“You need to take that up with your team physician. I’d like him to examine you and he can assess your readiness to pitch. You might have to sit out a game.”
He heaved a big sigh. “That’s not what I want to hear.”
“I’m sorry, but the last thing you need is to get dizzy and drop to the ground while you’re on the mound. Your health is the most important thing.”
He looked down at the paper she gave him. She knew he was disappointed, so she reached down and grasped his wrist.
“Plus, it looks bad on TV.”
He laughed and looked up at her. “Yeah. I get it. I’ll talk to Phil and make sure he knows what went down.”
“Make sure that you do, because I’ll be talking to him as well.”
“Damn. Okay.”
She started to pull away, but he grasped her hand.
“Aubry.”
“Yes?”
“Thanks. I’m glad you were here tonight. It was good to see you again.”
A flood of warmth enveloped her. There was something about this man that called to her, that made her feel things she had no right to feel about anyone. Not right now, not when her work was so critical. Distractions could be bad.
And a baseball player, of all things . . .
“I’m glad I was here to help you.”
“I’m not talking about the medical stuff, though you do make me feel better. You make me feel . . . a lot of things.”
She shuddered in a breath when he tugged on her hand, drawing her closer.
This was all kinds of wrong, but as she leaned over him, she couldn’t resist the pull of attraction. And when he cupped the back of her neck, she wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on hers.
Until the door opened. She pulled back so fast she nearly lost her balance.
“So what did we miss?” Barrett asked, holding a cup of coffee in his hand as he rounded the end of the bed. “Anything good?”
Tucker glared at his brother. “No.”
“Anyway, I’ll be sure you get that list of discharge instructions, Tucker,” she said, trying to gather her wits about her and remember the real reason she was in his room. And it wasn’t to kiss him.
She turned to his brothers. “You’ll need to read those instructions as well. I wouldn’t recommend he be alone tonight.”
“I’m staying at his place for a few days,” Barrett said. “He won’t be alone.”
She nodded. “Good. If you’ll excuse me, I need to see to other patients.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Tucker said, giving her a look she recognized as regret.
“You’re welcome.”
She hurried out of there, hoping her face didn’t appear as flaming hot from the embarrassment she felt at almost being caught kissing a patient.
Could she have acted more unprofessional? What was wrong with her, anyway? She’d been laser focused on her work since the moment she’d entered college for her undergraduate degree. Other than a short, ill-fated romance in medical school that hadn’t occupied a lot of her time, there’d been nothing and no one to distract her.
Until now. And in a couple short weeks, Tucker Cassidy had completely turned her world upside down.
She was determined to turn him down when he called her for a date. There was no way she’d allow him to disrupt her carefully planned life.
She went to the station and gave the nurse discharge instructions, then took a breath.
“Heard you treated Tucker Cassidy again.”
It figured Katie would be hovering nearby.
“I did. He presented with concussion symptoms. X-ray and CT scan results were negative, fortunately.”
“Did he get hit with a baseball?”
“No. Playing football with his brothers. He tripped over some rocks.”
“I see.” Katie was entering her notes into one of the laptops and didn’t look up. “He probably did it on purpose so he could come and see you again.”
She turned and leaned against the station. “He did not. He’ll likely miss his next pitching spot, so why would he intentionally hurt himself?”
Katie looked up from her notes, shoving a thick auburn curl behind her ear. “I was kidding. And you’re being sensitive about it. What’s up with that?”
She looked around. Marie was on break and everyone else was on the other side of the station. “I almost kissed him. In the exam room.”
“Scandalous. And juicy. So why didn’t you?”
“His brothers walked in. Otherwise, I probably would have. Which is so inappropriate.”