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I leaned back in Garrett’s chair, waiting patiently for him to see me and roll his eyes about it, but when he entered the room, he looked as if someone had sucked the life out of him.
“Is something wrong?” I sat up. “Did you want to see me because something has happened to you?”
“Something like that.” He walked around the desk and pulled me to my feet, sitting down in his chair and then pulling me into his lap.
“I have some good news and some bad news, Natalie.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “What do you want to hear first?”
I shook my head. I was suddenly having a bad case of déjà vu and I didn’t like the episode I starred in last time.
“I’m sorry.” I stood up. “What did you say?”
“I said I have good news and bad news. Pick which one you want first.”
“The bad news.”
“Okay.” He paused for a few seconds, pulling me right back down. “I have to let you go from Park Avenue Wellness. Effective immediately.”
“What?”
“For the record, I think you’re very talented, beyond intelligent, and you were literally born to practice medicine, but —”
“You’re firing me?” My eyes widened. “I just had sex with you less than twenty-four hours ago, and came all the way here to talk to you on my off-day. This is what you brought me here for?”
“If you would let me finish ...”
“I don’t have to.” I shook my head. “Are you firing me — yes or no?”
“Yes and no.”
“Wow. Just wow.” I crossed my arms. “You know, for a split second, I really thought that you and I could potentially work out. I’ve actually hoped that you would one day say that you wanted to date me and only me, but I would’ve never guessed that this is what you had up your sleeve.”
“I’ll address our personal life in just a minute.”
“We won’t have a personal life after we get done with this conversation.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Then I look forward to seeing you do that on your knees later.” He had the audacity to smile. “Can I finish now, or is there something else your smart-ass mouth would like to say, first?”
“There’s something else.” I gritted my teeth, lowering my voice as a nurse walked by his door. “I’ve fucked you, Garrett. Numerous times.”
“I can vividly remember each one.”
“You’ve had me in your car, on your chaise, all over this office and you ...” I could barely find the strength to finish. “I actually thought I meant something to you.”
“You do.” He clasped his hand in mine. “And as much as I would like to hear you talk more about all the places we’ve had sex, I do have a patient coming to see me in twenty minutes, and I did promise you that our meeting would only take five minutes.”
I looked away from him and stared out the window, waiting for him to say whatever he had to say.
“Natalie ...” He cupped my chin in his hands and tilted my head so I was facing him again. “I asked Manhattan Medical to consider you for their program again, and they’ve agreed to work with us again so you can go back.”
“What?”
“I had the chance to go where I wanted to complete my dream residency, and as much as everyone loves having you here, I think you should have the chance to do the same.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh ...”
“Yes, oh.” He smiled. “This has been in the works for the past few weeks when I saw you moping after you returned from lunch with your friend, but I can’t lie and say that’s the sole reason I worked hard on this deal.”
“Then what’s the other reason?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t focus for shit with you sharing an office with me.” He trailed his thumb against my bottom lip. “I can barely focus knowing you’re in the same building as me, and this is a way to remedy that.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” He mocked me. “Yes, that is very so ...” He leaned forward and bit my lip, then he whispered. “And I think this arrangement will work out even better for us, since I don’t think I should work directly with a woman who I want to be mine.”
“Say that again ...”
“You heard me.” He smiled. “I would really like to date you.”
“Exclusively?”
“Exclusively.”
“Well ...” I bit my tongue to prevent myself from smiling. “I have some demands before I can agree to that.”
“I would be surprised if you didn’t. List them and I’ll think about it.”
“One, you have to delete all of those other dating sites you once told me about.”
He reached into his pocket and handed me his cell phone. “I’ve already done that.”
“Two, we can’t just have sex all the time. We have to go out to places outside your office.”
“We can do that. Three?”