On the Surface (In the Zone) (7 page)

She had a ton of things to do—laundry, grocery shopping, her car needed an oil change and she needed new work shoes—but all that fell by the wayside.

“Sure. That sounds great.”

* * *

Tim had of course, been dreaming of Erin, not the late British Prime Minister. In his dream, Erin had pulled him down onto a bed where he fell on top of her. He could have smothered her, but she didn’t seem to mind his weight. In fact, she welcomed him with her legs around his hips to increase the contact between his dick and her hot crease. They kissed long and hard. She gave as good as she got, and just as he was about to slide in sans condom, he’d woken up to find her pressed up against his ass.

Exasperated, still half-asleep and horny as hell, he desperately tried to hold onto the dream, but it hadn’t worked. The dream Erin had disappeared.

But, the real Erin had remained, which in many ways was even better. The dream Erin had been naked—always a plus—but the real woman seemed as if she might be amenable to getting naked in the future. After all, he was fairly sure she’d been the spoon initiator. That meant her subconscious liked him, didn’t it?

At breakfast, he found he did have a bit of an appetite after all. He drank more apple juice like Erin had suggested. She drank coffee. Once he started smelling the breakfast foods, his stomach sent him signals that it might appreciate some sustenance—eggs, bacon, well-done hash browns, an apple spice muffin and a cup of coffee with cream to wash it down—like he’d had the other day. But having been the victim of his stomach’s wrath only a few hours ago, he didn’t quite trust it. Even so, he risked eating a bagel and didn’t feel the worse for it. Erin ordered some fruity pancakes and he enjoyed watching her lick the syrup off her lips.

“I can’t resist pancakes,” she said. “Next to lasagna, they’re my favorite food.”

Because of the autograph scammer, they chatted about the pros and cons of eBay. He’d never bought or sold anything on it, only checked out the hockey memorabilia to see if one of his jerseys had gone for more than some other guy’s. Yeah, it was sad and juvenile, but on more than one occasion, the fact that his stuff was selling for a decent price had made a shitty day better. Erin had bid on and bought toys for her nephews.

“EBay is a great place to find those big Lego kits. Ian and Ryan are Lego addicts. Those Lego sets are pricey and sometimes really hard to find,” she said. She took a sip of coffee. She liked it with cream and one packet of the yellow stuff, he noticed. “Plus, I’ll admit I get a little kick when I think about my brother stepping on one of those things.”

Tim chuckled. “Payback. It’s a bitch.”

She raised her coffee cup in a toast. “Yup.”

“I played with Legos when I was a kid. They’re still popular?”

“Ah, hello.” She leaned forward. “Legoland is only about half an hour away.”

“What’s that? A Lego store?”

“It’s a whole amusement park. There are some cute rides and a really great city of miniature buildings, all made of...”

She trailed off and focused on something over his shoulder.

“What?” he said, turning to look. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“No! Don’t—shoot. Never mind. He sees us.” She put a smile on her face. “Oh, God, he’s coming over. Shit. Shit. Shit.”

The mild expletive surprised him. He hadn’t gotten the impression that she cursed a lot.

“Pretend we’re friends,” she said under her breath just as two men approached the table.

“Erin! Small world.”

Both men wore tennis whites. Both looked to be in their mid-to-late thirties, but one of them, the one who had spoken, had a sweater tied around his shoulders like a prep-school grad.

“Dr. O! What a surprise.”

Chapter Eight

Tim had bristled a bit at her sotto voce directive to pretend they were friends. He thought they
were
friends. With a critical eye, Tim looked over the Wimbledon Twins. One of them, the skinnier one with the sweater, was a doctor. Erin probably worked with him at the hospital. The brightness on Erin’s face increased as she faced the doctor and her posture changed. Suddenly, she had a slight arch to her back that thrust her breasts out, not that they were particularly noticeable in that shapeless smock she was still wearing.

Did Erin have a crush on this doctor character? For some reason, that didn’t sit well with Tim. He wondered if Dr. Prepper had similar feelings. The situation definitely required further monitoring.

“Tim, this is Dr. Adrian Oliphant,” Erin said. “Dr. O, this is Tim Hollander.”

Dr. Oliphant’s eyes widened and he grinned. “Holy crap. Tim Hollander.” They shook hands. Tim noted a Rolex watch on his wrist. “It is truly a pleasure to meet you. This is my friend, Steve Hammersmith. We were just having a bite to eat after tennis this morning.”

“Tim Hollander,” Hammersmith said. “You’re the guy who battered a fan with a water bottle.”

Tim sighed and managed a tired smile. “That’s me.”

To Tim’s surprise, Erin straightened in her chair and said, “I’ll have you know that Philly fan did all the provoking. It’s not like Tim was looking for a fight.”

Tim chuckled inwardly, amused at how she stepped right in to defend him when last night at the press conference she had admitted to knowing nothing about Bottlegate. She amusingly reminded him of a fierce little Chihuahua, ready to take on the big dogs. Not that he’d ever tell her that. In his experience women didn’t like to be compared to dogs.

Steve laughed and turned to Tim. “So you always let women fight your battles?”

Well. That wasn’t quite as amusing.

Tim shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “I wasn’t aware we were fighting.” He let his expression drop one notch colder than friendly. Maybe a couple notches. “When I fight, I use my fists, not snide little insults.”

Stiffening, the Steve guy received the message and he didn’t like it. “So you admit it. You’re just a goon now.”

Even though Tim was not and never had been an enforcer on the ice, he did not want to argue. Erin’s face looked tight, and after all that she’d done for him last night, he owed it to her not to cause a scene over an asshole with an opinion and a penchant for name-calling.

Tim simply stared at Steve as he sipped his coffee.

“So what are you two doing here?” Dr. Oliphant asked, changing the subject. He turned to his friend. “Steve, Erin’s the greatest little nurse over at Good Sam. She’s always making me brownies and making sure my charts are all organized.”

Tim studied Erin’s expression, which had attained a tight quality, like a face-lift gone bad.

“I do a lot more than that,” she said, still managing a smile.

Steve chuckled and glanced at his buddy with a smarmy expression.

Being a man, Tim understood that particular exchange. Steve now thought that Erin played doctor with the doctor. Judging from the shocked look on Erin’s face, she got it, too, and didn’t know what to do about it.

“Steve, buddy,” Dr. Oliphant said, “it’s not like that at all. Erin’s a nurse. A professional. I would never ever think about her in that way. I mean, come on...” He trailed off with a look of embarrassed incredulity.

Tim wanted to ask the man what the fuck was the matter with him that he didn’t see what a hot little number Erin was. Shit, all Tim had to do was think about how her ass had felt this morning and he found himself on the Erection Highway with no exit in sight.

He looked at Erin, who had seemed to deflate. If she’d been a bright spring flower before when Dr. O appeared, she now looked like a discard, tossed aside. That bastard doctor had hurt her feelings, so much so that the feisty Erin he’d come to know had gone into hiding.

Not thinking things through, he caught a passing waitress’s attention. “Could we have some more coffee, please? You need some, don’t you, Erin? I know I could use a cup.” He directed his attention to the two men. “Neither of us got much sleep last night.” He almost winked, but deemed that to be overkill.

Erin’s jaw dropped open. Dr. O looked a little flabbergasted too. Steve, on the other hand, wore his default smarmy expression.

“Or we should probably just go,” Tim said, peeling a fifty off and putting it on the table. “We don’t want to be late for the signing.”

Erin didn’t answer. She just stood up when he did, her face a funny mixture of emotions he couldn’t sort out.

“Nice meeting you,” Tim said, putting a proprietary arm around her shoulders and walking her toward the exit.

The moment they cleared the windows of the bistro, Erin shrugged his arm off, anger having gathered in her eyes like a swarm of mildly irritated bees. “What did you just do?”

Tim blinked at her, confused. “What are you mad at me for? That doctor is the one you should be mad at.”

Now,
she
looked confused. “What? Why?”

Tim scoffed. “For making it sound like you’re a butt-ugly troll. What an asshole. Wait a second. Is he gay? Is that what that whole sweater thing was? Because that would explain why he was so anxious to distance himself from you sexually.”

She looked taken aback. “No, he’s not gay. He was married. He just got a divorce.”

Tim gave her a knowing look.

“I’m telling you, he’s not gay.”

“Then he’s blind. Anyone with eyes could see that you’re—” He broke off, suddenly at a loss. He couldn’t just say what he was thinking—that he’d fuck her any day of the week, any place, any time, as many times as she wanted. That wouldn’t go over well in her current mood, even if he added that he’d never talk about her as condescendingly as Dr. Prepper had.

“Anyone with eyes could see I’m what?” she prompted.

He cleared his throat. He would have loosened his collar if he hadn’t been wearing a T-shirt. “A very desirable woman.”

* * *

Erin sincerely hoped a feather didn’t come floating by because she was sure to get knocked over by it. “Do you...do you have the hots for me?” she asked, immediately regretting it.

He looked as if he were about to deny it, but then said, “What if I do?”

Erin stifled her laugh. “It’s just surprising is all.”

“I don’t see why.”

“Tim, come on. You’re a freaking pro athlete. I’m...a nobody.”

He stopped in the parking lot and faced her. “First of all, you’re not a nobody. Second of all, so what? I’m a pro athlete. What does that mean?”

She looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I have this preconceived idea that you guys are all playboys who live life in the fast lane.”

“Some are and some aren’t. I know a lot of guys who married their high school sweethearts. I have a preconceived idea that nurses are do-gooders, like Florence Nightingale, but I’m sure that’s not accurate.”

Erin thought immediately of Jackie Kerstan, the panty princess, and Alana, queen of sloth. “I guess we’re both wrong.”

“I guess so.”

They paused for a moment, neither speaking. She needed to digest what they’d both said to each other and figure out where things stood now. She expected he was doing the same thing.

Reflecting back, she realized that he’d once again defended her. He’d seen Dr. O’s comments as a slight, and to tell the truth, she had too. It had been quite a blow to hear Dr. O dismiss her so publicly. It had been one of those situations where she’d say something lame and then spend the rest of her life thinking of what she should have said instead, so she’d ended up saying nothing at all. Then Tim had stepped in and made it sound like they’d just spent the night together.

Never mind that they
had
spent the night together. That was beside the point. Dr. O now thought she and Tim Hollander were sleeping together. Of course, the next time she saw him, she’d explain everything—from the fan kerfuffle to the food poisoning. (Everything that is, except the inadvertent spooning.) And if he asked why she hadn’t set him straight at the restaurant, she’d claim lack of sleep.

But what to do about Tim? All of a sudden, her feelings for Dr. O seemed...muddy. Did she even really care what Dr. O thought now? She honestly didn’t know.

She did know she liked that Tim was interested.

She sighed. “I’m sorry I blew up at you. I shouldn’t have.”

“And I should have thought of a different way to handle it.” He rubbed his chin. “Maybe I should have punched him in the face.”

She gasped but then saw the mischievous look on his face.

“Oh, you’re hilarious,” she said. “I thought you were serious for a second there.”

He gave her that lopsided smile. “I know. That’s what makes it so funny. The truth is I can sometimes go a whole day without punching someone in the face.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“I’ll prove it.” He took his keys out and jangled them in his hand. “Spend the day with me.”

“What?” Was he asking her out on a date? They’d only met yesterday.

“You have the day off. Come to the signing with me. After that we can go to Legoland or SeaWorld. Something fun. I’m new in town, remember? Show me the sights as a proud San Diegan.”

After only a moment’s hesitation, she decided, what the hell. She didn’t owe any allegiance to Dr. O, especially when he’d spoken so condescendingly to her. And truthfully, spending the day with Tim Hollander sounded a lot more fun than doing laundry and finding new work shoes.

“All right. How about we go to the beach?” she asked.

“Perfect. I love the beach.”

* * *

When they got to the hospital, Erin noticed him looking peaked again.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked. “Your stomach rebelling again?” She wondered if maybe it hadn’t been that salmon burger after all.

“I’m fine.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. I just...don’t like hospitals much.”

“Not many people do. Take your time.”

“I just need a minute.”

She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to do it, but she knew Luke would be crushed if Tim didn’t go inside.

“Hey, everything okay?” James Atwater approached. “You don’t look one hundred percent to me.”

“I’m good. I can do this,” Tim said. He visibly steeled himself, then walked inside.

They found a couple of reporters in the children’s ward, familiar to her from last night. Tim took them on while Erin ducked into the nurse’s changing room to get into some clean scrubs.

Tammy came in while she was putting her shoes back on. “Erin, you’ll never guess what happened. Luke got a heart.”

“What?” Erin stifled a shriek. “You’re kidding me! Oh my God. That’s fantastic!”

“Happened early this morning.”

The two nurses hugged tightly.

“I’m so happy for him. Man, if that little kid didn’t get a heart, I was going to lose my faith in God, I swear.” She wiped away tears of joy. “But that means he’s going to miss Tim’s visit.”

“I know,” Tammy said. “But it can’t be helped.”