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“All the time.”
“Well, it’s like that.”
“Then don’t go if you don’t want to. Life’s too short.”
His lips twisted into a smile. “You know, you’re right. I think I’ll say my surgery is running late.” He touched his phone. The screen glowed to life, showing a family photo of himself, Sienna, Aurora, and his pretty, polished wife. After he tapped a few words, the phone made the telltalebloopnoise that the text had been sent. “There,” he said.
I took in his height, his handsome bone structure, his name across his chest.Dr. Greg Strasser, Cardiology.His eyes roamed from my hair to my bare legs to the way the sweatshirt clung to my boobs. I could feel the heat of his gaze and practically see the thoughts forming in his mind. Dr. Strasser was gorgeous. Dr. Strasser seemed willing. And most of all, Dr. Strasser, a cardiologist, was probablyloaded.
And just like that, I shifted gears. It was so easy.
Greg’s phone beeped; he glanced at it, and his face clouded. “Is that your wife?” I asked, coiling a piece of hair around my finger. “Did I get you in trouble?”
Greg sighed. “No one said marriage was easy.” Then he looked at me as if realizing something. “You’re at Aldrich like Sienna, right? How are you liking it?”
“I love it. I’m on the Dean’s List.”
“Good for you.” Dr. Strasser held my gaze. “And you work for Kit’s dad, right?”
“Worked.” I felt a corkscrew of regret. “We’ve... parted ways.”
He snorted. “Well, Alfred Manning is a cantankerous old coot.” He leaned in closer, smelling like clean clothes. “I don’t think he likes me much, either.”
I gave him a skeptical look, wanting to ask why not. Instead, I pointed at the bottle of wine on the counter. “Mind if I have some of that?”
Strasser glanced at the wine, then crossed his arms. “How old are you?”
“How old do I look?” And then, after a beat, “I’m almost twenty-one, honest. Birthday’s March nineteenth.” A lie. My birthday was in March, but I would be only twenty.
The teakettle whistled. Strasser switched off the burner. He poured me a half glass of wine. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I sipped. “And thank you.”
“Nah, thankyou.” His eyes twinkled. “I am way,waytoo tired for a night out.” He rubbed his forehead and temples, grimacing.
I lowered my lashes. “I can help you relax, if you want.”
Dr. Strasser froze, the wine halfway to his lips. The ions in the room seemed to rearrange. If there was a moment to just act, it was now. I took a step toward him. I would start with a little massage. I’d comment on his musculature. Ask if he worked out. Men loved that. As I stepped closer, I momentarily left my body and saw this scene as a stranger peering through the window: a pretty girl in a sweatshirt and socks and an older man in surgical scrubs stood in the kitchen.
“Aldrich doesn’t have a Dean’s List, you know,” Greg suddenly said.
I stopped halfway across the floor. “I’m sorry?”
“Aldrich doesn’t have a Dean’s List. It’s one of the school’s quirks.”
“Oh.” An oily sensation spread through me. “My bad. I was thinking of my high school’s honors list, I guess.” I raised one shoulder in anAw shucks,but my heart was starting to beat hard. “And I just wanted to impress you. Is that so wrong?”
Dr. Strasser was looking at me like I was one of those Word Find games; the longer he stared, the more likely it was that the answer would reveal itself. Finally, he said in a voice that wasn’t quite angry but wasn’t quite friendly, either: “Do you even go to Aldrich at all, Raina?”
I felt a cold draft on my thighs. How had he figuredthatout? But maybe it didn’t matter. I could still feel his yearning. All I had to do was push a little harder, and I’d have him.
“You got me,” I said, pouring myself another half glass of wine. “It’s... complicated. Still, I’ll be your Aldrich coed, if that’s what you like. I’ll be whatever you want.”
Alexis snuggles close. I conceal a grin. A new plan is forming, just like it had that night with Strasser. That plan had worked. Worked really,reallywell.
But now Strasser is gone. And I have to move on to survive.
17
