Flirting with Dr Off-Limits. Robin Gianna

lot at our house, didn’t you? Utter chaos, with six crazy kids and badly behaved dogs.”

      “I think the term would be bedlam.” The smile was back on his face, and why she was pleased to see it again she wasn’t sure. “But I enjoyed every minute of the time I spent with Nick. And you. And the rest of your family, of course.”

      “You two sitting out there, socializing, with your feet up?” Nick’s voice called from the kitchen. “Katy has the night off, but you don’t, Alec. I need a hand here.”

      “Coming in a sec. Just realized I left the wine I brought in the car.” His index finger reached out to give her nose a gentle flick, a soft stroke from between her brows to its tip as he’d done more times than she could possibly count, but the expression in his eyes seemed different than in the past. Hotter, more intimate, somehow, and her heart stupidly sped up in response.

      Thankfully, he turned and went back out the door, and Katy sucked in a breath. She would not allow her old, youthful crush to muscle its way in and crowd out her older, smarter self. No way, no how.

      She moved toward the kitchen, resolutely passing by the hallway to her bedroom with barely a longing glance. She hadn’t planned to do anything more than wash her hands for dinner and refused to give in to her sudden urge to clean up a little and change her clothes. Maybe it would even be a good thing, she thought as she shook her head at herself, if Alec noticed she didn’t exactly smell perfume fresh.

      “Why didn’t you tell me you’d invited Alec for dinner?” she asked Nick in a whisper, even though she hadn’t heard the man come back into the house.

      “Because he’s my best friend, and I didn’t realize until tonight that you still felt such animosity toward him.” Her brother glanced at her before he turned his attention back to the dinner. “Which I frankly hope you’ll get over.”

      “No animosity. As I told you, I just don’t want to be friends with him anymore.” And her darned shortness of breath and flippity heart and awareness of his hunkiness quotient was far different from feelings of friendship anyway, dang it. Which made it even more important that they not be together anywhere but at work until her smart brain prevailed over her not-so-smart one. “But obviously, since he’s my instructor for the month, I’m perfectly fine with spending work time with him. I just would’ve appreciated a heads-up.”

      “Okay. Hey, Katy-Did.” Nick turned to her, the evil big-brother smile on his face she was more than used to. “Alec’s coming over for dinner.”

      She rolled her eyes. “Thanks for telling me. If I’d known it wasn’t just the two of us, I wouldn’t have dressed up in my nicest clothes.”

      As Nick chuckled in response, Alec’s voice filled the kitchen, followed by his tall, broad form. “You look good in whatever you’re wearing, Katy.”

      She looked up at his eyes that were all golden and warm again, accompanied by a beautiful smile that seemed absurdly sincere, since she knew she couldn’t look much more of a wreck if she tried. Why did the darned man have to have the kind of charm that made it all too easy to overlook his not-charming characteristics?

      “Thank you.” She busied herself with getting the food together, despite both men’s protests that she was supposed to be off duty. In short order, they were sitting at the small table, holding crystal glasses and lit, to her touched surprise, with candles.

      “To Dr. Katherine Pappas,” Nick said, holding up his glass of red wine. “Congratulations on finishing med school with honors and for living through your first day as an intern.”

      “Cheers to that,” Alec said, his focus so entirely on her it was unnerving. “We always knew you were special, and you’ve proved it over and over again.”

      Special? And here she’d thought it had been her domain to think of Alec that way when they’d been young. “Thank you. And here’s hoping I don’t do anything stupid to embarrass you in rounds over the next month.”

      “You could never do anything to embarrass me, Katy, and that’s a fact. I’m more than sure you’re going to make me look good.”

      As if he needed her to make him look good.

      They all sipped their drinks, and Katy wasn’t sure if it was the wine slipping down her throat that made her chest feel so warm or something else. Something like Alec talking about the faith he had in her, as he had so many times in the past.

      Despite it being just the three of them, their meal together brought a welcome feeling of normalcy. Almost like the years hadn’t passed and Alec was just hanging out with the Pappas clan for dinner. Except those times would never come again. Her and Nick’s father was gone, and Alec was not the knight in shining armor she’d painted him to be.

      “I was called in to help with a rough surgery today,” Nick said. “Bob Rollins had a teen girl with a torsion in her ovary, and when he opened her up she was a total mess. Had to bring in another gynecologist and me to dive in there with him to identify and try to save her entire reproductive system. So remember, Katy, don’t be surprised if some surgeries turn out to be completely different than you expect.” He gave her a pointed look. “Just like people.”

      It didn’t take a genius to know what he was saying. “I’ll remember.”

      Nick turned to Alec. “What time is your flight next weekend?”

      “For the wedding? Nine a.m., I think.”

      “You were able to take time off even though you’re doing teaching rounds?” Katy hoped she didn’t sound as dismayed as she felt, but she wasn’t excited about trying to keep her distance from him at another family event.

      “You bet.” A grin slowly creased his cheeks. “Maybe you can help me with my marginal Greek dancing skills.”

      She stared into his amused eyes then shook her head. Holding his hand in more ways than one? There had been a time when she’d have loved to. “You fake it well, Alec. You don’t need anyone’s help with that.”