Suck It Up by Emma Hillman

 
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
     
    Nathan, or Dr. Franks as everyone knew him, loved women. He loved everything about them, from their soft skin, to the way they smelled, to how their nails dug into his back when he made love to them.
    He’d always been a ladies’ man, enjoying the fact he was never on his own for long. Oh, he wasn’t planning on getting hitched any time soon, but now that he’d come back to the Pride, he knew he would have to curb his tendencies.
    As one of the Alpha’s sons, he had a reputation to uphold. As the only doctor left in the Pride, he had a clientele to build. It was a good thing he wasn’t as dominant as his two brothers, Jay and Andy. Whenever he treated someone, all it took was a smile and people knew they could trust him. He depended on that. Too bad, his new nurse hadn’t gotten the memo.
    “Kellie, what did I tell you yesterday?” He sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly.
    “I know my job, Dr. McDreamy,” she muttered under her breath as she walked past him, grabbing the chart she’d left unattended on the counter.
    “Make sure you do,” he called out after her, watching her corkscrew curls bounce all over her head. She was so freaking aggravating. What did I do to deserve this? he asked himself for the hundredth time.
    He’d only taken over the town’s practice the previous Monday, but already, she was getting under his skin. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her. No, well, maybe. She had the potential to be a good nurse, but she had the worst temperament he’d ever seen. Everything he said, mostly constructive criticism or so he’d thought anyway, she slapped back in his face.
    He saw the way she looked at him, her dark brows forming a line as if she couldn’t stand the sight of him. She didn’t even know him! How could she hate him already? He knew she’d been transferred from another Pride, the rumor going round being that they couldn’t deal with her anymore. Which made total sense to him.
    He wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to cope with her acting like this. He loved women, but Kellie might be the exception to this rule. It wasn’t that she looked bad either. She wasn’t his type, a bit too curvy and well, moody, for him, but… Shit! Why am I still thinking about her when I should be working?
    Shaking his head, he bent down to check who was next on the list when the front doors burst open and an agitated woman walked in. “Help me!”
    He was beside her in a second. “What’s wrong?”
    “My sister! I found her unconscious in the shower. She’s in my car. I should have called 9-1-1, but I live close so I—”
    He wasn’t listening any longer.
    “Kellie!” he shouted before sprinting outside. His gaze zeroed in on the car parked haphazardly in the middle of the street. He hurried to the passenger door and opened it. He knelt on the concrete, his eyes already examining the patient. “Miss? Can you hear me?”
    He took her pulse, relieved to find it steady if a little fast. He let his lion to the forefront of his mind, asking him to smell the woman so he could assess her. He leaned over her but couldn’t detect anything. She was breathing on her own. Her skin felt cold, but he was confident she would warm up once she was inside.
    His lion switched his tail and retreated, no longer interested in the unmated female. Taking this sign as his green light, Nate brought one arm around the woman’s shoulders, the other slipping beneath her thighs. She didn’t weigh much, he thought as he stood back up. His nurse was at the doors, keeping them open for him.
    He nodded at her, ordered her to follow him as he strode past, his attention entirely on what the issue might be. His brain scanning dozens of potential scenarios, he only noticed what the woman wore when he laid her on an examination table. And that was because his nurse took one look at their patient and groaned.
    What the hell? He turned toward her and frowned. “Kellie?”
    She didn’t even