He had to make his excuses and get out of here.

It was best if he kept his distance from her. They were business partners and nothing more. That was all they could be. And the fact that he had to keep reminding himself of that was not a good sign.

“Well, I have some other surgical patients to make my rounds on. I’ll leave you to your work.”

It was a complete lie. There was no one else to do rounds on, but the more Thomas lingered here the harder it was to leave. He found himself enjoying her company.

“I’ll see you later. I should head back to the office.”

Geri nodded and walked away, doing what he couldn’t do. And he watched her walk down the hall toward the elevators.

This was bad.

When had she gone from being someone he loathed—someone he’d planned to put through her paces because he wanted Charles’s practice all to himself—to being someone he wasn’t able to tear himself away from, admiring the flush of her skin, the red of her lips and wondering what it would be like to take her in his arms and kiss her?

The moment you saw her.