“So, what brings you here?” he finally asked me, taking his seat behind his desk. I sat across from him, folding my legs, and placed the envelope on the desk. I pushed it toward him and, for the slightest of moments, our fingers brushed. I felt my heartbeat spike, and my whole body tensed up like a nocked arrow.
“Monsieur told me to hand you that,” I replied, leaning in my seat as Neil cut the envelope open. He grabbed a couple of pages from the inside, what was in them looking suspiciously similar to a medical report, and glanced at their contents. His expression was an unreadable one but, even though I was curious, I said nothing. Whatever it was, Monsieur had decided not to share it with me and I wouldn’t go against that.
“Thank you, Alex.” Placing the pages back inside the envelope, he popped open one of the drawers in the cabinet behind him and stored it inside. Swiveling around in his chair to face me again, he rested both his elbows on the desk and then leaned toward me. “Now, about that kiss…”
“What about it?” I asked, my heart now going from a jog to a full-blown sprint. Neil’s amused smile didn’t help matters. He was reading me like an open book and, realizing I wasn’t sure about what to do, he had decided to toy with me. Well, if that was what he wanted...two could play that game. “A kiss doesn’t mean we’re married.”
“Ouch,” he laughed, raising both hands in the air as if he were surrendering to me. “And here I was, ready to send out the wedding invitations.”
“Is that so?” I continued, this time being my turn to allow an amused smile onto my lips. “That seems a bit rushed. Do you always rush into things like that?”
“Only when it matters.” His reply came fast, not a heartbeat passing between my words and his. Normally, few people would be able to outwit me...yet, it seemed that whenever I was with Neil that my brain slowed considerably. I said nothing, the drumming of my heart making it hard to think, let alone speak. “Listen, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. And if I did, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” I found myself saying.
“I think I do. You’ve already said ‘no’, and I—”
“I kissed you back,” I cut him short. The man seemed as if he was about to give up on me, and now here I was...fighting to stop him from doing it. It seemed that, at the end of day, he had sunk his hooks in me deeper than I had expected. “So we’re even.”
“Then...what do you say?”
“About what?”
“Do you really have to ask?” He chuckled softly, his eyes never leaving mine as he did it. I was about reply when someone knocked at the door, and a few seconds later two young women stepped inside.
“Are we interrupting?” the blonde one asked hesitantly, her gaze jumping from Neil to me. They both wore nurse uniforms, and their badges told me their names were Karen and Yvonne. “We just needed to grab a couple of folders, but we’re not sure where they are.”
“Suit yourselves,” Neil said with a smile, and they just nodded politely. They started rummaging through the cabinets right behind me, paying no attention to us, but Neil lowered his voice all the same. “Tonight at Pedro’s, 7:00 p.m.”
I shook my head slightly, barely believing Neil’s boldness. I should be pissed at him but instead, I was enjoying it.
“I’m afraid if I say no, you’ll just show up at my house and drag me out to dinner.”
“That’s a very real possibility,” he smiled. “Although I think you’re safe for now. I haven’t been to your place…yet. Unless, of course, that was an underhanded invitation.”
“Fine,” I finally surrendered, doing my best to keep the excitement I was feeling from showing. “But we’re not playing doctor after dinner,” I teased him, enjoying the way his eyes lit up when I told him I’d have dinner with him.
“Something tells me you’re using reverse psychology on me,” he whispered, his words sending a shiver up my spine. “Maybe playing doctor is exactly what you want.”
“Well, you’re a real doctor,” I said. “Maybe you’re the one that’s going to satisfy my medical kink, after all.” Only when I had finished speaking did I remember we weren’t alone in the office. The two nurses stood right behind us and, when I looked back over my shoulder, I noticed that at least one of them had turned tomato-red.
Oh, God, they had heard it all.
Neil, though, didn’t seem to mind.
“I’m an open-minded guy,” Neil grinned. “Whatever you dish out, I can take it. A little medical kink isn’t going to be a problem.”
“Pedro’s,” I said, trying to cut the conversation short. No way was I going to continue it in front of Neil’s nurses. Pushing my chair back, I stood up. “At 7:00 p.m., right?”
“At 7:00 p.m.,” he echoed.
And, just like that, it was settled: I was going out on a date.
9
Neil
With both feet propped up on my desk, fingers laced behind my head, I looked out the window and smiled. Lunch remained untouched on my desk, my mind so busy with planning dinner with Alex that I couldn’t even think of anything else.
I still couldn’t believe he had said ‘yes’.
I had decided not to give up on him, but I had been anticipating an uphill battle. In the end, though, it seemed Alex simply couldn’t resist the attraction between us. It was always there, whenever the two of us were in a room, but it was more than just physical.
His zeal and perfectionism reminded me of my younger self, and his irreverence toward me sealed the deal: unlike most Consorts I had met, he was above sucking up to someone just because they had money and a reputation. Which meant that if I won his affections, it wouldn’t be because of how high I had climbed the ladder of success: it would be because of who I was.
Picking up my phone from the desk, I dialed Pedro’s number and made the reservation for 7:00 p.m. The place was an exclusive Italian restaurant, the best in the city, and I was sure it had been the ideal choice. Getting a reservation there was next to impossible (unless, of course, you had enough pull to make it happen with just a few hours’ notice) and I was pretty confident that it was the ideal place to impress Alex.
Somehow, I forced myself to eat lunch and then simply gritted my teeth and got on with work. The initial plan was to stay late (again) and work for a few hours on the medical article I wanted to publish before the quarter’s end, but Alex came first. I would just go through the appointments on my schedule and, for the first time since dropping the girls at Mike’s, I’d be home early.
Getting through the day was an ordeal, my mind constantly veering off course, but I somehow made it to 5:00 p.m. without a hitch. Clapping my hands together as I checked the time on my phone, I got up from my seat and hung my white coat behind the door. I was already halfway through the lobby when I heard a voice right behind me.
“You’re not leaving without giving me a name,” Tracy Adams said, both hands on her hips as she eyed me. Despite being a few years younger than me, she was one of the few doctors in the field I considered as my equal. Fierce and relentless, she was the ideal partner to have.