“Thank you.” I stepped inside the elevator and hit sixteen as the doors closed.
The second the cart stopped and revealed the sixteenth floor, my jaw dropped. It looked more like a vacation resort lobby than a department of a private practice. The panoramic floor to ceiling windows gave a perfect view of the rain; there were lavish chaises facing the city, and the massive glass desk in the center of the room was the only giveaway that this might be a place for healthcare.
A few women dressed in light blue scrubs compared notes and laughed, and a female doctor in a white coat and black dress, held the desk’s phone up to her ear.
“Are you Natalie?” A bubbly blonde stepped right in front of me. “Natalie Madison?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Well, great! You’re right on time! Let me get your coat. You won’t want it getting dusty when we walk through the sections under renovation.”
I took off my coat and she smiled as I handed it over. “I take it you’re going somewhere special after this?”
I nodded.
“I’ll make your first tour short, then. Most of the doctors are gone for the day anyway.”
I caught the nurses pointing in my direction as she walked away, and I began to regret wearing my date outfit here. My dress was black and strapless, stopping right in the middle of my thighs. The cut at the front was low enough that the tops of my breasts spilled over the fabric a bit, and my red and silver stilettos were far from appropriate for meeting my future coworkers.
Emily made no mention of my outfit when she returned, though. She simply linked her hand in mine and began showing me around the sixteenth floor.
She talked a mile a minute, opening doors here or there, introducing me to some of the doctors who were still sitting in their offices. When I realized that she was literally going to take me on a tour of all twenty-five floors in this building, I made a mental note to bring flats every day.
“This is what we call our treatment corridor,” she said, as we walked around the fifth floor. “We have eighteen treatment rooms for our day in-patients, and five rooms for overnight patients. It’s rare that we have to keep someone overnight, but if we do, you or one of the other residents would be required to take observations until the morning.”
“Got it.” I followed her back onto the elevator. “What’s the dress code for residents here?”
“Dress code?” She laughed. “The ratio for men to women staff here is sixty-five to thirty-five, and the board’s ratio is even tighter. I believe it’s seventy percent women and thirty percent men. That said, there is no ‘dress code,’ and I highly doubt there ever will be. Most of the nurses and interns wear their favorite scrubs, and the doctors wear whatever they want under their white coats.”
“What?” I was completely caught off-guard by the numbers she’d revealed. “The practice is sixty-five to seventy percent women?”
“Of course, it is.” She smiled and motioned for me to step back onto the sixteenth floor. “Why else do you think we’re number one in the state?”
“I ...”
“Exactly.” She winked. “I believe the only two board-level doctors you haven’t met are Dr. Laurel and the owner of the practice, Dr. Ashton ...” She clucked her teeth. “Dr. Laurel does more outside work than any doctor on staff, so you’ll probably only see her during the monthly staff meetings, and Dr. Ashton —”
“What about Dr. Ashton?” A deep voice said from behind, startling us both.
I slowly turned around and gasped when I saw the man who’d just spoken. Hands down, the sexiest man I’d ever seen in my life, he instantly made me think of sex. His bright blue eyes were gleaming beneath the lobby’s fluorescent lights, and he was teasingly running a hand through his short black hair — as if he was reading my mind.
Over a grey V-neck shirt, he was wearing his white coat — putting every doctor who’d ever worn one to utter shame with the way the fabric slightly clung to his muscles.
“I was just telling our new resident, Dr. Natalie Madison, that you and Dr. Laurel were the only doctors she had yet to meet,” Emily said. “Glad we’re down to only one now, but I’m not holding my breath on Dr. Laurel anytime soon.” She looked at me. “Thanks for coming in, Natalie. I’ll go get your coat.”
She walked away, leaving me alone with Dr. Ashton.
Doctors aren’t supposed to be this sexy ... There’s no way this man is a ‘real’ doctor ...
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Madison,” he said, extending his hand.
“Nice to meet you as well, Dr. Ashton.” I couldn’t stop staring at him if I tried, and by the way his lips were curving into a sinful smile, I was sure he could tell.
“Did Emily show you my office?” His fingers slightly caressed my palm, setting my skin on fire with a simple touch.
“No, I believe your door was closed when we walked by earlier.”