Playing Doctor (17 page)

And she was right.
Kim didn't take long to ask her how the appointment went—did she get what she wanted? Nikki responded mysteriously that she got or didn't get
way
more
than she had planned, but said that she'd wait to tell all when the girls could get together. She really didn't want to have to tell this outrageous story more than once.

Hearing that Nikki had something delectable to dish, Rachel, Amy, and Kim rearranged their plans so they could meet for lunch the next day. They went to their favorite spot and were lucky to get a table in the back corner, their favorite place to chat privately and people-watch at the same time. The girls listened avidly as Nikki told her tale. First she shared that the three handsome Club X guys really were brand-new doctors, and then she explained in great detail the humiliating encounter.

When she finished, Nikki looked down morosely at her food and stirred her salad. It was the juiciest topic they'd had in a while, so the other three women excitedly chattered on about it, but Nikki still felt down about the missed opportunity. She also remembered how hot and bothered she'd felt when Hunter stared at her so intensely.

“That's incredible! I can't believe the dumb luck of having him walk in on you sitting there naked,” said Amy, cutting in on Nikki's reverie.

“I was wrapped in a sheet,” Nikki countered. “But…it was so thin. It felt like I was practically naked,” she admitted.

“I can't believe they really
are
all doctors. Jerks, but still real, bona fide
doctors
!” said Rachel as a calculating look crossed her face.

Defending Hunter, Nikki explained, “It was all Rob's idea, and Hunter wasn't planning on calling the girls on his list. Well, except for me.”

“That's what he told you?” Kim asked. “Do you believe him?”

“Well, yes I do,” Nikki responded. “Oh, I don't know.”

“What I want to know is why Hunter held your file in front of him like you described,” Amy said. “That sounds so strange.”

“Are you fucking kidding!” exclaimed Rachel as Kim and even Nikki started laughing. “Sometimes you can be so clueless.”

“What! What's so funny?” Amy looked from one friend to another in confusion.

“I guess we need to spell it out for you,” Kim said as Nikki started to blush.

With a conspiratorial grin, Rachel leaned over the table and then in a loud stage whisper, she dished, “Hunter got a big, bad boner looking at naked Nikki and her naughty knickers.”

Again the girls laughed, and Kim added, “He was probably imagining how sexy she would look in them.”

“Oh!” said a chagrined Amy. “Of course. How silly of me, but how embarrassing for you, Nikki. I'm sure you'll be happy if you don't ever see
him
again for the rest of your life.”

Nikki's laughing smile disappeared from her face. “I don't know. It seems like such a missed opportunity, and now I'll never know if Hunter and I could have hit it off.”

“Look,” said Rachel, feeling a little guilty about the role she'd played in stopping them from hooking up at the club. “Hunter was going along with their skanky contest, so he can say anything now, but he had a list of numbers too, didn't he?”

Reassuring her friend, Kim said, “Don't worry, Nikki. As the saying goes, there are more fish in the sea.”

But Nikki wished she hadn't let this one get away.

Over the next week,
Nikki stewed about her lost fish. Finally an idea began to form, and she discussed it with Rachel during a quick lunchroom chat at the office.

“I really want to give Hunter another try, but I know he'll never call me, even if he still wants to,” Nikki told her friend.

“Why not? If he's really interested, let him pursue you,” Rachel advised.

“Well, let's see… Let me count the reasons.” Nikki held up her hand and counted on three fingers. “For one thing, he doesn't have my number. Two, he probably thinks I'm in a relationship since I was there to get the pill. And three, he would never approach me now that I'm a patient.”

“Hmmm,” said Rachel. “You didn't actually get examined by him, so technically you really aren't his patient. That reason doesn't count.”

Continuing, Rachel added, “There are many reasons a woman might get a birth control prescription, and a doctor would know that, so don't assume he thinks you have a boyfriend. But…there is the issue of him not having your number. I suppose he could get it from patient records, but even I wouldn't do something that unethical just to get a hookup. So, yeah, you're probably right. Hunter won't call.”

Both women stopped talking, contemplating what could be done about it. Then Nikki leaned in toward her friend with anxious excitement. “Ever since I broke up with Ben, I've decided to make some changes in my life—take more risks, be more outgoing, dress to shine, not hide.”

“I've seen your most excellent adjustments. You look great, and remember how the boss liked your new attitude,” Rachel said encouragingly. “We sisters have to use what we've got, both our brains and beauty, then add some bling-bling…and sell it! Otherwise the guys get all the promotions at work.”

“And all the fun after work too,” Nikki agreed. “So, maybe I should call Hunter myself and ask
him
out,” she announced with growing enthusiasm. “I've decided that it's time for some carpe diem in my life.”

“Carp?” Rachel exclaimed. “What have fish got to do with it?”

“Not fish, Rachel. Carpe diem…it means seize the day, take charge. I've been remembering my ancient lit classes lately,” Nikki said. A self-conscious smile spread across her face as she once again imagined Hunter as a Greek god in full Adonis getup and her as his Aphrodite.

“Anyway, that's what I'm going to do—take a chance and call Hunter, rather than waiting around to see if he ever tries to contact me. That's what a twenty-first-century woman should do!” Nikki finished with growing confidence.

“You go, girl!” said Rachel. “Do it today.”

“Oh, well, I don't know. It's a busy day at work, maybe tom—”

Cutting her off, Rachel urged again, “Do it today! Now, before you change your mind. You can use the boss's office for privacy since he's out sick today.”

Heading out of the lunchroom, Nikki said with a little less self-assurance, “Oh, okay. Why not get it over with? I'm just going to leave a message for him anyway.”

As they walked down the hall, Nikki felt Rachel give her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. She started to feel a little queasy. Maybe it was the day-old leftovers she had for lunch, Nikki thought, but who was she kidding? Being a modern take-charge woman took courage, and hers seemed to be abandoning her rather quickly. Following Rachel into the boss's office, she shut the door. Using her cell, Nikki found the doctor's office number in her contacts and hit dial. As it started to ring, she quickly hung up on the call.

“What's wrong?” asked Rachel.

Motioning her friend to leave, Nikki said, “Go on. I'm not doing this with an audience.”

“Okay, but don't chicken out or I'll make the call for you.” Rachel winked at her before shutting the door.

Nikki tapped on the
number again and waited nervously as the phone rang. Expecting the receptionist to take a message, Nikki was startled when she realized that she was being put through to Hunter. Before she could hang up, Nikki heard his familiar deep voice.

“Hello. This is Doctor Sterling. How can I help you?”

“Ahh, umm. This is Nikki Woods. We met a week or so ago at Club X…and again in the exam room last week.”

Sounding extremely polite, Hunter replied, “Yes, I remember you, of course. I want to apologize again for not being as professional as I would have liked. I…was just caught by surprise. Actually, to be completely honest, you were about the last person on earth I expected to see sitting there waiting…” He trailed off.

After taking a deep breath, Nikki plunged ahead. “No, I'm not calling about that mess. It was embarrassing all around. I think we can agree on that.”

She paused to take another calming breath, but Hunter jumped in, “Well then, was there a problem with the prescription? I'm sure Dr. Porter will be glad to—”

“No! Not that!” Nikki emphatically interrupted him. “I mean, I am calling about something personal. I was…ah… Well, you and I seemed to hit it off at the bar, but after what happened, you never got my number. I hope you don't mind being called at work, but I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me this Saturday night.”

Nikki sat holding the phone to her ear during what seemed like a very long pause, although it was really only a couple seconds of silence. She felt defeated, assuming he was just trying to find a nice way to say no.

Eventually Hunter said, “I'd like that very much. I wanted to call you, but after seeing you as a patient—well, sort of a patient—I couldn't look up your number in the office records. That would probably get me fired or worse.”

“Well, I decided that…you know…with women's equality and all, I could just call and invite you out myself, if you don't think I'm too forward or anything.”

“No. This is terrific. Now I can stop being so angry at my roommate Rob for that stupid game he was playing…that cost me getting your number in the first place.”

Feeling for once like the outgoing, self-assured woman she wanted to be, Nikki closed the deal. “How 'bout we meet at Pizza Villa at seven thirty this Saturday night? It's in the Village just off Bleecker Street.”

“Sounds good. I'll see you then. Bye,” Hunter said.

As she put the phone down, Nikki felt pleased with herself and a little anxious too. She had snagged a date with a very hot guy, a doctor no less. Her mom would be thrilled. However, she would just have to put it out of her mind that Hunter had already seen her racy unmentionables. On the other hand, that might spice up the evening, she thought with a grin.

Hunter paced back and
forth in front of the pizza joint. He had already scoped out a corner spot inside the quiet, little place, but he felt way too restless to sit and wait for Nikki. He could hardly believe that she had actually called and asked him on a date, in spite of everything that had happened. After trying for days to figure out how he could ethically get Nikki's phone number, he had all but given up.

Then, after his embarrassing display in the exam room, Hunter wasn't sure there was any point in even trying. He'd never lost control like that before, but knowing she was naked underneath the sheet, combined with that suggestive display of her sexy panties, had been too much. It had done him in! Hunter had spent the rest of that day trying to get it and her out of his mind. There was no frigging way he could do his job—his particular type of work—with a hard-on!

And that didn't even take into account how much he liked her as a person. They had really hit it off at the club, and their interrupted conversation had played in his mind over and over as he had tried to figure out how to connect with her again.
Damn
Rob
and
his
stupid
games!
Although he wanted to blame Rob for it all, Hunter grudgingly acknowledged that he had gone along with the contest, if somewhat halfheartedly. They had treated all those girls like nothing more than conquests, even if he hadn't planned on trying to get into their pants…well, except for maybe one of them.

Hunter nodded absentmindedly to another passerby, a lady who had smiled at him when she saw the small bouquet of flowers in his hand. A man with flowers seemed to be a spectacle, either a romantic or a pansy, depending on whether a woman or a man walked by him. He checked the time on his cell phone for the tenth time, but it was his own fault for getting there twenty minutes early.

Finally, Hunter spied her walking toward him. His eyes were immediately drawn to her gorgeous long, shapely legs and sexy, spike-heeled pumps displayed beneath her short skirt. As Nikki drew closer, Hunter noticed the seductive sway of her hips in the tight attire, and he let his eyes travel up to her chest before finally landing on her face.
Shit!
She was watching him ogle her body. Hadn't he been down that road already? She was smiling at him, so Hunter guessed she didn't mind too much.

“Hi, these are for you,” he said, smiling down at her.

“Thank you so much. How thoughtful of you.” He watched Nikki sink her face into the soft blooms and deeply inhale their scent. For some reason, her actions looked incredibly erotic, and he sucked in his breath.

Hunter opened the door for Nikki and followed her into the restaurant. Over a pizza and some beer, they got to know each other. Each of them could tell that they were mutually attracted, but the turmoil over their first meeting and embarrassment over the second were stifling their attempts at conversation. Hunter realized the date was going nowhere fast, but he was stuck in his own little hell.

He had been sitting there trying to think of something to say, anything at all that might get his mind off what he was picturing. Watching her across the table, Nikki looked very pretty, and her tight black top accentuated her nice chest, but Hunter was distracted by images of what Nikki might have on underneath. Was she wearing the incredibly sexy red-and-black items he had seen hanging in the exam room? Or did she have something even hotter beneath her fairly modest clothes? Hunter had spent the last fifteen minutes trying not to look down at her breasts or think about her panties, but that had made his dick hard and his mind mush.

Hunter remembered his embarrassment during the abbreviated exam with Nikki. It wasn't like that had been his first one. He had been examining women patients for much of his four-year residency, and it wasn't even his first appointment that day. So what was it about this girl that had his mind wrapped up in knots? He had thought she was cute at Club X, and when they talked, Hunter had realized he wanted to ask her out. But then all that chaos about scoring girls' numbers had ruined it. He had thought it was a lost opportunity, and here he was blowing it again. He had to stop thinking about her underwear!

“Excuse me, did you hear me?” asked Nikki, leaning toward him with a vaguely irritated look on her face.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” responded Hunter, sitting up a little straighter. “I guess my mind wandered. Please say it again.”

“I want to ask you a personal question. Actually, my friend Rachel is the one hounding me to find out, but I guess I'm curious too.”

“What do you want to know?” he asked.

“I said, that… Well, it's really none of my business, but could you tell me why you chose to become a gynecologist? I mean, it's not really a guy thing like…oh, I don't know, sports medicine or even heart surgery. Rachel said that it's because you want to…ah…look at girls' vajayjays all day,” Nikki said, repeating her friend's words and blushing bright red. “I asked it nicer the first time but you weren't listening.” Then she studied her salad as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

Hunter tried to hide his discomfort with her question, knowing it wasn't for the reason she would think.

“I have been teased mercilessly by my friends about this, so I hope you won't laugh when I tell you,” he said. “I don't really want to be a gynecologist. I want to deliver babies, and if you study obstetrics, you also get gynecology. Since I just joined this practice, I don't have any OB patients yet but hopefully soon.”

“Oh, that's interesting. Nice, really,” she said, smiling now. “What made you want to deliver babies?”

Hunter wanted her full attention so he took hold of her hand and looked her directly in the eye. He wanted to see her reaction to his explanation. Would she think it sappy too, like his buddies?

“I have already delivered one baby all by myself, and that's why I want to focus on obstetrics. It was my second year in med school, and I hadn't been able to figure out what area of medicine interested me. I was riding the bus to the hospital for my rotation, and a woman went into labor. Actually she was far along and had the baby right there on the bus. I had done an EMT rotation, and I was the closest thing she had to a doctor so I helped her deliver the baby, a little boy. It was life changing for me.”

Sitting back, Hunter let go of her hands and asked, “Does that seem silly to you? I had no interest in that field and suddenly I knew it was what I wanted.”

Nikki reached back and gently squeezed his hands, murmuring, “No, that sounds really very sweet.” But as she thought of Rachel's distrust again and how she'd been hurt in the past, Nikki pulled her hands away and asked, “This isn't just a line, is it? It sounds so fantastic. Why wasn't an ambulance called?”

“Well, if you want the full story… I learned some of it after the fact. Here goes,” Hunter said, taking a swig of his beer before continuing.

“The woman, Daniela was her name… It was her first child, and she was having a bad day. She'd lost her cell phone that morning, misplaced it really, and then she felt some labor pains when she was out shopping and went home where her water broke. She left a message for her husband but didn't reach him…told him to meet her at the hospital. The couple had, like, no money so Daniela figured she would use her bus pass to ride the bus to the hospital. It was a short ride and it was her first baby so she thought she had many hours to go. It doesn't make sense in hindsight, but then again, I suppose if you're in labor, you might not always be thinking straight.”

“Go on. What happened then?” asked Nikki, realizing this couldn't be a fabrication. It was too crazy to be made-up and something she could easily verify, thanks to the Internet.

“Well, I was sitting there and she started moaning, then doubling over and almost screaming. I could see she was gripping the seat like her life depended on it. I quickly said I was a med student and asked if I could help her. ‘I'm going to have a baby
right
now
,' she yelled at me. I told her that I'd get an ambulance there. ‘Someone call 911!' I yelled, and she moaned, ‘It's too late. The baby's coming. I can feel it, NOW!' Then she let out a loud, pain-filled scream and the bus driver pulled the bus over.”

Hunter took another sip of beer and watched Nikki closely. Her worshipful gaze made his heart tighten with pleasure.

“From there, things happened quickly. The driver got everyone off the bus as I laid her down on a seat and washed my hands with sanitizer someone handed me. And then like magic or more like a miracle, there was this baby's head crowning and I eased it into the world. The little baby boy started crying immediately, and the passengers outside the bus cheered. I used a tissue to clean the little face and a passenger handed in a something—a shawl, I think—and I wrapped the baby up tightly and handed him to the mother.

“I didn't try to do anything more. I could hear the ambulance siren wailing and decided to wait for professionals to do the rest. The baby and mom were safe, and I had that feeling of accomplishment, of being an important part of that phenomenal moment. From that point on, what I wanted to focus on in medicine was settled.”

“That's such a sweet story, amazing really!” said Nikki, smiling brightly with the sparkle of unshed tears in her eyes. “Why would your friends tease you about it? I would think they'd be envious of you knowing so clearly what you want to do with your life. Why, I'd think the story would even come in handy to impress your dates.”

“Actually, I haven't really shared it much. You're the first woman on a date with me that I have told about it.”

“I'm glad you told me,” Nikki said. Her smile dazzled him.

“Afterward, I became a bit of a celebrity at med school. I got to ride in the ambulance because Daniela wanted me there with her, holding her hand. And the next day there was a notice in the papers, but what meant the most to me is that they gave their child my name as his middle name. Gabriel Hunter is now almost seven, and I've even been to a couple of his birthday parties. I know I won't have that kind of connection with all the babies I'll deliver, but still each one will be a little miracle. That's why I don't tell the story much. It's too personal.”

After taking another drink of his beer, he added, “That's probably also why my friends teased me. It's too much for most guys, easier to just poke fun. What do you think?”

“What do I think about what?” Nikki asked, still a little dreamy-eyed.

“Is that a dumb reason to choose a career?”

“Oh no, not at all. It sounds like you just knew then what you wanted to do. I'm twenty-six and I still don't really know what I want to do with my life. I would like a good job that pays well, but I can't say I have a calling. I wish I did,” Nikki said. Realizing she was still holding his hand, she gave it a little squeeze. “Thank you for sharing your story with me.”

Hunter then asked Nikki about her job and her career goals and listened attentively while she talked about her recent push for more responsibility at work. After that, they quickly developed an easy camaraderie and discovered things they had in common, such as a love of movies and going to the beach. Finally, realizing they had lingered over their pizza for three hours, Hunter offered to escort her home. It was the least he could do, he said, since Nikki refused to let him pay for dinner.

“After all,” she pointed out, “I asked you out.”

At the door to her apartment building, they lingered and talked more all the while holding hands and looking into each other's eyes. Hunter gently caressed her hand, making small swirling circles with his thumb on the soft pad of her palm. Nikki seemed as aroused as he was, her eyes dilated and her breath coming in short little pants. He very much wanted to kiss her and hoped she would let him. Nikki swayed toward him, and his arm came around to support the small of her back, gently pulling her against his body.

“May I kiss you good night?” he asked in a low, husky voice.

“Mmm, yes,” she replied, melting into him and tilting her face upward.

His heart pounding, Hunter slowly lowered his mouth to meet hers, just the gentlest sweeping touch upon her lips. His breath caught in his throat as he stood wanting and needing more. Deepening the kiss, Hunter crushed her tightly to him and stroked her lips with his tongue. He was burning with desire and wondered for perhaps the hundredth time this evening if she was wearing those so-sexy underthings. Oh, how he would love to see them on her, to slowly peel them off her body and explore her with his tongue. Thinking that he was getting dangerously carried away, he started to pull back, but then Nikki parted her lips and welcomed his kiss into her mouth. Hunter pulled her even more tightly to him.

He could taste Nikki now, the subtle flavor of her mixed with the tangy beer they had consumed with dinner. The press of her breasts to his chest, her peaked nipples pressing into him, sent a shooting thrill throughout his body. His hand ached to reach up and caress her there. Before he got carried away, Hunter started to release her, but Nikki reached up and put her arms around his neck, pulling him back to her and deepening the kiss.

It felt so good, so hot. Hunter reveled in the sensations and the awareness that this gorgeous woman wanted him as much as he wanted her. His bulging erection pressed into her belly, and he could barely stop himself from rubbing it against her. Instead, he ended the kiss and stepped firmly away, feeling unstable, as if he might lose control and yank her back, and then nothing would be able to stop him from finishing what they were starting. He needed to get away quickly. He didn't want to ruin things now.

“This was a terrific evening. Thank you,” Hunter said, turning away quickly, worried that Nikki might try to restart the kiss. Very much wanting her to do just that.