Page 370 of The Doctors Will See You Now

At the strange compulsion to put my hand to her knee, I clasped it with the other one and settled them in my lap. Not only was it completely unprofessional, it was dangerous. This Charlotte seemed to attack life, and that kind of sirenlike vibrancy screamed of trouble.

“So…” she started, only to pause until my eyes lifted from their carefully focused spot on my lap and met hers. “You have a daughter?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you have a wife?”

I smiled. I thought I’d seen the sparkle of a lure in the water when she’d challenged me to turn down her dinner invitation again, but I hadn’t believed it. Just like with sarcasm, I was entirely out of practice in the art of flirting. I’d messed up so badly when Winnie had told me she was pregnant and I’d gotten the job offer in California. Our relationship had ended after that, and it’d taken me years to get back the time I’d lost with my daughter. Hell, I was still working hard to get back that time, to nurture and strengthen our relationship.

Growing up had been a long learning curve for me, and now that I had, I was scared of falling back. I just wanted my daughter, and everything else was a distraction. “No, it doesn’t.”

“What about a girlfriend?”

I shook my head. “No to that as well.”

I had to admit, the lifestyle had turned a little lonely as of late, though. I didn’t have Lexi all the time, and I didn’t deserve to. She had Winnie and Wes and a whole other support system.

When I didn’t have Lexi, I had the hospital. That was how it worked.

I was used to it.

But the taste of Charlotte’s temptation was treacherously sweet.

“Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully.

I spoke just to fill the silence. “Married to the job, I guess.”

“Mmhmm,” she agreed. “I’ve heard all about you doctor types. Forty-hour weeks are nonexistent.”

“Hey, I try to keep it to sixty. That’s normal, right?”

She laughed again, and the sharpness of its high note made me smile. “Hardly. But normal in the world of medicine? Maybe.”

The cab pulled to a stop between 51st and 50th, and Charlotte reached into the outside pocket of her briefcase to get money. I put my hand to hers and pressed.

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I got it.”

She rolled her eyes, but she pushed open her door and climbed out without paying all the same.

I pulled a twenty from my pocket and handed it to the driver, as I followed her out. “Keep it.”

“Hey, thanks,” he said looking at the seven-dollar fare and then back to the twenty.

“Come on, come on,” Charlotte called, waving her arm in a dramatic circle as she held the door to the restaurant, the cold air of the air conditioning pouring out recklessly into the summer heat.

Shaking my head, I still quickened my step, almost as though my body felt compelled to comply, and scooted behind her to take the weight of the door. “Go on,” I directed, nodding to her to lead, and she didn’t hesitate.

My eyes took a minute to adjust to the darkness as I stepped inside, and as a result, I bumped softly into Charlotte’s back when she stopped to avoid a group of people ahead of us.

Her ass grazed the front of my pants, and the soft lavender notes of her perfume hit me like a wave.

My whole body came alive.

Good Christ. Relax, Nick. I know it’s been a while, but Jesus.

Side to side, she jumped from toe to toe trying to see over the crowd and up to the hostess station. But, even with the five-inch heel of her stilettos aiding the fight, she was still a half a foot shorter than me.

Impatient, she reached back for my hand and dragged, sidestepping around the people in front of us, and making a charge. “Come on. We’re late.”