“Are you kidding me? This was the second time that’s happened to me today,” Mo said, trying to hide the fact that she’d been shaken up. She wasn’t about to show any weakness, especially in front of a mere man.
Her sarcastic remark left Spence with a grin on his face, grateful that this had ended so smoothly. “I have no doubt you were in control the entire time,” he told her.
She eyed him for a minute before grumbling something and then turning to leave. She swiveled back and looked him in the eye. “Just so you know, that girl in there is a good one. Keep an eye on her.”
Spence had no doubt she was talking about Sage. There was a long pause before his lips tilted up in a full-fledged smile. “Don’t you worry, I fully intend to.”
“If anyone wants me, I’ll be on a cigarette break. On second thought, if anyone wants me, they can just wait until I feel like coming back into this loony bin.”
With that, Mo was gone, leaving Spence to admire the woman’s courage and bluntness. Then he turned back and looked in on Sage.
He could see that shock over the events was beginning to set in, but she was still working hard to ensure that the patient would be okay. In high-stress situations, there wasn’t time to hesitate or process all of what was going on. A person just had to move and move fast.
When she turned and smiled weakly at the patient in the next bed over, Spence was impressed again by her composure. She just shook off her nerves and checked on him, too.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I seem to be doing better than you or that other guy,” the man tried to joke.
Sage gave him a big smile before responding. “You’re lucky I didn’t give that medicine to you instead—you look a little shady yourself.”
The man paused for a second before a glimmer lit his eye and he smiled at her. With one joke, all the tension in the room evaporated.
“If I was forty years younger, you could have given me anything you wanted and I would have been okay with it.” Picking up her hand, he smiled and kissed her wrist, making Sage laugh.
“Flattery will get you everywhere in this hospital,” she said before pulling up his blankets and then turning and leaving the room.
“Everywhere? Hmmm, interesting,” Spence said in a deep drawl.
Spence watched as the tension immediately returned to her shoulders.
“Really, Dr. Whitman? Is it polite to eavesdrop on conversations that have nothing to do with you?” Sage asked, obviously not in the mood to banter with him.
And as much as he’d have liked to flirt with her, they needed to have a professional talk. “Follow me,” he told her, and he could read her eyes. She was thinking, Who the hell does this guy think he is to give me an order like that?
Her words didn’t quite match her thoughts, of course. “I need a break. Maybe later,” she said as she turned to leave.
“I don’t think so, Dr. Banks. This is important.” He turned, knowing she would follow. She had a backbone, but when he put on the white jacket, he was in charge, and she knew it. She’d learned that in the five months she’d been a resident. He wasn’t often at her hospital, but when he was, he was very much in charge.
She’d fought him the first couple of times they’d worked together. Then she had learned that he had a lot to teach, and she was an eager student.
“Fine,” she said.
He didn’t think she was going to be too happy about the news he had to tell her, but he also knew she’d get over it. That’s one thing he appreciated about Sage. She adapted well, and she was going to make a hell of a fine doctor. He was grateful to know he’d be a big part of her training.
It was time to introduce himself as her new boss.
What was he doing here?
Sage was quite proud that she’d managed to avoid Spence most of the time. He spent only a few days a month at her hospital, and she hadn’t been alone with him once while he was there. She hated to admit it, but he was a hell of a teacher, and she would normally be eager to learn from a man of his skills.
But since she couldn’t think of him in a nonsexual way, she figured