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Page 3 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

A DELICATE PROCESS

“ H i, I’m Dr. Dillion Patrick. It’s nice to meet you. Do you go by Jaxon or something else?” She put her hand out to shake, but he lifted it and pointed to a rash on it.

“Nice to meet you too, but I’m not sure if I should be shaking. This is why I’m here. And Jax is fine,” he said.

“Let me take a look,” she said, grabbing his hand and leaning down. The minute she did, she got a pleasant whiff of something musky. Not cologne but maybe aftershave since he was clean-shaven. “When did you first notice it?”

She reached into the pocket of her lab coat, pulled out her epiluminescence microscopy and looked closer.

“It’s been a few weeks,” he said. “I’m not sure when I noticed it. I think I just saw it one day when my hand itched. I thought it was dry skin and put lotion on it.”

“Smart,” she said, pulling latex gloves out of the box on the counter to put on. “I’m going to take a scraping for a biopsy.”

“Biopsy?” he asked, his voice not as calm as it’d been.

She looked up quickly into his light brown eyes. They were assessing her the way she was him. The silence and air in the room for those few seconds could be cut with a knife.

Dillion sliced through first. “Biopsies aren’t only used to detect cancer,” she said. “I’m sorry if that made you nervous. I’m going to run some tests on it to see if it’s a viral or bacterial infection. It’s not dry skin. Is this the only location? No other part of your body is itchy?”

He forced out a laugh. “Is this supposed to be embarrassing?” he asked. She looked into his eyes again. Nerves for sure. She wouldn’t have pegged him that way when she first walked in.

There was shock, she’d seen it.

Bet he thought she was a man.

Thank you, Dad, for wanting to name me after you.

“What?” she asked. “Rashes?”

“That,” he said. This time he added a tiny smile. “Or asking if other parts of my body itch. How am I supposed to know if it’s just dry skin or the start of this? Now I’m going to think it’s everywhere under my skin just waiting to rip out and say gotcha.”

She laughed over the joke. “If you’ve had this on your hand for a few weeks and you didn’t notice it until it itched, it means it broke out fast. I’d say you’d know if it was somewhere else. Where else are you itchy and I’ll check?”

“My back,” he said after a slight pause. “I have been trying to look in a mirror but can’t see anything. I can’t get lotion there either. I’m not that flexible no matter how many times I wish my arms were slap hands.”

She smirked over the annoying toy Gianna always wanted her to buy.

Guess Jax lived alone or he’d ask someone to help him.

At least she’d think he would.

Why did that cross her mind?

“If you don’t mind your shirt getting a little wrinkled, we can lift it up, or you can take it off,” she said.

“Wrinkle free shirts,” he said, smirking. “One less thing to deal with in the morning.”

He pulled his blue shirt with white stripes out of his gray trousers and lifted it as much as he could over his back.

She moved around but not before she noticed he didn’t have much fat on his waist even sitting down. Which meant standing up he wouldn’t have any at all because it wasn’t more than folded-over skin.

His back, there was muscle here for sure.

The guy definitely took care of himself and worked out.

She never noticed stuff like that any more than she did how nice someone smelled.

If they smelled bad, sure, but not if they made her want to close her eyes and inhale until her chest couldn’t take another fraction of oxygen.

“Can you point to where it’s itchy because I’m not seeing anything other than some dry skin?”

His hand came around and tried to touch his shoulder. “Lower and closer to the center.”

She put her hand on his skin, noticed it was warm to the touch even under her glove. “Tell me which direction to go.”

They navigated around until she hit the spot, then looked closer with her handheld microscope again.

“Anything there or is it in my head that I might have bugs ready to crawl out?”

She started to laugh and knew it might not be professional, but she couldn’t help it.

She loved it when patients felt comfortable enough to talk to her and open up.

“Don’t forget they could jump out to say gotcha.” His shoulders moved with his laugh. “The good news is,” she said. “You don’t have bugs. Nor the same rash. You’ve got dry skin. If you don’t mind, I’ll put some lotion on it we have here that you can buy at any retail store.”

He hesitated before he said, “Sure. If it’s not too much to ask.”

She smiled. “It’s not,” she said. “And won’t even be added to your bill.”

“Good to know,” he said. She was pretty sure there was humor in his voice, but she couldn’t see his face.

She grabbed the lotion on the counter, put a little on her glove to rub in and then spread it over more of his skin.

“You can drop your shirt now,” she said. “I’m going to get a scraping of the rash to send out, but I’ll also prescribe you a steroid ointment for your hand. I’m almost positive it’s contact dermatitis and this will take care of it.”

“How long does it take?” he asked. “I’m getting a little tired of not shaking someone’s hand, especially when I’ve got interviews set up.”

“Oh,” she said. “Are you changing jobs?”

Hmmm, how did that come out of her mouth? She didn’t normally get that deep with her patients.

She noticed he was an Executive Director of a not-for-profit in the area. She’d seen billboards and even TV commercials for it.

He was too young in her mind to have that job and so much responsibility.

“No,” he said. “I’ve got a new program starting soon and have to start interviewing for the Program Director and then they can interview for their staff.”

“I know something about delegating,” she said. “Or I try to, but it doesn’t always work.”

She grabbed her blade and scratched off some of his skin and rash on his hand. A few different spots, then sealed up the specimens and set them down.

She went back to her computer to print out the labels to grab when Jax left.

“No,” he said. “It doesn’t, but I have enough good staff. I’ve got a bit of a reputation when it comes to hiring.”

She looked up from her computer. “How is that? I could use all the help I can getting staffing filled.”

“I steal people,” he said, grinning. “In a nice friendly professional way of course.”

“Steal?” she asked. “Oh, to answer your question, you should see results with the cream within a few days. If you don’t, then we’ll try something else. I’m betting this will clear it up.”

“That’s good,” he said. “As for stealing, I’ve got a lot of contacts in the community. Word of mouth is always great, but if I know someone from another agency, I’m not afraid to approach them and see if they are interested.”

“That’s kind of brilliant,” she said, angling her head. “If you know them and how they work, it’s much better than a stranger.”

“I normally know enough or have heard enough. It’s not a guarantee by any means. That’s the hard part.”

“I can see where someone might think you were offering it,” she said. “Since I’m looking for another PA or at minimum a nurse here, I should do the same.”

Though it was hard to steal someone for her practice if she wanted them to have experience in her field unless she went to another dermatologist for no reason at all.

Not something doctors normally did.

“It’s a delicate process,” he said, smiling. “I’ve mastered the elevator pitch so that it’s done and my card in their hand before they know what hit them. Gives them time to think it over and not ask me a ton of questions right there either.”

What a handsome man he was. Much more relaxed too now that he was talking about his job.

She couldn’t remember the last time she looked at a patient and thought that.

Not smart on her part, but at least it told her she wasn’t dead inside anymore.

The way she’d felt for years.

Anything and everything took precedence in her life over a relationship, even dating.

And if she had the time, she didn’t trust her judgment.

“I’ve got to imagine you could ruffle a lot of feathers,” she said. “If you didn’t find a way to master it, as you’ve said.”

“I’ve been known to,” he said, grinning. “But I managed to get out of it. I don’t twist anyone’s arm. Just ask if they are interested. I can’t help it if my employees like me and pass the word around.”

He had a nice calming voice. An air about him that put people at ease.

Could be why her thoughts and words were flying willy-nilly when she didn’t have a history of that.

“Which isn’t an easy thing,” she said. “I like to think I’ve got the same... most days.”

He stood up from the exam bed he’d been sitting on and she realized how much taller he was than her.

At five foot six, she didn’t often feel short.

But she’d peg Jax at a few inches over six feet.

“Everyone seemed friendly that I’ve dealt with here. I’m thrilled I got in so quickly. I hadn’t expected the cancellation list to be so fast, but I’m sure it helped that I’m in the building.”

“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t realized that.”

“Just three floors up,” he said, his thumb moving in that direction. “We might bump into each other now and again. Or not. It’s a big building.”

“But not a lot of space filled up just yet,” she said. “You must be the one taking up most of that floor, right?”

“That’s us,” he said. “There is a small space for something on the other side, but it’s empty yet. I know the noise is going to take some getting used to as they work on it more.”

“The noise isn’t that bad,” she admitted. “Surprisingly.”

“Even better,” he said. “Thanks again.”

She turned and opened the door. “My office will be in contact when we get the results back. I’m going to send over your script right now to your pharmacy.”

He nodded and walked down the hall, her eyes on his back longer than she’d done to another man before.

She gave a little shiver over her unexplained behavior and turned to go to the printer to put the labels on the specimens to be shipped out.

“He’s nice on the eyes.”

She looked up to see Marcy grinning at her.

Dillion and Marcy had worked together for years. One of her PAs.

“He is,” she said.

“Wow,” Marcy said. “You’ve never agreed with me before. Are you finally ready to venture out into the dating pool again?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve got so much going on.”

“I get it,” Marcy said. “I really do. You’ve had it so hard. And then buying the practice and moving it here. Gianna. It’s never-ending for you to do it on your own. But at some point, you should try.”

She wanted to.

Or said she did until she looked at online dating sites and saw what was available.

How about the idiots that hit on her with her daughter next to her?

Yeah, all those interactions just made her want to hide and stay single forever.

Then why was Jax Hollister’s smile flashing in her brain right now?

The quiet embarrassment over a simple rash on his hand that he most likely caught from someone else.

The way the goosebumps spread over his back and shoulders when she put the lotion on a dry spot.

The thought of his goosebumps sent a few dozen tingles through her body.

She cleared her throat. “Best to just focus on the important things in my life,” she said primly, moving away to get better control of her reaction to Jax.