“This stuff is so awesome! I’m gonna do emergency medicine for sure.”
He chuckled. “You might change your mind during medical school.”
“So if you’re okay, when do you get to go home?”
“Well, this time I’m not leaving until Josh signs off on it. I think he might kill me if there’s a repeat of yesterday.”
“He’s at home?”
“Yes, I talked him into getting some sleep.”
“And Ben?”
He made a face. “I’m still mad at him, even though I absolved him yesterday when he tricked Kara Dickson into a confession.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, because I have a great idea how we can get back at him for his tall tales.”
“Really?” His eyes danced with glee. “If I need to do anything, I’m in. What’s the plan?”
“You see, he has this broken tooth, and I have this friend who’s a dentist...”
*****
Ben was glad he was already sitting down in the dental chair when the dentist walked into room—otherwise he might have fallen on the floor. She was drop-dead gorgeous. Long, straight sandy-blonde hair framed huge almond eyes—brown with caramel stars in the middle, and a dark brown perimeter. They were spectacular—he could swim in those eyes. She had smooth golden skin stretched over high cheekbones and a pert up-turned nose.
And then she smiled at him.
His heart fell into his stomach. Her plush lips spread to reveal perfect even white teeth. She was a dentist—of course she had beautiful teeth. What had he expected? Whatever he’d expected, it wasn’t this. Why hadn’t Olivia warned him about her? She’d said her friend was cute, not stunning. He didn’t want this girl to look inside his mouth. How well had he brushed his teeth that morning? Was his breath okay? Would she know he hadn’t been flossing?
She held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Dr. Williams. Shanna Williams.”
He stared at the long delicate fingers stretched toward him. How could fingers be so attractive?
“Eh-hem,” she cleared her throat.
“Oh, sorry.” He took her hand in his. Sparks. There were definitely sparks. Did she feel them? Her grip was firm. He liked a strong grasp—he hated girls who gave dead-fish handshakes.
“Uhmm...”
He realized she was trying to free her hand from his clenched fingers. “Oh, sorry again.” As her hand slipped from his, he felt a profound loss.
“So you’re Olivia’s friend, right? I’ve already seen the x-rays from your dentist in California. Let’s take a look and see if this chipped tooth can be restored with a bonded filling or if you’ll need a crown.” She began to lean the dental chair back.
“Uhmm... You know, it’s not that bad. Really, we don’t need to fix it today.”
“Are you nervous? You don’t need to be afraid—I’m really quite painless.”
“I’m not afraid, but I thought we might talk for a few minutes before we start.”
“Well, I don’t have a lot of extra time. Why don’t I check the tooth, and we can talk while the anesthetic is working?”
Before he could protest again she had a mirror in his mouth.
“Hmmm... I think it’s small enough a composite will do the job. I’ll need to get you numb so I can remove the restoration adjacent to the chip.”
Her eyes mesmerized him. He sank into their depths, noting shades of green he hadn’t noticed at a distance. He stared at the smooth skin on her face, noting the cute wrinkle that appeared between her eyebrows as she concentrated.
“There you go. Now we’ll just need to wait a few minutes for the anesthetic to take effect.”