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“Kat, hey.” I furrow my brow. “What are you doing here? Are you with Shaye?”
“Nah. I came with those guys.” Katarina nods her head at a group of muscular, dark-haired, thuggy-looking guys I kind of remember from Shaye’s birthday party. I definitely recognize one of them. Rocco. He’s kind of hard to miss since he’s about a foot taller than the other guys. I’ve heard from Shaye that he has a thing for Kat. Staring up at her, it’s clear why he’s so smitten. She looks like a Victoria’s Secret model from head to high-heeled toe, and I’ve heard she can snap a neck faster than most people can pull the bottlecap off of a beer. “I just beat their asses at poker. They’re nursing their losses right now, and I needed a break from the testosterone.” She rolls her eyes and grins wider, her long, dark hair cascading down one shoulder.
“Oh, wow. That’s cool…” My voice trails off since I don’t really have much else to say. Kat studies me pretty closely right now, like she wants to say something else but is still debating how much.
She grins, her bright white teeth practically sparkling in the dim light of the restaurant. “Yeah. So, Shaye told me about your thing at the hospital. Congrats. That’s really awesome for you.”
Weird. I don’t know Kat very well, only through Shaye, but it seems odd to me that they’d discuss my work at the hospital. I can’t imagine I’m a hot topic of conversation for those two, but it’s still nice of her to mention it. I smile. “Thanks. It was a really good night.”
Kat’s glance darts toward the doctor in the back of the restaurant. “That good, huh?”
I follow her eyes and shrug. “He’s a colleague.”
“Does he feel the same way about you?”
“I don’t really know. This is the, uh, first time we’ve done anything outside of work, so…” Why is she so interested, anyway? I’d think she would have her hands full with Rocco who’s staring at her from across the room and stripping her bare right in the middle of the restaurant with his hungry gaze.
“And he does it for you, huh?”
I fold my napkin down into my lap and cock my head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Kat, but why do you care? I barely know you, and it’s—”
She leans down, a conspiratorial smile lifting her lips. “To be honest, I really don’t care, Sloane. But someone else does. Even though he may act like a dickhead some of the time, he usually has pretty good reasons for it. I know we’re pretty much strangers, but Max is a friend, and I take care of my friends. He’s a good guy who makes dumb ass moves sometimes.”
My jaw sits on the table next to my plate, and I snap it shut when I see Steven walking back to our table. Kat straightens up and flashes him a bright smile. “Hi, I’m Kat. I was just congratulating our girl, Sloane.”
Steven smiles and nods at her. “Nice to meet you, Kat. I’m Steven.”
“Pleasure.” Kat glances back at me with a knowing wink. “I’d better get back to my crew over there. Enjoy, you too.”
My heart sinks further and further into my insanely tight shoes with each step she takes back to the guys. Rocco turns his head in my direction, a suspicious expression on his face that’s overshadowed by a whole lot of something much more X-rated when Kat sidles up to him and whispers something into his ear. Luckily, that occupies him more than my celebratory dinner with Steven.
Did they talk to Max? Did he ask Kat to come up to me?
Ugh! Why do I even care? He chose not to be here with me tonight! He knew how important this was to me and he opted out! So even if he did send Kat over, it doesn’t matter.
It shouldn’t matter.
He’s a good guy who makes dumbass moves sometimes.
He is a good guy. I know it. I believe it.
But it’s the dumbass moves I can’t handle anymore.
“…so sorry, but we have to cut this short.”
I blink fast. Did I miss something?
“Oh, um, it’s fine,” I stammer, not one hundred percent sure what I’m even agreeing to.
“That’s another reason why I don’t really drink.” He grins and waves over the waitress to get the check. “You never know when you’re going to get paged and have to perform emergency surgery.”
I force a polite laugh. So that’s what happened. Jesus, Sloane. Wake up!
“I really hope we can do this again. The right way where I don’t have to ditch out in the middle of dinner.”
I wave a hand in front of my face, relief crashing over me. “It’s totally fine! I understand, and I had a really great time with you.”
His face relaxes into a smile. “Great.” He signs the check and gets up to pull out my chair. “You know, you’re really incredible, Sloane,” he murmurs against my ear as I rise to my aching feet. He places a hand on the small of my back and leads me out of the restaurant.
But instead of a warm, fuzzy, fluttery sensation in my belly, the one I get when Max is near, I feel…sick. And sad. And disappointed. And just plain pissed off.
I’m such a jumble of emotions right now, a big heaping pile of things that I can’t even begin to process. But nowhere in that jumbled mess is a single shred of anything remotely resembling excitement and anticipation of another date with the handsome doctor. There’s no throbbing pulse, no thumping heart, no spark.
Sure, he may feel all of that. But me?
I’m just empty.
