Doctors were off limits.
To look at. To talk to.
To even think about dating.
Especially the two arrogant ones talking about their dating life and now one of them being saddled with a wife.
Talk about sexist.
Had she noticed they were both pretty damn hot? Hell yeah. Hotter than her mother’s homemade salsa loaded with jalapenos and one habanero pepper.
Now the room was relatively quiet with Dr. Fierce operating. It would be a fast procedure. She didn’t catch the name of the anesthesiologist in the room. She hadn’t worked with him yet. But she did like Dr. Fierce.
She definitely thought he was cocky, but more in an arrogant confident way. She’d heard he was engaged too because the nurses all liked to talk and fill her in on who was who.
When the procedure was done and the patient moved to recovery, she and the scrub nurse finished up and closed the room down for the next procedure.
She had a small break and that worked for her so she could get some lunch.
When she was in the cafeteria she saw the anesthesiologist that she’d just left. Must be he had a break too, but she was going in the opposite direction of him.
Had she noticed he glanced her way a few times in the OR? Yep, she had. And she looked the other way. If he was looking for his next conquest he had another thing coming.
Or she did, because after she had her salad she was looking for a place to sit and didn’t see one empty table. But there were a few empty seats at the hunky doctor’s table. She was going to take her salad and leave when she realized there was nowhere else to sit and she didn’t know anyone enough to ask if she could reside at their table.
Sometimes it felt like it was high school all over again in a new school on the first day.
“Come over here,” the sexy doctor said to her. She really didn’t want to.
“I’m good. I’ll just go sit outside and eat.”
“You can do that, but it just started to rain, which is why there aren’t any tables available. I take it you’re new since I haven’t seen you around before. Have a seat if you want.”
He was grinning at her. A smile that he most likely perfected to get any woman he wanted.
Dark hair. Dark sultry eyes with his nice white straight teeth.
Urgh. What the hell was wrong with her thinking of those things?
Unfortunately though, she didn’t know her way around that much other than places to sit outside to eat. And she didn’t have much time before she had to be back.
She moved to the table and sat down. “Thank you,” she said.
“I’m Wyatt,” he said, holding his hand out to her.
She’d been hoping to just sit and eat, not to carry on a conversation. “Adriana,” she said.
She picked her fork up and started to mix her greens and meat around. What she really wanted to do was stab it and take out her frustration, hoping he’d get the hint and let her eat her lunch in peace.
“Not much of a talker, are you?” he asked.
“No,” she said back. “I just come in and do my job. I’ve found it’s best to be that way.”
“As opposed to carrying on conversations with coworkers?”
Guess he wasn’t going to get the hint. “I can talk and be friendly if I need to.”
He laughed at her. Like he knew what she was doing but wasn’t going to let her get her way. “But you don’t want to?”
“I need to get back soon. I’m sure you do too. I take my job seriously.”
He stopped mid bite of his sandwich. “Meaning I don’t?”
“I didn’t say that,” she argued.
“No, you didn’t. Sorry.”
“Seems like I hit a nerve with you,” she found herself saying and wished she didn’t. When would she learn to just shut the hell up?
“You could say it’s been told to me before and I’ve had to prove people wrong.”
All the more reason to finish her lunch and escape as fast as possible. He was probably trying to add a notch to his bedpost.
She wasn’t stupid.
She went back to her salad, him his sandwich. The silence was good for her but she had a feeling it wasn’t for him. He was almost squirming in his seat.
“Fierce. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this quiet before. Especially with a woman at your table.”
She looked up to see another doctor standing there, an older one, giving Wyatt the eye that she’d seen one too many times.
“Get lost, Roger,” he said. “I’m just enjoying my sandwich and you have to cut through my solitude like you always do.” Wyatt leaned toward her. “He thinks I’m striking out and wants to make a move on you. He doesn’t understand that people can sit at a table and eat and not talk or hit on someone.”
The doctor named Roger started to laugh and slapped Wyatt on the back, saying, “Good one coming from you,” then walked away.
“Sorry,” Wyatt said. “I guess I’ve got a reputation for talking a lot.”
“And dating,” she said. Then paused. “Fierce? Wasn’t that the name of the surgeon in the OR?”
“Yes. My cousin Sam,” he said.
“And your mother is a teacher?” she asked and tried to fight back the cringe. Dang it.
“Yes. My mother is Carolyn Fierce. Do you know her? Oh wait. Adriana Lopez?”
“She mentioned my name to you?”
“She did. A few weeks ago, I believe. Your mother works with her. You just moved here or something. She asked me to say hi and show you around if I saw you.”
“Stepmother,” she corrected. “Maggie married my father a few years ago.” She was hoping she hadn’t been too testy with Wyatt and was trying to think back on what she might have said. It wasn’t like her to be rude to someone that was a friend of the family.
This might be a six degrees of separation friend of the family, but in her
