My One and Only (Ardent Springs Book 3) by Terri Osburn Read Free Book Online Page B

bottle.
    She wondered what they’d feel like pressed to her.
    Sensation prickled up her neck at the images flashing through her mind. Vivid, detailed images that sent heat pulsing to her core.
    What the hell was wrong with her today? She’d just apologized for using the man thirteen years ago, and here she was, treating him like a side of beef in her mind.
    “I am so messed up,” she said.
    “You became a doctor because you’re messed up?”
    “Um . . .” she hedged. “No. I just . . . My mind wandered for a minute.” Haleigh cleared her throat to buy time. “I became a doctor because my mother had high expectations and I was determined to meet them. Med school was my version of go big or go home. I liked the prestige of the occupation and thought for once I could make my mother happy.”
    Cooper studied her with a tilt of his head as if searching for some deeper motivation at the back of her skull. She hated to tell him, but there was nothing deep about it. Simply put, Haleigh was a shallow people-pleaser. And a sucky one at that.
    “I don’t believe it,” he said.
    “I’m not surprised, but facts are facts. The act of becoming a doctor was nothing more than me chasing the shiniest brass ring I could find.”
    The confession, something she’d long feared but never spoken aloud, scraped another layer off her fragile ego, making Haleigh feel as if her skin had been flipped inside out, leaving her exposed and raw.
    Though uncomfortable, the experience was also oddly liberating.
    “No way,” Cooper said, dropping into the chair he’d been standing next to. “I watched you deliver that baby last night. Nothing that happened in that room was about some brass ring.”
    Haleigh took a seat on the black leather couch.
    “Just because I had selfish motivations for becoming a doctor doesn’t mean I’m not good at my job. I bring babies into the world, making sure they and their mothers come through the ordeal healthy and happy. The point is that what I do doesn’t change who I am.”
    “Wrong,” he argued. “If you were a crappy person, healthy and happy patients wouldn’t be a priority.”
    “Believe what you want.” She spun the top off the water bottle. “I think I know me better than you do.”
    “Could you make more money doing your job someplace else?” he asked.
    That one was easy. “Of course I could.”
    “Do you know your patients’ names?”
    “Do you know how long it takes to grow a baby? I spend months getting to know them, Cooper. I couldn’t not know their names.”
    “So they aren’t just a means to an end? There to give you something to do that makes you feel better about yourself?”
    These rapid-fire questions proved nothing.
    “What’s your point?”
    “You, Haleigh Rae, are a good person,” he said, pointing the beer bottle at her chest. “In fact, you’re a better person than I am. A superhero almost.”
    Now he’d gone way off the deep end. “You’re being ridiculous.”
    “I’m right on this one,” he said with a wide grin that deepened the dimple in his chin. “Who refused to let Jessi leave the hospital without a safe place to go?”
    “She’s a homeless girl with a new baby to take care of.”
    “And you took care of both of them,” he pointed out. “You made sure she got the applications she needed to get insurance for both of them, and even when you figured out that they might be invading your life, you were more concerned about Abby’s feelings than your own. Does that sound like a horrible person to you?”
    Though she hated to admit as much, the man had a point. Her actions did appear to be those of a somewhat generous person.
    “Maybe I’m just trying to make up for being such a crummy person all these years,” she mumbled.
    Cooper leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You keep telling yourself that, doc. And I’ll keep setting you straight.”

    Cooper whistled an upbeat tune as he perused the Mamacita’s