Braden fake coughs loudly. “I’m still in the room.”
With a roll of her eyes, she walks over and kisses Braden on the cheek. “Willow’s dress is with Nikki out front. Tell her I said thank you and I’ll call her soon.”
“I will. Are you sure you can drive?” He gestures to the bandages around her palms and wrist.
She nods. “I’ll manage.”
“Call me and let me know how you’re doing, or I will track you down and hound you, and I know you don’t want that.” Leaning forward, he kisses her cheek.
“I’ll walk you to your car.” I step forward and grasp her elbow.
Braden opens his mouth, probably to argue that he’ll do it, but he takes one look at Bri’s face and caves. “Drive carefully,” Braden says instead.
“I will,” she promises her twin, no joking in her tone.
Glancing over my shoulder, I meet Braden’s gaze. “We’ll talk when I come back inside.”
Hand on Bri’s lower back, I guide her out of the room, down the hall, and into the waiting area. “I’ll be back,” I tell Nikki.
“Okay, Dr. Northfield,” the receptionist says without looking up from her work.
The sun has set and the lights in the parking lot don’t all work. Dammit. I have to get the money from my father, because I doubt I can get the funding I need from a bank.
I pause at the car and hear the beep of her doors unlocking. A light reaches us from the corner of the lot, and when she turns toward me, I glimpse her pretty face in shadows.
“Thank you for everything tonight,” she says, head tipped up toward me.
I smile and brush my knuckles over her cheek. “I’m glad I was here. Do me a favor?”
She lifts her eyebrows. “What’s that?”
“Text me when you get home so I know you’re safe.” And I don’t mean I am checking up on her in a brotherly way, either.
“Okay.” From the gleam in her eye, she obviously knows I am expressing interest.
What kind? What can we have together? I have no idea. Not yet. But I intend to find out.
***
I wait for Bri to drive away before I stride back into the clinic to find Braden, who has settled into our shared office. Ever since we’d started working, the original head doctor, Thomas Anderson, began shifting more work our way and doing less on his end, just one of the reasons we are working on a takeover plan.
“Hey.” I pull out a chair and drop into it, the long day catching up with me.
Braden turns and glares.
“Knock it off,” I mutter. “It’s not like I’m some asshole who’s going to hurt your sister.”
“You’re not someone with serious relationships in your background, either.” Braden’s point is well made.
My romantic history is bland at best. I’ve had women in my life but none who’ve stuck or whom I’ve had any interest in pursuing a serious relationship with. Until Bri, but I’m not goingto share my feelings about her with Braden. Whatever happens between us is private.
“Trust me or not, but I’m not discussing her with you.” I kick my feet up on the desk. “Want to order in dinner?”
After a long stare off, Braden nods. He calls in sandwiches from a nearby restaurant, and then talk turns to our plans to turn this run-down clinic into a state-of-the-art health center.
“Are you going to New York this weekend?” Braden asks, leaning back in his seat.
I nod. “My cousin is getting married, and we’re close. I wouldn’t miss it anyway, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone and talk to my father about releasing his hold on my trust fund.”
