“Yep. She loves it.”
Yeah, it was safe to say that Melissa was probably going to be my least favorite coworker in the office. She spent most of her time browsing BuzzFeed and watching YouTube makeup tutorials behind the reception desk. That, on its own, I could support. I was just as down to see what my McDonald’s order said about my sex life as anyone else.
But she also had a penchant for attitude, laziness, and obviously, horrible nicknames. Load-y. Holy water in a wineglass, that was by far the worst name anyone had ever come up with. It made me sound like a washed-up old porn star who had taken one too many money shots, and I had a feeling that was her exact intent.
With both Marlene and Melissa at the helm, I was honestly starting to wonder how this office ran smoothly on a daily basis without any major issues or lawsuits. Quite frankly, it was a modern fucking miracle. I mean, try to fart and take a crap wasn’t the world’s best nursing advice.
As I set out the instruments for a pap smear, Will peeked his head in. “Are we all set, Load-y?” His grin was all I needed to see to know he was fucking with me.
I rolled my eyes and smirked. “Yeah. All set.”
“Interesting choice in nickname…”
“Oh, yeah. I love it. And it has absolutely nothing to do with Melissa trying to deliver a virtual tit punch,” I explained in sarcasm. “What can I say? I just love going by Load-y. It has a certain sophistication to it, don’t you think?”
He chuckled softly. Unlike listening to Marlene, I didn’t have any doubts that seeing Will’s smiling face and hearing his laughter were one of my favorite parts of my day.
The man had a great smile—knock you to your knees type of stuff.
And a sexy laugh. And a sexy body. And a—
Good Lord, my brain needed a filter.
“Oh, yeah. It’s amazing it’s still available for use. I heard the Queen was looking to trademark it,” he teased.
My cheeks pulled up as I smiled.
“I’m going to make a quick call in my office, and I’ll be ready in about five minutes.”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
It had taken a good two weeks for us to get past the ridiculousness that was my first day on the job, and a good week and a half of that was achieved through semisuccessful avoidance.
But it finally felt like enough time had passed to let go of the embarrassment of his unsanitary offer of a gloved greeting and my unexpected peep show. Even the encounter in the supply closet had felt relatively normal in comparison. And we’d fallen into a good working relationship, with the added bonus of actually being able to make eye contact ever since.
And now that I was paying attention, I’d learned a few things that had me wanting to do the opposite of avoiding him.
Will was fucking awesome to work with. He was never a dick to staff and always treated his patients as individuals, and he was never in a bad mood—at least not with me. He made jokes and lightened my day instead of stressing me out.
In the world of medicine, those kinds of physicians were hard to come by. Especially when you took in the fact that Will Cummings wasn’t your average physician. He was the lead physician in his practice and the Chief of Obstetrics at St. Luke’s. The man had achieved some serious professional milestones in his young career, and with it came a ton of pressure.
Not to mention that he was gaining quite the popularity with his show.
The Doctor Is In.
I’d been hearing about Will’s show through office gossip and chatter since my first day. Well, if you considered the odd interview I had with Betty, I guess I’d actually been hearing about it since the moment I stepped through the practice doors.
The staff in this office had a lot of opinions about Dr. Obscene—some good, some bad, and some so inappropriate that I had to walk away rather than listen.
Marlene, though, appeared to be enjoying the hell out of it every episode that aired—probably even recording them for future viewing pleasure.
For an old lady who’d been living in the medical world for nearly forty years and honestly never seemed too concerned with doing the actual work that was needed to keep the office running on a daily basis, she was more than concerned with Will’s episodes of the series.
It had only taken me a week to realize that each episode aired on Tuesday evening.
How did I know this?
Because Marlene was her happiest on Tuesday afternoons. Once the clock neared four, the woman had a pep in her step and actually took the time to greet patients, leading them into the exam rooms with a gallant wave, versus herding them in like cattle and offering nothing more than a frustrated sigh and annoyed eyes.
And it had everything to do with The Doctor Is In.
The show portrayed him as Dr. Obscene, but I didn’t get it. From my perspective, the title didn’t match the man.
I’d inadvertently shown him my boobs, for Pete’s sake, and he’d done everything humanly possible not to look. Based on that awkward as hell situation, if anyone was obscene out of the two of us, I’d say it was me.
After overhearing whispered conversation after conversation about The Doctor Is In star, my curiosity had reached an all-time peak. The episodes may have been weekly, but the office chatter was endless. I couldn’t stop myself from tuning in and finding out what all the fuss was about with my own eyes.
The first episode had felt weird. The Will I knew and the Will that was schmoozing and charming his way across my TV were two different men. On camera, he was a force to be reckoned with—flashing flirty winks at nurses, chatting to patients with a sexy smirk permanently across his full lips.
Off camera, he was professional and had a fantastic bedside manner. He was equal parts caring and concerned, while managing to get straight to the important tasks at hand. Sure, he had tried to shake my hand after pulling his own hand out of a vagina, and he did have a flirtier smile than some, but who was I to judge? Six hours into my first day, I’d reenacted Girls Gone Wild.
I’d only known Will for a short period of time, but my impression of him didn’t at all match the man nicknamed Dr. OBscene.
But even I couldn’t deny I was a bit addicted to the show. Sure, I was nowhere near Marlene’s level of excitement, but I definitely had the sucker set to DVR every Tuesday night. Which was interesting in itself. I’d really never been one to watch TV, especially reality shows. I’d much rather spend my time browsing eBay for weird, abstract art or curling up behind a good book. Television had never really done it for me.
Until now.
Until Will.
I wasn’t sure if it was because I enjoyed the show itself or if I just enjoyed the man on the show—or at least, my version of him—an enigma of sexy and brilliant and adorably awkward.
My version?
Well, shit.
Two weeks in, and I’d already done something enormously stupid.
Why the hell do I have to like the guy?