Priceless. Sherryl Woods

happy about it.

      “Why?”

      “Because I’m taking you to dinner instead.”

      She bristled at the assumption. “I don’t think so.”

      “Oh, yes,” he said. “I just broke a date for you. The least you can do is have dinner with me. You don’t want me to spend the evening alone, do you?”

      Beth couldn’t decide which part of his recitation to react to first. “Okay, let’s get something straight,” she began. “You did not break that date for me. I didn’t ask you to do it.”

      “No, but after that kiss we shared, you’d have been furious if I’d gone through with it,” he said.

      “Furious? I don’t think so. I might have thought you a little sleazy,” she admitted, “but then I don’t have a very high opinion of you to begin with, so that shouldn’t be too worrisome for you.”

      “Cute.”

      “I’m not finished,” she said. “Whether or not you spend the evening alone or with a steady stream of willing women has nothing whatsoever to do with me.”

      “I didn’t think so, either, at least not until a few minutes ago,” he agreed pleasantly.

      “What happened a few minutes ago?” she asked cautiously.

      “I kissed you and decided I’d rather take a chance on getting to do that again instead of going out with a sure thing.” He settled down in the chair beside her desk. “If you have things to do, I can wait.”

      Beth sorted through his latest outrageous claim and tried to decide whether to be flattered. Since listening to flattery was dangerous around Mack, she concluded it was smarter to ignore it.

      “I could be a long while,” she told him to test his determination. “A really long while.”

      He picked up a medical journal from the corner of her desk. “Take your time. This doesn’t look like fast reading. It ought to keep me occupied for hours.”

      She stared at him, thoroughly bemused. “You’re really not going to leave, are you?”

      “Not without you,” he said, already flipping through the journal.

      “I don’t understand you,” she said plaintively.

      Mack looked up and met her gaze, looking almost as bemused as she felt. “To tell you the honest truth, Doc, I’m not real sure I understand what’s going on here, either.”