“I see you got the word from Dr. Jackson that you’re being released.”
“Not a moment too soon.” Cam raised his eyes heavenward. “I told you I was fine.”
Lord, yes, you are! she couldn’t help silently agreeing.
“Well, it’s our job to make sure. Now that everything officially checks out, we agree with you.” She paused before adding, “You were very lucky.”
“In more ways than one.” Her breath caught at the way he was looking at her. “Cam...”
“What?”
He didn’t try to mask the appreciation shining in his eyes as he slowly examined her from head to toe and back again. She’d never met a man who made her feel like the sexiest woman he had ever seen when she was dressed in loose-fitting, bland hospital scrubs—until now. A shiny stethoscope was slung around her neck, and Cam had a look in his eyes like he would love to play doctor with her, and if she was honest, that might be a lot of fun.
“Nothing,” she finally answered, shaking her head to chase away forbidden thoughts. There were a lot of things she could have said, but she settled on, “I just wanted to say goodbye and take care.”
“Oh, this isn’t goodbye,” he said, walking toward her.
“You are leaving today, aren’t you?”
“With wings.” He stopped directly in front of her. At five feet eleven inches, she had to tilt her head to stare into his eyes, which made him a little over six feet.
“Well then, this is goodbye.”
“This is only see you later,” he contradicted. “And speaking of later, I have a request of you.”
“What?” She eyed him warily.
“Have dinner with me tonight.”
“I’m working tonight.”
“Tomorrow night, then.”
“I don’t think so.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Because you need rest.” She adopted her sternest voice and continued, “You suffered a mild concussion, and you should be concentrating on your recovery, not dating.”
“I’ll rest for the remainder of the day and tonight, if you’ll have dinner with me tomorrow night,” he bargained. “Come on.” He grinned infectiously. Lord, she could make out faint dimples visible through the light hair covering his cheeks, as if he needed another attribute to add to his handsomeness. “Give me a reward for being a model patient.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You think you’ve been a model patient?” He nodded vigorously, and she suppressed a smile with difficulty. “I think your head injury was worse than we thought.”
“I don’t know what you’re smirking about. I’ve been very agreeable.” At her continued skeptical expression, he suggested, “Ask any of my nurses.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll let you cling to your delusions.”
“Will you also reward my good behavior and go out with me tomorrow night?” he persisted.
“Isn’t getting out of here incentive enough for you?”
“You’ve got me there,” he quickly agreed. “But...”
She sighed. “There’s always a but.”
“Yes there is,” he agreed. “And this one’s very important.”
“Well, let’s hear it,” she prompted drily.
“But we’ve waited long enough to go out on a real date. Granted, we’ve both been insanely busy, but now fate has brought us back together, so let’s not waste this opportunity. Let’s seize the moment and do something we should have done months ago.”
“Is that the reason you want to go out with me? To check off some to-do list?” she challenged.
“Of course it isn’t.”
“Why do you want to go out with me?”
“Because I like you. I have since the moment I met you,” he answered immediately. His warm eyes held hers captive. “Don’t you like me?”
“You’re a very nice man, Cam, but—”
“No buts,” he interrupted with a smile.
“No fair, you got to use buts, so I should too,” she argued.
“Sorry.” He shrugged. “Those are the rules.”
“Some rules,” she huffed.
“Come on. You know you want to give in. I promise to show you the time of your life if you’ll go out with me.” A smile played about her lips at his persistence. “I’m not seeing anyone. Are you?”
“No.” Her truthful response tumbled out before she could stop it.
“I don’t understand how that’s possible, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.” He grinned again, showing off those dimples that her fingers were itching to trace. “Don’t you want to see where this leads—finally?”
She did and she didn’t. She did like Cam, she had since meeting him, but she was dedicated to her career—a career that was very demanding of her time and focus. She also had a lousy track record with men, and she didn’t want to travel down that losing road again...but maybe this time could be different. Maybe Cam would be different. He certainly made her feel different. She wished she knew whether that was good or bad.
“You’re thinking too much,” he said. “That means you really want to say yes.”
“It means no such thing.”
“Yes, it does.” He reached out and took her hand. “Come on, Angela, you know we’re long overdue for our date.”
“We’ve seen each other several times. A few nights ago, to be exact,” she reminded him.
“For a few minutes at Alesha and Derrick’s.” He grimaced, and she bit back a laugh with difficulty. “That hardly qualifies as a date. Does it?”
“That depends on your perspective.”
“Well, my perspective is that seeing each other at our mutual friends’ house is not a real date.” He made another distasteful face, and this time she did laugh. “Come on, I’ll show you the time of your life.” Of that she had absolutely no doubt. She was having a good time just standing here sparring with him.
She hadn’t been on a real date in ages—years, in fact, and with good reason. She liked her life the way it was—predictable and uncomplicated. She had no intention of starting anything serious with anyone, but where was the harm in sharing a good meal with a man who was funny, smart and godfather to their best friends’ son while she was the godmother?
“All right,” she heard herself agreeing.
“Excellent.” He brought the back of her hand to his lips, sending goose bumps up her arm. Suddenly the room seemed much too small for the two of them, especially when he said, “Your skin is very soft.”
“Um...I have to go.” She cursed her breathless voice and removed her hand from his. “I’m due in the O.R.”
“Okay, I guess I can’t object to that.” Her eyes widened when his fingers smoothed her bangs off her eyebrows. “I’m looking forward to our date, Angela.”
“Just remember you promised me a great time.” She was surprised she could articulate this, because his nearness was doing strange things to her ability to breathe naturally.
“And