stood stoically silent, deep in thought, hardly noticing she was there.
The elevator stopped at the next floor and Dr. Woods got on. Polly’s heart tripled in beats. Layla nodded at Polly, looking noticeably riled, then turned to Dr. Rodriguez. “Hi,” she said, sounding breathy and unconfident as she pressed the button for the lobby, which had already been pushed.
“Layla.” His all-business attitude threw Polly in light of what she already knew about the memo and their supposed past, through Janetta.
“Listen, I wanted to thank you for what you did the other day,” Layla said. “Sticking up for me in the board room and all.”
“It needed to be done.” Curt. Businesslike.
Had she become invisible?
“Well, I want to thank you for that, Alex. It meant a lot to—”
With a quick gesture, he brushed her off. “It was nothing.” He wouldn’t look her in the eyes, and that must have bothered Dr. Woods. It sure would have if Polly had been in the doctor’s shoes.
Layla punched the button for the second floor, obviously upset. “Both of us getting out of the elevator together in the lobby would only fuel the fire of the gossip around here.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and the moment the doors opened she started to get out, but Dr. Rodriguez stepped around her and exited first.
Holy cow. Polly hoped and prayed that Layla didn’t think she had participated in the rampant gossip around the hospital. Especially after all she’d done for her.
Dr. Woods let him leave, watched him go, staring, even though the elevator doors had closed again. Polly didn’t know what to do so she kept quiet, hoping maybe she really had become invisible. They continued downwards in silence, Dr. Woods deep in thought, until the doors opened to the lobby.
Straightening her shoulders, she glanced at Polly, the first sign that the doctor had remembered she was there. “He may think this is finished between us, but it isn’t. Not by a long shot.” With that, Dr. Layla Woods, looking determined and undeterred, exited the elevator.
Polly stood frozen to the spot, her mind swirling with what she’d just witnessed. It wasn’t hatred or anger that fueled them, it was passion. Pure and simple. Those two were meant to be together, and somehow, some way, they’d both have to figure it out. Just before the doors closed Polly rushed out of the elevator and toward the garden exit.
As she ate her dinner, she made a vow. No way would anyone hear a hint of what had gone on in that elevator. Their secret was safe with her, and she hoped Layla was right, that whatever they had going wasn’t over by a long shot.
* * *
At the end of her shift, completely exhausted, she went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face, hoping to pep herself up for the long subway ride home. Afterwards, she gathered up her belongings from the employee locker room and headed toward the elevator, the last person to leave from the late shift.
A lone silhouette stood at the other end of the hall. White doctor’s coat, broad shoulders, short-cropped hair, unmistakably John. Her heart fluttered at the thought of facing him after several days. He met her at the elevator door.
“What are you still doing here?” he asked.
“Did a double shift.”
“Should you be doing that?”
She yawned, and covered her mouth. “No choice these days.”
She noticed he festered over that response. He blinked and turned his head as if he had a thing or two to say to her, but had maybe thought better of it.
He looked at his watch. “I don’t like the idea of you taking the subway home at this time of night.”
“It really isn’t about what you like or don’t like, now, is it, Johnny.” Yes, she could be a brat when she wanted to, make that needed to. Being pregnant had put her in a whole new frame of mind. Her baby came first, and John wasn’t on board with her being pregnant. End of story.
“Let me give you a ride home.”
“No way.” But, man, oh, man, her feet were tired, and the thought of walking the required blocks just to get to the subway station did seem daunting at almost midnight.
“Look, I had early surgery today so I drove my car. I’m parked next door. Don’t be stubborn and foolish.”
Stubborn? Look who was calling whom stubborn. “Do you have any idea how big the gossip mill is at Angel’s? People would have a field day if they saw us leave together.” And then found out soon enough I’m pregnant.
“Look, dumpling, I don’t give a rat’s ass what other people think. Right now, all I want to do is give you a ride home.”
“Don’t call me dumpling.”
“Sorry.”
If, and that was a big if, she decided to let John give her a ride home, it wouldn’t be because she was giving in to him. No. It would be because she really didn’t want to face that long subway ride to the Lower East Side. It had been almost two a.m. before she’d gotten in bed the last time she’d worked a double shift and, being honest, she worried she might fall asleep on the subway and miss her exit.
“Okay.”
“Okay you accept my apology or okay you’ll let me give you a ride home?”
“I’ll take the ride.”
He looked surprised, as if she hadn’t put up nearly as big a fight as he’d expected.
Ten minutes later she slid onto the smoothest kid leather seat she’d ever seen in a fancy sedan like his. It was soft and cushy, too, and, oh, the headrest was adjusted perfectly to her neck. She touched the button to lower the head of the seat, making it like a lounge chair, and snuggled in after clicking her seat belt.
John didn’t say a word, but she could see his cheek lift in that unbalanced smile of his. He’d won. He knew it.
But she was reaping the benefits.
Before he’d even exited the parking structure, she closed her eyes and drifted off to a sweet dream about being curled up on the softest sofa in the world, while the sexiest guy she’d ever met touched her knee and talked to her softly.
JOHN PARKED THE car, walked around to the other side, opened the passenger door and lifted Polly up and out. She slept sounder than his mother’s cat, and only stirred when he pulled her to his chest.
“Shh, go back to sleep,” he whispered in her ear, as he motioned with his head to the doorman of his building to let them in.
Marco the doorman gave a deeply inquisitive look but followed orders. John had been a resident in the building for three years now and had never brought a woman home in this condition.
“Drunk,” John mouthed to Marco, who gave an affirmative Aha nod.
“Park the car in your usual spot?” Marco whispered.
John nodded, knowing his car keys would be left in the parking-garage office where he paid a hefty monthly fee for the privilege of driving and parking in New York City.
He punched the elevator button with his elbow and hoped Polly didn’t wake up until he was ready. He’d driven the long way home around Central Park to make sure she’d fallen asleep deeply enough once he’d decided to bring her here.
As he rode the elevator to the ninth floor, he took the liberty to study her close up—flawless skin, though maybe a little pale, ash-blonde hair with waves that made him want to dig his fingers in every time he saw her. Her thick brown lashes fluttered the tiniest bit under his scrutiny and her nostrils twitched as she breathed softly. She was sweet and tender, and he felt the