What. A. Rush.
He signed in at the surgical clinic front desk and went to sit in the student break room, waiting for his assigned upperclassman. He scrolled through his phone, his thoughts quickly and inevitably returning to Harper.
Like a normal person, he’d gone home last night and scoured the internet for her. To his disappointment, she had all her social media locked down with an infuriating level of privacy. He spent the rest of the night with her laugh playing on loop in his mind, his hands buzzing with the feel of her as they’d danced.
It had taken all his self-control not to move closer or let his hands slide over her. He’d wanted to grab Harper by the hips and push her up onto the messy countertop. Kiss her. Touch her. Learn the body that held such an impressive mind.
Instead, he’d thought about cold showers and baseball, made a hasty exit, and spent the long walk home coming up with different scenarios of what could have happened if he’d stayed.
Despite his dick’s outrage, he was glad of his choice. Dan preferred the long game over short-lived flings. He wanted Harper to trust him. So, he’d wait. Blue balls and all.
Dan heard footsteps moving down the hall, slowing as they approached the break room, and he absently wondered if it was his upperclassman coming to collect him. When the person turned into the room, he couldn’t help but laugh at his incredible luck.
Harper stopped in her tracks, eyes wide.
Then she smiled.
CHAPTER 10
DAN
Dan could almost see the thought bubble forming over Harper’s head, and he knew the line she was about to deliver. As she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off.
“Are you stalking me?” he asked. Harper’s head drew back as he stole the words from her. An incredulous look glinted in her eyes.
“Just here for a lock of hair and then I’ll leave you alone,” she said, looking like she still wasn’t sure what to make of him.
“I’m not really willing to part with any of it, but I’d be happy to sneeze into a tissue if that’s okay with you.” He ran a hand through his hair and cringed as he realized how much he flexed his bicep.
Meathead.
Excessive masculine pride replaced his embarrassment as her eyes lingered on his arm a beat too long before flicking back to his face. A blush crept up her throat.
“I appreciate you being such an easy target,” she murmured, eyes moving around the room, “but what are you doing here?”
“I’m scheduled to be your shadow, I think. I’m on a specialty rotation today.”
She nodded coolly but picked at her nails. Her eyes bounced up to his, and he saw the nervousness there.
“Is that okay?” As excited as he was, he didn’t want to annoy her.
“Of course.” She waved him off, moving to action. “We have a difficult first patient, so don’t engage too much. You might give him more to complain about.”
He touched a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Me? I’m sure my winning personality will make his day all the brighter.”
“I’m sure,” she said, looking skeptical.
Harper handed him a yellow isolation gown to wear over his scrubs and pulled on her own. She moved into the hall and Dan followed.
She weaved through the clinic with the same confidence he’d witnessed in the lab. Each step was purposeful and determined, her hands knotting the tie of the isolation gown around her waist with agile fingers.
“We’re extracting the retained root tips of number thirty-one. The radiograph indicates the roots might be close to the IAN, so we’ll need to be careful. Number thirty has serious decay and gingival overgrowth, so it could be tricky to extract in one piece, but I have a new technique I’m excited to try. The patient has high blood pressure and is a prolific smoker. His history of tobacco use could result in wound-healing complications and leave him susceptible to infection, but that’s not anything you have to worry about today,” she said, glancing at him over her shoulder.
Dan blinked at her, trying to translate the terms he vaguely recognized while also counting his teeth with his tongue. Harper gave him a gentle smile, pausing outside their assigned operatory.
“His bottom-right second molar only has roots left in there, and the tooth in front of it has serious decay,” she said, tapping on her right cheek. “It’s causing him a lot of pain. The root tips might be near the nerve that runs along the jaw bone, so we need to be very cautious in our extraction,” she explained, a smile tugging at her lips, “but I’ve been reading up on an approach that’s had great recent success, and I’m excited to try it.” An eager glow emanated from her smile. “Smoking has been shown to affect wound healing in multiple ways. Decreased proliferation of red blood cells and macrophages, increased chance of microclots, decreased oxygen to wound sites that can lead to necrosis—these are all things you’ll learn later in pathology. You’re lucky, this is a fun case to see your first year.”