Weekend Fling with the Surgeon
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Janice Lynn
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CHAPTER ONE
DUMPED. HOW COULD Paul have dumped her?
Dr. McKenzie Wilkes stared at the phone message, not quite believing what she was reading.
Not just dumped, but via text. Seriously?
What did it say that Paul had dumped her via a typed message? That she hadn’t warranted an in-person kick to the curb?
After more than two years of dating and his promise of undying love, she’d at the minimal deserved a call and explanation, surely? At least Clay, her ex prior to Paul, had broken things off in person rather than through technology.
To be fair, Paul had tried calling the previous evening.
Only she’d not seen the missed call until too late to dial back because she’d been on call at the hospital until six this morning and she’d been swamped. She’d not even seen the notification until long after midnight. Was this what he’d wanted to talk to her about? That he no longer loved her and wanted to end their relationship?
McKenzie bit the inside of her lower lip as she glared at the phone screen. Nope, she was not going to cry. Not going to happen. She had to go inside Seattle Cardiac Clinic for Kids and put on a happy face. How could she not when her patients and their families were dealing with so much more than a broken relationship?
Their sweet little hearts really were broken, physically as well as emotionally. Yet, most of her patients’ families had amazing attitudes once the initial shock wore off. Yeah, she had to get her act together and not give in to the urge to go home, crawl into bed, curl into the fetal position and cry until there were no tears left.
Her patients needed her.
McKenzie loved her job as a pediatric cardiologist and advocate for her patients. She often got caught up in work, volunteering to take on extra shifts or canceling plans because one of her patients was in crisis.
She’d thought Paul had understood. Perhaps he hadn’t. He worked for an online retailer. His clients didn’t die if something went wrong.
McKenzie bit deeper into her lower lip, hoping the physical pain would defer the shattering in her chest.
Paul loved her. Hadn’t he told her so hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the past two years? How could he just text that they needed time apart to reevaluate their feelings? That he felt they’d grown apart and had different life views and goals?
Pretty much all her future personal plans were tied up with Paul and the life they’d someday have together. She’d thought they’d be married within the next year or two, would start a family, would grow old together.
Then again, she’d thought the same thing with Clay, hadn’t she? He’d ended a seven-year-long relationship that had begun during medical school and ended it when she’d thought they’d be taking that next life step together. Instead, he’d told her he was accepting a residency in Boston and she wasn’t invited.
Oh, the pity she’d gotten at home following that breakup. As if dealing with her own inner misery wasn’t enough, her mother had just about driven her crazy with date setups and poor-you babying.
She’d had to get away. Taking a residency offer in Seattle had been a godsend in so many ways.
Unfortunately, McKenzie was about to have an emotional déjà vu. A bad one. Possibly one worse than the last. In just under a month, she would be traveling to Tennessee for the first time since she’d moved.
For her cousin Reva’s wedding with McKenzie as one of the bridesmaids. They’d always planned to be in each other’s weddings. McKenzie had even wondered if Paul would use the trip to pop the question himself.
Obviously not.
Why had she hinted to her mother that a proposal might be in her near future? Wasn’t that like throwing gasoline on a fire?
Going to Jeremy and Reva’s wedding single was not an option. Her mother would feel it her obligation to push every Tom, Dick and Harry at her, all the while offering her looks of pity and conversations about how she’d once again been dumped.
McKenzie’s fingers palmed the phone she held as reality further sank in. Paul had ended their relationship. He didn’t love her anymore, if he ever had.
Sure, he’d never sent her heart into the acrobatics childhood fairytales had made her think were supposed to happen when she was around her significant other, but she enjoyed his company, their relationship made sense, and she genuinely cared for him. Besides, who believed in those kind of fairy tales, anyway?
Their relationship had been pleasant, comfortable, like warm cocoa on a cold drizzly Seattle night. Paul was dependable and made her happy.
She’d loved her cocoa guy. He’d made her feel loved, needed, as if she mattered.
“Hey, Dr. Wilkes,” one of her colleagues called, jarring McKenzie to the fact that she was standing frozen to the spot where she’d gotten the text.
“Hi, back,” she called, giving a little wave and pretending that her world hadn’t just crashed around her as she made her way inside the building and toward her office.
Her hands shook. Thank goodness she was in clinic today and not doing procedures where she had to have super steady hands.
It was more than her hands that shook.
Her entire body trembled.
Paul had dumped her.
Feeling a wave of lightheadedness hit her, McKenzie paused on her way to her office, leaned her forehead against the cold concrete wall, and closed her eyes.
She’d be okay. Even if Paul didn’t love her anymore, she’d be fine. Somehow.
Even if she had to go to Reva’s wedding and pretend everything was just lovely in her own life despite being single again, she’d survive those looks and conversations behind her back.
Her stomach knotted and sweat burst from her skin.
Oh, how her mother had gone on and on about how she looked forward to meeting Paul, how she couldn’t wait to meet the man her daughter loved, planned to marry and start a family with.
Nausea pitched, rising up McKenzie’s throat. A fresh wave of clamminess coated her skin.
She was going to throw up.
“Ahem.”
At the deep clearing of a throat, McKenzie spun and almost lost her balance as she came face-to-face with Dr. Ryder Andrews.
Fire spread across her cheeks at the furrowing of his brows.
Ugh. Of all the people in the world to see her on the verge of being physically ill, why, why, why, had it had to be him?
The reality was, Ryder always sent her heart racing, jitters in her veins and a fluttery schoolgirl feel in her stomach. Ugh. She did not like how he made her feel. Even when things had been all flowery and friendly, he’d turned her insides all quivery. Then again, she was a fresh-out-of-residency pediatric cardiologist and he was a highly skilled pediatric heart surgeon.
Of course, she’d been a little in awe. She still was. That was only natural but had always made her feel a tad guilty.
If Paul was warm cocoa that made McKenzie feel warm and cozy inside, Ryder Andrews was 100-proof whiskey, leaving her off balance and fuzzyheaded.
Ryder was not comfortable. He was...concerned.
“Are you okay?”
Tears prickled. Could this day get worse? She just wanted to go home, restart her day. This time, without a dismissive text message and a run-in with her least-friendly coworker.
“Fine,” she lied, because no way was she telling Ryder that she’d just been dumped.
He stared at her with his honey-colored eyes, rimmed with thick lashes, that, on the rare occasion their paths crossed, she avoided looking into because she felt as if he saw too much. Like now. Because she’d swear he knew she was lying.
Okay, she had been leaning against the wall and on the verge of losing her morning’s coffee. It didn’t take a genius IQ to realize she wasn’t on her game.
Of all people to see her moment of weakness, why Ryder?
As brilliant as he was, as great a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon as he was, McKenzie was positive he didn’t like her. She wasn’t sure she liked him. When he was around, she felt edgy, as if she was on the verge of saying or doing something stupid. She always seemed to, too. Possibly because she was so self-conscious.
She wasn’t one who had to have everyone like her, but Ryder had been friendly in the beginning. He’d smiled and teased her. She’d really liked him. She’d thought they would be good friends. After just a couple of weeks of his being at the hospital, he’d done a complete about-face. He’d never been openly hostile, just went out of his way to avoid her except for when work absolutely demanded they interact.
These days, when their paths did cross, an underlying tension she didn’t understand was always present. She couldn’t recall having done anything to upset him, had even asked him about it once. He’d denied that anything was wrong but continued to avoid her. She’d started doing the same. Perhaps she was overly sensitive to his attitude change but being around him left her rattled.
Like now.
Looking into those intelligent eyes that probed beneath the surface made her think he already knew she’d been dumped, and he sympathized with Paul for being saddled with her for so long.
“You don’t look fine,” he unnecessarily pointed out. “Do I need to get you a glass of water or call someone?”
Yep. Her day just kept getting better and better.
“I’ll be fine.” Which was a more honest answer than her first one. She would, right? She’d survived her breakup with Clay, and she’d survive Paul ending things.
Because he no longer loved her.
Was she so unlovable that the men in her life always ended up walking away?
“If you’ll excuse me,” she continued, needing to escape from Ryder’s curious gaze before she went full-blown waterworks. “I’ve got a few things to take care of before I start seeing patients.”
Like going to her office and bawling her eyes out.
She walked away before Ryder could say anything more or before she did anything further embarrassing.
Dumped.
Again.
Ugh.
The back of her neck tingling as it often did around Ryder, McKenzie turned, found he stood exactly where she’d left him.
He’d not moved, just stared after her. His brows were drawn together, as if he was deep in thought and not pleasant ones.
Pursing her lips into a tight line, she shot Ryder a look of disgust at his gender, then, head held high, she retreated into her office.
McKenzie closed the door, leaned against it and gave in to the waterworks.
Dr. Ryder Andrews stared at McKenzie’s closed office door and felt torn into a thousand directions.
Just walk away, he ordered himself.
She obviously does not want to talk to you about whatever is going on. He sure didn’t need to talk to her about whatever was going on.
The less he had to do with Dr. McKenzie Wilkes the better.
Because, when they’d first met, he’d found himself rapidly falling for her. Once he’d discovered she was seriously involved with another man, he’d quickly put a stop to those feelings and avoided her as much as possible to prevent any reoccurrence of his fascination with her.
She’d been upset this morning. Very upset.
When she’d turned from where her head had been pressed against the wall, almost as if for support, her face had been pale, her eyes glassy, her expression almost sallow. As if she were ill.
Walk away, he repeated.
Only, he couldn’t not check on her. He was a doctor. She obviously wasn’t feeling well. He might do his best to avoid her, but what kind of person ignored when one of his colleagues was sick?
Going to their clinic’s break area, he got a glass of water and a pack of crackers. Maybe she hadn’t eaten anything that morning and just needed to get a little something in her stomach.
Maybe he was ignoring the obvious, that McKenzie had not been having a hypoglycemic attack in the clinic hallway.
Something more had been wrong than her needing food.
He’d do the right thing. He’d take her the water, make sure she was physically okay, then go back to barely acknowledging her existence.
It’s the same as he’d do for any coworker.
Only when he knocked on her closed office door, she didn’t respond.
Walk away. Walk away. Walk away.
Why wasn’t he walking away and just minding his own business?
“I brought a glass of water and some crackers for you,” he told her through the door.
Although he hadn’t realized it when they’d met, when he’d looked at her and felt something deep in his gut he’d never felt before, there had always been barriers between them.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Nothing.
He turned to leave. She obviously didn’t want to talk to him. He’d done his duty, tried to show common courtesy by getting her a drink and the crackers and she’d not even had the same common courtesy to respond.
What if she hadn’t been able to respond?
The question hit him hard, punching him in the gut, and stalling his feet. What if she’d gone into her office and something bad had happened?
She’d looked as if something was really wrong, had been leaning against the wall for support and been pale as a ghost. Had she gone into her office and passed out?
He knocked on the door again. This time brisker and with more urgency.
Nothing.
“McKenzie, open up.” Because the more his brain raced, the more he knew he couldn’t just walk away without making sure she was all right. He had to know she was okay even if it meant later being accused of overreacting.
Her office door could be locked. If so, he’d break in or get help.
“If you don’t answer, I’m coming in to make sure you’re not passed out on the floor.”
What was Ryder’s problem? McKenzie wondered as she lifted her head off her knees and tried to get her blurry eyes to focus on the room around her. He’d barely acknowledged she existed for months and today of all days he felt the need to make sure she wasn’t passed out on the floor?
“Go away.”
There. She’d answered. He could leave.
“I brought you water and crackers,” he repeated.
“You can have them.”
Water and crackers weren’t going to solve her problems.
“I’m not going away until I make sure you’re okay.”
Ugh. If he was waiting on her to be okay, he might be there awhile.
She would be okay, she told herself again. Eventually. Hadn’t she been after Clay had broken her heart? Sure, it had taken a long time and meeting and falling for Paul, but she had recovered from Clay’s blow to her heart.
She had experience in recovering. This time shouldn’t take nearly as long to get back on her feet, to make the pain in her chest go away, to not want to burst into tears at every sappy song on the radio.
Yeah, she was a pro at this getting dumped and would be shaking off Paul’s wanting time apart. No big deal.
“I’m not leaving, McKenzie. Open up.” He knocked on the door again.
Ugh. He was making so much commotion in the hallway he had to be drawing the attention of their colleagues. She could do without everyone there knowing she was Paul’s yesterday news.
She stood from where she had been crouched on the floor, wiped her eyes, took a deep breath and told herself she had this. That Ryder was just a man. A gorgeous man who’d probably never been dumped, but, still, just a man.
She didn’t bother forcing a smile to her face because she wanted him to know she didn’t appreciate his concern. Perhaps she should, but at the moment she just wanted to wallow in her pity a few minutes.
“What is your problem?” she asked as she flung the door open. Okay, so that hadn’t been very nice of her, but he was seriously butting into her business and she just wanted to be left alone.
Seeming stunned by her irritation, he held the water and package of crackers out to her. “These are yours.”
“Fine. I’ll take them.” She did just that, taking them from him. “You can go now.”
“I... Okay, I will.” He studied her face.
McKenzie lifted her chin, almost daring him to say something. Yes, she had been crying. Yes, she knew her eyes were swollen. Yes, it embarrassed her that he was seeing her this way.
“Is there anything I can do?” he surprised her by asking, deflating her false bravado.
“I... No, there’s nothing you can do.” Nothing anyone could do. Either Paul loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her or he didn’t. Embarrassed that Ryder was seeing her when she was so dejected, when she knew her eyes were red rimmed from crying and that she likely had mascara running down her cheeks, she forced a weak smile to her face. “I had a long night on call at the hospital and didn’t get much rest. This morning has had a few unexpected things come up.” To say the least. “Thank you for the water and crackers.”
It was nice of him to get them for her when he hadn’t had to. She must have looked really bad for him to have felt the need. If he’d wanted reassurance on that, she doubted she looked any better after her mini-boohoo-fest.
“Truly.” She mentally willed the corners of her mouth upward again. “I’ll be fine.”
With that she closed the door, leaving him on the other side, and her knowing she had to get her act together to make it through the rest of her day.
If Ryder, who didn’t even like her, had shown such pity, her friends would be holding an intervention.
She’d wash her face, repair her makeup, and, should anyone ask, she’d blame any remaining puffy redness on her hospital on-call shift. Tonight, in the privacy of her home, she’d give rein to her broken heart.
