My Forbidden Doctor (Forbidden Medicine 7)

"At least there's enough of me for him to decide." The snarky comeback that burst from my dry mouth earned me an audible growl as Eva stomped into the elevator. I was horrified. How could she just say that! Clenching my jaw hard, I clutched my purse straps with white-knuckle tightness. "You're just a badly drawn stick figure."

I just had to get the last word in, and I was shocked by my own nastiness the second before the doors slid shut. Huffing in affront, I turned to Carl to find him watching me with shock dragging down his handsome features. Before me, he managed to speak up, and he held up his palms swiftly.

"I am so sorry, Mel. I never thought she'd say something like that."

"She's a horrible person, and if you ever need me to help you, I will gladly."

His smile strained with a mix of emotions, and I nodded firmly– more to myself than him. Glancing at my watch, I pulled my glasses up to my eyes, and the cord holding them around my neck tickled to ease some of the tension thrumming between my shoulder blades. "I have to go, or I'll be late."

"Can I have your number, Mel?"

The request surprised me even though it shouldn't have, and I glanced up as Carl pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Please... if you don't mind?"Chapter 2Carl"Well... this is awkward." Shutting the door to the patient room, I frowned when Mel stiffened, her green eyes nearly boggling out of their sockets. "I apologize for earlier, again, Mel."

"You're the specialist for my allergies?"

Sitting on the stool, I held her file in my lap as I nodded grimly. This whole building was filled with medical offices, but I was the only pulmonologist of the several GPs available to treat for allergies.

"Are you going to get in trouble? Does that mean that woman is a doctor here? Am I gonna have to deal with her taking my blood or something?"

"No— no, she's a pediatrician."

Mel seemed horrified at the thought of Eva dealing with kids.

I waved a hand in dismissal. "You won't have to deal with her. I'm probably not going to get in trouble, either. Nothing unethical happened. Before lunch, I wasn't your doctor."

"Do I need to get a new doctor? The last guy I saw didn't believe my allergies were as bad as they are because it was winter." Her freckled nose scrunched up as panic blazed in her eyes.

I shook my head firmly. Trying to keep up with this situation as it developed was almost too much, but I'd learned to handle stress over the last fifteen years.

"You should be fine, Mel. So, your allergies have been aggravating your asthma, right? That's why you're here today?" Throughout our entire conversation outside the office, Melissa hadn't mentioned her asthma. Flipping open her chart, I knew why her allergies would be the more worrying thing on her mind.

Out of the corner of my eye, she nodded, her wild, auburn hair shining under the lights of the examination room.

"Yeah. I have an inhaler, but when Spring comes, my allergies get so bad that I can't sleep or breathe or anything. I've tried almost everything. The specialist I saw a couple months ago gave me a medicated nebulizer, but it gave me an asthma attack the only time I used it."

The crease between my brows deepened as I scanned her file,

Melissa sucked in a sharp breath. "I told him I wanted a CPAP machine, but he said I was fine, and my asthma wasn't bad enough for it."

"CPAP machines aren't generally used for asthma control. Did you get the idea from the internet?"

Mel nodded, unabashed, and I leaned back to set her file on the counter. Standing up, I unhooked my stethoscope from my neck to check her breaths. Pursing my lips in concentration, I closed my eyes as she took a few deep breaths. Obviously, she wasn't a stranger to the procedure, and I could clearly hear her slight wheezing at the end.

"When was the last time you slept without an attack?"

"Um... probably the last time it snowed. Maybe three weeks ago? They haven't been bad, exactly, but I always wake up and have to use my inhaler."

My mind whirred as Melissa talked of her troubles, and I pressed my palm against her back.

"I didn't try to use the nebulizer again, but I still have it. Maybe a different medication would work?"

"Asthma is a restriction of the airways and the bronchioles, so it's not surprising that your allergies agitate it. There's no point in prescribing a different medication for the nebulizer if you can't get it in your system. I actually don't think a CPAP machine is a bad idea. It'll take some of the strain off from your respiratory system, and considering your reaction to the last medication, I'm hesitant to prescribe another. I think we should just try non-medicated and see how you do for a few weeks."