Open Heart (Dr. Love): A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  I’ve done it ten thousand times but it’s always a rush. It always makes me feel so alive.

  “Alright,” the hospital director growls. “But tomorrow morning I want you on that plane outta here. We’ll have a relief team of surgeons by then,” he adds, and I clap my hands, filled with purpose instantly.

  Slipping the confused driver a Ben Franklin for his troubles after pulling the front doors closed, I offer to follow John into the hospital in my own car but he shakes his head.

  “No time, I’ll brief you on the way via conference call with the cardiac team. This guy might not make it if we even stop to piss or grab gas.”

  With John driving, I get a full update on the patient. Sounds pretty straightforward, but I suck air in between my teeth once I’m sent some medical images and the guy’s bloodwork results.

  Tick-tock alright, I wished I’d never left the damned hospital. Could’ve been scrubbed and in surgery already.

  And I think John knows that too.

  Glancing at the patient notes on my phone, I zoom in on the name.

  Nick Partridge?

  Couldn’t be.

  “You said this guy’s a doctor?” I ask John who rolls his eyes.

  “G.P, semi-retired. Whatever that means. Doesn’t even have full insurance, can you believe it?” he scoffs, shifting down a gear and weaving through traffic.

  I know John will sign off on whatever needs doing, G.P or janitor, anyone on the frontline is still one of us. We all look out for each other when it counts.

  But Nick Partridge?

  I conceal my feelings, the strange mix of my past and all the things that might’ve been all bubbling up.

  Nick Partridge and I were in medical school together. We were both on scholarships courtesy of our skill and hard work.

  Growing up together in a state boy’s home it was an easy choice to make.

  Work hard and get out of there fast, towards a better life.

  We never joked about our future successes. It was like we had a crystal ball every time we sat down to talk about it in between our study time and internships once they started.

  Nick wanted to specialize in neurology, for me it was always cardiology. And right up until a fateful summer’s day we were both on track to living those dreams.

  We were gonna live our lives with success instead of desperation, money instead of government handouts.

  I got to live my side of the bargain out, but Nick never did. Not like we’d planned anyway…

  “Mark? Mark!”

  John’s urgent tone snaps me from my reverie, we’re about a block from the hospital and the OR being set up for surgery as we pull in.

  “You sure you’re okay to do this?” he asks, glancing at me sidelong for the first time in my whole career with the hospital.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he remarks, urging me with his chin to get to work, he has more than one case to handle today and I’ve taken up enough of his time as it is.

  “I’m fine.” I smile, cocking a brow and leaning against the open car window. “One more night and I promise I’ll take that vacation,” I reassure him, having to step back once his car peels away from the emergency entrance.

  A group of ER staff is on hand to meet me, giving me the latest on our patient as I walk and talk, giving orders, nodding when I’m told things are ready, and frowning when I hear some things aren’t.

  “Would you mind having a word with the family, Doctor?” Somebody asks.

  “Family?” I ask, taken aback. Double-checking the notes and the name.

  Maybe it’s a different Nick Partridge M.D after all.

  Nick nor I ever had a family.

  At least, I never thought he did, but I haven’t seen him in almost twenty years.

  “A daughter,” someone pipes in, “She’s in waiting room 6 opposite surgery.”

  “Guess I should,” I murmur as I glance over his bloodwork again.

  Before I even open up Nick Partridge, I can see from his results he’s not well. Emergency surgery is his only hope, and having me operate is his best chance.

  But there’s never anything more than fifty-fifty in this life, I know that much and have to tell families that every day.

  I don’t plan on losing a patient before a surgery but it’s not entirely up to me who makes it and who doesn’t.

  There’s a familiar tension in the elevator as we make our way up, my support team breaking off to finish prepping everything.

  I have the hardest job, surgery, and dealing with the family if it all goes south.

  It’s a different kind of pounding in my chest once I open the door though.

  No more nerves over relatives or if the operation will be a success.

  At a single glance, before I even hear her speak.

  I know I’ve found her.

  She’s the one.

  Nick Partridge’s only daughter though?

  It looks like life has a funny way of dealing out the hands, but this one’s for keeps somehow.

  I know that much.

  I’ll have to insist on that.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Evelyn

  The cab ride to the ER is a blur, so are the endless rounds of questions, forms, and other stressors I somehow survive before I’m even allowed to see my dad in the hospital.

  God, he looks so sick. Like he’s almost gray. Unconscious too. Tubes and machines everywhere, making me wonder if this is some kind of mistake.

  He doesn’t even look like my dad, forcing me to ask such a stupid question.

  Making me sound like a daughter who doesn’t care.

  Like I should never have left him alone this morning.

  “You can’t blame yourself,” someone says.

  “It’s a good thing he called 911 when he did,” another adds.

  Meaning, this is all your fault. If you’d stayed at home, maybe got him to a doctor days ago, none of this would have happened.

  That’s how it feels anyway.

  There’s insurance we apparently no longer have, and the clear message is dad needs an operation and fast.

  Or else.

  I don’t want to even consider the ‘or else.’

  I can’t

  The thought of losing him, and all because we never got him to a doctor sooner is too much. In no time I’m crying, led away from the ER to a small but quiet room, somewhere upstairs after a long elevator ride.

  I think I even fall asleep for a while. Exhausted from the trauma of it all.

  When I wake up, there’s a sandwich and a lukewarm coffee waiting for me, which I devour without even thinking.

  Numb until there’s a gentle knock at the door and he walks in.

  I almost feel like I’m dreaming again because it’s the man himself.

  It’s Mark Love.

  Dr. Love.

  If he’s photogenic and looks great on TV, he’s perfection in real life.

  He’s not in a white coat though. Maybe it’s a casual day?

  He’s got straw-colored chinos on, which he fills perfectly, from the ankles to the honest pant bulge at the front.

  His white shirt is perfectly pressed, but the few buttons left undone at the top showing his smooth pecs and a tan they don’t sell in a bottle tells me it’s not a workday for him.

  Day off probably.

  His whole body has such presence, such a command over the whole situation I feel my knees weaken and spots dance in front of my eyes once I stand up way too quickly.

  Too eager to get closer to him.

  There’s just something about this man that makes me gravitate towards him, needing to touch him or have him touch me somehow.

  His strong hands support my arms, holding me up as he guides me to sit back down on the fabric two-seater couch.

  “Easy now,” he says in a deep voice, the spice of his cologne like medicine of its own, giving me strength as well as the weakness of surrender to his touch.

  “I’m Doctor Love. Call
me Mark. I’ll be operating on your dad shortly. He’s gonna be fine,” he says reassuringly.

  “Evelyn,” I murmur, hearing my voice waver as I introduce myself.

  But he probably knows who I am, of course, he does. He knows everything. I can just tell.

  The calm eyes of a professional surgeon, scan my face, then move slowly down the rest of my body as the eyes of the man take me in.

  I almost recoil with the usual embarrassment, but he makes a low sound of approval.

  Satisfied with something, I feel those huge hands squeeze my arms a little firmer.

  “You’re gonna be fine too, Evelyn” he adds, smiling, and I almost squeak as I watch those dark eyes of his dance in a question I’ve only dreamed of him asking before his attention shifts back to my eyes.

  There’s a long silence, and I only wish I was meeting Mark under totally different circumstances. But then again if I was, I wouldn’t know what to say or do either.

  He’d have no real reason to talk to me otherwise.

  Dr. Mark Love.

  A man who knows what he wants. A man who could have any woman he wants to.

  It feels like I’m thinking a thousand things at once, but feeling just one thing before I realize we’re both just sitting on this couch, his hands still gripping me gently. Neither of saying a word.

  It feels like he already knows everything about me and without knowing how, it feels like I know everything about him too, just from looking into his eyes.

  He notices me taking in his clothes again, or maybe he can read the thoughts behind my eyes as I stare shamelessly at him.

  “I was called in,” he explains calmly. “Your dad’s saved me from a forced vacation, so I owe him one already,” he says and flushes crimson, hearing his own words.

  Being reminded of dad, why I’m here. It stings a little, but what hurts more is the thought of Mark Love on vacation.

  “Family vacation, or?” I hear myself ask him, sounding more hurt than curious.

  He frowns instantly, his hands moving towards mine but he draws them back quickly.

  “No!” he says quickly. Loudly. “No family… Nobody. Just me,” he says firmly, giving me such an intense look.

  I already know I want all of him, and he already has me, whether he knows it or not.

  He asks if I have anyone.

  “I mean, like a boyfriend or someone you’d like us to call. Anyone close,” he says in a gravelly voice, looking at his own feet for the first time until I tell him no.

  Making him smile.

  “We don’t even have full insurance,” I hear myself confess, almost wincing as I grip his strong arms back with my own hands.

  Grateful to have an excuse to clutch at the man, which there’s so much to take hold of. But regretting it has to be here, that it has to be like this.

  He frowns for the first time since our meet, shaking his head a little as he looks deep into my eyes.

  “Your dad is sick, Evelyn. And I have to operate. We can worry about the bills later. Right now I just need you to-”

  I feel my breath catch and I shiver all over. Hearing him say he needs anything from me is a promise I know I’ll already keep.

  It’s stupid, I know. But there’s something happening here between us, and a lot more than just a doctor explaining he has to operate on my dad to make him well again.

  It feels like a memory from one of my dreams.

  The ones where Dr. Mark Love takes me in his arms and tells me he’s finally found me, that we’ll be together forever from now on.

  But he doesn’t say that.

  I zone out, watching his mouth move so close to my face as he explains the operation. I get lost in the scent of his cologne again, only snapping to attention once I feel his hands slip from my body.

  A sharp knock at the door and a face in a mask curls around the heavy door.

  “We’re ready for you Dr. Love,” the female voice says.

  Mark’s eyes narrow and I watch his body tense. He looks like he’s about to tell whoever this is where to get off, but he calms himself.

  “Thank you. I’ll be right in,” he manages, showing restraint. His professional voice as the masked face disappears again.

  Collecting himself. A gifted surgeon about to perform a lifesaving operation.

  God, he’s amazing.

  I thought I loved him from his picture, from TV.

  But sitting so close to him, feeling his energy as well as his body, and watching him about to go to work, I know I do.

  It’s silly. It’s impossible.

  It could never happen.

  But try telling my heart it hasn’t found love at first sight with the most incredible man alive.

  That look he gave me, his hands holding me.

  Dr. Mark Love.

  He stands to leave and I can’t help it. I don’t want him to go.

  I hurl myself at him, all my emotions getting the better of me.

  My fears for my dad, my embarrassment at how I’ve met the man of my dreams but most of all not wanting him to go.

  Wanting to be by his side forever from now on. From this very second until I die.

  I hear myself sobbing, begging him not to go. Pleading with him to save my dad.

  His huge arms move around my body, pulling me closer to his and I can feel just how strong and muscular he actually is, as well as the delicate touch of a surgeon as one hand smooths my hair.

  He murmurs everything I want to hear.

  How dad’s gonna be alright, how it won’t take long and he’ll make sure I have updates every half hour from the surgical team.

  “If you do this… for my dad,” I sniff, looking up at him, feeling a thick line of heat from his front pressing into me. “I’ll do anything,” I gasp.

  Really not wanting him to go now, not when we’re just getting to know each other.

  “Anything?” he asks in a low tone, his lips curling in time with the stiffening of my chest, what I know is his dick pulsing to semi-hardness pressing into me.

  “Anything,” I whisper, feeling him relax with a low groan once I tell him, letting me gently claw at him for just a moment longer before he brings his face closer to mine, explaining he really has to go.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Mark

  My training and experience have taught me to be prepared for unexpected events. I need to be able to make rational and informed decisions in a split second.

  Seconds in surgery can mean years of life for someone, or the end of it.

  The surprise of seeing Nick Partridge listed as my emergency surgical patient is one of those things I’ve trained myself to handle as they come up.

  Every doctor’s worst fear is having or even losing someone who they know personally.

  But it’s when I open the door to the waiting room opposite the operating room when I see her that all that goes out the window.

  There must be some mistake. I never knew Nick even had a daughter, let alone…

  She’s fucking perfect.

  I feel myself swallowing hard, taking all of her in with one sweep of my eyes over her body.

  For the moment, there’s no operation. There’s no hospital. No, Nick.

  It’s like stepping into a dream I feel like I’ve had but could never remember all of until now.

  Knowing I’ve found the one I’ve been waiting for all these years.

  That’s all that matters.

  That and that thick chest of hers. Those blue eyes and that blond hair that tugs at my heart when it moves in time with her body.

  I’ve never been a superficial man, seen enough body types in my career to know it takes all kinds to make humankind.

  I never considered I had a ‘type’ either. But once I see her, it all makes sense.

  There’s no real ‘type.’ Just her and I know beyond any doubt she’s the one.

  I know in a split second I want her.

  She will be mine.

  Before my own heart starts its
pounding rhythm against my ribs, it feels like it’s stopped.

  Like all time’s stopped.

  Her chest heaves as she gasps, biting her pouting lip before wetting it some as our eyes lock, but damn. I could look at her eyes all day.

  It’s her body that’s broadcasting an invisible message to mine.

  A message I can’t ignore or deny.

  I can’t help it, and my eyes eat her up like she’s a meal for a starving man.

  A feast for all my senses that I suddenly feel like keeping all to myself.

  I don’t want to share her with anybody. When I do have a single thought, it’s the only word I want to describe her.

  Mine.

  She’s been crying and I catch her as she stands up too quickly, the perfect chance for me to do what my instincts are screaming at me to do. Touch her.

  Anywhere, anyhow, I instantly want to touch her. To hold her. To keep her close.

  I want to wipe those tears away, kiss them away. Realizing how upset she is I recall the reasons why and my real task in all this.

  Funny how something so major could slip my mind, but I actually forgot about everything for a second there, it was just Evelyn and me.

  A situation I’d like to have permanently.

  Sitting her down, I explain the operation as simply as I can. Telling her there are always risks, but I’ve never lost a patient yet with the latest surgical techniques and equipment we use.

  I feel my stomach drop when she asks about my vacation. If I was going with my family. With my wife.

  I’m quick to tell her it’s just me, and the urgency in my own mind becomes fixed on her again.

  She must have a boyfriend. She’s probably too young to be married but look at her. She could have any guy she wants.

  I don’t mean to smile when she tells me no. Tells me it’s just her and her dad.

  I don’t mean to embarrass her by asking. It’s just a victory I have to claim. One on the way to claiming her properly. Claiming her as my own.

  I watch her sweet, round face. Shifting from one feeling to the next, her emotions are all over the place.

  I should feel guilty, putting all thoughts of her and me before her dad but it’s not every day I meet someone I know I want to be with forever.