Second First Kiss

Chapter 12

Jasher

“Dr. Hotchkiss, you’re needed in labor and delivery.” The PA system at the Mendon Regional Medical Center was calling his name incessantly today.

Labor and delivery. He’d never delivered a baby in his life. Sure, he’d done the mandatory OB rotations during medical school, but standing in to observe three deliveries in six weeks hardly cut it.

Still, it wasn’t like anyone else was on staff today that would be able to handle it, since McGreeley had taken an impromptu trip to Vegas, and Dr. Smithers was running the ER. Summertime in farm country filled ERs faster than gang wars in inner cities.

So many pieces of heavy equipment.

Jasher rushed to the obstetrics wing of the facility. The Knighton Knee Clinic in Reedsville probably never required impromptu anything. Pre-planned procedures, regular hours, plenty of patients, daily knowing what to expect. None of these unscheduled surprises that made up his days as a fire-putter-outer.

He pasted on a confident smile and checked the patient the LDR. “Hello, Mrs. Biega. Looks like you’re at a ten, and the baby is crowning. Are you ready to give birth?”

She let out a howl, which Jasher took as an affirmative, and the party was underway.

Ninety minutes and no anesthesia later, Welcome to Mendon, baby boy Biega.

Too bad Mrs. Biega had insisted on a natural childbirth experience without pain management. It would have been nice to see Sage in the delivery room today for an epidural.

Six hours later, he tossed his fiftieth pair of gloves in the trash for the day and headed out. The potential buyer, an out-of-towner called Zephyr Quennelle, had agreed to meet with him in a video call to discuss the timing of the purchase of Parrish Medical.

He sent a text to the guy. I’m on my way.

Today had been good, but tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow, Jasher would spend dinner with Mendon’s most beautiful, brilliant, single female.

They’d gotten pretty close last weekend in the sluice. He couldn’t seem to get enough of putting his arms around her. And on that second trip down, if they’d had ten more seconds, he could have kissed her.

Women who didn’t want to be kissed didn’t look at a man that way, not with their chins tilting, and their lips parting so temptingly. Once they’d climbed ashore, he should have just taken his shot. Why hadn’t he?

Well, tomorrow night he wouldn’t hesitate. Not if she looked at him like that again. No doubt, the chemistry was there. He’d have to push a little more to see if she really had it for him, or whether she just exuded so much of it naturally that it seemed there for any guy.

Despite the raging attraction, this wasn’t purely physical. Not on his part. Somehow, he needed to show her other reasons to connect with him as well. Emotional bonds, like the admiration that had galvanized in him for her all those years ago, and were reinforced again and again.

Yes, chemistry was amazing, vital even, but wasn’t enough to go on. Not for what he was starting to have in mind.

“Dr. Hotchkiss, you’re needed in the ER.”

Again.

He shot Zephyr Quennelle a cancellation text. Again.

He’d better not lose this fish on his line due to too many emergency calls. He shoved his phone into the pocket of his lab coat and hustled to the ER, where—

“Sage!” He nearly barreled into her coming around a corner. “What are you doing on shift? Walk with me. I’ve been paged.”

“I got called in as a float nurse.” She matched his pace.

“Float nurse? In the ER? But you’re a nurse anesthetist.” He didn’t understand. She had specialized skills.

“I don’t like the hospital to be short-handed. I told them they could call me if days like today happened.”

“You’re serious.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’d rather be here with patients than taking your day off?” He looked her over, and they arrived at the doors dividing the emergency room from the rest of the hospital. She looked dead serious. “You’re not making that up.”