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"Johannsen," Camille said, giving me a quick perfunctory smile.
"Camille Johannsen," Drake said. "I was telling Sam and Camille that you're an artist and won the Columbia School of Journalism Medal for your thesis work on Mangaize."
"Nice to meet you both." I smiled at each of them. I turned to Drake. "When you get a chance, can you come speak to me?"
"What is it?" Drake said, frowning.
"Nothing urgent," I said quickly. "When you get a moment." I smiled at the two women once more and kissed Drake again, standing on my tiptoes to do so. He slid his hand to the low of my back and held the kiss for a moment.
I left them standing there, and on my way back to Claire, had to wrack my brain for some reason to have Drake come by alone.
When I arrived back at the table, Claire was watching me.
"What was that about?" she said, her eyebrows raised.
"I wanted to remind Drake that I promised my father a quick Skype session so he knows we got in all right."
"Oh," Claire said and smiled quickly. "Have one of these." She pointed to a tray of some kind of hot appetizer a waiter placed on the table. "They're to die for." She picked the tray up and held it out as if to tempt me.
"Thank you," I said and took a canapé.
So, while Michael and Drake entertained the students with tales of their surgeries, Claire and I drank wine and ate canapés but at least I had made my presence known to Sam Cuttington. Drake hadn’t been shy – perhaps even welcomed the chance to show me off.
For the rest of the time, Claire kept me occupied, regaling me with little tidbits of information about the residents and faculty at the Medical College while Drake and Michael moved around the room. Her stories were amusing but I was tired and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel room. I sighed heavily and leaned back, sipping my wine. Soon, we'd leave and he'd be all mine once more. I couldn't let myself get jealous so fast. It wasn't Drake's fault that he was so good looking.
Drake was speaking to Sam, leaning against a couch, his arms crossed. Then, he stood up and led her over to Michael, who was busy speaking with a small group of students. Drake, Michael and Sam conferred amongst themselves for a moment and then Drake
left them and came over to where Claire and I were seated.
"Hey," he said and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. "How are you two doing? Bored out of your minds?"
"Pretty much," I said, unable to keep an edge out of my voice. Sam glanced over at us expectantly.
"Sorry about that. Listen," he said and sat beside me, one arm around me on the back of the sofa, his thigh pressed against mine. He turned to Claire. "I hate to have to do this, but could you take Kate back to the hotel? Sam has a patient who came in this afternoon that she'd like us to check on. A motor vehicle accident, open skull fracture. Really unstable. Pediatric, so Michael's needed. Michael wants me to come as well."
I glanced at Drake, frowning. "Isn't that more for trauma surgeons to deal with?"
Drake shook his head. "They work on the rest of the body. We work on the brain. We'll check in and make sure everything's OK. Michael's on call this weekend, so…"
Claire stood up. "I'll leave the two of you alone. I'll go speak with Michael."
Drake stood when Claire did but then he sat back down beside me.
"I'm sorry to do this," he said. "I know you're tired."
My cheeks were burning, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. "She's beautiful, isn't she? She reminds me of Maureen. Definitely not a mousy little thing…"
"Mousy? Who's mousy?" He glanced at my glass of wine. "How many of those have you had?"
"Two, but who's counting?" I replied in a tone that sounded like a spoiled child. I tried to stop myself, but couldn't. Sam... Samantha's words kept returning to me – mousy...
He shook his head, smiling. Then he looked in my eyes, his blue ones twinkling.
"Ms. Bennet, I do believe you're tipsy." He reached to take my glass of wine away. "I think you've had enough."
"I decide if I've had enough," I said, cradling the glass against my body. "We're not Total Power Exchange, in case you forgot."
"How could I ever forget? I'm flattered that you're jealous, but Katie," he said, leaning in close, his breath warm on my neck, "you have no reason to be. It's you I want to ravish when I get back to the hotel tonight." His breath was warm on my neck and instantly, my body responded. "It's you I want to tie up and torture with pleasure."
