The Unexpected Crush, Book One (An Alpha Billionaire In Love BBW Romance) Read Free Page B

moment.
    “Not right now,” Carrie said with a smile. “She’s with her father for another couple of hours, so I have time for a few drinks.”
    “Okay,” I replied, relief flooding my body. I really did need some alcohol.
    The restaurant across the street wasn’t fancy, but it was a regular hangout for off-duty hospital staff. The last thing I wanted was to see anyone I knew, so I put my head down as I made my way towards the bar. We had barely claimed a few stools before Carrie was ordering cocktails.
    “And keep them coming,” she said, waving her hand in my direction. “This one has had a rough afternoon.”
    I nodded as I took off my blazer and headed into the restroom. In front of the mirror, I pulled my hair out of the tight bun, shaking it down until it fell across my shoulders in waves. I then unbuttoned a few of the top buttons on my blouse, so that I no longer looked like I was about to present at a conference.
    I pinched my cheeks until some color had returned to my sullen face and reapplied gloss to my full pouty lips. When my eyes no longer looked like they were fighting to hold back tears, I headed back to the bar. Thankfully, there was a pomegranate martini sitting on the counter, ready for me, and I took a minute to simply enjoy the drink.
    “How’re you doing?” she prompted after a few moments of silence.
    “Better now,” I said, as I finished my first cocktail in record time.
    “You know,” Carrie began after I was handed my second martini. “That presentation wasn’t bad.”
    “Wasn’t bad?” I scoffed. “I was practically blamed for the death myself.”
    “You were not,” Carrie replied. “They just agreed that the use of sharing interns between departments needs to be discussed more. That isn’t a regular practice at larger hospitals, you know? It’s only because St. Luke’s is so small that it happens at all. But it’s one of the reasons that internships at St. Luke’s are so competitive — people want the experience of working between departments.”
    I knew that, of course, although it wasn’t the primary reason for my choosing this residency program over all the others I could have settled on when I graduated from med school. The small hospital on the coast of Oregon was well known across the country, despite its location and size. It was privately owned and boasted the best medical equipment and the latest in technology. The owners also made it a point to only hire the top notch medical staff, which made it a world class facility. The residents that graduated from St. Luke’s program had their pick of jobs a whole year before finishing their respective programs. The Emergency Department, in particular, boasted several attending doctors who were famous in my field. Plus, this was the only Level One trauma hospital along the Oregon coast, which meant all the toughest ER cases would end up in my department. It was an easy decision for me to make, going with St. Luke’s for my residency over some well known university-based hospitals on the East Coast.
    I had also chosen St. Luke’s because it was far away from Chicago — from Scott. I didn’t say all this to Carrie, however. I simply downed my second martini and motioned for another. For once, I was thankful that I didn’t have a car. I could drink as much as I wanted to tonight.
    “And everyone knows that Chase Donahue is a total asshole,” Carrie continued.
    “Chase who?” I asked, barely paying attention as I watched the attractive bartender shake my drink. It had been a long time since I’d been with a man — not since Scott. Maybe I needed to get out more, go on a few dates. Not that I had time at the moment.
    “Chase Donahue,” Carrie said, breaking me out of my thoughts. “The guy who was practically interrogating you. He’s like that with everyone. He wasn’t blaming you or anything. I’ve seen him be that condescending to doctors twice your age and with double the experience.”
    “That guy