“Hmm,” I said, attempting to feign disinterest, but once again failing, judging from the smirk on Molly’s face.
“Speak of the handsome devil…”
“What?”
But my question was answered by the door opening and none other than Dr. Sholly appearing. My heart skipped a beat and I almost choked on my sandwich.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” he said.
“Good afternoon, sugar,” Molly said. She eyed me for a second, like a mother scolding her child to be polite. But my vocal chords didn’t seem to be working. Pressing his pretty lips together upon seeing that I couldn’t be bothered to speak, he gave me a curt nod before rolling up his sleeves and approaching the vending machine. My eyes trailed over his muscular arms, intrigued by the tattoos covering them…
Until he turned around with his bottle of Gatorade in hand and caught me staring, causing me to choke for real this time.
Molly gave me a rather hard thump on the back as I reached for my bottle of water. Thank goodness I hadn’t unscrewed the top yet, or I would have drenched myself.
“Tessa.”
I raised my eyebrows at the sound of him saying my name. My skin was on fire. He made me feel things, things I didn’t want to feel.
“Dr. Sholly?” I said.
“Can I speak with you for a moment?”
“Uhm…Sure,” I said. “Now?”
“If it’s all right,” he said. “It won’t take long.”
“Okay…”
He headed to the door and I realized he wanted me to follow him out of the break room.
Panic-stricken, I glanced toward Molly. Her eyes were wide with amusement. “Go ahead. I’ll keep your sandwich company, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Dr. Sholly chuckled.
As I stood, I ‘accidentally’ kicked Molly in the foot, which only made her goofy ex
pression grow more prominent.
“I’ll let you get back to your lunch soon, I swear,” Dr. Sholly said, still standing in the doorway, holding the door open as he waited for me.
“No, it’s fine I was done anyway,” I lied.
I took a deep breath as I stepped out into the hall with Dr. Sholly. To my surprise, he set off down the hall. Upon realizing I wasn’t following him, he paused and looked back at me over his shoulder.
I recomposed myself and caught up to him, wondering where on earth he was taking me as we reached the end of the hall and rounded the corner.
“Woah!”
Dr. Sholly came to an abrupt halt, startled by a couple of technicians hurriedly rounding the corner as well, wheeling an empty hospital bed and nearly crashing into us. Instinctually, Dr. Sholly held his hand out, catching me right at the waist and preventing me from slamming into the hospital bed right at the last second.
“Sorry, doc,” one of the technicians said.
“Slow down. The air isn’t in a hurry,” Dr. Sholly said. Realizing his hand was still on my waist, he removed it, although I felt the ghost of his touch long afterwards. A shiver went down my spine.
“You all right?” he said, running his hand through his luscious dark hair, looking somewhat awkward.
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said, displeased to hear that my voice sounded too high. “Uhm…where are we going?”