Heart Like Mine (14 page)

She shook her head, focusing on the wall. In the pictures, he didn't have on a white coat, or a tie, or scrubs. He usually had jeans on, maybe a polo shirt, maybe a dress shirt. He looked omigod-hot in every single one, and she fought not to steal one right off the wall.

“Hey there.”

She turned quickly at the sound of his voice, knocking over a picture on his desk, then banging into a shelf while she scrambled to put it right.

He laughed as he touched her elbow, and she felt it low and deep. “Remind me not to trust you with fragile equipment, would you?”

She steadied everything with her hands, then moved slowly out from behind his desk, making room for him to slide by.

“I'm so sorry. I was just looking at your pictures.”

He glanced at the wall as he set his laptop on the desk. “They're great, aren't they?”

She nodded. They really were. She mentally calculated how long it would take to grab one off the wall, run down to the copy shop, and get it back before he noticed.

“So.” He sat down in his chair, looking at her with his eyebrows raised. “Want to sit?”

“Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to catch you before you left for the weekend.”

He looked at his watch. “It's seven o'clock. How long have you been waiting?”

“Long enough to know that your favorite color shirt—at least for pictures—is green, you have way too much paperwork on your desk, and we really need to get the facilities crew to paint your walls.”

He laughed again, looking at the pictures. “Apparently all true.” Then he looked at her for a long moment. “So you survived the week.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Much to everyone's surprise, I imagine.”

“How'd you like working with Kenderly?”

“Honestly? I think I want her job when I grow up.”

“She predicted as much.” He raised his eyebrows. “So is now the part where we finally get to look at your list together … before you go back to the sixth floor and do your calculator magic?”

Delaney took a deep breath, trying to corral the thoughts that had been circling in her head while she'd waited for him. “Actually, I have an idea.”

“Okay.” He sat back, linking his hands behind his head, and it was all Delaney could do not to get up and run her hands over the pecs that were straining at the front of his shirt. No wonder the nurses fought to buy him coffee in the morning. Good God, any catalog in the country would sign him immediately.

“Okay, what?” Delaney shook her head, feeling heat creep up her cheeks. What had she been saying before she'd started picturing him with fewer clothes on?

“You were about to tell me your idea.”

“Right. I … was wondering … what would you think of me maybe spending one more week down here?”

He lowered his hands and leaned forward, but she couldn't read the expression on his face. “Why?”

She took a deep breath. “Because I was wrong. Wrong about every line item I was ready to propose. Wrong about every service I thought was ancillary.”

“Oh.” He shook his head. “Wow.”

“We need a new approach, and I have some ideas.”

“Excellent. Lay them on me.” He leaned forward, but his eyes were tired, and she felt guilty for making him stay even longer tonight.

Just then, her stomach let out an impressive, hollow rumble, and she clutched her midsection in embarrassment.

He smiled. “Hungry?”

“Sorry. I think I forgot to eat lunch.”

He laughed, but it was tight. “
Now
you're getting a feel for pediatrics.” He stood up and closed his laptop. “Tell you what. I can't think on an empty stomach, and clearly you need to eat as well. How about I take you to dinner—somewhere that
isn't
this hospital?”

“You want to—take me to dinner?”

“I'll try not to be insulted by your shocked tone.”

“I'm sorry. It's just—unexpected.”
And sort of date-ish sounding
.

“Do you like Bellinis?”

“Does anyone
not
like Bellinis?” Delaney smiled. Bellinis was the best restaurant
in
Echo Lake, but not because of its fancy menu or elegant service. It was an Italian place that looked more like an Irish pub, but the food Mama Bellini served could rival anything from Boston's North End.

He shook his head. “Not that I've found.” He pointed at her. “You'll have to change, though. Mama B has a no-scrubs-in-my-pub rule.”

“Really?”

“Something about not wanting to think about what people in scrubs do all day.” He shrugged. “I really don't know.”

“Should we meet there?”

“Sounds good. Eight o'clock give you enough time?”

She pulled her purse from the back of the chair. By the time she made her way out of the hospital and back to her condo, she'd have a full two point five minutes to change before she'd need to leave again to meet him.

Eek
. “Perfect.”

As she rode down the elevator two minutes later, she caught her reflection in the metal slats beside the door, and she brought her hands to her face. With her flushed cheeks and smile that wouldn't quit, she looked like a woman who'd just been kissed silly.

Or maybe one who
wanted
to be.

 

Chapter 12

Forty-five minutes later, Josh scored the back booth in Bellinis and settled in. He pinched the bridge of his nose, blinking his eyes shut to try to clear the cobwebs sneaking in. Good God, it'd been a long week. The last thing he wanted to do right now was spend another hour discussing dollars and cents, but when he'd looked at Delaney sitting in that chair, asking for another week on his floor, he'd been torn.

On one hand, he couldn't get enough of the woman. Every time he'd left a patient room all week, he'd caught himself scanning the halls for a glimpse of her. Every time he'd heard her laughter coming from the playroom, he'd made an excuse to stop in to talk to whoever else was with her. Every morning, when he'd stepped into the elevator, he'd toyed with whether to stop on the third floor … or head up to the sixth.

On the
other
hand, he was ready for his staff to get back to business without looking over their shoulders to see if she was watching. He was ready to stop calculating the ROI of every procedure and meeting and bandage.

He sighed. He was ready to stop wishing maybe she was more than a colleague.

“You want coffee?” Molly appeared at his elbow. “No offense, but you look like hell.”

“Thanks, Mols. I hear that a lot these days.”

Molly sat down across from him, probably grateful for a break. The woman defined
Italian spitfire
, but he could tell she'd been run ragged by the dinner crowd. Her parents had owned the restaurant since she was just a glimmer in their eyes, and although she had a business degree and a full-time job at the Snowflake Village offices, she still pulled more waitressing shifts here than she had when they'd been seniors at Echo Lake High.

She twisted her dark hair into a ponytail, fanning her neck with a menu. “Ethan joining you tonight?”

“Nope.”

Molly shook her head. “Told you this would happen when they got married. Now they just want to stay home all the time.”

“If you lived in the owners' half of Avery's House, would
you
ever want to leave?”

“Nope. But I gave all that up when I let Ethan marry Josie instead of me.”

Josh laughed. “Is that how that went?”

“Something like that.” She fluttered her fingers. “Or, y'know, they'd been in love since they were in diapers and finally realized it. One or the other.”

“Right.”

“You eating alone?”

Josh sighed. “No, actually.”

“Omigod, do you have a date?” Molly's eyes went wide.

He looked around, sure the entire pub had heard her. “Could you maybe try not to sound like that would be such a miracle?”

“Wouldn't it, though?”

“Shut up, Mols.”

She laughed. “Just kidding. Is it a real date, though?”

“No. It's not
any
kind of a date. It's a business dinner.”

“Oh.” She wrinkled her nose. “Boring.”

“I wish.”

It definitely wouldn't be boring. Not with Delaney, anyway. The biggest challenge would be keeping his attention on her little notebook full of questions, rather than on her silky neck, or the way her hair fell right to her collarbone, or the way her lips—

Molly raised her eyebrows. “Well, it's Friday night. Maybe it can turn
into
a date after the business part is done.”

He cleared his throat, blocking the visions. “No, it can't. We work together.”

“Oh. Right.” Molly nodded sagely. “I forgot. Nobody at that hospital ever dates anyone
else
who works there.”

“Did I say
shut up
yet?”

“At least once, yes. But I'm used to it because you've been saying it since third grade, and I know you don't really mean it. Plus, you're meeting her here, which must mean you want me to check her out for you and thumbs-up or thumbs-down her potential, right?”

“God, no.”

“Oh.” Molly tried to look hurt. “But I'm practically a professional at it. Did I not totally call Cherise?”

He grimaced, remembering the traveling nurse who'd come through one spring. She'd been bubbly and fun … and completely psychotic in the end.

Molly raised her eyebrows. “Well? Did I?”

“Yes, you totally called Cherise.”

“And Melody?”

“Melody, too.”

“Ooh, and who was that one—you know—with the crazy hair?” Molly circled a hand over her head.

“Dara.”

“Right! Dara.” Molly laughed. “Yeah, that was scary. You're lucky I had a fake kitchen fire that night.”

He smiled, shaking his head. “I'll give you that one.”

Too bad none of them had figured out Nicole before it was too late.

Molly got up, tapping him on the nose and squeezing his shoulder. “Just give me the signal if you need me to pretend the place is on fire again.”

He rolled his eyes. “I won't need the signal.”

“You don't know that. Coffee with three creamers if you need an extraction. I can go less dramatic than fire.” She leaned down and planted a kiss on his head. “Have fun. I'll be back when she gets here. Ten bucks she orders seltzer with lime. And a salad.”

She stuck her hand out to seal the bet, and again Josh rolled his eyes, but he shook her hand. “Ten bucks she goes for the special.”

As soon as Molly cleared the counter and headed back into the kitchen, Josh looked toward the front door, and had to actually catch his breath as he saw Delaney standing there. She'd changed from her scrubs into a sweet little sundress that he'd swear matched her blue eyes, and she'd pulled her hair into some sort of half-up-half-down configuration that—with the sundress—made her look like she'd just barely left college.

And though he knew she must not have had more than ten minutes at her house to get ready, it even looked like she'd put on makeup. Just a touch—there was a little color in her cheeks, and a sheen to her lips that he hadn't noticed before—but it was enough to make her look like a woman meeting … a date.

He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, then got up to go meet her, wishing for an insane second that it
was
.

*   *   *

When Delaney walked through the front door of Bellinis, she could practically taste the garlic, and her mouth watered. She just hoped her stomach didn't growl again before dinner got to the table.

And then she spotted Dr. Mackenzie sitting in a back booth across from the petite brunette whose parents owned Bellinis. They were laughing like old friends, but then the waitress stood up and kissed him fondly on the head, and Delaney felt her stomach clutch.

Oh.

Maybe the good doctor
wasn't
single, despite Megan's pipeline information that he most assuredly was.

She hated how her stomach fell, felt stupid that she'd taken the extra minute to dash on lip gloss. Felt
really
ridiculous for waking up three times this week with dreams of him fresh in her mind.

But this was good to know, right? Before she harbored any stupid delusions of being more than a colleague?

Yes, it was definitely good to know.

And when had she started harboring delusions, anyway? She shook her head. She needed to focus. So she'd reapplied her mascara and made sure she'd tamed her hair into some semblance of order before she left the condo. So she'd tried on three different dresses and left them flung all over the bedroom when she'd left. So she'd headed out the door, then back inside to spray just a teeny bit of perfume on her wrists.

It was just a business dinner. Nothing more, nothing less, even though her pulse had started racing when he'd invited her. It was pretty pathetic that a business invitation had made her stomach jump and her cheeks flush as she'd raced home and gotten ready.

She took a deep breath, gathering her stupid senses. This was not a date. Not. A. Date.

And then he spotted her, and she saw him take a breath before he pasted on a smile and got up to greet her.
Fabulous
. He looked like he was dreading this dinner just as much as he'd dreaded having her on his floor all week. Heck, he'd probably worked out an extraction signal with his girlfriend while he'd been waiting for Delaney.

She walked toward him, and he showed her to the booth and waited politely while she sat. As he settled into his side, their knees bumped, and though she'd have much rather let them brush idly throughout dinner, she pulled hers back immediately.