style.”
“Is that so?”
One corner of that fantasy mouth curved up. “If you insist on answering every question with a question, this process could be less productive than everyone hopes.”
Good. Everyone was wasting his time. This appointment had been scheduled with top consultant Darlyn Marshall, but apparently she’d gone home sick. That worked for him. He didn’t want to be here anyway, but the receptionist had shown him into this office. Looking at Sam Ryan was a hell of an entertaining way to spend this waste of time.
If he had to guess, he’d say she didn’t share his sentiment. The phrase acutely uncomfortable came to mind and she was doing her level best not to show it.
“Have you been in the executive coaching business long, Ms. Ryan?”
“Why don’t you call me Samantha?”
The question made him want to smile, but he held back. He suspected she was pretty green at this whole consulting thing, but she caught on to the game quick.
“How about Sam?” he asked.
“Would you be more comfortable with that?”
“Yes.”
“Then Sam it is. Won’t you sit down?” She held out her hand and indicated the chair in front of her desk.
“Thank you,” he said politely. Politeness would confuse her, he thought. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to be a son of a bitch, but that’s the way it was.
He glanced around the small office, located in a large building on Horizon Ridge Parkway, which was practically around the corner from Mercy Medical Center. There was no window in this glorified cubicle. She had an L-shaped desk with a computer to her right and a spindly tree struggling to survive in a pot in the corner. Mahogany frames lined the walls, but instead of pictures they contained motivational sayings. One boldly proclaimed Success is the Intelligent Use of Mistakes.
He couldn’t afford to make mistakes. If he did someone died. Beside it was another one that read Obstacles Are Those Frightful Things You See When You Take Your Eyes Off Your Goals.
His goals weren’t that complicated. Keep patients alive and don’t get personal—with patients or anyone else. It worked for him.
On the wall behind her was a large picture of a suspension bridge at sundown. Underneath were the words Be a Bridge. Problems Become Opportunities When the Right People Join Together.
She looked up and saw him studying the print. “What do you think about that?”
He was going to hell for sure, but the kind of joining he imagined when he looked at her mouth had nothing to do with success in the workplace.
He shrugged. “It’s a swell idea with no relevance in the real world.”
“I’m glad to see you’ve come here with a completely open mind. How’s that working for you?”
“Sarcasm,” he said. “I like that in a woman.”
Her lips pressed tight for a moment and she pulled nervously at the gold turtleneck sweater beneath her suede blazer. Her eyes now could only be described as brown because the optimism switch was turned off. He must have touched a major nerve.
“It’s irrelevant whether or not you like me, Mitch. You need to focus on the goal.”
“If keeping my eyes on you will get me there, I’m all for it.”
When he grinned, she shifted her gaze from his and picked up a pair of black, square-framed glasses. After settling them on her nose she glanced at the paperwork in front of her. “All right then. Do you know why you’re here?”
“Yes.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“No.”
Her lips compressed for a moment before she asked, “Are you familiar with the hospital’s three-strikes policy?”
“You mean the one where it’s three strikes and you’re out? As in don’t let the door hit you in the backside when you leave the building?”
She nodded. “That would be the one, yes.”
“I’m familiar with it.”
“Are you aware that you’re halfway out that door and it’s just about to…” Her gaze lowered and if his back was turned, he knew what part of his anatomy she’d be looking at. Her cheeks flushed pink. “Hit you in the hiney.”
The blush made his view even better. This was starting to be less a waste of time and more fun by the minute. “Why, Ms. Ryan—Sam—I’m shocked and appalled. Is hiney official consulting terminology?”
“You’re the doctor, Doctor. Is it the anatomically correct term for ‘if you don’t start taking this seriously your ass is grass’?”
He laughed. “Touché.”
“The thing is you have two strikes. But you’re in a class by yourself because you have two strikes in two different categories—patient complaints and employee complaints.” She removed her glasses and met his gaze. “You already know that because your signature is on the paperwork, a clear indication that you’ve been apprised of the deep doo-doo you’re in.”
“Tough talk, Sam.”
She shrugged. “It seems the only way to get your attention.”
“You’ve got it.” And how. She was beautiful and smart, a dynamite combination. “Now that you’ve got me what are you going to do with me?”
“Save your job.”
“As goals go, it’s a good one,” he agreed.
“You remember me from the hospital,” she reminded him. “It was my job to observe you.”
“I see.”
“The little boy who almost drowned? I’d like to talk about how you handled his caregiver.”
His hands, resting flat on his thighs, curled into fists. “You mean the teenager who was so high his kid brother nearly died?”
“Unless you had results of a drug test, that was a guess on your part.”
“Educated guess.” He’d seen more than his share in the E.R. And he’d found his own brother high so many times recognizing drugged-out was second nature to him.
“Still, you didn’t know for sure.”
Yeah, he did. But this wasn’t a hill he planned to die on. “What’s your point?”
“The E.R. waiting room was full of people. Very public. Do you think that discussion would have been better conducted in private?”
Was she kidding? He’d just put a tube down a two-year-old’s
