She talked a mile a minute, opening doors here or there, introducing me to some of the doctors who were still sitting in their offices. When I realized that she was literally going to take me on a tour of all twenty-five floors in this building, I made a mental note to bring flats every day.

“This is what we call our treatment corridor,” she said, as we walked around the fifth floor. “We have eighteen treatment rooms for our day in-patients, and five rooms for overnight patients. It’s rare that we have to keep someone overnight, but if we do, you or one of the other residents would be required to take observations until the morning.”

“Got it.” I followed her back onto the elevator. “What’s the dress code for residents here?”

“Dress code?” She laughed. “The ratio for men to women staff here is sixty-five to thirty-five, and the board’s ratio is even tighter. I believe it’s seventy percent women and thirty percent men. That said, there is no ‘dress code,’ and I highly doubt there ever will be. Most of the nurses and interns wear their favorite scrubs, and the doctors wear whatever they want under their white coats.”

“What?” I was completely caught off-guard by the numbers she’d revealed. “The practice is sixty-five to seventy percent women?”

“Of course, it is.” She smiled and motioned for me to step back onto the sixteenth floor. “Why else do you think we’re number one in the state?”

“I ...”

“Exactly.” She winked. “I believe the only two board-level doctors you haven’t met are Dr. Laurel and the owner of the practice, Dr. Ashton ...” She clucked her teeth. “Dr. Laurel does more outside work than any doctor on staff, so you’ll probably only see her during the monthly staff meetings, and Dr. Ashton —”

“What about Dr. Ashton?” A deep voice said from behind, startling us both.

I slowly turned around and gasped when I saw the man who’d just spoken. Hands down, the sexiest man I’d ever seen in my life, he instantly made me think of sex. His bright blue eyes were gleaming beneath the lobby’s fluorescent lights, and he was teasingly running a hand through his short black hair — as if he was reading my mind.

Over a grey V-neck shirt, he was wearing his white coat — putting every doctor who’d ever worn one to utter shame with the way the fabric slightly clung to his muscles.

“I was just telling our new resident, Dr. Natalie Madison, that you and Dr. Laurel were the only doctors she had yet to meet,” Emily said. “Glad we’re down to only one now, but I’m not holding my breath on Dr. Laurel anytime soon.” She looked at me. “Thanks for coming in, Natalie. I’ll go get your coat.”

She walked away, leaving me alone with Dr. Ashton.

Doctors aren’t supposed to be this sexy ... There’s no way this man is a ‘real’ doctor ...

“Nice to meet you, Dr. Madison,” he said, extending his hand.

“Nice to meet you as well, Dr. Ashton.” I couldn’t stop staring at him if I tried, and by the way his lips were curving into a sinful smile, I was sure he could tell.

“Did Emily show you my office?” His fingers slightly caressed my palm, setting my skin on fire with a simple touch.

“No, I believe your door was closed when we walked by earlier.”

“It shouldn’t have been.” He slowly let my hand go. “Please accept my apologies.”

I nodded. The way he was looking at me right now made me wish I’d actually worn panties.

“Would you like me to show you my office right now? Personally?”

Hell yes ... “No. I um ... I actually need to be on my way out. I have somewhere to be soon.”

He looked me up and down, his lips slowly parting as he took in my dress. “Does this ‘somewhere’ involve a boyfriend?”

I started to explain that it was some random guy I’d befriended online months ago, but I stopped myself. He didn’t really care where I was about to go, and I needed to put an end to this foolish boss-employee fantasy before it could begin. “Yes. It’s a boyfriend, a very long-term and serious boyfriend.”

“Well, I’m very sorry to hear that.” He smiled again when Emily returned with my coat. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Dr. Madison.”

“Looking forward to working with you as well, Dr. Ashton.”

THE RESIDENT

New York, New York

Natalie

“This man is your boss?” Shannon, stared at Dr. Ashton’s professional picture on the Park Avenue Group website as we shared the backseat of a cab. “Are you shitting me right now?”

“I wish.” I’d done nothing but fantasize about the possibility of his lips touching mine since the moment I left the private practice. I’d incessantly replayed the way he looked me up and down, the way he caressed my hand, and I was now cursing myself for not taking him up on his offer of that personal office tour. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered how I was going to be able to get any work done around him.

How do any of the women there work when he’s around?

“Well, you’ll have to keep me posted on everything that happens when you officially start there.” Shannon returned my phone to me and looked outside her window. “You think there’s a chance this D-DOCTOR guy will be halfway as hot as your boss?”

“Doubt it.” I looked at Dr. Ashton’s sexy picture one last time and closed the screen. “But I think the sex with him will be amazing.”

“Let’s hope so. Remind me why you begged me to accompany you on your date tonight. Are you that nervous?”

“I’m not asking you to accompany me,” I said. “I just need you to go inside the restaurant first, look for his table, and just call and tell me what he looks like, so I’ll be prepared if he’s not as cute as I hope he is. Oh, and I’ll also need you to confirm that he doesn’t give off any serial killer vibes.”

“In that case, I’ll just walk right up to him and ask when was the last time he murdered someone,” she said flatly. “Will that work for you?”

“Actually, yes. That’s perfect. Can you do that?”

“No.” She laughed and the cab stopped right in front of Per Se a few seconds later.