I got my release date and Road to Recovery will come out May 5th. I should have cover art soon. As soon as I do I'll be posting it. I'm doing a happy dance today. I wasn't expecting it to come out that soon, but when I turned in my second round edits, she said she had an opening in May. I totally jumped on that. It was just the thing I needed to light a fire under my ass to finish this other book. I should be done with the first draft by the end of the month. I thought I'd leave ya'll with an excerpt from the book.
Erin leaned back in her chair. She sat surrounded by the tomes she’d pulled from the shelves. It made no sense to her. The tests she’d been waiting for had all come back fine. Those two hours she’d hoped it would take had turned to six. She was still waiting for an ultrasound report, which should be coming any moment. She placed the latest report on the table and reached her hand to her head, slowly rubbing her temples. It wasn't like her not to be able to figure out what was going on with a patient. She dreaded the look on the parents' faces when she had to tell them. Sometimes it seemed like days before reports came back, and that was the only part of her job she hated. Her stomach knotted as she glanced at the clock. Only twenty minutes before she had to give them an update.
Her mind wandered back to the meeting six hours ago, and the way her body had warmed under Kyle's gaze. It had only been for a brief moment. Girl, you seriously need to get laid, that's all it is. There's nothing to the way he looked at you. You're imagining things.
“Good afternoon, Erin,” She jumped at the deep voice coming from her left. A glance over her shoulder confirmed what she already knew.
Kyle.
“Afternoon.” She fumbled to grab the chart in front of her, hoping he'd leave. He sat down next to her. His gaze singed her cheeks, but she couldn't look up; instead, she concentrated on the chart in front of her.
The memory of their first week working together came to her mind again. When she walked into the office, she'd been drawn to Kyle, who had sat in a chair across the small room, so arrogant and sure of himself. Kyle wasn't her type at all; she normally stuck with the safe, boring guys. Everything about him had screamed he was more. Just once, she wanted to take a chance and not do what everyone else expected. It had been time to let go and have some fun. Well, that's what she had wanted to do, and based on his flirting he’d seemed to be into her too.
For a moment, her mind drifted back to the dance they’d shared at the Christmas party three years ago. Against her best judgment, she’d said yes to Kyle's offer to dance. Really, what could one little dance do? Boy was that ever wrong to, the moment he’d taken her in his arms. She could feel the chemistry between them. The smoldering heat took over, and she couldn't think of anything but him, as fire raced down her spine, consuming her. Her mind told her to break the dance, that it had been a mistake, and yet she couldn't. The pull between them was greater than her need to move away.
Her gaze had traveled upward. His eyes had darkened, her knees had weakened, and it had taken everything in her to fight the strong attraction she felt toward him. She saw the unspoken question in his eyes. The song ended. "I'm sorry...I just can't," she had whispered and left him on the dance floor.
Instead of taking a chance on Kyle, she’d gone the safe route and starting dating Dr. Lopez. Someone she had thought was ready to settle down and start a family like she had been. Too bad the safe route had turned into the biggest mistake of her life. It had caused her to re-examine her plans. To wait until she was more established in her career before she seriously started dating again.
She continued pointedly ignoring Kyle, and relief washed over her when Jenny, one of her interns, walked up and said, "Here's the CAT scan report."
“Thanks,” she said, taking the report. She studied it. Erin closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. This keeps getting crazier. She opened her eyes slowly to skim over the report again. Nothing had changed. “This makes no sense,” she whispered, more to herself than to anyone else.
“What's doesn't make sense?” Kyle asked.
Setting down the piece of paper, she turned to look at him. “I've got a three year old patient, and it shows he has no appendix, yet he has all the classic symptoms of having appendicitis. I don't get it; I've run every test I can think of.”
“Here, let me take a look at his chart.”
Erin handed him the chart and watched him as he read it. His eyebrows drew together as he concentrated. Her fingers itched to trace the scar above his right eye, and she wondered how he'd gotten the injury. He cleared his throat, jarring her back to reality.
“This doesn't make sense. Come on, I want to check him out myself.” Kyle stood.
Although she wasn’t crazy about his taking over like that, she was so relieved to have another brain working on the problem that she let it slide. Her bruised ego was nothing compared to the well-being of her young patient.
Kyle’s hand brushed against the small of her back as he let her precede him into the room. Shivers of pleasure raced down her spine so quickly they were gone in an instant. Erin took in the worried stares from her patient’s parents. The sight tore at her heart; still, she had no answers for them.
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