TODAY WAS GOING to be a good day.
Adeline could feel it and she couldn’t help but smile as she walked the halls of San Diego Mesa Hospital. Dr. Oleson, the last real threat—competition—to the fellowship with the world-renowned maternal-fetal medicine physician, Dr. Wilder, had accepted a position in New York.
There was nothing in her way now.
In a couple of months she’d be the surgeon chosen for one of the most prestigious fellowships on the Western Seaboard.
All her hard work was about to pay off and she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.
“You look happy today, Dr. Turner,” Nurse Keeper said, handing her a chart.
“I am. Dr. Oleson took a position in New York.” Adeline tried not to squeal. She was bouncing on her heels.
Nurse Keeper cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you two were so close that you’re so happy he’s gone on to a better position.”
“We weren’t, but you know he and I were the front-runners for the fellowship. He was good, but he was in my way. Now he’s not.”
Nurse Keeper’s lips formed a firm line and Adeline’s stomach knotted. Keeper only made that face when there was trouble. The head nurse of the OB-GYN floor could be read like a book. Suddenly her bright sunny day got a little dimmer. Her stomach sank like a rock.
“What?” Adeline asked. “When you make that face...”
“There’s a new resident. Fresh from Houston, Texas.” Nurse Keeper walked away, and with the shake of her head, Adeline’s optimism faded away.
So what? It’s a new doctor. They come and go.
Other residents, other surgeons joined the program and they were no competition, but something deep down inside her said that this day had decidedly gotten worse and her instincts weren’t usually wrong.
And after medical school and her disastrous first love affair with the wrong man, she’d learned to listen to her instincts, because they were telling her to be wary.
Her positive outlook vaporized, and now she was dreading today and would continue to worry until she met her new competition.
Every new doctor who joined this residency was her competition. It meant everything to her. It was a way to prove to all those from her first medical school that she was more than just a screwup.
Don’t think about that.
Only she couldn’t help but think about it.
How falling for and trusting the wrong people had almost cost her her medical career.
It was why she kept people at bay.
Why she didn’t trust anyone but herself.
She shook her head, banishing that thought. She wasn’t going to let Gregory and her broken heart into her head today.
Not today.
She had to be in the game today.
No one in this program was her friend. She’d learned the hard way not to make friends when it came to her career.
Dr. Wilder was speaking to the new doctor and Adeline could only see his back. He was tall, taller than her, and she was five-foot-nine. She had to guess at six-foot-two, and then he turned around and her heart skipped a beat. She paused and stared, because that’s all she could do.
She had never seen such a handsome man before. His dark eyes were twinkling, and his brown hair had haphazard curls. There was a dimpled half smile on his face, and as she stared at him, his gaze landed on her. A zing of electricity passed through her.
Warmth spread up her neck into her cheeks and she hated the fact that she blushed.
She hadn’t felt like this in a long time—not since Gregory. She was angry with herself as soon as the thought crossed her mind.
Dr. Wilder turned and looked at her.
“Ah, Dr. Turner. I’d like to introduce you to the doctor who took Dr. Oleson’s place. Dr. Adeline Turner, this is Dr. Elias Garcia. He’s joining us from Houston.”
Dr. Garcia smiled at her again, and his gaze traveled over her in a way that sent another zing of warmth through her. It set her on edge.
“A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Turner.” Dr. Garcia held out his hand, and Adeline grudgingly took it because Dr. Wilder was watching.
“Same.” That was all she could get out.
Her gut instincts were never wrong, and this time they were telling her this guy was trouble.
Sexy trouble.
And she hated the way he was affecting her, that she was attracted to him.
“Dr. Turner, I’d like you to show Dr. Garcia the ropes today and work on the discharge patients.”
Adeline’s forced smile disappeared. “Discharge patients? I thought I was helping with consults today?”
Dr. Wilder looked at her coldly. “I can do those. Today you will show Dr. Garcia the hospital and handle discharges.”
“Of course.” Adeline was disappointed, as she had been looking forward to handling consults on her own for a month.
Now she was babysitting the new member of the team, who was her direct competition.
She was annoyed, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Dr. Wilder nodded and walked away, leaving her standing there with Dr. Garcia.
Alone.
Adeline couldn’t say anything at first. She couldn’t figure out what to say. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing or give him any fodder to use against her.
“Why don’t you give me half of the files, and you take the other half?” Dr. Garcia suggested, breaking the silence. “That way I can get to work.”
“Pardon?” Adeline asked.
Dr. Garcia crossed his arms and looked irritated. “Look, I don’t need a babysitter. I’m here for a fellowship, so if you could hand over the charts, I can get started.”
Adeline crossed her arms as well, taking a step closer to Elias. “Well, I’m not a babysitter, but I can tell you that these patients are patients I have a rapport with. You don’t understand the procedures at San Diego Mesa Hospital. Until you do, I am the babysitter. So, if you’ll follow me, we can start our day.”
“Follow you? I’m hardly an intern and you’re hardly an attending.”
Adeline cocked an eyebrow. “I was an attending for a year in OB-GYN before this position came up, so I am a senior surgeon here.”
Elias wanted to smile. He enjoyed a feisty woman. The problem was, this particular feisty woman was his competition.
He’d heard of Dr. Adeline Turner when he was accepted to take Dr. Oleson’s spot, and Elias knew she was the one to beat.
In his mind’s eye he had had a picture of what to expect, and his expectation didn’t match the reality standing in front of him.
Dr. Adeline Turner took his breath away. She was beautiful, and for one fraction of a second, his blood heated in attraction. Then she opened her mouth and it brought him back to earth.
This wasn’t some woman he could chat up at a bar.
This woman.
This was the surgeon he had to beat.
She was strong-willed. Obviously smart because she was the one to watch out for. Her blond hair was tied back, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would look like down.
She had dark brown eyes and full pink lips and a pink glow in her cheeks when she got flustered. He was attracted to her, but he’d have to ignore that. He wasn’t here to date or get involved with anyone. Even someone as beautiful as Dr. Adeline Turner.
Get control. She’s your competition.
Elias had no time for romance. He had no interest in it. He’d opened his heart up a long time ago and it had bitten him in the ass.
Even among his own family, the only person he could rely on was himself.
No one understood him.
He knew only one thing—his career never let him down.
It meant everything to him, and there was no way he was getting involved with his rival.
There was only one position in this fellowship with Dr. Wilder, and it was going to be his.
Elias always succeeded in whatever he set out to do with his career.
His father had never thought it would amount to anything, but this fellowship would prove to his father that he’d finally made it.
Will it?
Elias shook that thought away and stared down at those big, dark brown eyes of Dr. Turner glaring up at him.
“I happened to be a pediatric attending, a specialist in the NICU in Houston. So I guess we’re on equal footing.”
A strange smirk crossed her face. “We’re not on equal footing. I’ve been here longer. You’re new. So you follow my lead. Got it?”
Elias was annoyed, but he couldn’t help but smile.
She was going to be a challenge, but he could handle a challenge.
This was his fellowship.
It would be a great coup to have this specialty on his CV. Everyone would come to him.
Everyone except your family.
He dismissed the thought. He didn’t want to think about his family or the fact that he hadn’t seen them in two years.
That was his own choice.
It had been five years since his now ex-fiancée had left him for his younger brother. Relations with his family had been strained since, and it distracted him. He couldn’t focus when he was around them.
That’s because you can’t stand your dad’s disappointment.
Elias’s stomach twisted. He didn’t want to think about it.
All that mattered was his career, and this fellowship would mean he’d be at the top of his game. He could have any job he wanted, anywhere.
And nothing was going to stand in his way.
Not even the beautiful temptation of Dr. Adeline Turner.
Arrogant jerk.
Adeline grumbled to herself as she walked home from the hospital where she worked. Thankfully, it was still early afternoon and the rush hour traffic, both foot and car, hadn’t started in San Diego. There was no one else on the street who would get in her way and possibly become victim to her particularly foul mood.
Which sucked.
Her day had started out so well—another perfect day—until the new resident had shown up. Dr. Elias Garcia. She had been stuck with him all day doing discharges when she should have been running the consult clinic.
She’d been waiting to do that clinic for three months.
And instead she had been babysitting Dr. Garcia, who was a damn talented doctor.
Who was charming and had a good bedside manner.
Every single patient loved him. They would get giddy when he’d flash them a dimpled half smile. His eyes would twinkle, and even the toughest patients were won over.
It was so frustrating.
After working with Dr. Garcia all day, she had realized two things really quickly about him: he was an arrogant, cocky rival to her coveted fellowship, and he was sexy as hell. She had no real aversions to sexy as hell. She had no qualms about casual dating of men she was attracted to. She had learned that romantic entanglements, a future, or any of that nonsense was out of the question. Wanting those things had gotten her in trouble before. They were things she didn’t need.
She didn’t want.
Liar.
Adeline brushed off the thought and cursed at herself inwardly for letting it slip into her mind. Other surgeons, other medical professionals were off-limits. She’d learned that the hard way, and that painful lesson had almost cost her her career in medicine when she was just starting out.
Gregory had been her teacher and he’d been just as charming as Dr. Garcia.
Gregory had charmed her so well, she had no idea that he was married, and when she had broken it off, he had humiliated her. Thrown her under the bus.
She had had to change medical schools just to get her career back on track, and she had learned that relationships were a no-go zone. The only thing she needed in her life, the only thing she wanted right now, was that coveted position she’d been working so hard to get since she started as an intern at San Diego Mesa Hospital. After what Gregory had done, she had realized that to get what she wanted, she could only trust herself. No one else was going to have a hand in her future.
Heck, she’d been planning this since she was a student in medical school, when she had first heard of Dr. Maxine Wilder. An innovator in maternal-fetal medicine and obstetrics.
Dr. Wilder had saved so many lives.
Saved the hopeless cases.
And that’s what Adeline wanted. She wanted to learn from the best. She wanted to save the hopeless cases. She wanted to prevent the pain of loss.
Her anger melted away as she thought of her mother. How it had been impossible for her mother to have another baby after Adeline, because of the rare genetic condition that plagued her family.
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Also known as TTP. It caused blood clots and risked the life of the baby and the mother.
Her mom had developed it after Adeline was born. Although Mom had survived, the pregnancy that came after Adeline hadn’t.
When her mother had been pregnant with Adeline, something had triggered this rare genetic disorder, causing it to kick in. A recessive gene that could lie dormant, but back then they hadn’t known that. It was why Adeline had gone into medicine and loved it so much. Why she wanted to learn as much about TTP as she could.
And there was a part of her that blamed herself for causing her mom to be ill.
Her older brother hadn’t triggered it.
It had been her.
A lump formed in her throat, and she had to take a deep breath to regain control of the emotions threatening to overtake her.
She wasn’t going to let herself cry.
Crying got her nowhere. It just made her vulnerable, and that vulnerability could be used against her.
You cried and told me you loved me! Gregory had shouted. Now you’re ending this?
You lied to me! You didn’t tell me you were married. I asked you that when we started this relationship. It was a mistake. Adeline had wiped a tear from her eye.
He’d scowled at her. If you report me, I’ll ruin your career, he’d threatened. And I know you have high aspirations to help people like your mother.
Adeline was cross she had thought of that. She hated the fact that she’d been thinking about Gregory today.
This wasn’t about him.
It was about her career and working to make sure what happened to her mother didn’t happen again.
That was Adeline’s goal.
Medicine continued to advance, though, and Adeline had no doubt that now Dr. Wilder could have saved her other sibling.
And Adeline wanted to save more lives. The most precious lives. In an attempt to make it up to her mother.
You could start by getting tested yourself like Mom wants.
Adeline sighed. She was terrified of getting tested, and since she wasn’t interested in settling down and having a family or even a relationship, what was the point?
Pregnancy had triggered her mother’s TTP and Adeline was never going to have a child.
No matter how much she secretly wanted one. She did want kids, but she was scared.
Scared that she had the gene and that people would find out; that she’d lose the baby; that she’d die or be too weak to continue her work.
So instead, she’d save lives. She would focus on this tough fellowship, which would completely test her mettle and give her a sense of purpose if she won the spot with Dr. Wilder. What she didn’t need was an arrogant, good-looking, cocky new resident swaggering into her hospital and trying to take that spot from her.
It’s not your hospital. Are you the chief?
Adeline laughed to herself.
She was being completely irrational. What she needed to do was have a nice glass of wine—a bottle was chilling in the fridge—and sit out on the beach for a bit. And forget all of this. Tomorrow was a new day. Sure, he was one more doctor, but she’d outlasted several and she could outlast Dr. Garcia too.
As she rounded the corner and headed down the street to the beach house she shared with a couple of other residents at the hospital, she saw a small rental van and boxes in the drive.
Today was the day they were getting a new roommate, as their previous roommate, Dennis, had accepted a position in Boston. She’d completely forgotten today was move-in day.
This day was just getting better and better.
Adeline was in no mood to make nice with her new roommate. She’d greet whoever this new roomie was, grab her bottle of wine and head out across the back patio to the beach and one of the deck chairs that was waiting for her. After today she was not in the mood.
Adeline sidestepped a few boxes and slipped through the open door.
“Sorry!” James shouted, coming down the stairs. “I can already tell by the look on your face you’re fed up.”
“Not with the boxes,” Adeline grumbled, tossing her keys into large ceramic decorative clamshell by the door. “It’s fine.”
James cocked an eyebrow. “Clearly it’s not.”
“It was a tough day at work. I’m just going to open a bottle of wine and chill for a bit.”
James made a face. “You were in such a good mood this morning. What happened?”
“New doctor. New competition. I don’t want to talk about it. All I want is a drink.”
James laughed. “Sure. Sherrie is already outside on the patio.”
Adeline nodded and left James, who owned the beach house, to deal with their new roommate. She headed straight for the kitchen, grabbed her wine and a corkscrew, and headed out onto the back patio that backed straight into the white sand.
Sherrie was in one of the lounge chairs, a book on organ transplantation propped on her knees. Adeline didn’t tend to have friends in her specialty, which is why she lived with Sherrie and James. They weren’t in her specialty and she liked them well enough.
They weren’t out for her job.
“What’re you reading up on?” Adeline asked, plopping down next to her.
“Kidneys.” Sherrie closed her book and sat up, eyeing the bottle. “You had a rough day?”
Adeline nodded, uncorking the bottle. “You know how we lost a bunch of residents, as they moved up to fellows and left the hospital for greener pastures? Just like Dennis did?”
Sherrie nodded. “Yes.”
“One of the new residents is vying for my fellowship. Mine.”
“Ugh.”
“Exactly.” Adeline sighed. “I wouldn’t be so worried if I didn’t think he was a threat.”
“So he’s good?” Sherrie asked.
“His recommendations were glowing. I heard Dr. Wilder talking about it. It’s why she accepted him into her program.” Adeline sighed again. “And he did a decent job when I was working with him today.”
She didn’t want to admit it, but Dr. Garcia was competent, which had her worried.
“Ugh,” Sherrie said again, lying back and reopening her book.
Adeline leaned back, too, still clutching her bottle of wine, staring up at the evening sky. “Want to get a bite to eat downtown?”
“I would, but I’m studying for this big surgery tomorrow. Dr. Thomas wants me to assist.”
“No worries. Maybe I’ll order in? I don’t feel like cooking, especially with someone new moving in and their stuff everywhere.”
Sherrie shut the book again and bolted upright. “Speaking of our new roommate, did you see him?”
“No. I haven’t met him yet. I didn’t even know he was a him until now.”
“He’s so gorgeous.” Sherrie smiled dreamily. “I was seriously swooning when I saw him.”
Adeline’s stomach knotted. “Swooning?”
She had a bad feeling about this. The Fates wouldn’t be that cruel, would they? She got up and went back into the house. James was a resident. They all were. He would have looked at SDMH for a new roommate.
James was a carrying a box up the stairs, a box that had the initials E.G.
No. No. No. Please no.
Her stomach dropped to the soles of her feet.
“What?” James asked. “You look distressed, like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
“Our new roommate...who is he?”
“You can ask him yourself. He’s standing right behind you.”
Dread crept down her spine, and Adeline turned around slowly.
“Dr. Turner, isn’t it?” Dr. Elias Garcia asked, standing there with that same dimpled half smile he’d been sporting all day.
And there he was. Her competition. Looming there. He looked like a different man in his jeans and blue cotton shirt instead of the dark navy scrubs and white lab coat they wore at work. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing his beautiful muscular forearms.
His dark eyes were twinkling, and his brown hair was a bit haphazard. His curls, usually a touch more tame at the hospital, were anything but. It suited him.
She was a bit breathless seeing him in this light. Not as the competition, but as a man she was completely and utterly attracted to.
Man, did she hate that.
He was as handsome as ever, and he was a temptation that Adeline didn’t want. She didn’t even want to think about it.
Remember what happened in medical school? Doctors are off-limits. He’s your competition, your roommate. You don’t casually date from SDMH. You don’t. Remember that.
Though it was hard to think straight with him standing a few feet from her, smiling that charming smile he’d used on the patients today.
Well, she wasn’t going to let it get to her.
No way.
Nothing was getting in her way this time.
Even if Elias made her weak in the knees.
Dammit.
Adeline suddenly hated Dennis for moving and taking that fellowship in Boston. She hated James for renting the attic room out to Dr. Garcia. How could he rent to him? First he was trying to take her fellowship with Dr. Wilder, and now he was living under the same roof.
She couldn’t escape him.
“Are you okay, Dr. Turner?” Elias asked, his gaze tracking to the bottle of wine clenched in her fist.
“You’re not moving in here,” she stated fiercely, before sort of laughing because this whole thing was just absurd.
Elias looked confused. “I think I am.”
Adeline laughed and shook her head. “No. No you’re not.”
“I am.” And he took a step toward her, making her heart skip a beat. “Or are we going to have another discussion about who is the superior?”
Her cheeks heated. “You’re not.”
He grinned again, bending over to whisper in her ear. “I think you’ll find I am.”
“Well, hell!”
Well, hell?
Elias couldn’t help but like Dr. Adeline Turner’s fire. It made him chuckle inwardly. She certainly didn’t hold her feelings back, which was a refreshing change and different from all the other women he knew and the foolish games they played. Games that might be fun during the chase, but thanks to his trust issues weren’t as enjoyable after a while.
Adeline must be feeling the same way he was, seeing his rival standing in the hallway of his new home. And Dr. Adeline Turner was, without a doubt, his rival. He had known that from the moment he had met Adeline and seen the rapport she had with Dr. Wilder.
And she was talented.
He had learned that fast when he had worked with her today.
She was good.
Smart, quick on her feet and completely focused.
It would be a challenge to take her down, but Elias had never backed away from a challenge before.
It was obvious from her displeasure that she was not happy he was here.
Which meant that she saw him as a threat too.
Good.
He was glad he was getting under her skin.
“Well, I’m glad we’re off to a good start, roomie.” He pushed past her and headed up the stairs, motioning for James to continue.
It was really too bad that Adeline was his competition, because if they weren’t both vying for the same position, he would give her chase. She’d be fun to chase.
Blunt. To the point. Strong-willed and sexy as hell.
She hit all his buttons.
And he usually avoided women like that.
A woman like that was dangerous.
A woman like that could creep past his carefully constructed walls.
Walls that protected his heart.
He only ever wanted a nice quick fling these days, and Adeline Turner was dangerous. She was the kind of woman who would want more, she was serious. She didn’t seem to be the kind of woman to have a fling. She was someone you had a relationship with. And he didn’t want that. Elias was not interested in having a relationship. He had had a relationship before, one that he had given his whole heart to, and it had been torn to shreds. Elias was not going down that murky path again.
Quick flings.
A little bit of romance.
Some hot sex. That’s all he wanted.
Adeline Turner had that same drive for career; he knew she wasn’t interested in the fairy tale. Work was her passion, her spouse. You didn’t have flings with women like that.
Just like it was for him, but he couldn’t have a fiery fling with her. Not with the competition.
It could have been a hot, fun distraction.
He wasn’t getting tied up in that. He was here to win a spot with Dr. Wilder, and he didn’t trust or know Dr. Adeline Turner enough to get involved.
The last thing he needed was for her to turn Dr. Wilder against him.
Like the way Shea came between you and Aidan.
Elias sighed.
He didn’t trust anyone but himself. Not even his family. He had trusted his brother once and look where that had gotten him.
Elias had learned his lesson.
“James,” Adeline shouted as she followed him up the stairs. “Are you serious? This is our new roommate?”
Elias rolled his eyes as James looked a bit pale. Elias took the box from James.
“Is she always so loud?” Elias asked, seeing if it rubbed Adeline the wrong way.
“Just a bit,” James muttered under his breath.
“James!” Adeline snapped.
“I didn’t know you two knew each other,” James said. “Dr. Garcia is new in town and was looking for a place. We had a room. You know I rent to other employees at the hospital. I don’t want any trouble, Adeline.”
James pushed past Adeline, who was still fuming in the doorway. Elias couldn’t help but smile at her there. She was kind of adorable, all infuriated.
Don’t think of her like that.
Elias couldn’t think about how cute she was. How he found her highly attractive.
He had to remember he was here for work.
Not romance.
He had to focus on his career rather than wondering how soft her blond hair was, with those beachy waves he loved. Full pink lips and curves in all the right places. Her dark eyes were bristling with annoyance.
He swore if she were a cartoon character, steam would be shooting out of her ears.
“Come on,” Elias said jovially. “It can’t be all that bad, can it?”
Those dark brown eyes of hers narrowed, and if he didn’t know any better, he might think himself in trouble. It gave him a little zip of excitement.
Actually, he knew that he was in trouble.
“It’s bad enough that you’re going for a position I’ve worked hard for since day one of my internship, but now you’re living above me?”
He grinned. “So I’m on top of you, then?”
Those peach-colored cheeks deepened with a blush. “You need to stay away from me.”
It was a warning. Clear as day.
“That’s kind of going to be hard since now we are both roommates and on Dr. Wilder’s service.” Elias knew he probably shouldn’t push her, but something about him wanted to. He liked the fire that he could see bubbling beneath the surface.
She was strong.
It made his blood heat, the thrill of the chase taking over.
You can’t think about her like that. She’s not a conquest.
Adeline took a step back. “I know it’ll be difficult but try your best. I am in it to obtain that position with Dr. Wilder. It is my position. We may be in close quarters and I can be professional, but that’s it. Just stay out of my way.”
Adeline turned on her heel and left in a huff.
Elias couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over the way her jeans hugged her curves. The scrubs she’d worn at the hospital didn’t do her any justice. They engulfed her, and the tight bun she wore didn’t suit her at all.
It was like she was trying to hide herself under a bunch of layers.
Isn’t that what you do too?
Didn’t he feel safer with his white lab coat on? Especially when he was around his overbearing family. His family, who valued the family vineyard more than his academic successes. The coat was a visible reminder to them of what he had accomplished. Especially when he had to endure family functions with his brother, the man who had stolen his fiancée.
Aidan was his father’s favorite. The son who had taken over the vineyard, settled down. Whereas Elias valued his career and education and had never settled down as had been expected of him. They had never understood that he didn’t want a life working on the land, having his whole future dependent on whether the crop survived, whether there was enough rain or sun or anything. He hadn’t wanted to break his back to earn a living. His father didn’t understand Elias’s need for learning and saw his life as easy, when there was nothing easy about medicine.
Every time Elias went home, he had to relive the pain over and over again. The reminder that he had grown apart from Shea, and Aidan had been there when he hadn’t. That Aidan, once again, had had to take something from Elias the way he always did. Only, he couldn’t take away Elias’s career.
The white lab coat, the scrubs, his goal of saving the most vulnerable lives—that’s what kept him safe.
That’s what helped him to continue going.
It gave him courage to keep going.
It hardened his resolve.
Yeah, it would suck being under the same roof as his rival, especially one as tempting as Dr. Adeline Turner, but this was a competition, after all.
One he intended to win.
No matter what.