His cellphone.
“HELLO, BETH.”
Where was that cardiologist? Beth needed him. Pronto. Her heart was going to stop any moment. She was sure of it.
Dr. Eli Randolph was smiling at her, had just said her name.
He knew her name?
He’d said her name!
For no good reason except to speak to her. Had he ever done so before?
No. Never. She wasn’t even sure that he’d ever looked directly at her before lunch today. Definitely, they’d never locked eyes. He was looking now and, try as she might for fear of what he might see, she couldn’t break their eye contact.
A light shone in his twinkling blue gaze that she’d never seen before. She couldn’t quite label what she saw, but she couldn’t deny that a definite interest shone there.
Had whoever she’d texted with the night before revealed her secrets to Eli? Recalling his smile in the cafeteria, the phone in his hand, Beth swallowed. Had she texted with Eli the night before? Was that even possible? If so, was he toying with her because of the things she’d admitted while thinking she was talking to Emily? Or by some miracle was Eli actually interested in her? Had he intentionally texted her the night before and, dimwit that she was, she’d revealed her secret fantasies to him, not realizing who she was texting with?
Why would he have texted her? Not just texted, but sent a photo? Not really a risqué photo, but hot all the same. Nope. Her texter couldn’t have been Eli. Probably the guy from Administration had snagged her cellphone number from her employee records and when she’d stuck her foot in her mouth, he’d realized he didn’t stand a chance and had told Eli about her comments. A much more likely scenario.
So what was he doing now?
Tongue lassoed around her vocal cords to where speech was impossible, she blinked at him. Why was he still here? He never hung around the nurses’ station, making idle chitchat. Never that she knew of, at any rate. Until today. She’d steered clear as long as she could, checking and rechecking her patients. Each time she’d exited a room, he’d still been leaning up against the counter, making small talk with the unit secretary and two nurses standing there.
The infuriating man had hung around in the ICU as if he had nowhere else to go. Surely he had an office full of patients waiting to see him? Why are you still here? she’d wanted to scream. Leave.
But he hadn’t. Instead, he smiled down at her as if he knew her every secret.
He might.
“Beth?” he prompted, when she didn’t respond to his greeting.
“Drink of water,” she choked out past her bound-up vocal cords by way of explanation and took off down the hallway. She could feel his eyes on her, knew her colleagues had seen the interplay between them and also watched her scurry down the hallway as if competing for a gold medal.
Eli probably thought she was weird. Her colleagues probably thought she was weird.
She was weird.
The man of her dreams had gone out of his way to say something to her and she’d taken flight.
Why? She’d never been a tongue-tied ninny around men, but with Eli her brain shut down. Her body, on the other hand, went into hyperdrive, every sense more acute, making her feel more aware, more alive.
Too bad she couldn’t just act cool and suave around him, let him know she thought he was the cat’s meow.
More like the lion’s roar.
Beth crawled into her bed, exhausted from the fifteen-hour day she’d put in at the hospital yet wide awake.
No question as to why her eyes were bright and she was feeling bushy-tailed. Or as to why her brain was auditioning for the Indy 500 and gunning for pole position.
Eli.
First, in the cafeteria, smiling at her.
Then in the ICU, when he’d spoken directly to her for the first time ever.
She’d run away.
She closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth on her pillow, disgusted at herself. What was wrong with her? She’d dated before and never been so uncool around guys.
Then again, she hadn’t ever looked at any of the men she’d known and immediately wanted to get naked either. Eli Randolph made her clothes want to come off. No wonder she’d run. If she’d stuck around, she might have been arrested for indecent exposure.
Her phone buzzed on the night stand. Although not completely surprised by the noise, she jerked in her bed and grabbed for her phone.
A text.
Before she looked she knew who it would be from. The number.
But who was the person behind the number?
From the point she’d seen the phone in Eli’s hand in the cafeteria, she’d asked herself, What if? What if Dr. Eli Randolph had sent her a photo because he was interested in her? He was single, had apparently been single for a couple of weeks. It was possible. Highly unlikely, but possible.
Her phone may have just buzzed with a text from Eli.
Could it be true? Her heart raced just at the remote possibility. She clutched the phone tighter in her suddenly clammy palms and read the short message.
You awake?
No, she responded, because it was the first thing that popped into her mind.
Guess you’re dreaming, then.
Something like that.
I thought about you a lot today.
Shame on you.
I like that.
What?
That you make me laugh.
You should see me naked.
Had to be Eli, because there she went, trying to get rid of her clothes again.
Yes, I should.
Ha-ha. That really would make you laugh.
Doubtful, but you do make me smile. Want to know what else you make me do?
Wonder why she ran away when he said something to her? Assuming that she really was texting with Eli?
I’m all ears.
You make me really need to hear more about the things you’d do to Dr. Randolph if he were tied to your bed.
Because she was talking to Dr. Randolph? Somehow, she believed she was. The thought made her giddy happy and terrified and embarrassed all at once.
You perv.
You know you want to tell me.
Ha. That’s what u think. I never should have said those things to begin with.
Why? Because you don’t really want to stroke your tongue over Dr. Randolph’s entire body?
Was she talking to Eli? Was he asking her outright if she wanted him? Maybe it was better that she didn’t know a hundred percent. Much easier to be forthright when she might just be talking to a stranger whose path she’d never cross in real life.
I never should have told u. I thought u were someone else.
Emily?
Yes, my friend Emily.
What does your friend Emily say about you wanting to lick Dr. Randolph?
Oh, she’s