The nurse gave him a high five. “You’re looking good, Jug!”
“Thanks. I feel better now that my stitches have been removed.”
Jonah launched into a long spiel about how many times he’d watched Tommy’s fights on YouTube, how he couldn’t wait to watch the Las Vegas bout.
Tommy touched him on the shoulder. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Is Dr. Carr single?”
Jonah guffawed.
Tommy’s face burned from embarrassment. “What’s so funny?”
“You know, I was just talking to Nancy about you and Dr. Carr. Come on, let’s go find Nancy. She would love to hear all about this.”
Jonah walked fast, Tommy trotting behind him. They found Nancy chatting with a patient in the waiting area. As soon as she was free, the nurse said, “Hey, Nancy. The Juggernaut wants to know if Dr. Carr is single.”
“Yes, indeed,” Nancy told Tommy. To Jonah, she said, “What did I tell you? Didn’t I say they’d make a cute couple?”
“You sure did.”
The Juggernaut had never been this open about his romantic pursuits before, but he was at the mercy of Jonah and Nancy. Siena’s Facebook page didn’t show her relationship status or give any hint of a boyfriend. It only displayed pictures taken at various work-related events: the Free Family Health Screening Day in Oakland, charity fundraisers, and visits to a Bay-area hospice.
“So, you said she’s single?” asked Tommy.
Nancy nodded. “Dr. Carr and Dr. Feldman broke up about a month ago. What a pity. They looked so good together.”
“We called them the Ivy Couple,” said Jonah. “Dr. Feldman’s a Harvard graduate and Dr. Carr’s from Princeton. They met at UC San Francisco.”
Tommy’s heart deflated. He was a college dropout. What if Siena dated only doctors and Harvard graduates?
“You better act fast.” Nancy poked him in the arm with her elbow. “You have some competition.”
He scratched his head. “I’m in a bind here. I don’t plan on being injured again, so I don’t have a way of seeing Dr. Carr. I could contact her through Facebook, but I prefer to call her. Do you have her phone number?”
Nancy and Jonah exchanged glances before she said, “It’s against our policy to divulge personal information about our staff members, or our patients. You should appreciate this policy. Dr. Carr refused to talk to Zach O’Riley about you.”
“What?”
Zach O’Riley was a blogger and a sportswriter whose column was syndicated nationwide. Everything he wrote spread fast. He was Tommy’s biggest fan, a hair’s breadth away from stalker. He followed Tommy’s personal life with great interest, forever digging up information about his off-the-ring activities. Tommy avoided the guy at all costs.
This kind of attention was part of the price he had to pay ever since the press had proclaimed him the savior who ended the twelve-year drought for American boxers. Overnight, he’d been propelled to the limelight, to the pedestal occupied by other Olympic gold medalists like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Oscar de la Hoya.
His moniker became a household name. The offers for product endorsements started pouring in: Gatorade, Kellogg’s, and Nike, among others. Management companies and promoters from Los Angeles to London began courting him as well. Newspapers, magazines, TV, and cable stations couldn’t get enough of him. This latest intrusion was no surprise, but it was aggravating just the same.
“O’Riley kept calling Dr. Carr to find out the nature of your injury,” said Nancy. “Finally, he showed up here.”
“But Dr. Carr didn’t cave in,” finished Jonah.
Tommy shook his head. “I owe her an apology for that.”
“You owe her a dozen red roses and a nice dinner.” Nancy was like a meddling aunt, nosy but sweet.
Tommy didn’t mind the unsolicited advice. “She likes roses?”
The clerk nodded. “Dr. Feldman used to give her a dozen red roses quite often.”
Dr. Feldman again. A stinging reminder that Siena was an Ivy League graduate who was out of Tommy’s league. It was best to forget her. He had a whole lot of training to do and a high-stakes fight to win. He should just stick to the plan.
He was about to head for the door, when Nancy said, “We can’t give you Dr. Carr’s phone number, but this is a hospital. Nobody can stop you from coming here to bring flowers.”
Jonah shot Nancy a conspiratorial look. “Tomorrow, anytime between seven in the morning and four in the afternoon would be a fine time to stop by.”
“She works from seven to four?” asked Tommy.
“Tomorrow, at least. Her schedule can change just like that.” Jonah snapped his fingers to drive the point home.
“Dinner after work tomorrow would be nice too,” added Nancy. “Around seven would be great. That would give her a few hours to go home and dress up. A girl needs time to get out of those dreary scrubs.”
Tommy chuckled. “Wow, thank you. You two have saved me a lot of thinking and handwringing. I owe you guys. I won’t forget this.”
Jonah gave him another high five. Tommy had a thousand questions about Siena, but an ambulance arrived with a man complaining of chest pains. All of a sudden, the ED was very busy.
He didn’t get any additional information, but that was all right. He would ask her directly. He would win her affection and make knockout love to her. The hell with Dr. Feldman or whoever the competition was. He wasn’t known as the Juggernaut for nothing.
Siena Carr had ambushed him without mercy, but now he was ready for her.
Chapter 3
On Monday morning, the front desk paged Siena while she was attending a once-a-week staff assembly. Did someone cut off his finger while slicing a bagel? A slip and fall? God forbid it was a stroke. As an ED attending physician, she could leave any meeting. Patients always came first.
She ran down the stairs from the third floor to the lobby. She was panting by the time she got to the receptionist’s counter. “What’s the emergency?” she asked the clerks, both women.
They looked knowingly at each other before one of them said, “You have a visitor, Dr. Carr.”
“A visitor?” Siena swung around. The Juggernaut was standing near the entrance with a long-stemmed red rose in his hand.
Her heart skipped. He was not there as a patient. The rose was a giveaway. Also, no torn jeans and hoodie this time. He wore a plaid shirt and dark jeans that were a perfect fit. “Special-ass jeans,” as Siena’s best friends, Kristin and Molly, would have called them since the fabric clung to his butt beautifully. Now that his face was healed, he was more gorgeous than the first time she’d seen him.
He walked toward her with that swagger of his that drove her crazy. She thanked the clerks and met him halfway.
“Hi. What are you doing here?” Her voice came out unnaturally high-pitched. At the back of her mind, she’d been hoping to see him again. She led him to the waiting area.
Their singular encounter had jolted her to the core. How many hours had she spent Googling him? He had intrigued her to the point of sleeplessness. In the aftermath of her breakup, she was emotionally susceptible. What should have been a passing fancy had turned her into a basket