband with a knife when she accused him of cheating on her. She actually succeeded and stabbed him in the arm.”
“How did you know to order a CT on her?”
“When the paramedics brought her in, her speech was slightly slurred, and she had no memory of stabbing her husband when it had just happened thirty minutes prior to the paramedics getting there. I was going to page you, but I knew you were in surgery.”
“Good call. I’ll schedule her surgery for tomorrow morning. Get her into a room and page me and I’ll talk to her and her husband. Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine.” She smiled.
“Hey, did Renata talk to you yet?”
“No. I’ve been really busy with patients. Why?”
“Just wondering. She told me she was on her way down to see you.”
“I’m sure she’ll find me.”
I began to walk out of the room when I stopped and looked at her.
“I’m having a few people over for drinks around eight. You can come if you want. It’ll give you a chance to meet some more people.”
“Thanks. Maybe I will for a little bit. I’m off tomorrow.”
“Great. I’ll text you my address.”
I walked out of the room with a smile on my face, for I knew I’d have her in my bed before the night was over.
Chapter 15
Grace
“Grace, there you are,” Renata spoke as she walked up to me.
“Hey, Renata.”
“Listen, Robert Conway called, and he wants you to speak at the medical conference in Las Vegas on the new trauma procedures for the ER.”
“Robert Conway? Gosh, I haven’t seen him in a long time. When is it?”
“You’ll leave next Thursday, and you’ll be speaking Friday morning at ten. Now, I know what next Friday is and I think it would do you some good to not be here.”
I looked down and tapped the pen I was holding on the counter.
“Another thing, you’ll be going with Dr. Finn.”
“He’s speaking too?” I asked.
“Yes.”
She hooked her arm around mine and we began walking.
“I know you’re a smart girl and I don’t have to reiterate what we already talked about regarding him.”
“No, you don’t.” I bit down on my bottom lip. “Listen, R
enata, you don’t have to try and protect me.”
“I know I don’t, but I just can’t seem to help it.” She smiled.
“What is it about Dr. Finn that has you so worried? Do you not like him?”
“On the contrary. I love Jamieson. He’s highly intelligent and he’s an excellent surgeon. He’s the youngest doctor we’ve ever had here to head up a department. He earned it. But, on the personal side, he’s very closed off. He doesn’t let anyone in or near him. He sleeps around too much and gets women’s hopes up and then crushes them to the point where they quit. I just don’t want to see that happen to you. You’re new here and he’ll see you as a challenge and charm his way into your life. He’ll use you and then things will get messy.”
“I’m a big girl, Renata.”
“I know, Grace. I just felt like I needed to have this talk with you.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it, but you have nothing to worry about.”
I punched Jamieson’s address into my GPS and headed to his house. I pulled up to 4701 Ocean Front Walk Street in Marina Del Rey and stared at the sprawling home that sat directly on the beach.
“Damn, Dr. Finn,” I spoke to myself.
Walking up to the front door, I rang the doorbell and waited for him to answer. A few moments later, the door opened, and Logan stood there with a smile on his face.
“Grace, come in.” He waved his hand. “We’re out on the beach having a bonfire.”
“Thanks, Logan.” I smiled.
“Can I get you a beer or something?”
“Sure. A beer sounds great.”
“Jamieson is out there.” He pointed to the sand where a bunch of people were gathered and music was playing.
While Logan was getting my beer, I looked around at the four-thousand-square-foot home that was impeccably decorated in whites and grays. Logan handed me my beer and I followed him out to the beach.
“Look who I brought with me.” He grinned.
“Hello, Grace.” Jamieson smiled. “Glad you could make it.”
Jamieson introduced me to a few nurses and doctors that I hadn’t met yet, and I stood there and wondered how many he’d slept with.
“Dr. Harper, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” A woman with long red hair smiled as she walked up to me and extended her hand. “I’m Dr. Gail Edmonds. I work up in OB.”