“Are you calling me old?” I say drily, and Tina giggles.
“No, but you’ve been here a month and haven’t gone on a single date. Come on, Heidi. You’re a young hot doctor. Get out there and live!”
“I don’t know, I still feel like I should be able to talk to the guy a bit first,” I grumble.
“Talk is cheap. Instead, now you’ve got a hot date to look forward to after work today.”
“Yeah, when I’ll be tired and gross from a full day of work,” I grumble half-heartedly, but Tina just gently shoves my shoulder.
“C’mon, go for a drink, maybe dinner, and just see what happens.”
I look at her pointedly. “Nothing is going to happen, Tina. Nothing.”
Curtis, who was always my favourite nurse to work with, given the stories he’d share about his wife and two kids, chimes in. “Because our girl has standards. Look, Heidi, just go and have fun. Be safe and let me know if you need a ride home.”
I drop my head down onto his shoulder. “Thank you. I guess I’m dating again.”
Tina and Curtis both let out a little whoop, and I try to muster up the excitement to match. But it’s hard. Because the man I’m meeting tonight is not the man IwishI was spending an evening with.
“Of all the freaking self-absorbed, idiotic —”
“Hope you’re not talking about me.”
The rumble of Max’s voice brings me to a stop, and I spin around to face him. It’s been over twenty-four hours since I last saw him — dream not included — and I hate the fact that my heart leaps a little at the sight of him.
“No!” I say, but even I can hear the aggravation in my voice. I temper it and try again. “No.” I wave in the direction of the restaurant I’ve just left. “Bad date.”
His eyebrows raise, but he doesn’t say a word. Which I take as an invitation to keep ranting about the situation I just walked out on.
“I realize, thanks to Thad and then med school and residency, it’s been a while since I dated. But is it common practice to basically treat a first date as a really terrible job interview? I’m talking no conversation, just a guy telling a girl how awesome he is and how lucky she should feel to be with him? Because that’s not what I remember. Where’s the romance? Where’s the chemistry? Where’s thetrying to get to know each other?”
I whirl back when I realize I’ve stomped on down the sidewalk and Max isn’t beside me. “Word of advice. If you’re on a date, try to pull your head out of your ass and talk about something other than your classic car obsession.”
His throaty chuckle reaches me at the same time he does, his hands casually stuck in the pockets of his sweatpants. Dark grey sweatpants. That show an outline... My eyes dart back up to his face, and that’s when reality hits me like a tonne of bricks.
Did I really just vent to my attending — and the guy who starred in a very dirty dream of mine — about a horrible date from hell?
Shit.
“I’m sorry. This is incredibly unprofessional of me to be talking to you like this.” He’s my boss. Not my friend.
Just being friends is the last thing I want with him.
“It’s fine,” he says, amusement colouring his tone. “I’m sorry you had such a terrible experience…for your first time back in the dating game?” There’s a question in his words, and I nod to answer it.
“Yeah, well, if that’s what I’m in for, I’ll stay single.”
“Most men don’t know what to do when they’re faced with a beautiful, intelligent, capable woman. They expect them to melt at their feet in a puddle,” he says wryly. I manage to hide my surprise at his candid comment, but there’s no fighting the blush that flames up my cheeks when he continues.
“You’re intimidating to those kind of men, Heidi, simply because you’re better than them.”
“Are you intimidated by me?” I ask, not sure where the bold words come from.
His eyes flash with something. “No. I’m surprised by you.”
The world comes to a standstill as we stare at each other for a moment before Max clears his throat and the moment is over. “Can I walk you home?”
“No need, I’m close by.” And the thought of walking next to him in the dusky evening light has my insides tied up in knots. Because it feels too much like my date should have been with him.
