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When her shift ended a half hour ago, they quickly left the hospital before she could get roped into an emergency. But she’d thwarted Drew’s plans of wining and dining her at one of Austin’s legendary restaurants by claiming she wasn’t all that hungry. She decided she needed a walk to clear her head, thus their current early evening stroll.
She held the pretzel out to him. “Want some? It’s good.”
He shook his head. “Enjoy your carnival food. I plan to have a real dinner once I get back to my place. You know, like an adult.”
“Whatever,” she laughed, rolling her eyes. She took another bite of her pretzel, leaving a trace of mustard at the corner of her mouth.
Drew considered kissing the mustard off her face as he’d done with the cupcake frosting last night, but then thought better of it. They were in public, not the privacy of his bedroom. Depending on her mood, she would either punch him in the eye or rip his clothes off and mount him in the middle of the park. There seemed to be no in-between when it came to London.
Not wanting to risk injury or an indecent exposure arrest, Drew caught her by the elbow and said, “You do eat with your whole face, don’t you?” He swiped the mustard away with his thumb.
“I’m around kids all day,” she said. “I guess they’ve rubbed off on me.”
Her eyes followed his thumb as he licked the mustard off it. He let his tongue linger a bit longer than necessary just to mess with her.
“Ready to go back to my place?” Drew asked.
“I thought you were going to have dinner like an adult?” she asked.
“We can order in. Dinner in bed. That could be very adult.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes still on his mouth. “I’ll stick to my pretzel. For now,” she added.
They continued along the walkway, hugging the right side to give the bike riders access to the path.
“So, what’s the outpatient program you wanted to talk to me about?” London asked.
“I didn’t think we could talk about it now that we’re no longer at the hospital.”
“Of course we can.”
“Wait, so how does this ‘no mixing business with pleasure’ thing work? Does it not go both ways?”
She shook her head. “No hanky-panky at the hospital, but we can have hospital talk after hours,” she clarified.
“For future reference, I prefersexy shenaniganstohanky-panky.”
“Noted.” She stuffed the last of her pretzel into her mouth and walked over to a trash can to throw away the wrapper. When she returned to him, she made aget on with itmotion with her hand. “So, this program?”
“Yeah, it’s this thing that Dr. Coleman—”
“Hold up.” She held up a hand. “Just to let you know, if it’s something to do with Coleman, I probably hate it.”
“What’s the deal between you two?”
“Frederick Coleman has not liked me from the moment I stepped into that hospital.”
“What did you say to him, London?”
She gasped. “Why doIhave to be the bad guy here?”
“Because, as someone who has been on the receiving end of that razor-sharp tongue of yours, I know the damage it can cause.”
She stopped walking and folded her arms across her chest. “Since when do you have a problem with what I do to you with my tongue?”
“Okay, I like your tongue much better now, but when we were in high school, I had a very different perception,” Drew said. He was as tempted to kiss that smug smirk off her lips as he’d been with the mustard. “Are you going to give me the dirt on your feud with Coleman, or what?”
“If it’s a feud, then it is one-sided,” London said. “I try my best not to spend any of my precious energy on that man. And, to be honest, I’m still not sure why he doesn’t like me.” She shrugged. “Well, other than him being a misogynist who thinks men should be doctors and women should be nurses.”
