Seducing The Boss (Pulse #2) - Mari Carr Page 0,29

walked in, but Madison and Sara were clearly prepared to do battle. Great. As if his morning hadn’t sucked enough.

He took his place at the head of the table and opened the folder. Sara’s hair was back in its usual ponytail. He shoved aside the desire to walk around the table, yank out that hair tie and run his fingers through the thick red mass.

Kellan glanced down at his data. If he stood a snowball’s chance in hell of making it through this meeting, he needed to avoid eye contact with Sara. His gaze drifted to her scrubs. The teal cotton hung so loosely, she appeared shapeless. He knew better, knew exactly how many curves she was hiding underneath that uniform.

Okay, so he couldn’t look at Sara at all.

He focused his gaze on Carson and began. “Hampton General Hospital has seen a very pointed increase in wait times in the emergency room in the past six months. Staff turn over is high, while our efficiency rating is far too low. We need to stop the bleeding.”

Carson leaned forward. “The number of patients coming through our emergency room is out of control. It’s doubled in the last year. And it’s not like it’s just first come, first served. We have to prioritize them. Obviously someone with a head cold or a cut finger isn’t going to be seen as quickly as someone in critical need. You keep asking us to get ’em in and get ’em out, but it doesn’t work that way.”

“You’re right. We have had this discussion before. And not only did things not get better, they got worse.” Kellan tried to remain professional, but this conversation—like the previous ones—was traveling the same path. “What we need to find are answers. Solutions.”

Carson persisted. “I’ve mentioned before our need for more doctors and nurses.”

Kellan sighed. The board wanted him to cut costs. Throwing more money at the problem wasn’t an answer. “That’s not going to happen. Our budget doesn’t support more staff.”

Carson leaned back, clearly annoyed. The man crossed his arms, but refrained from speaking what was really on his mind. Kellan got the “fuck you” message just the same.

Sara hadn’t said a word. Of course, she’d given him an earful Saturday night after dinner. His comments right now probably insinuated he hadn’t listened to her, or cared what she had to say. That wasn’t the truth. Regardless, Kellan refused to look in Sara’s direction. He didn’t want to see anger or hurt in her eyes. Either or both emotions from her would gut him.

He’d planned to do this whole meeting better. Between Sara’s defection from his house this morning, and the traffic jam, he would have been smarter to reschedule.

“Here’s the deal,” he said as calmly as he could manage. It was time to cut his losses and run. “We need to make the ER more efficient with the resources and staff we currently have. Can the three of you take that information back to your department and brainstorm ways we can make that happen?”

Carson nodded, though the response was grudging at best. Madison rose slowly as she said, “Sure.” Her tone suggested she’d like to shove any answers they came up with straight up his ass, but he was used to that when it came to the medical staff. They viewed him as the enemy. That hadn’t really bothered him before, but he didn’t like Sara seeing him as such a villain. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make her understand they were both working to achieve the same goal. It was his job to keep the hospital fiscally stable so they could continue to operate.

“I’ll have my secretary schedule a follow-up meeting for next week. We don’t have the luxury of time on this. I need to present a plan of improvement to the board of directors by the end of the month.”

Carson, Madison, and Sara headed toward the door. Kellan was under no illusions that his name wasn’t going to be synonymous for Satan once they reported back to the rest of their department.

He considered letting Sara escape with the others. After all, he’d just proven he was not in the right state of mind to handle anything effectively at the moment. Unfortunately, his dick spoke up before he could shut it down.

“Sara.”

She turned and he forced himself to look at her.

“I need to speak to you. Please stay.”

Sara glanced at Carson and Madison, both of whom offered sympathetic smiles. The idea that they felt sorry for Sara being