Nerds on Fire (15 page)

He swallowed but then managed to smile
at her. Her return smile was glorious if a bit
tentative.

They met in the middle of the busy
hospital hallway, she obviously on her way to her station. He
blocked her path.

“
May I help you?” Her
question was professional, but a delicate pink suffused her cheeks
and encouraged him.

Rylan steered her out of the path of
the foot traffic weaving and jostling around them. Her cheeks
dimmed, but when their eyes met, they deepened again.

He lost his train of
thought.

One delicate dark brow lifted and her
blue eyes sparkled. A sweet smile twitched around her
lips.

“
I was wondering if you’re
free for dinner some night soon?” His voice was even and usual,
although there was an undertone of breathlessness, but maybe she
didn’t notice.

The pink didn’t recede, but her eyes
dropped before they lifted to his again.

“
I’d like that,” she
answered in a husky voice. She cleared her throat and he wondered
if it was possible to fall even further under this woman’s
spell.

He smiled and trailed a finger across
her pink cheek. It was warm and delicate and he wanted to keep
stroking her. Her eyes dipped again, as though she was shy, and he
bet she was.

“
When?”

Her eyes lifted and were clouded with
confusion. “When?”

“
When will you have dinner
with me?” He smiled at her because he couldn’t help
himself.

The pink deepened.
“Oh.
Oh
, any time
should be fine.”

“
May I take you out this
evening?”

Her smile spread warmth, and something
resembling excitement, through him. “This evening
works.”

He especially liked the way her eyes
gleamed. “I’ll pick you up at six-thirty?”

She nodded then unzipped the purse
hanging from her shoulder. “You’ll need my address.”

“
Thank you.” His voice
rasped.

Nina dug through the bag and extracted
a business-sized card. Printed on it were her address, cell phone
number, and email address. The back contained social media
information.

His hand folded around the card,
protecting it. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“
So will I.”

He grinned and had to fight the urge
to kiss her. It would never do, not when she was at work, in the
middle of a fairly busy corridor. Of course, they were more on
their own here in this darkened doorway, but it was still
public.

When Nina glanced at her watch, she
gasped and turned to hurry down the hall. Before she disappeared
through the door at the end, she turned and hastily waved, then he
lost sight of her.

It was a shame because he could have
stared at her all day.

Rylan finally dragged his eyes from
her to glance at the time. He needed to hurry or he’d also be late.
When he exited the alcove, it was to find his grinning daughters
waiting for him.

“
Did she say yes?” Katy
demanded.

Each girl took one of his arms and
escorted him to the doors. “She said yes.” He couldn’t contain his
glee at Nina’s acceptance of dining with him.

With happy shrieks, he soon had both
daughters in his arms again. Laughing, he squeezed them before
bending to kiss each grinning cheek, since it was acceptable to
show his affection for them. “I’m late.” They waved him
off.

The day was starting pretty well.
Rylan whistled as he climbed into his car and headed toward
work.

“
What are you two cackling
about?” Leo asked when he came upon them.

“
Dad just asked Nina out.”
Katy bubbled over, just as she was.

“
Dad?” His forehead
creased. Beside him, Mark loomed and repeated Leo’s
question.

“
My father, Rylan Duvall,
just asked Nina McCormick out for a date.” Katy sounded
patient.

“
Really? Nina is a great
woman.” Leo flicked his bright tie back into place.

“
We think so.” Katy watched
their dad drive off.

“
So he’s taking the
delectable Nina out tonight.” Leo pursed his lips. “He works
fast.”

“
Are you kidding?” Katy
scowled.

“
No, I’m not.”

“
It’s taken him
forever.”

Mark remained quiet, because he was
peering intently at Trixi’s face. Had she missed her mouth at
breakfast? It looked like he was counting something. “How long has
he known her?”

“
Two weeks.” Her answer
only held part of Mark’s attention.

“
That’s fast.” Leo, like
his brother, didn’t appear to be paying much attention to anything
other than her...
nose
?

Trixi darted a questioning glance at
Katy, who shook her head but grinned. This particular shake meant
“not now” but it also indicated her friend understood what was
happening. A plus that Katy caught on because she was still
confused.

Since Katy was also amused, it must be
okay. Leo got paged, so left with reluctance.

“
It isn’t fast,” Katy
argued. “He’s had two weeks to ask her out.”

Trixi eyed Mark’s coffee cup. It
smelled strong. “He did have to break off his engagement to the
gold digger, moved, and then there was that business
trip.”

Mark, in the act of taking a sip of
coffee, paused. “He was engaged to someone else? And he
moved?”

“
Yes.” Katy tugged out her
phone to check the time. “To give him credit, he did act as soon as
he could.

“
Only because we
manipulated him into it.” Did she have time to find another cup of
coffee?

Katy chuckled. “You’re right. He’d
have gotten there eventually, but it was a good idea to snatch him
out of the clutches of that woman.”

Apparently satisfied with whatever had
snagged his attention on her nose, Mark asked another question.
“The gold digger is the ex-fiancée?”

“
Yeah, Chrissy.”

“
She tried to kick Trixi
out of her own house.” Katy shook her head as red suffused her
cheeks. “The woman hadn’t fully scoped out the
situation.”

“
Why not?” Mark asked. His
eyes left her face, finally, to focus on Katy.

“
Because if she had asked
anyone in the area, she would have discovered Trixi owns the house,
not Dad.”

Before he could comment, Mark’s phone
buzzed. He glanced at the screen. “We have a meeting on your
side.”

He took Trixi’s arm as though he
planned to escort her to work.

“
Thank you.” Her heart
roared in her ears as she walked beside him. She wasn’t the most
man-savvy woman by any means, but it sort of seemed
like...

Mark tugged her closer and shattered
those thoughts. As they passed through several busy halls, he
stayed close. So near she could feel the heat of his body and his
masculine scent enticed.

This man was far too potent for her.
Yes, he did seem inclined to touch her. Yes, he did seem to like
staring at her face.

Still, there was no way a man so high
up in the food chain could have any interest in her.

Things like this didn’t happen in her
world.

Mark muttered a few things he hoped
Trixi didn’t overhear. It wouldn’t be hard, since she was so close.
He made certain to keep her there. There were far too many males in
this corridor alone and all of them smiled at her as she
passed.

She fielded multiple greetings as they
hurried toward the neonatal wing. All these masculine faces showing
signs of obvious pleasure at seeing her didn’t sit well with
him.

Her casual greetings in response
indicated she wasn’t excited by any of them and her disinterest
appeased him. In fact, other than Leo, Trixi didn’t show any
preference for any of the men they encountered.

This didn’t mean she wasn’t attracted
to Leo.

But there was a glimmer of hope. It
was obvious Leo preferred Katy, and Katy responded in
kind.

Might as well see what Trixi thought
of them. “Do you think Leo and Katy will get together?”

Trixi’s smile drew his attention to
her lips. They were nice lips.

“
Katy is interested in
Leo,” she finally said.

He nodded. “I wondered. Leo is
interested in her.”

“
You’re sure?” Her voice
was sharp, but he couldn’t discern the cause behind it.

“
Yes, I know him pretty
well.”

“
I know Katy pretty well,
and she’s displaying signs I’ve never seen before.”

They passed Dr. Calhoun, a man in his
early fifties all the women found extremely attractive, and Mark
wasn’t pleased with the warm smile the man sent Trixi. Nor did he
appreciate the equally warm smile she returned. Mark’s teeth
clenched.

He knew he shouldn’t, but he asked
abruptly, “Are you interested in Calhoun?”

The look of disbelief she shot him
almost made him smile. “Of course I’m interested in him. Every
single female within one hundred miles of the man is.”

“
I see. But you’re not
planning to act on this attraction?”

Her snort was answer enough. So was
the way she rolled her eyes. This woman had the most beautiful eyes
he had ever seen in his life. They were the first thing about her
he had noticed. And only a small part of what fueled his
interest.

The freckles scattered across her nose
intrigued him, as did her agile mind. Her tiny frame was also
appealing. Normally he was attracted to tall, elegant women. Trixi
was far from tall, but she was elegant. Only on a smaller scale.
Her petite stature charmed him, as did her figure. Her gentle
curves were all a man could ask for.

“
What are you two talking
about?” Katy’s question drifted from behind them.

“
He was wondering if I’m
interested in Dr. Calhoun.”

Katy’s response was as intriguing as
Trixi’s. “Of course she is.” She sent him an are-you-for-real look.
As though she couldn’t believe he questioned this.

“
Are you?” he asked
Katy.

Beside him, Trixi smiled and answered,
“Of course she is.”

Katy’s chuckle was infectious. “Oh
yes.” Her smile held feminine mystery, but he had no interest in
delving further.

Trixi’s sweet smile on the other hand,
made it almost compelling to do so.

“
Warren, could you please
just pack up my things?” Trixi tried to keep the exasperation out
of her voice, but it was hard.

“
Don’t you want to spend
time with me?” He sounded hurt, and maybe he was, but after fifteen
years of rejections, you’d think he might catch on already that she
wasn’t interested.

“
No, I don’t. I want to
finish my errands and go home.” If Katy was here, she’d run
interference, but she had gone to see her aunts this Saturday
morning. So Trixi was on her own.

He blinked, and bore an amazing
resemblance to a surprised, spectacles-wearing ferret. Real ferrets
likely performed the action better than Warren though. Probably
because real ferrets were cute, whereas Warren was just a wannabe
so he fell a little short.

Short
being the operative word here. He stood only an inch taller
than her. She was almost five-feet-three inches, and she guessed he
could boast to five-feet-four. In their youth, he had been pimply
and skinnier than her. He wasn’t pimply now, but he might still be
slimmer.

Even though she wasn’t hefty in the
least, she did possess some modest curves, so she might outweigh
him. Trixi suspected he was only interested in her because he was
marginally taller.

“
I can’t believe you don’t
want to at least have dinner with me,” he coaxed.

“
No.” A surge of crankiness
caused her to be more abrupt, but at least it spurred Warren’s
sister, Winona, also a pharmacist, to nudge him aside and finish
ringing up her purchases.

“
Trixi, how are you?”
Winona rapidly scanned and bagged Trixi’s items.

The transaction finally completed,
Trixi smiled at her. Winona benefited from the height denied
Warren. She was no raving beauty, but certainly classified as cute.
She had not been passed over in the personality department either.
Her friendliness and warmth were likely what kept the family
pharmacy in business.

“
I’m fine, and
you?”

“
Doing well. Thank you for
asking.” Winona sent her another warm smile and Trixi returned it
before turning to leave. There was a small line behind her, and
Warren was called away, thank goodness.

Trixi escaped and breathed a sigh of
relief when she cleared the door. She tossed the bag into her car
and then hiked to the grocery store next door. They needed a few
things. Once she was finished here, she had some dry cleaning to
pick up and a quick stop at the hardware store and she should be
finished.