He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “It’s okay. It’s…” He turned to look at the clock. “Jesus Christ, it’s after seven.”
“Yeah. When you didn’t come out of the surgery on time, I started to panic.”
“That makes two of us.” He grabbed his bottle of water and took a deep drink. “But I promised she would be okay, and I was not going to break that promise for anything.”
My eyes automatically softened, like they did a hundred times a day when I worked with someone like him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I rose from my seat and headed to the door.
“I’m about to leave too. I can give you a lift home.”
I turned back to him. “I’m not going home, actually.”
“Oh, where are you off to?” He turned in the chair, holding his container of food in front of his chest as he continued to eat, looking sexy in those loose scrubs without even trying.
I felt awkward for giving my answer, but I shouldn’t feel that way. He’d probably be relieved that I was moving on to the other fish in the sea. It had been tense for a week after that conversation, but after this, it would really be over. We could pretend like it never happened. “A date.”
He stilled at my response, holding his fork in midair without closing the gap and putting the food into his mouth. A second passed before he lowered the fork again. He gave a slight nod before he said something. “That’s great…”
“Yeah, he’s a good guy.”
“Where’d you meet him?” He started to eat again, but at a much slower rate now.
“The gym.”
“I thought you didn’t work out?”
“I didn’t. But after working for a cardiac surgeon, I started to realize how important it is, so…”
He gave another nod, continuing to eat. “I’m glad that you’re taking care of yourself. It’s much easier to exercise thirty minutes a day, every day, than it is to go under the knife and repair all the damage that could have been prevented.” Now his eyes were down on his food. “Well…have a good time.”
“Thanks.” I felt like I was leaving on a bad note because there was heavy energy in the air now. But it was probably just a misinterpretation of the moment, of the awkwardness, of the fact that he was probably exhausted and mentally burned out. “See you tomorrow.” I turned to walk away.
His voice followed behind me. “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
14
Dex
I washed my hands before I left the lab and headed back to my office down the hallway.
The door was open, and Sicily was inside. I chose to come at the perfect time because she was bent over in her tight skirt, making the material squeeze against her nectarine ass and show the definition that would be perfect against my lips. On top of that, the reason she was bending over was to put food on my desk.
Sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
The skirt was short, but she had black tights underneath, so I couldn’t get a peek of her panties, G-string, thong…whatever thin material she was wearing. Maybe they were cotton, maybe they were lacy. Maybe they had little bows on them…
Jesus, Dex.
When I walked through the door, she had straightened, so I didn’t have to fight the temptation to continue staring at her ass. “Hey.”
She turned around to look at me, immediately giving me that smile that was so warm, it was like a summer day. Her long hair was in big, soft curls and pulled into a high ponytail, so her lovely face and slender neck were on display. She had a really nice neck, long and fair, with beautiful skin, a sexy hollow to her throat. Hoops were in her ears, and she had smoky makeup over her eyes.
Her date was a lucky bastard.
“I was on the other side of town, so I went by that sandwich shop you like so much.”
It’d been a few days since her date, and it took all my strength not to ask her about it. Did it go well? Did it go really well, and he slept over? Was she seeing him again? What was he like? What did he do for a living?
Her eyes faltered slightly. “Dex?”
“Sorry, I was thinking about something in the lab. That’s great. I love that place.” Her outfit was totally professional, but it was hot. She had that tight little skirt that flared out a little bit, the tights, little brown boots, and a purple blouse with a gray cardigan on top. She always looked hot, but there was something particularly sexy about her appearance now. I liked her hair down, I liked it up, I liked jeans that hugged her perky ass, I liked loose sweaters that hung down one shoulder… I liked it all, man.
When she took my words at face value, she didn’t look concerned anymore. “If you have a couple minutes, I’ve been in touch with Doctors Without Borders, and they have a schedule in mind.”