He closed the door behind them.
Just think of something else, that’s what she needed to do. Picture all those student loans that had to be repaid.
It wasn’t helping. Josie was breathing hard and sweating between her breasts when Dr. Hayes turned around and gave her a slow, curious once-over.
Even when he flicked the light on, bathing her in artificial brightness, it didn’t help dispel her anxiety. Sexual tension. Yep. Sara was right.
“Is something wrong?” she forced herself to say.
He folded his arms across his broad chest and reached a hand up to rub at his chin. Josie could see he hadn’t shaved that morning, and he had an attractive, earthy stubble under his bottom lip.
“Are you getting enough sleep. Dr. Adkins? Are the shifts too demanding?”
Her first thought was that she had unflattering dark circles under her eyes, but then she realized he was probably referring to her klutziness.
“I’m fine,” she said immediately, in what she hoped was a confident voice. “I can handle the schedule perfectly well, it’s not a problem.”
The shifts were brutal at times, but that was to be expected at this stage in her career. She had known all of that going into med school.
Chewing her lip she chanted to herself.Don’t fire me, don’t fire me, please. I’ll stop thinking lustful thoughts about you and will no longer sneak glances at your crotch...
“I have to admit I’m a little puzzled. On paper, you’re an excellent physician, with top med school grades.”
Josie relaxed a little. It was true. She’d worked her not-so-small butt off in med school.
“But I haven’t seen any evidence of that in my time here.”
Whoops.
Staring at the floor, heart pounding, she hedged. “I don’t know what you mean. Has a patient or staff member complained about me?”
He shook his head, stepping back a foot to lean against the shelving unit holding blankets and gowns. “That’s not what I mean. It’s just that you seem distracted. You’re always fumbling around, dropping things.”
Grateful for the dim room hiding her burning cheeks, Josie pressed her lips together and tried to figure out how to reassure him she wasn’t a total dipshit.
“I’m not clumsy when it counts, with the patients, so does it really matter? My mother didn’t name me Grace, after all.” She gave a little laugh.
There was a prolonged silence.
Dr. Hayes narrowed his eyes, studying her so intimately that she fought the urge to squirm. And the man wondered why she dropped things. Her whole body was vibrating with lust under his scrutiny.
She always thought he would have made a great cop. Interrogation and intimidation wouldn’t have been a struggle for him. Whenever he looked at her like that, she felt the need to confess to everything but third-world poverty.
“If you’re having problems, you should discuss them with someone. Any one of the staff doctors would be willing to listen and help you.” He tugged on his bottom lip in a gesture that made her mouth go dry.
What would it feel like to have that mouth on her? So serious, so concentrated, so determined? She shivered.
“I would listen, Josie. You could tell me if something was wrong.”
His voice was low, persuasive, and at the sound of her name tripping off his tongue so softly, she swallowed hard. He had never called her Josie before. “I don’t have any problems, Dr. Hayes, I promise.”
“Boyfriend troubles, maybe? A recent breakup or a guy who... mistreats you?”
This conversation was going from awkward to absurd. He seemed determined to find an explanation for her behavior, but she could hardly tell him the truth. That she wanted him so bad he scattered her thoughts like pool balls in the first break of the game.
“No. I don’t have a boyfriend. And if I did, I would never let that interfere with my work here at the hospital.” And on that point she was firm. Never was she anything less than confident in her contact with patients, despite Dr. Hayes’s unnerving presence.
She knew her job.