The Surgeon's Favorite Nurse by Teresa Southwick Page A

that could very well be the source of her guilt.
    She’d loved Kevin and losing him had hurt deeply. It still did. But she’d never experienced need like she had in Jake’s arms. That meant there was some kind of connection which was exactly what she was trying to avoid.
    Now she knew and had independent confirmation of the fact that he wasn’t free. That should help put him out of her mind because so far she’d been unsuccessful. She wished, and not for the first time, that she’d left him stranded that night. Now she was in a complication that proved no good deed goes unpunished.
    On the bright side, he was seeing someone. That gave her a level of protection from his specific brand of temptation. He was comfortable juggling women but couldn’t if she refused to be juggled.
     
    It was close to 7:00 p.m., past time to leave the hospital, and Hope was still studying the budget spreadsheet on her computer. Keeping the emergency department within the parameters of the allocated funds was going to mean sacrifices, doing more with less. In today’s world where individuals were more concerned about themselves and paranoid about being treated unfairly, managing personalitieswas going to be a challenge. The staff needed a charismatic director who could lead by example.
    Kevin had been that way, she remembered sadly. He’d put in more hours than the Department of Children and Families could pay for because he loved kids. If he’d been more selfish and less heroic, he would still be with her.
    The sound of voices in the hall outside her office broke up her pity party. She’d forgotten to shut her door and walked around her desk to do that. A few feet away, she stopped, recognizing Jake’s deep voice. It always triggered a ball of heat in her belly and did now, even though she couldn’t see him.
    “This place feels like a hotel. It’s really something.” The male voice was unfamiliar. “But it’s too far away for me to do hospital rounds. You know my office is on Horizon Ridge. That makes seeing patients at this facility problematic.”
    “What did you think of the MRI and the new cath lab, Dean?”
    That was a clue to Hope that he was talking to Dr. Dean Harrison, a busy internist.
    “It’s very cool, and you know it, Jake.”
    “How about the gamma knife?” There was just the slightest bit of snake-oil salesman wheedling in Jake’s tone.
    “Remarkable. No pun intended—cutting-edge.”
    “Good one. It’s state-of-the-art medicine,” Jake said. “So it takes you a couple minutes out of your way. Isn’t that a small price to pay? Here, your patients won’t have to wait for a bed like they do at Mercy Medical’s main campus.”
    Hope remembered his talking about the patient billed for ICU, intermediate care and step-down beds when he never left the E.R. There was certainly a need for moreacute-care beds in the Vegas Valley. But change was never easy and people pushed back even if it was good change.
    “Tell you what, Jake,” the other man said, “I’ll think about coming on staff here at Mercy Medical West if you’ll agree to speak at the Nevada Hospital Council in Reno next month.”
    “Happy to do it,” Jake said.
    “I’m holding you to that.” Hope could picture the doctor pointing a finger at Jake. “Thanks for the private tour. This place really is impressive.”
    She heard retreating footsteps and went back to her desk. The two doctors were gone now, so there was no reason to shut her door.
    “Knock, knock.” The words were followed by a light tap.
    Unlike her heart which was tapping like crazy. She braced herself as best she could and looked up. “Jake.”
    “Hope.”
    They stared awkwardly at each other for several moments while she wished he would go away and stop torturing her. Finally she asked, “Was there something you wanted?”
    The way his eyes turned to silver told her that was a bad choice of words even as a rebellious little thrill skipped through her.
    “You’re here