The Doctor She Always Dreamed Of Read Free Page B

stopped by for a quick drink before heading home, as he’d hoped.
    The professional portrait of Ms. Kira Peniglatt, MSN, MBA, CCM, RN, Director of Case Management, on the insurance company website, where she wore conservative business attire, trendy glasses, and had her dark hair pulled back off of her face, had made it easy for Derrick to identify her leaving work. It hadn’t prepared him for the smiling, laughing beauty out of her stuffy suit jacket, with her long, wavy hair hanging loose around her shoulders and a silky white sleeveless blouse leaving her firm arms bare while hugging her appealing curves. Or that skirt, clinging to her narrow hips. Or her long, slender legs. Or those fashionable four-inch black, shiny heels.
    Derrick looked away, shaking his head as he did, wondering if maybe she had a twin who worked with her and he’d followed the wrong Ms. Peniglatt. Because the very appealing woman seated two tables away did not in any way resemble the uncompromising, coldhearted female he’d spoken with on the phone that morning. The same woman who’d told him to get her a signed HIPPA form, and then, after he’d inconvenienced his uncle to drive out to his parents’ house to get one signed and then fax it back to him, had not taken any of his afternoon phone calls.
    â€œComing down to the city was an asinine idea,” Derrick mumbled to himself. Then he picked up his mug and gulped down the rest of his beer. Even if he could separate Ms. Peniglatt from her friend, after three shots of Southern Comfort and two glasses of white wine in under two hours, she’d be in no condition to talk business.
    He glanced at his watch. Almost seven. If he left now he could grab a couple of slices of pizza and make it up to Mom and Dad’s house before midnight. Ms. Peniglatt had been right. Family takes care of family. The least Derrick could do, in addition to getting the home care straightened out to make sure his mother received the maximum benefit allowed, was to head home for the weekend when his dad needed him. That had meant helping his overworked receptionist/medical biller to reschedule and refer his weekend patients so he could close his office on Saturday. And finding someone to cover on call for the whole weekend, which hadn’t been easy.
    Thinking of everything he’d done today and everything he still had to do if he wanted his new practice to be a success, exhausted him. So he stopped thinking about it. Slapping a ten dollar bill on the bar to cover his drink and a tip, Derrick stood, stretched out his sore back, and headed to the bathroom so he could hopefully make the drive without stopping.
    After taking care of business, so to speak, he exited into the dimly lit hallway at the back of the bar, and walked right into... “I’m sorry.” He grabbed a hold of the dark-haired woman he’d almost knocked over.
    â€œDon’t be. It’s not you, it’s me.” She wobbled. “Or rather these heels.” Leaning heavily on his arm, she reached down to adjust her shoe. “A few drinks and they’ve become a detriment to me and those around me.” She looked up, hesitated as if trying to place his face then smiled. “Or maybe it’s fate.”
    If so, then fate was a nasty bitch to finally give him Ms. Peniglatt’s full attention, when he had a signed HIPPA form in his pocket...when she was drunk and of no use to him.
    â€œI saw you watching me,” she said.
    Half the men in the bar and a good number of women were watching her. She was beautiful to look at. But Derrick knew firsthand that a total lack of compassion lurked beneath her unexpectedly appealing façade.
    â€œDare I take that to mean you like what you see?” She raised a pair of perfectly shaped eyebrows.
    What heterosexual male wouldn’t? God help him she smelled fantastic, classy, enticing.
    â€œAre you mute?” she asked, scrunching her