Read His Bidding (The Best Medicine #1) for Free Online Page A

gallop and came to a complete halt. That was the invitation. No question about it.
    “Well...” She resolved to steel herself and not lose her nerve. “Obviously I would expect you to take me out. As the winner. Yes.”
    His face changed, relaxing, breaking into a slow, sexy-as-hell smile. She fidgeted in her seat, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible.
    “Obviously.” He said it just the way she had, as though he relished that she’d said it at all.
    “It would look kind of strange to everyone if you didn’t go through with the actual prize of the auction, wouldn’t it?” she said, a tiny smile pushing its way to the surface.
    He looked amused, and pleased, and even a little impressed. “It would look very strange. We wouldn’t want that.”
    A thought occurred to Brynn then, one that erased her trace of a smile. She spoke it aloud. “Is there any problem with...you know...you being my boss?”
    She couldn’t read the mix of expressions that crossed his face in an instant. “There’s nothing that forbids it in official hospital policy, since I’m not your direct supervisor nor are you in my department.” He cleared his throat again. “And as for here, I sort of make up my own rules as I see fit.”
    Of course he did. She still felt surreal. Heading up a plot to rig a Christmas party to her advantage was not the way she’d expected to spend her lunch hour.
    “I can see some people wondering what kind of salary the hospital is paying you, though,” Sam added, almost as an afterthought. He had a point.
    But Brynn suddenly thought back to Lisa joking with her a couple of days earlier, about having to ask for a raise. It gave her an idea. “I think I know how to handle that bit.”
    “Oh?” Sam raised an eyebrow, interested.
    “Yes. I think so.”
    He leaned forward a bit more. “Are you going to let me in on it, or is there some kind of secret society that nurses can’t discuss?”
    That made her smile. “Oh. I guess it would be best if you knew the official story, wouldn’t it? Since this is your grand plan and all.”
    “It might help,” he replied with a grin.
    “My birthday is the same weekend as the party.” She wasn’t sure why she felt so odd telling him that personal detail. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t have looked it up in her personnel file if he’d been so inclined. “It wouldn’t be all that outlandish if we said that a few people – like my parents, and friends, you know – had decided to donate to the charity in my name as a gift. My family has always done things like that.” She bit her lip. “Not on such a grand scale, obviously, but...it could work.”
    He gave her a teasing look. “What makes you think I’d be that expensive?”
    Damn him, she thought. Trapped. Brynn tried to think her way out of it. “I just have a feeling that Dr. Miller would be willing to spend an awful lot for the privilege of your company.”
    Not the answer he wanted, judging by the expression on his face, but she was okay with that for now.
    “I see.” He held her gaze for what seemed like an eternity. “Well. I think we might be able to pull this off.”
    Brynn absently picked up her fork and poked at her cold dim sum, vaguely surprised at how little she cared that she hadn’t eaten more than a couple of bites of food all day. “I think we will.”
    Noticing her gaze as it rested on their wasted lunch, Sam put a hand to his forehead. “I’m so sorry. I feel like I tricked you into this whole ‘let’s talk at noon’ thing. But, honestly, I had no idea that the auction was out there yet. Really.”
    She smiled at him. “I believe you.” And she did. “I just hope you didn’t have an entire hour’s worth of patient notes you wanted to go over, because –“ She glanced at her watch, and was astonished to see that it was creeping up on one o’clock. Had they really been talking all that time? “Oh, God,” she blurted. “I need to get back to work.”
    Sam