Rekindled Hearts: A Billionaire Love Story

Nathan's POV

"Hello there, Mr. Peters ." I smiled brightly as one of my favorite patients entered my consult. "How are you feeling today?"

"Oh, not so good," he shot back quickly. "I've had this cough for three weeks, my throat hurts like hell, and it's affecting my bad back."

I only half listened as he rattled off his list of symptoms, knowing it wouldn't be anything serious. Mr. Peters had a great personality, and as a person, I got along with him, but as he descended further and further into old age, he started to develop that hypochondria many people seemed to get.

I was convinced it wasn't even about seeing the doctor, not really. I felt like a lot of it was the social aspect of hanging around in the waiting room. I almost wanted to create some kind of club for them all, anywhere but the hospital, just to give me the time I needed to see people who really needed me.

"Okay, well, let me just do some checks. Why don't you tell me how your writing is going while I take your blood pressure and run an ECG?"

I set about to work as he told me all about the book he was working on, the one he was certain would be the next bestseller. I made agreeable noises wherever needed, but I didn't have to fully listen because he'd told me about it a million times before.

"Of course, if I'd won the lottery last night, I wouldn't need to be fussing about with this book now, would I?"

I laughed along, but the thought of that sort of cash really tugged at my heartstrings. I always brought a ticket with the hope of being able to sort out my finances, but so far, I'd had no luck.

I didn't harbor dreams of a jobless future with endless luxuries at my disposal. I didn't think about holidays and mansions and God knows what else. All I wanted to do was to pay off my debts because they were dragging me down. They felt endless, like they would be with me for the rest of my life, and I really wanted to shake them off.

They had started in medical school because I'd had to fund a lot of it with credit. My parents didn't have a lot of money themselves, and I didn't want to pressure them and leave them in debt because of my damn dream. So, I told them I would work through college to fund myself, and that was what I thought I would do.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out like that.

I tried, I did, but it just wasn't possible. I had too much course work, too many hours in placement, and I had stop and get a loan instead – a massive loan no one knew about but me.

I thought that all would be okay when I became a fully-qualified doctor. I was under the illusion that I would be making plenty of money and that I'd be able to easily put all my problems behind me, but again, my thoughts were wrong.

As soon as I started working, I found out that a lot of people didn't have the insurance or money to pay for treatments, and I couldn't stand that. It made me angry, so I stopped charging the full amount to those who were struggling, pushing myself further into debt.

Now that I'd started that, I couldn't seem to stop. With every person, my heart kept growing bigger and bigger, and I kept giving and giving – even though I really couldn't afford it.

"Yeah, would be nice," I said in a joking tone of voice. "I can't imagine it."

"Well, no one has claimed it yet – it could be you!" he laughed loudly. "Can you imagine it? You could spend the rest of your life travelling the world, getting to see what the rest of the world has to offer. It's no good spending your entire life in Arrendale or even Bayrow! There's so much more out there."

I didn't know if this was supposed to be a dig or not, but it certainly felt like it.

I had chosen to spend my entire life in the town I grew up in, however small it was, apart from the time when I was in college. But I liked it. It was my home; it was the only place I truly felt comfortable and I didn't want to go anywhere else. I didn't feel like I needed to know what was out there in the rest of the world. I had everything I needed right where I had always been. I had a good job here, my friends, my family, and there were plenty of women that were keen to get in my pants... What more could I need?

Luckily, before I had time to answer that, Hannah, the nurse, entered the room in a flurry of perfume and beauty. I sent her a sly, flirtatious smile as she handed me some paperwork, and I could instantly see that familiar spark floating behind her big, blue eyes. She was one of the hottest women I'd ever laid my eyes upon, and somehow, I'd gotten lucky enough to land a sweet friends-with-benefits deal with her.

"Thank you," I muttered as she swung her long, blonde hair around. "I'll see you after the appointment to discuss bloodwork, okay?"

That had slowly become our code over time, and from the way she nodded excitedly, I instantly knew it was game on. Before the day was out, I would be screwing Hannah in the nearest, private place we could find. That was one of the best things about her: she was up for anything, anywhere. She might not have been a long-term type of deal, but she was a whole lot of fun.

"Wow." Mr. Peters gazed at her as she swung her hips out of the room. "That is some woman! You are a lucky man getting to work with her all day, but I guess that's just one of the perks of being a doctor."

He laughed loudly at his own joke, and it took all that I had not to smirk at his remark. I couldn't let him know the truth about me and Hannah... that needed to stay strictly a secret because if anyone found out about us, we could both be in serious trouble.

"I'm just in this to help people," I told him with a mock seriousness to my tone. "I don't have time to be worrying about the nurses scurrying around here." I put all my equipment down and stared him in the eyes. "Right, well, for now, I can't see anything obvious, but we will go through all your test results and I will call you with them in the next couple of days, okay?"

"Thank you." Mr. Peters smiled at me before standing up. "I appreciate it."

We said a quick goodbye, during which time my mind was already onto the next thing.