Igniting Temptation Read online

  Igniting

  Temptation

  By

  Sydney Canyon

  Igniting Temptation © 2013 Sydney Canyon

  Triplicity Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Edition – 2013

  Cover Design: Triplicity Publishing, LLC

  Interior Design: Triplicity Publishing, LLC

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to Lee Fitzsimmons for all of her hard work fixing my mistakes. I would also like to thank C.J. for catching the little things that seem to slip past everyone else.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the special people in my life that motivate me every single day.

  Chapter 1

  Mac finished suturing the eyebrow of her six year old patient. Brushing his sandy colored hair back with her palm, she applied a small Sponge Bob bandage over the tiny blue threads above his right eye.

  "There you go, Scottie, all fixed up. Try not to jump anymore ramps with your bike. Okay?"

  "Yes, ma'am," The young boy answered back with a lisp.

  "Thank you, Doctor," his Mom said before escorting the boy out of the emergency room.

  Dr. Mackenzie Trotter walked out of the exam room yawning. She was five foot six with an athletic, slender build, lightly tanned skin, short blond hair, and astonishing green eyes. She was also the Head of Pediatrics at Hilton Head Medical Center, in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Everyone in the hospital knew her. She was beautiful, vibrant, highly intelligent, and a workaholic.

  "Mac, what are you doing working down here tonight?" A short, black man in pale green scrubs spoke as he handed her a cup of coffee.

  "Hey, Lyle. It's slow in Pediatrics tonight, so I thought I'd help out in the ER for a bit. Thanks for the coffee. I was just about to come get some myself."

  "I see. Is Loren out of town again?" he asked.

  "Yeah. How'd you know?" she grimaced.

  "Because you're heading into your eighteenth hour on shift. You're killing yourself working like this. But, it's none of my business."

  "Thanks." She smiled and made a rational decision to finally go home.

  Mac parked her dark blue Mini Cooper in the empty parking spot next to the black BMW. She grabbed her backpack and briefcase and head up the stairs to her condo. She tossed everything aside as she walked through the door. A tan and white Chihuahua came running towards her from around the corner.

  "Hey, Stimpy!" She bent down and picked up the little girl who couldn't wait to lick her Mom's face.

  "You're home early. I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow," Mac said with a touch of surprise as she made her way to the kitchen holding the small dog. An olive skinned woman with long, straight, black hair was standing at the kitchen counter. She was similar to Mac in build and height, but appeared to be a little bit older, definitely closer to forty.

  "Why? Does it bother you? Were you expecting someone else?" The woman said dryly.

  "No, Loren. My God, do you really think I have someone waiting in the wings for me every time you go out of town on business? At this rate I wish I did, hell I'd probably see her more than I see you." Mac ran a hand through her hair and swung open the refrigerator. She grabbed a cold beer and set Stimpy on the floor as she went to change out of her scrubs and take a hot shower. Stimpy followed her and curled up on the rug by the sink. What an asshole. Welcome home Cruella! Hope you missed me while you were in hell. Sorry they sent you back!

  Halfway through her shower the glass door opened behind Mac.

  "I'm sorry baby. I had a long week and I'm glad your home. I know you must've been working double and triple shifts at the hospital while I was gone. I know you're tired."

  "Yes, you know I work a lot while you're away. But, I really don't need you jumping down my throat constantly, Loren. You're the one that is gone two weeks out of the month. At least, I try to work my hospital rounds away from our time together."

  Loren went to butt in and Mac cut her off. "Look, I really don't want to fight with you. I haven't seen you in a couple weeks and I miss you."

  "Good, I miss you too." Loren quickly took off her clothes and helped Mac finish the rest of her shower, making sure to wash all of her parts.

  The next morning Mac was standing at the bathroom sink brushing her teeth when Loren was leaving for work.

  "Hey Loren, make sure...you...vote today, don't…forget. Can you…feed…Stimpy for me?" Mac said between brushes.

  "I know. I'm going to do it on my way to the office. Come on, Stimpy. I don't have all day," Loren said snagging a quick kiss before headed out the door. The little dog hesitated before following slowly. Mac could swear she saw the dog roll her eyes.

  ~

  "Morning, Neil, ready for the voters to take over? I saw the line starting to form at six this morning," Captain Smith said. He was a balding man, in his late forties with a thin mustache.

  "I could care less as long as they don't touch anything. I worked all day yesterday cleaning this place. If nothing else we can people watch today. I have five dollars that says we won't get a call until eleven o'clock this morning," A short, athletic looking, young woman with shoulder length, naturally curly black hair pulled back in a pony tail and piercing blue eyes answered him. She was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal and a banana. She quickly downed the glass of chocolate milk in front of her.

  "Really, that late, huh. Okay, you're on," he said shaking her hand.

  "Wait, wait, I want in on this bet," a young guy said as he walked into the room.

  "Harris, you're too late my son, we already shook. Go bet with Brown, I'm sure you can sucker him out of five dollars."

  "Damn it Neil, you two always get away with it before anyone can join in."

  "Seniority baby, seniority," she said. They all laughed.

  "It's all good. Keep eating your Wheaties, Neil. You'll need them since you're on the hose today," Harris said.

  "The hell I am. Since when do you tell me what to do rookie? And they're not Wheaties thank you very much. You should try them, you might actually grow some…never mind, I might crucify your virgin ears, baby boy!" she said sarcastically.

  "Ha, Neil, you're too fucking funny!" A voice was heard in the distance as a young guy named, Thomas Brown, snuck into the kitchen grabbing a banana from the stalk and a glass of orange juice. He and Daniel Harris were both very young and rookies in the department.

  "Can't we all get along?" Smith and Neil laughed together.

  "Hey look guys, here comes another wave of voters. Woohoo!!" Brown and Harris slid down the pole next to the fire truck and ambulance trying to impress the voter ladies.

  Neil and Smith shook their heads as they walked down the stairs to make sure the truck was stocked and ready to go. The four of them always rode on the fire truck together and Lawson and Vincent, who were already down stairs rode on the ambulance on their shift. Eleven more fire fighters and EMT's worked out of the same station on a three days on and two days off rotation schedule.

  ~

  Mac parked her Mini Cooper on the edge of the road behind all of the other voters and walked towards the Hilton Head Island Airport Fire Station. How the hell does a fire station become a voting precinct? No wonder this government is so ass backwards. She thought stopping inside the bay out of the sun and in a
line of at least twenty people. She was about thirty minutes behind Loren. She had already come and gone.

  She noticed all of the fire fighters and EMT's were in a group staring at the people in line waiting to vote. The only female in the group seemed to be looking directly at her so Mac smiled. Immediately, the woman winked and smiled back. Mac turned her head quickly following the line as it moved forward.

  ~

  "Man these people are serious about voting. Why the hell would you drive over here, and wait in line, just to punch some numbers in a machine?" Brown stated wryly.

  "It's called being patriotic, dip shit." Neil growled at him.

  "Hey now, she's a cutie. I wonder where she's headed after this? I bet she works in…"

  "Wait? Are you talking about the blond over there in the khaki pants, white shirt, and sneakers?" Neil asked quizzically as she interrupted him.

  "Yeah, why?"

  "I have to hear this Brown, where does she work?" She asked as she slid her hands into the pockets of her dark blue pants. Her dark blue button down oxford shirt was still tucked in perfectly along with the white tee shirt underneath it.

  "She works in a restaurant," Brown said.

  "Ha-ha, you're kidding me right?"

  "Well where do you think she works miss high and mighty?" Harris said.

  "I don't have a clue, but I can ask her," Neil said.

  "That won't be necessary," Smith chimed in. "She's a doctor."

  "How the hell do you know?" They all questioned.

  "I've seen her at Hilton Head Medical. I think she's an attending in the ER."

  "Hmm...I've never seen her," Brown said. "What do you think, Harris?"

  "I think Smith is lying through his teeth. He likes her and doesn't want any of us to talk to her first. Anyway, look at that guy over there in the shorts, he's got to be a mailman, wearing shorts that short…gross. The woman behind him is definitely a housewife. She still has curlers in her hair," he chuckled.

  "Oh, this game is fun!" Brown climbed up on the fire truck and sat above Smith and Neil who sat down on the back bumper. Harris followed him up.

  As the blond woman came out of the voting booth Neil smiled at her again and nodded for her to come over to where they all were gathered around the truck. She jumped to her feet and walked a few feet away from earshot of the arrogant men she worked with and was astounded at how cute the woman was up close.

  "I'm Kylie, but everyone around here calls me Neil." She pointed at her last name stitched above the right breast pocket of her shirt as she stuck her hand out.

  "Hi, I'm Mac…uh…Mackenzie," Mac said shaking Neil's hand. She looked shyly into the woman's blue eyes as her hand was squeezed.

  "It's nice to meet you," Neil said."I know you're busy, probably heading to work."

  "Yes, that would be correct," Mac laughed.

  "Can I call you sometime?" Neil asked blatantly.

  Mac stopped breathing for a second. Wow, she's definitely straight forward. "Uh…uh…yeah sure," Mac said giving Kylie her cell number.

  "Sounds good. Have a good day at work. It was nice meeting you, Mackenzie." Neil said grinning at the woman standing in front of her.

  "It was nice to meet you too." Mac made her way to her car and drove off. Holy shit, Mackenzie! What the hell were you thinking boldly giving your number to a stranger? An absolutely adorable stranger! "She could be a friend, a new friend, just a friend!"

  Chapter 2

  "Dr. Mackenzie Trotter, please call extension one, two, one." The loud speaker announced. Mac grabbed the phone at the pediatric nurse's station and dialed the number.

  "This is Dr. Trotter."

  "Hi, this is Dr. Thorp in Neo-natal. Excuse me for paging you over the intercom. I don't have your number in my phone."

  "That's not a problem, what do you need?"

  "I have a newborn down here that we may need to send down to Savannah Children's Hospital by helicopter. She was born this morning at thirty weeks and is just over three pounds."

  "Okay. I'm on my way."

  ~

  Kylie Neil took a hot shower, then grabbed her cell phone dialing the number on the scrunched up piece of paper in her wallet. The phone rang twice before going to voicemail.

  "Hi, this is Dr. Trotter. Please leave a message at the tone. If this is an emergency please press one to send me a page. Thank you," The voice on the message was definitely the same woman she met earlier that morning.

  Doctor…hmm…so maybe Smith was right. "Hi, this is Kylie, we met at the fire station. You can call me back at your convenience," she said leaving her number.

  Just as she hung up the phone the station bell rang loudly as an emergency call came out for an auto accident. Kylie jumped up and ran over to the pole sliding down to the truck. Smith tossed her the keys to the ambulance.

  "Lieutenant Neil, I need you to drive the ambulance. I'm going to need two in the back on this one."

  "Yes, Sir." She was the smallest person, but second in command to Captain Smith and everyone else in that station house was under her command when that bell rang.

  ~

  "Hi, Samantha." Two tiny brown eyes glared back at Mac as she rubbed the fingers of the little baby. She quickly analyzed the chart with Dr. Thorp. Her cell phone went off and she immediately sent the call to voicemail.

  "Her vitals look good. What did cardiology say?"

  "The tear is so small they think it may heal on its own. We're going to give it twenty-four hours before flying her down to Savannah in case it closes on its own. "

  "She has very strong vitals, maybe she won't need surgery. Fortunately, they are set up for that sort of treatment down there."

  "I definitely agree."

  "Keep me in the loop," Mac said rubbing the baby girl's fingers as she stared up at her.

  ~

  Neil parked the ambulance twenty feet from the crash scene next to the fire truck that she was following. She jumped out rushing over with the orange EMT bags.

  "What have we got here?"

  "This man's car pulled out in front of that woman's car over there and she hit this one between the driver's side front and rear doors." The arrogant cop spoke in monotone.

  Neil immediately went to work on the young boy that had been sitting behind his father. When the other car hit their car the impact from the door crushing in caused a large gash on the child's head and his breathing was very slow. She worked with Lawson to move the boy onto the backboard and get a bandage on his head to try and stop the bleeding. The woman was alone in her car. She had minor cuts and bruises and didn't want to go to the hospital. The boy's father had cuts and bruises from the seatbelt and shattered glass and was going to be transported with his son since he could sit up on the seat in the back with the guys.

  "He's out, let's move!" Neil shouted to her team. "Smith, we're out of here!"

  ~

  Just as Mac was listening to her voicemail, her cell phone went off again.

  "Dr. Trotter?"

  "This is Doctor Kenny in Emergency. We have a trauma coming in involving pediatrics."

  "I'm on the way." Mac said running to the nearest stairwell taking the stairs two at a time. She walked briskly through the ER in her green scrubs and white lab coat as the stretcher came through the double doors. She was extremely focused on the small child and didn't notice Kylie pushing the stretcher. Mac shed her lab coat at the nurse's station on her way into trauma room two.

  "MVA, involving two cars. This boy was in the driver's side passenger seat and the car was t-boned at his door. He has a four inch laceration on the left side of his head just above his temple and shallow breathing. We didn't need the call for intubation on scene," Kylie spoke calmly.

  "What's his name?" Mac asked as she shined the light and lifted his eye lids to check his pupils.

  "Tommy."

  "How old is he?" She spoke again as she held the stethoscope to his chest. She heard a tiny wheeze as he struggled to breath.

  "Ei
ght."

  "Hi Tommy, I'm Dr. Trotter. If you can hear me squeeze my finger." He squeezed gently. "Good, now that we know each other you can call me Mac, how's that?"

  He squeezed again. "Okay buddy, I know it hurts, I'm going to take care of you. Do you have asthma, Tommy?" He squeezed her finger softly. "Okay, We'll fix this little cut you have and then send you for some quick tests okay?" He squeezed again.

  "Get me a number three suture kit please. Call x-ray, tell them we have a priority one coming their way for a complete chest scan. ETA, five minutes." She spoke to the attending ER nurse and the resident doctor that were working with her. "Let's go ahead and get an Albuterol nebulizer ready for a breathing treatment as well."

  Kylie stood back and watched the magnificent woman work as she rapidly stitched the young child's head closed like it was second nature to her and as easy as tying a shoe. He never even flinched as she gave him two shots of Novocain.

  "Okay, he's ready," Mac said with two minutes to spare as she sent him down the hall. She tossed her gloves in the trash and ran over to the next room to see if Dr. Kenny needed any help with the father.

  "How are we doing here?"

  "Good, a few stitches and a splint, then he'll be out of here. How's the boy?" Dr. Kenny said.

  "Doctor, how's my son?"

  "He's okay. I closed the laceration on his head and he's on the way to get some x-rays to rule out broken bones. I heard a slight wheeze in his chest. He said he has asthma. Is that correct?"

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  "Okay, the wheezing is probably asthma related, but I'm running the tests to make sure. We're going to give him a breathing treatment as soon as he is finished with his x-rays."

  "Thanks," the man said.

  Mac stepped out into the hall to sign the boys chart and wait for the test results. Kylie walked up to her.