The Proposal(29)
“Good morning.”
“I brought you something comfortable to go home in…well, I guess I should have said something to go to the douchenozzle’s place.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “How did it go last night?”
“Fine. I managed not to maim him or draw blood.”
“I’m glad to hear you didn’t cause any more physical harm. Did you spare him emotionally as well?”
Casey grunted as she plopped down in the chair. “I probably said five words to him tops.” Gazing around the room, she asked, “Speaking of, where is the douchecanoe this morning?”
Emma grunted in frustration before replying, “He’s with his sisters waiting to see how Patrick’s surgery goes.”
“Ah, I see.”
She had just opened her mouth to tell Casey about Aidan staying the night when Pesh entered the room. “Morning. I just wanted to check in to see how you were feeling before I started my shift.”
Emma bit down on her lip to keep from laughing at Casey’s expression. Open-mouthed and wide-eyed, Casey drank in Pesh’s appearance from his head down to his toes. When he glanced at her, he thrust out his hand. “I’m Dr. Alpesh Nadeen.”
“C-Casey Turner,” she replied.
“She’s my best friend,” Emma informed him as Casey kept staring.
“It’s very nice to meet you.” Side-stepping Casey, he came to Emma’s side. “I’m hoping you won’t think it was completely inappropriate, but I snuck a little peek at your chart this morning.”
“You’re a total stalker,” she teased.
Pesh grinned, causing dimples to appear in his cheeks. “Well, with that said, everything looks good. I think once you take it easy these next fourteen days, you’ll be fine for the rest of your pregnancy.”
“I hope so.”
“Have faith. It’s all going to be just fine.” Once again his pager interrupted them. He glanced down at it and scowled. “Guess I better get downstairs.”
“Thank you so much for coming by.”
He nodded. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, and we’ll iron out our dinner plans.”
“Dinner?”
He cocked his dark eyebrows at her. “You didn’t think I would just come check your vitals and run out the door, now did you?”
Emma felt her cheeks warming at the insinuation. “Well no, but—”
He held up a hand and smiled. “We’ll talk about it later.” He turned to Casey. “Nice meeting you.”
“Yes, nice meeting you too,” she replied, her gaze honing in on his ass as he walked out the door. Once they were alone, she whirled back to Emma. “Holy shit, Em! You have precisely five seconds to fill me in on who the hell Dr. McDreamy Bollywood is!”
Emma laughed and then she proceeded to tell Casey everything. Once she was finished, Casey shook her head slowly back and forth. “Wow…I mean…just wow.”
With a dreamy sigh, Emma said, “Tell me about it.”
“So are you going to give him a chance?”
Emma shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I think a man like that warrants a little more than a ‘maybe’.” Casey gazed longingly at the door Pesh had only moments ago exited. “I mean, incredibly good looks aside, the man is compassionate and caring…and completely the opposite of the commitment-phobic dirt-bag.”
“I’m already too stressed, Case. I can’t throw in a potential new man to the mix right now.” When Casey started to protest, Emma shook her head. “Besides, I’m still not sure I’m ready to move on from Aidan.”
Casey rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You’re going to let your feelings for the douchenozzle screw up a potentially amazing soul-mate?”
“Aidan is the father of my child. I’ll always love him for that fact alone, but there’s still so much between us.” At Casey’s tight lipped expression, Emma said, “There’s no easy black and white here, Case. It’s all grey. Besides what I still feel about him, his actions in the last twenty-four hours are very endearing. He’s risking his job to take care of me. He came back last night so I wouldn’t be alone. He’s begging and pleading for my forgiveness. I can’t just ignore that.”
Casey’s shoulders drooped in defeat. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know you don’t. And trust me, neither do I. But I have to at least let him try and see this thing through, or I’ll always regret it.”
Casey started to protest but was interrupted by Emma’s phone buzzing. She glanced down at it. “Aidan’s on his way up.”