She nodded, and he turned to walk back to the men’s locker room to get changed. He realized that this date hadn’t just saved him from a boring night, it might have just cracked open a door he’d kept shut for a very long time—and for once, he wasn’t in any hurry to close it.
Aliza
Aliza watched as the sexy doctor walked away, his tuxedo hugging his ass like a glove. Yeah, maybe raising her paddle to bid on him wasn’t an “accident” as she claimed. She could blame it on brain fog or being caught up in the moment, but she found Elias to be the sexiest man she had seen in a long time, and maybe she just wanted a night out with a hot man. Dani cornered her the second that Elias walked away, and Aliza knew that her friend wasn’t finished trying to get her to back out of the date. She didn’t want to, though, and telling her friend that wouldn’t go over well.
Aliza barely had time to process the fact that she’d just bid on a man—an actual human being, before Dani grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward the ladies’ room like they were fleeing a crime scene. Dani checked each bathroom stall as though looking for anyone who might witness their “top secret” discussion.
“What did you do?” Dani hissed the moment the door shut behind them.
Aliza winced as Dani spun her around. “I made a bid at the hospital’s charity auction,” she said weakly. “I thought that was why you brought me here.”
“No,” Dani said, eyes wide and wild. “You bought a cardiologist. A hot, sexy doctor who is old enough to be your father, and all of my coworkers are talking about it. I’ll never hear the end of how my friend bought Doctor Daddy.”
“Doctor Daddy,” Aliza muttered. “Who calls him that? And why does any of this matter? Who cares if I donated money to have dinner with the man—it’s just dinner.”
“That man is my boss’s, boss’s, boss,” Dani shot back. “Do you have any idea how messy this could get for me?”
Aliza leaned back against the counter, staring at her reflection. Her cheeks were flushed from all of the excitement of the last hour. She looked like someone who had made a questionable choice and was only just realizing that it would have repercussions—not only for her but also for her friend.
“I didn’t even mean to bid,” she said quietly. “It just happened. And I certainly didn’t mean to cause you any trouble, Dani. I’d never want to do that.”
Dani groaned, scrubbing a hand over her face. “Of course, it just happened. Because God forbid you ever make a calm, rational decision when an emotionally unavailable silver fox is involved.”
“That’s not fair,” Aliza said, though she didn’t have a strong argument against it. Her friend knew her well, and her ability to make solid decisions had been off for a damn long time now. It’s why her life was so up in the air, while Dani seemed to have hers all together.
Dani softened, her voice dropping. “Aliza, you don’t do spontaneous. You hate being put on the spot. You overthink ordering coffee every morning, yet end up getting the same thing every single day. This—” She gestured vaguely toward the ballroom. “This is not you.”
“I know,” Aliza said. That was the problem. She knew that bidding on another person was out of character for her, butDani got one thing right when she said that he was a silver fox, even though she hated that saying. Whether or not he was emotionally unavailable wasn’t something that she cared to know or planned to figure out. She wasn’t kidding when she said that they were just going to have dinner and then part ways. Aliza had no plans on getting to know the sexy doctor or figuring out why the other nurses call him Doctor Daddy.
Dani studied her for a long moment, then sighed. “You could back out. I’ll help you. We’ll say you got sick. Or that you had an emergency. Or that you’re allergic to doctors.”
Aliza huffed out a small laugh. “That might actually be true.”
“Aliza,” Dani pressed, stepping closer. “You don’t owe him anything. And I really don’t want you doing this just because you feel awkward or trapped.” Aliza met her friend’s gaze in the mirror. Dani wasn’t teasing now. She looked as worried as Aliza felt.
“I’m not doing it because I feel trapped,” Aliza said slowly. “I’m doing it because for once I don’t feel that way.” Dani blinked.
“Most men look at me like I’m a conquest, but he didn’t look at me like I’m a prize,” Aliza continued. “Or like he expected something from me. He looked relieved. Like I was doing him a favor by bidding on him.”
“A grateful man,” Dani groaned again. “That is the most dangerous kind of man.”
“Probably,” Aliza agreed. “But I want to go out to dinner with him. That’s all this is—just dinner and then, we’ll shake hands and go our separate ways.” Silence stretched between them.
Finally, Dani held up her hands in surrender. “Okay. Fine. But if he breaks your heart, I’m poisoning his coffee at work.”
“Spoken like a true friend.” Aliza smiled. “You have a deal.”
Aliza walked back out to the ballroom and looked around, not sure if she was hoping to find Elias or hoping that he skipped out on their date. She wasn’t lying when she told Dani that she just wanted a night out with the sexy doctor. The question was, did she want more than what she admitted to her friend? No one would be able to fault her for wanting more with the hot doctor. Sure, he was probably about her father’s age, but there was something about him that seemed to draw her to him.
He walked back into the room, and she let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. It was still up in the air whether she was relieved to see him or if she knew that she was making the biggest mistake of her life.
“Hey,” he said, crossing the room to her.
She looked around, half expecting to find someone else that he was talking to, but she was the only other person in the room with him. “Hey,” she breathed. Aliza had expected to feel awkward. Hell, awkward was her middle name, but she wasn’t sure how she was going to get through the evening and make intelligent conversation. She had nothing in common with a doctor—well, other than the fact that she had been to one before when she was sick.
She’d prepared herself for the awkwardness the moment she’d raised her paddle, really. She knew to expect stiff conversation, forced smiles, and the quiet regret of realizing she’d spent an obscene amount of money on a man she had nothing in common with. She’d braced for the kind of evening that turned into a funny story later, one she’d tell Dani over wine while swearing she’d never do anything like that again.
He walked beside her as they exited the banquet room, his presence solid and unhurried, like he wasn’t trying to impress her or escape her. The noise of the hospital faded behind them, replaced by softer music and the low hum of the city outside. Aliza became painfully aware of her heels, the way her dress hugged her curves, and the fact that she’d willingly agreed to dinner with a man who looked like he had his entire life together. Had she known that she was going to end her evening on a dinner date, she would have picked out a different outfit or maybe spent some extra time on her hair and makeup. She was not putting her best foot forward, and that had her feeling extremely self-conscious.
