"Caught in the Middle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Holt Desiree, Ladd Ashley, Dare Kim, Aidan Nadia, Smith Crissy, Illyvich Sascha)

Chapter One

Charity “Char” Reynolds stared at Dr. Dexter Graham, her eyes narrowed, her heart doing the cha-cha while mathematical calculations flew around in her head. He was gorgeous with his dark, five o’clock shadow, the sexy glint in his eyes, and his broad, powerful shoulders. If it weren’t for that smirk on his lips, he’d be perfect. But he was far from it. He only looked perfect.

The good doctor was a bad boy through and through. It was a toss up whether he mended or broke more hearts. His record on the operating room table was stellar. Off, however, was horrendous. He’d broken so many hearts with that killer smile and huge dimples he should be thrown into solitary confinement for the rest of his miserable life.

Amy Koch, the hospital’s chief administrator, adjusted the microphone with her only hand. Then she tapped the instrument and blew into it. “Can you hear me?”

When the sound from the mic blasted through Char’s head, she clapped her hands over her ears in self-preservation. “Have mercy, woman.”

Once her brain stopped spinning and she was able to see again, she looked over a sea of other people holding their ears. Tentatively, she removed one hand, keeping it close just in case the mic went crazy again.

So far so good.Slowly, she lowered her other hand but kept it at the ready as she warily kept her eye on Amy.

Although, she felt sorry for Amy since the car wreck that had amputated the administrator’s left arm, that she couldn’t find anything to like about her caused her to war with feelings of guilt and distrust. Even before the accident, Amy had only been out for number one, stepping on anybody in her way, claiming it was for the greater good. Now people overlooked her mean tempered whining-until they came into her sights. Char had been dead centre in Amy’s far too often. As head surgical nurse, she and Amy butted heads daily.

“Welcome to our first annual charity auction.” Amy beamed at the audience and batted her fake lashes. When she moved, the spotlight made her rhinestones shoot laser beams around the room.

Amy clapped her hand against the mic and shot a grin as fake as her lashes at the audience. “I hope your cheque books are fat and happy and your fingers are itching to write outrageous amounts for the new children’s wing. Let’s get this thing off the ground tonight!”

Cheering anew deafened Char, and her lips stretched so tightly over her teeth they ached.

Her best friend, Beth, another surgical nurse, elbowed her. She rubbed her hands together, and there was a hungry gleam in her eyes. “My cheque book’s ready, willing and able. I moved money from savings to bid on Dr. Hottie.”

It was all Char could do to hold her smile in place and not growl at the sweet strawberry blonde. Since she’d never breathed a word about her brief fling with Dr. Hottie, she couldn’t accuse her friend of trying to steal her ex-boyfriend, yet her claws extended and her skin crawled. When her throat stopped constricting, she said as airily as possible, “Oh, really? Great minds think alike. Me, too.”

Their third musketeer, Jody, a surgical intern jumped up and down and waved her psychedelic-coloured cheque book in their faces. “Me three! Let’s do a ménage à trois with him and have our wicked way.”

Beth scrunched her nose at the perky child. With a duh hanging in her voice, she said, “Ew. I don’t want to see your naked tits. Besides a ménage à trois is three and there would be four of us.”

The three of them would be much too good for the louse. What she wanted to do to him involved whips, chains and video. He’d be so sorry he’d ever broken her heart…

“Aw shucks.” Jody scrunched her nose and pouted. “You two make three times as much as me. I’ll be lucky if I can buy Dr. Rob. I might as well go home since you two party poopers won’t share. It’s way too smoky in here anyway.” She covered her mouth with her hand and coughed as if to add emphasis.

Char’s gaze landed on Dr. Hunky, aka Ben Price, plastic surgeon to the rich and ritzy Boca Babes. “What about Dr. Hunky? He’s mighty cute.”

Jody rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, right. He’ll go for big bucks, too. I don’t stand a prayer.”

Char gave her friend’s thin shoulders a commiserative squeeze and worried when she felt her boniness. Still, she wasn’t ready to share that her great Aunt Laila had recently left her several hundred thousand dollars or that she had planned to share some with charity anyway. If she could get a little fun out of the deal, why not?

She whispered in Jody’s ear. “I’ll let you in on a secret. Dr. Hottie’s a big jerk. Don’t be fooled by those dreamy eyes or those firm, kissable lips, or his artistic, sculpted hands…”

Beth’s emerald eyes widened, and she shook Char’s arm. “Oh no! He’s gotten to you, too?”

Char stiffened her spine and her resolve. She lifted her chin a notch, turned on her heel and shot a lethal glare at Dr. Hottie. It was easier to think of him as the heart-breaking monster than as the sweet, lovable, adorable Dexter. ”You’re mine, sucker.”

Beth got in her face and snapped her fingers. “If he’s that terrible, don’t waste your money. Buy Dr. Hunky or Dr. Casey.”

Amy motioned for the crowd to quiet, and when they didn’t she made the mic whine again. As half the population of the room moaned, she gave her evil smile. “That’s better. Since we’ve had so many special requests for Doctors Hottie and Hunky-I mean Doctors Dexter Graham and Ben Price, I’m going to start the bidding with Dr. Graham then Dr. Price so that you won’t hold onto all that wonderful cash of yours for them.”

Amy winked at the rest of the bullpen. “Sorry, fellows. Maybe you should work out more before next year’s auction if you want to bring in bigger bucks.”

Several of the men on stage gaped at her. One walked off.

Jody hissed. “Bitch!”

“That’s ‘Major Bitch’, sweetie.” Beth returned Amy’s venomous glare.

“Don’t worry. She’ll get hers. Those guys don’t forgive and forget easily.” Char didn’t doubt her prediction for a moment. She’d seen these doctors in action for too many years. If the elite of Boca got wind of half their shenanigans, they’d be out on their collective asses so fast they couldn’t wink.

Amy crooked her red-painted fingernail at Dexter. “Why don’t you join me, Dr. Hottie, so we can get things hopping? You don’t mind if I call you that, do you, sugar?”

Dexter winked broadly at Amy then stood and bowed to the audience. He swaggered over to the administrator. “Not if you don’t mind me doing this.” Without warning, he bent Amy over his arm and kissed her hard on the lips.

The audience stomped and yelled. Jody snarled at Amy. “He’s slipping her tongue.”

“I told you not to trust him.” Char folded her arms over her breasts and glared at the big lummox. How dare he!

Despite the stifling heat of the ballroom, she shivered. Boy, is he ever going to get his and good!

Dexter peeked at Charity Reynolds, woman of his dreams and the one who had gotten away. He wondered if he was doing enough to make her jealous and to make her outbid everyone else for him?

Would she bid at all?

Since she’d supposedly caught him with another woman, she’d shunned him. She’d marked his letters “Return to Sender” and blocked his emails. She wouldn’t listen to him or stay in a room with him unless the job demanded it.

Not a masochist, he was about to give up on her. Self-flagellation wasn’t his thing. He had a roomful of panting women dying to buy him for a night so why should he hold out for one who didn’t want him?

The thought creeped him out. Was it his fault if women chased him and slipped their room keys and panties into his pockets? He needed to hire a bodyguard to keep them at bay.

But tonight was different. He was here for the kids, kids like his little sister Debbie who had died of cancer shortly before a cure had been found. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes and ruin his macho act, so he banished the gloomy thoughts.

Instead, he snuck a glance at the buxom brunette who starred in his nightly dreams, but now glared at him with daggers in her eyes. Their gazes locked, and Char’s narrowed to mere slits, cold as glaciers.

A chill coursed through him, but he forced back his shudders. If that wouldn’t ruin his rep…

Amy fanned herself and sidled up to him. “Can this man ever kiss! Whew! He’s worth every penny and more, ladies. Do I hear five hundred dollars to start?”

Dex nearly swallowed his tongue. When almost every female hand in the room frantically waved, he did a double take. Keys and panties were one thing, but so much money?

He tamped down his shyness. Making his voice husky as possible he said, “It’s for the kids. And I promise you a night you’ll never forget.”

Catcalls echoed from the rafters. Stomping shook the building. “How far will you go, Dr. Hottie? Second base? Home plate?”

“Is the SWAT team on call?” he whispered to Amy. He hoped so. This group could turn into an angry, ugly mob in a snap.

Amy clamped his arm tighter to her side. “Don’t worry so much. I’ll fire anyone who steps out of line, and they know it.”

Dex thought about that, and knowing she was right, his heart resumed its normal beat. He smiled at Char, daring her to bid higher.

“Do I hear one thousand dollars?”

Half the hands went down amidst a disappointed grumble.

Dex was heartened when Char’s hand remained high and unwavering. He willed her to stay in the war ‘til the end, then finally, he’d get her alone to talk to her. He was worried, though, that several of the wealthy Boca Babes were in the audience. He doubted Char could outbid them if they wanted him badly enough.

Amy quivered as though she’d orgasm, and embarrassed, Dex tried to pull away. But like a leech, Amy clung tightly. “Do I hear fifteen hundred dollars?”

“Hell with this.” Simone Duchaine, one of the Boca elite and Amy’s best friend who’d been chasing Dex for years, pushed her way through the crowd. “I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars. I dare anyone to top that.”

Dexter’s heart slammed into his feet. No way could Char match that.

But Char climbed on a chair, cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Fifty-one thousand dollars!”

The crowd roared as her friends Beth and Jody tried to pull her down. But Char stayed standing on her chair.

Simone smiled and purred like a cat, “Sixty thousand dollars!”

When Char came back with “Sixty-one thousand,” as if it was chump change, Simone tossed down her cheque book and rounded on her opponent.

Simone marched up to Char, her fists balled on her hips. “Seventy thousand!”

Char laughed and said in Simone’s face with glee, “Seventy-one thousand.”

Worried how Char would pay if she won, that she’d cost the hospital a lot of much needed funds and get herself fired, Dex tried to wave her off. Still, his chest puffed out and his cock flexed that she wanted him so badly that she’d lost her mind.

To his astonishment, Simone and Char dickered all the way up to one-hundred-one thousand dollars before Simone stomped off.

“Nurse Reynolds wins Dr. Hottie. Better luck next year, ladies.” Amy gave Char a wary look. “‘Fess up, Charity. Are you really good for it?”

Char squared her shoulders, wrote the cheque and sashayed up to Amy. “Oh yeah. Call my bank if you don’t believe me. I live in Boca, don’t I?”

Dex did a double take. Was Char rich? She didn’t strike him as a spoiled Boca Babe. She was hard-working and dedicated. In fact, she was too assiduous, as if she had no other life. Thank God she didn’t fit the mould of a vapid, selfish Boca Babe. He couldn’t stand the breed.

In shock but eager for their night to begin, Dex shot a sexy grin to his mistress for an evening.

Char caught Dexter’s victorious, haughty glance and kicked herself. Oy! He must imagine she was hooked on him. So must the entire hospital staff. What had she done, bidding so high? What had possessed her?

Simone Duchaine, for one. The socialite and her cutting remarks had gotten under Charity’s skin again. That and her mindless need for revenge had been her undoing.

Several people wished her congratulations. Others snubbed her, their noses high in the air. Some regarded her as if she was one of America ’s Most Wanted.

Beth took her aside and put her hand to her forehead. “You can’t afford this. Are you nuts?”

Char rubbed at the beginnings of an achy head as she regarded her friend and wondered just how much she should divulge. Finally, she admitted, “But I can.”

Beth tucked her hair behind her ears and adjusted her glasses higher on her nose. “A few months ago, you were sweating about paying your property taxes. What gives?”

Char crossed her heart and looked into her friend’s eyes. “My great Aunt Laila recently left me a nice inheritance. She was like a grandmother to me. She didn’t have any kids so she doted on my dad and me.”

Beth hugged her then shook her head. “Lucky you! I wish some of my feisty old relatives would hurry up and kick the bucket and leave me a wad of cash. I’m tired of living paycheque to paycheque.”

Aghast and disbelieving, Char shook her finger at her best friend. “Beth! No, you don’t. Take that back.”

“Well, I guess not. None of them are rich, anyway, but I wouldn’t wish that on them. So what are you going to do with Dr. Hottie?”

“Oh, you know. Whips, chains, torture, and all that good shit.” Char knew Beth would never believe the truth, not from her. No one ever believed she could be bad, and she was sick of being the good girl all the time, but sometimes it worked to her advantage. She could get away with a lot-if she wanted.

Beth guffawed and screwed up her lips. “Yeah right. I mean for real?”

Char tossed her a Cheshire cat smile and shrugged. “I told you.”

Beth still looked quizzical but stopped pushing her for answers.

When they re-entered the smoky, noisy room, Dexter still gloated up on the stage, galling her. “Look at him, so smug and self-righteous. Now he really thinks he’s hot shit.”

“And just whose fault is that?” Beth said in a sing song voice as she poked Char in the ribs.

“I do believe I created a monster.” More of a monster. She should be flogged.

“Shush!” Beth jumped on the chair and wildly waved her arms. “It’s Dr. Hunky’s turn. I want a hot night, too.”

Revelation struck Char square between the eyes and suddenly, she knew what she had to do. Although Beth gave her questioning, malicious glares, she kept bidding until she won Dr. Hunky at thirty-five thousand dollars.

Dex glared at her, too, and shook his head as he slumped in his chair. His flesh looked grey, but it must be a trick of the lighting.

Amy tapped her fingers on the mic and looked ready to eat metal. “Aren’t you being a tad greedy, Reynolds, buying both dreamboats?”

Char climbed on stage. “Do you want the money or not? Is anyone willing to go higher? It’s all for the kids, right? So give me some competition people!”

Several pairs of eyes lowered and several other heads shook as a grumble echoed through the crowd. After several moments of waiting, Char asked Amy, “Well, what’s the verdict? Do you want my cheque for Dr. Hunky, too? Or not?”

Amy glowered but snatched the second cheque, passed it to her assistant and mumbled under her breath, “Call the bank right away and make sure these are good.” Louder, she said to Char so that the entire audience could hear, “Are you done, or do you want them all?”

Char offered the most innocent look she could. “I’m done. When do I get to collect my booty?”

Dex looked like he was about to gag, and he bent his head over his knees and wrung his hands.

Ben slapped his thigh and laughed as if he got the joke and enjoyed being her partner in crime.

Her gaze bounced from man to man as she pondered which was hotter. It was a toss up, but she had no idea what to do with the extra man.

Simone slinked up like the snake she was. “I always knew you were a greedy bitch. I bet those cheques bounce to the moon. Or did you rob one of your geriatric patients?”

Char’s fists balled up, and her temperature sky-rocketed. She’d had enough of Simone’s bitchiness for three lifetimes.

When Char advanced on Simone, Beth and Jody caught her arms and spun her around. Then Beth pinched her arm hard. “Your men for a night are waiting for you. You don’t want to disappoint them.”

Char yelped and gave her friends a rueful look. She rubbed the sore spot on her arm hoping it wouldn’t bruise. When she checked it, there was no discolouration-yet. “Thanks.”

Jody gave her a lopsided grin. “What are you going to do with two men? I hope you have plenty of condoms. I know a place you can get a big stock for discount. Coloured. Flavoured. Ribbed. I’ll give you the address.”

Beth made a moue of her lips. “What a little slut you are. Who would’ve thunk? Gimme the address, too, while you’re at it.”

Char gulped but grew warm and gooey. It had been a long time since she’d needed condoms, and her pussy quaked at the idea of needing lots of them. Purrs rose in her throat, and she winked. “What do you think I’m going to do with two gorgeous men who are at my mercy? Play Tiddlywinks, of course.”

Beth’s laughter tinkled over the throng. “Of course. Good for you. It’s about time you got a life outside this hospital.”

Not liking the sound of that one bit, she wrinkled her nose and decided to evaluate her life when she got a free moment. Did she spend all her time here? All her friends were on staff. She didn’t know her neighbours. She hadn’t been to church in forever because she worked every Sunday and religious holiday.

Wait!

She knew the Chinese delivery man very well. And the pizza guy who delivered to the hospital. Didn’t they count? Every year, she gave them Christmas gifts, and she’d given them their own ring tones on her cell phone, too. “I have a very good life! One night won’t be the start of anything. Since when were you two closet romantics?”

Tingles attacked her, and the little voice inside her head taunted her. “Liar.”

With a vengeance, she shoved the darned thing away. Tonight would be fun, but that was it. Nothing more.

At that, her heart cried and crushed her chest. Dexter’s seductive smile flashed in her mind and her gut twisted with impossible sensations so she closed her eyes and willed him away. But he refused to get out of her skull.

Damn him!

Once and for all, she had to get him out of her system.

Dexter bristled. Why did Charity want Ben, too? His nemesis was a younger, flashier surgeon who loved ‘em and left ‘em faster than the sun rose and set-just what she’d wrongly accused him of doing.

He gritted his teeth and his fingernails dug into his palms. Women! He’d never understand the creatures, and Char was the most incomprehensible of them all.

Wishing he could read her mind, doubting he’d understand even then, he glared at her. The femme fatale merely tossed him a cool smile then beamed at the dork, Ben.

Was the head nurse trying to kill his ego? Or did she really have a thing for the other man?

Neither answer placated him. She might as well castrate him now and be done with it.

He tried to focus on Amy and all the money being raised to save kids like Debbie, but he couldn’t nudge Char completely out of his head.

“This is for you, Deb,” he murmured and forced his most charming smile to his lips, sauntered over to Amy and looped his arm around her shoulders. Then he took the mic. “A lot of you don’t know this, but I had a kid sister whom I adored. You’ve never met her and you never will because she died of cancer when she was nine and I was eleven. Two years after her death, a cure was found for her type of cancer because of generous benefactors like you. There are still a lot of families like mine, praying for miracles, and waiting for angels.”

He paused, trying to get control of the warble threatening to overcome his voice, and pointed to the crowd. After several moments, when he was able to speak again, he loosened his tie and undid the top button on his shirt then continued, “You’re their angels. I know that together we can still raise a lot more money to help. This is one of the richest communities in the world. If we can’t do it, no one can.”

As if Debbie had just died again, his heart broke and he swiped away errant tears. Sniffing, he accepted a tissue from Amy’s administrative assistant, Suzie, and dabbed his nose. God, he hated to cry in front of people. He lifted his eyes heavenward and could almost see Debbie with her angel’s wings hovering above, and he took courage from her.

Tears fell and tissues exchanged hands throughout the audience. Amy hugged him and announced, “Let’s do this for Debbie and kids like her. What do you say?”

Thunderous clapping rocked the room and bittersweet emotions fell over Dex.