“I want you to leave your job at the hospital and work full-time at the clinic. As a paid physician. I’ll start your salary at a half million a year and you can do all of your work in the daytime there. I want you out of there before dark and you can’t work more than five days a week. It will give you more time there without the stress of having to juggle two jobs.” He shot her an irritable look.
“It’s a free clinic. I can’t take a salary,” she answered, perplexed.
“It’s run on donations. I can up my donations and pay your salary myself. I have a lot of contacts who would be more than willing to help you back the clinic. All I have to do is call them.” He raised an eyebrow, as though daring her to tell him differently.
Obviously, he did have contacts, other rich businessmen who could help fully fund her clinic. Oh, God. What would it be like to be able to be at the clinic every day, a place where she could really make a difference in people’s lives? She liked her job at the hospital and it was fulfilling to take care of patients there, but it wasn’t the same as helping people who couldn’t afford healthcare. And there were plenty of other doctors who would take her job at the hospital. The clinic…umm…not so much.
“I’m not worth that much money. I’m just a family practice doctor. I don’t earn that kind of salary.” Seriously, was she really considering his offer? Shit! He was dangling a carrot that she almost couldn’t refuse to take.
It’s Sam Hudson, Maddie. Be careful.
Thing was, she didn’t really want to be careful. She wanted to grab this opportunity. “What’s the catch?” she asked cautiously. “There’s nothing in it for you except a bigger tax deduction if you take it on as a charitable organization. Why put yourself to this much trouble for my clinic?”
“I get to know you’re safe every day and out of the clinic before dark. I’ll know you’re sleeping, eating.” He shrugged. “The conditions are firm. No working after dark and no more than five days a week.”
He was manipulating her, and she didn’t like it. However, it was hard not to accept when it was something she had always wanted. “Lower my salary. I’d rather use it to pay some full-time staff. I just need enough to pay my student loans and mortgage plus some other minor expenses.”
“No. The salary gets paid and I’ll pay your student loans off. I’ll make sure your donations are enough to pay staff and buy state of the art equipment.” He crossed his arms in front of him, his face like granite.
They were negotiating, but Maddie felt like every time she opened her mouth he wanted to do more. “Why are you doing this? Really?”
“I’m doing it for you,” he replied, his eyes boring into her. “And partly for myself,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Are we signing contracts?” she asked, wanting to know she’d be legally protected. She wanted to believe that Sam was sincere, but she’d never be taken in by him again. One massive heartache was more than enough. He’d taken her trust once and smashed it to bits, making her suspicious of anything he offered.
“No. Not if you accept my entire offer,” he rumbled, his voice husky.
“What else is there?” What more could he possibly offer?
“I want to get you pregnant,” he said harshly. “You’ll be in a position to have a baby and I want to be the one to do it. I don’t want another man’s seed inside your body.”
Maddie gasped, her heart racing. Was the guy crazy? “You want to be my sperm donor?”
“Hell, no. Or yes…I do…but we do it the old-fashioned way. I’m willing to try for as long as it takes. Every day. Five times a day. Or until you beg for mercy, and even then I’m still not sure I’ll stop.” He pulled her into his body and unbound her hair, spearing his hands into the mass of curls possessively.
Maddie’s mind whirled in confusion, her heart thudding against the wall of her chest so hard she swore it was going to burst through her sternum. “That takes having sex. A lot of sex. Unprotected sex.” Oh, hell no. “I don’t like sex and you’re a man-whore, Sam. You couldn’t go a week without another woman. I won’t be enough for you. And I definitely don’t want to share diseases with your lady friends.”
Not happening. Having Sam Hudson as a father for the child I want so desperately has ‘complicated’ written all over it.
“I’m clean. I’ll give you my health records.” Pulling back, he drilled her with those emerald eyes. They were tumultuous and stormy, as though he were holding himself in check.