With a Little T.L.C. Read Online Free PDF Page A

he asked.
    â€œNo. I think you’ve embellished sufficiently,” she said sweetly.
    â€œGood. Have you covered everything? About my orientation?”
    She nodded. “Except which shift you want.”
    Just then, the nursery door opened. Samantha Taylor walked in. She was an obstetrics nurse, and a tall redhead.
    â€œHi, Sam,” Liz said.
    â€œHey, boss.” She glanced at Joe as if she were trying to place him, then back to Liz. “What are you doing here?”
    â€œThis is Joe Marchetti,” Liz said as if that answered the question.
    â€œHi.” Sam held out her hand. “You look familiar.”
    â€œWe met about a year ago,” he said shaking her hand. “My sister had her baby here.”
    â€œYes,” Sam said nodding. “Now I remember. We talked that night. I told you about the cuddlers program.”
    â€œThat’s right,” he said, smiling that charming, orthodontia-ad smile of his.
    Liz wouldn’t be surprised if she’d just come face to face with the Marchetti motivation. But had Sam heard about how badly he’d used one of the other nurses? Liz wondered if she should warn her friend that he was the love ’em and leave ’em type. She couldn’t blame Joe for wanting to get to know Sam better. Although signing up for the cuddlers program seemed a little extreme. Because pretty much all he had to do was stand there to make an impression on a woman.
    Correction, Liz told herself, any woman but her.
    Was it possible that she was wrong about him? Joining the cuddlers seemed like an awful lot of trouble to go through to meet a woman.
    She smiled at Sam. “It seems your pitch made aprofound impression on Mr. Marchetti. He’s decided to be a cuddler. I’m orienting him to the nursery.”
    â€œAh, that explains what you’re doing here on your day off,” the other woman said. “I refuse to waste my breath reminding you what the word delegate means. Or explaining the downside of employee burnout. I just came to get some money out of my purse for lunch.”
    Joe looked at his watch. “Is it that time already?”
    Sam laughed. “I don’t need a clock. My growling stomach say it’s time to take a trip to the cafeteria.”
    â€œNow that you mention it, I’m hungry too,” he said.
    Liz had to give him credit. He’d just given himself the perfect playboy lead-in to join Sam for lunch and cast his line, work his magic, lay the groundwork for his conquest. Sam was a big girl. She could handle him. They would actually make a very attractive couple. Part of her rebelled at that thought. The other part was glad that he would show his true colors and be out of there before anyone learned to depend on him.
    â€œGood,” Liz said. “Sam can give you an impromptu tour of the hospital on the way.”
    â€œOn the way where?” he asked, looking puzzled.
    â€œTo the cafeteria.”
    â€œYou in a hurry to get rid of me?” One dark eyebrow rose questioningly.
    Sam cleared her throat. “If she’s not, she should be.”
    Joe looked at her a moment, then chuckled. “I’m going to assume you didn’t mean that the way it came out.”
    â€œI didn’t.” She looked sheepish. “What I meant was that this woman spends too much time here—sixdays a week on average. Last I heard she wasn’t supposed to come in today.”
    â€œA workaholic dedicated to showing one volunteer the ropes,” Joe said, shaking his head. “This is all my fault.”
    â€œNo. There’s always something,” Liz said. “So I’ll leave you two to the rest of the tour—” She gasped when Joe took her elbow and headed her toward the door.
    He looked over his shoulder and said to a grinning Sam, “Nice to meet you. Don’t let me keep you from your lunch. I’m sure I can find out where you hide the cafeteria another time.