Doctor Love

Chapter 10

KATE’S POV

My hands connected with David's chest before my brain fully registered what had just happened. I shoved him away with enough force to make him stumble back, my ear still tingling from the shocking contact of his teeth.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I hissed, scrambling to my feet and putting distance between us.

David rose slowly, that infuriating smirk playing on his lips as he brushed imaginary dust from his pristine white coat. "Just checking your reflexes, Dr. Stanley. Seems they're working fine."

"My reflexes?" The adrenaline that had drained after Mrs. Wilson's emergency came surging back, hot and electric in my veins. "You bit my ear!"

He tilted his head, studying me with those cold blue eyes. "Did I? Barely a graze, I'd say. Interesting reaction, though."

I touched my earlobe, still feeling the phantom pressure of his teeth. "You're unbelievable."

"So I've been told." His voice was low, almost intimate in the empty room. For a second, something flickered across his face, something that wasn't mockery or disdain. Then it was gone, shuttered behind his usual arrogance.

"Stay away from me," I warned, hating the slight tremor in my voice. "Next time, I won't just push you away. I'll report you."

David raised his eyebrows. "For what? Helping a colleague through an adrenaline crash?" He gestured to my hands, which were shaking again. "Not very professional, Dr. Stanley. All that trembling. Someone might think you can't handle the pressure."

Before I could respond, he turned and walked away, his posture relaxed as if we'd just had a pleasant chat about the weather. At the doorway, he paused, glancing back over his shoulder.

"By the way, good work with Mrs. Wilson. For a small-town doctor, you're... adequate."

With that parting shot, he left, leaving me alone with my confusion and rage. I watched him go, my mind a jumble of conflicting thoughts. Had he really just done that? And why?

A crash jolted me from my thoughts. David had knocked a metal tray off a nearby supply cart as he rounded the corner, sending instruments scattering across the floor. It seemed deliberate, a final punctuation mark to our bizarre encounter.

"What is happening?" I whispered to the empty room, pressing my hands to my heated cheeks. For a moment—God help me—I'd thought he was going to kiss me. The realization made me feel slightly ill. Would he have tried if I hadn't pushed him away?

No. That wasn't it at all. This wasn't attraction; it was intimidation. Another power play in whatever twisted game he was determined to win.

I shook my head, trying to clear the confusion. I needed to change, to wash away the stress of the day and the lingering sensation of David's breath against my skin.

The hallway was mercifully empty as I made my way toward the locker rooms. All I wanted was a hot shower and clean clothes, maybe then I could make sense of David's erratic behavior.

"There she is!" Rita's voice carried down the corridor, stopping me in my tracks. She was huddled with two nurses, all three watching me with barely concealed amusement.

"Dr. Stanley! Feeling steadier now?" Rita called out, wiggling her fingers in a mocking imitation of my trembling hands.

I stiffened. "Excuse me?"

The taller nurse, Joana, according to her name tag, giggled behind her hand. "Dr. Villa told us about your little freakout after the trauma case. Said you were shaking like a leaf in a hurricane."

"He what?" The betrayal stung more than it should have. We'd shared a moment of vulnerability, or so I'd thought, and he'd immediately weaponized it against me.

"Don't worry, honey," the second nurse chimed in, her fake sympathy even more grating than Rita's open mockery. "First day jitters happen to everyone. Well, not to Dr. Villa, obviously."

"Is that what he told you?" I advanced toward them, anger making me bold. "That I'm afraid of patients? That I can't handle the pressure?"

Rita shrugged, examining her manicured nails. "Something about 'a doctor who's afraid of patients.' His words, not mine."

"You don't know anything about me," I snapped, the day's frustrations boiling over. "Or what happened in that room. And if you're going to gossip like high schoolers instead of doing your jobs, maybe you should find another place to work."

Their smug expressions faltered, clearly not expecting me to fight back.

"We were just—" Rita began.

"Just repeating malicious gossip from a man who's been here exactly one day longer than I have," I cut her off. "Next time, consider your source."

I brushed past them, ignoring their whispers as I pushed open the door to the locker room. The heavy door swung shut behind me, muffling the sound of their laughter which suddenly grew louder, as if at some shared joke.

Whatever. I didn't have the energy to care about their petty cliques. All I wanted was that shower.

The locker room was empty, the overhead fluorescents casting harsh shadows across the metal lockers and tiled floor. I found an unclaimed locker and quickly stripped off my sweat-dampened clothes, down to my simple cotton bra and underwear. The cool air raised goosebumps on my exposed skin as I grabbed my toiletry bag and a towel.

A shower would wash away not just the day's grime but hopefully the memory of David's teeth against my ear, the smugness in his voice when he'd called me "adequate," the betrayal of sharing my moment of weakness with the entire nursing staff.

What game was he playing? More importantly, why did it affect me so much?

I rolled my shoulders, trying to release the tension that had knotted my muscles. The sound of running water from the shower room stopped me mid-stretch.

Was someone else here? I could have sworn the locker room was empty when I entered.

Clutching my towel a little tighter, I approached the shower door. Maybe I'd just heard the pipes, or someone in an adjacent room.

"Hello?" I called out, receiving no answer.

Shrugging, I pushed open the door, and froze.

David Villa stood before me, water droplets glistening on his bare chest, a towel slung low around his hips. His dark hair was slicked back, rivulets running down his neck and across shoulders that were broader than his white coat had suggested.

For a suspended moment, we stared at each other in mutual shock—me in my underwear, him barely covered by the towel, steam swirling between us like some bizarre special effect from a movie scene I'd never signed up for.

"What the hell are you doing in the women's locker room?" I gasped, clutching my towel to my chest as if it could shield me from his widening eyes.