Wash (25 page)

“
Seriously? He said that?” She cut him off, surprised her
father would actually say something nice about her to
others.

“
He did. Now everyone is volunteering to help out. Half the
hospital didn’t even know Dr. Thompson had a daughter.”

“
Did you know?”

He
nodded. “Your dad has a framed picture of the three of you on his
desk.”

Charity
stared at the road ahead. She hadn’t noticed the picture when she
dropped the phone off. Then again, she hadn’t been looking for it.
She wondered when the photo had been taken.

She
parked the car and pointed just up the road on the other side of
the street. “The place where we’re eating is a house turned into a
restaurant. I think the owners live upstairs actually.”

“
I’ve driven on this road a hundred times and never noticed a
restaurant sign.”

“
Wait till you try the food. You’ll be ordering takeout once a
week.”

Charity
got out and walked around the car to the sidewalk. Elijah was
waiting for her. They walked together and stopped at the
intersection for the light to change.

“
You’ve got to be joking,” Elijah muttered as he glared at the
ground.

“
What?” she asked, glancing around.

“
To our left, about to cross the street, is
stalker-nurse.”

Charity
looked and saw a pretty redhead coming toward them, a determined
look on her face. Charity didn’t want the night ruined. A crazy
idea popped in her head. “You’re about to owe me dinner.” She
stepped closer to Elijah just as his head came up. She leaned in,
wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips hard against
his. Her eyes closed on instinct and her lips softened against his.
He froze a moment before he started kissing her back.

His
hands slipped inside her coat and their warmth seeped through her
shirt and burned against her skin. Her lips parted and his tongue
brushed against hers. It sent mixed signals to her
brain.

She
heard an angry harrumph behind her. Just to be safe she pressed
closer to Elijah and kissed him harder. It took Charity a few
moments longer than she thought it would to pull away. Slightly out
of breath, she leaned her forehead against his and whispered, “Is
she gone?”

Elijah’s
shoulders rose and fell as his eyes searched hers a moment before
glancing behind her. “She’s stomping down the road.” He chuckled.
“I mean it. She’s literally stomping her feet. I think she’s pretty
pissed.”

Charity
straightened and turned to watch the girl. “I don’t think she’s
going to be bugging you anymore. Just check your food and coffee
for poison.”

Elijah
pressed his fingers against his lips. “That was pretty
impressive.”

So are you.
She grinned at him, and tried to ignore her inner
voice.

He
stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. “Th-The idea, I mean.
Smart thinking.”

She realized he was thanking her. “Then I believe you owe
me dinner now.” She started walking to the restaurant, wishing the
evening air would cool the heat off her face. “And I’m
starving
.”

Chapter 10

Charity
spent the next day setting up the double conference room for the
evening’s staff party. Last night’s dinner played over in her mind
again and again. She’d set her iPod on the docking station
connected to the room’s sound system and tried to focus on the task
at hand.

Except
the fake kiss kept tempting her imagination of what it might be
like if Elijah wanted to kiss her. She couldn’t deny he was good
looking. The whole doctor thing was a turn on.

Stop it!
She rolled her eyes for the tenth time that hour. She
needed people to come tonight, to relax and have a good time and
want to be part of this gala. She moved another table to the wall
perpendicular to the wet bar. Well, it wasn’t much of a bar until
she had cases of beer, wine, and several bottles of whiskey
delivered. Then she had to have one of those cafeteria fridges with
sliding doors brought up. She’d just finished stocking it when her
father walked in.

She
wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. It felt warm. She’d
have to make sure the fans or A/C was on for the evening. Thank
goodness the room had glass doors to a balcony that overlooked the
city.

Her
father cleared his throat. “The room looks different.”

Charity
had the large conference table removed and put into the room across
the hall. The room had loads of space now. She’d set tables and
cushioned chairs throughout the room, covered the tables in white
tablecloths with specks of silver sewn throughout. It gave the
effect of glitter – like diamonds.

“
There’s going to be quite a few people coming in and out
tonight.” From the email replies, there would be at least
fifty.

“
What should I wear?”

The
question took her by surprise. The man always wore a suit or
something dressy. She doubted he owned a pair of jeans. “Just wear
dress pants and a button up. You can wear a suit if you want, but
this room’s pretty warm. You’ll be ditching the jacket before you
finish your first conversation.”

“
Noted. Do I need to make some sort of speech?”

“
Do you want to?”

“
No.”

“
Then you don’t have to. Just mingle around the room and
introduce yourself to whoever’s here.”

“
Everyone knows who I am.”

Did the
man always have to be so confident? It made him a great doctor but
it also made him frustratingly annoying. “I’m sure they do, Dad,
but you don’t know everyone here and people like to feel special if
you make a point to talk with them or say hello or even ask their
name.”

He
opened his mouth, but then closed it and didn’t say
anything.

“
You’ll enjoy yourself. Be here by seven at the very latest.
People will start showing up around six and want to eat. The food’s
coming around seven, and if people start eating before you’re here,
they won’t wait around. They’ll leave.”

“
Okay. I’ll be on time.”

“
Thank you.”

He
walked out of the room without a goodbye or a see you
later.

She let
out the breath she didn’t even know she had been holding. Did he
talk to his patients the same way? His bedside manner could
probably use some work.

The
clock above the door showed it was nearly four. She needed to get
back to the hotel to shower and get ready herself. She did one more
walk around the room and counted to sixty. That would give her
father enough time to get to the elevator and be gone so she
wouldn’t have to see him again until later on. She grabbed her
stuff and dashed out the door, opting for the staircase just to be
on the safe side.

After
racing home, Charity showered, straightened her hair, and did her
makeup. She stood in front of the hotel bed trying to choose
between the two dresses she had brought. One was a just above the
knee black designer dress with a gold buckle where the V-cut center
met. The other had a long skirt dress and the top neatly twisted so
the material pulled to the side right by her hip.

She tried the first on and posed in front of the mirror.
Classy but it would make the corners of her father’s mouth pull
down. Off it went and the charcoal long dress traded places.
This one.
She liked it because
it made her small breasts appear larger and her waist tighter.
Classy, but relaxed.

Good to
go. She drove back to the hospital and made a mental note to ask
her father for a parking permit. The walk from the visitor parking
lot wasn’t the issue, but constantly carrying boxes would be
easier. Tonight’s box weighed about twenty pounds. She had gone to
the printer’s down in Atlanta this week and ordered an invitation
with information about the gala six months away. Reading material
and something for the hospital staff to mark their calendars and
remember. The sheets had been done like a wedding invitation in
heavy paper with gilded gold and sparkles to look like diamonds.
They’d turned out really beautiful.

Halfway
to the hospital entrance, a male voice called from a parked car in
the doctor’s reserved area. “Need some help?”

Simon!
Charity smiled at her best friend’s husband. He waved and walked
around to the passenger side to let Julie out. Charity waited for
them.

“
Here, let me carry that.” Tall Simon easily took the box from
her arms and carried it. “You look gorgeous, Charity.” He kissed
her on the cheek before planting a kiss on his wife’s lips. “You’re
looking particularly hot tonight as well, wifey.”

“
You’re so cheesy.” Julie shook her head. “He’s only coming
because I promised him you’d have beer and wine.”

Charity
smiled. “There’s whiskey, too. And rum.”

“
Ahhh, a girl after my own heart. Why didn’t I meet you before
Juls?”

Julie
playfully punched him in the arm. “You did! You asked her out and
she turned you down.”

“
I did? I don’t remember that.” Simon quickened his step at the
same time opening the hospital’s sliding automatic door.

“
That’s ‘cause you try to pretend it never happened.” Julie
shook her head, winking at Charity.

“
For the record,” Charity said grinning, “I didn’t turn you
down because I wasn’t interested, I had some major test I needed to
study for.”

Simon
dramatically dropped his head. “And to think I had a
chance.”

Julie
snorted. “You never had a chance.”

Charity
hit the elevator button. “I think you guys did pretty good finding
each other. At least you’re not thirty and still waiting to get
married.”

Simon
let the girls onto the elevator first. “In some countries a man is
allowed to have more than one wife.”

“
It’s not going to happen, Simon. Not going to happen.” Julie
waved her index finger at him.

Charity
laughed. She loved their banter and how easy they got along. “I’ve
missed you guys.”

“
Well don’t avoid coming to New York.” Julie pretended to scold
her. “Move back here so you can hang with us all the
time.”

“
Except don’t plan too many of these mandatory hospital
functions.” Simon stepped forward to make sure the elevator door
would close on them. “People’ll start to realize I’m not so cool
out of hospital gear.”

“
You could have worn your scrubs.” Charity unlocked the
boardroom door and flipped the lights on.

“
See, Juls! Charity wouldn’t have minded.” He gave her a smug
look. “I told you so.”

“
Go ahead and change, but don’t blame me when your pillow is on
the couch tonight instead of the bed.” Julie glanced around the
room. “It looks fab, Charity.”

“
Thanks. I really didn’t do much.” She walked behind the wet
bar. “Do you want a beer, Simon?”

“
I thought you’d never ask.”

Charity
handed him a bottle and poured a glass of red wine for Julie. She
wanted to wait until later.

Staff
started to arrive and Charity stood between the door and the bar.
She introduced herself and let them know the bar was self-serve.
The room filled with doctors, nurses, and everything in between.
Charity tried to make mental notes for everyone she spoke to. At
ten to seven, the pizza driver arrived with pizzas stacked on a
gurney. She asked the delivery guy to set the pizzas on the wall
across from the large windows. As she grabbed her purse to tip the
guy, she heard her father’s voice:

“…
the bicuspid valve isn’t where I want it to be. We will need
to monitor for the next few days.”

“
I’ve already put that in his charts and spoke to the nurses.
They’ll let me know if there are any changes.”

Elijah’s
accent couldn’t be missed. Charity tipped the pizza boy and turned
to greet the doctors. “Hi.” She smiled at her dad and let her eyes
linger a moment longer than necessary on Elijah. He’d spiked the
front part of his hair with some gel and the five o’clock shadow
made him beyond sexy. He wore a light blue button up shirt and dark
dress pants that fit just tight enough to show off his physique but
still completely professional. Classy and sexy. Her mind raced back
to the kiss from last night. She stared at his mouth and then
nearly died when she realized she’d just traced her lower lip with
her finger.

“
If you’ll excuse me.” Her father stepped between them. “Dr.
Skyrt is here. I haven’t seen him in ages!” Charity’s father walked
over to the man and shook his hand, leaving her alone with
Elijah.

“
How was your day?”
Professional, Charity, be professional.

“
Interesting.” His fingers ran lightly over his chin. “I have
to tell you something.” He leaned slightly closer to
her.

“
What is it?” she whispered in a quiet airy voice. Her entire
body was tuned into his. She could feel goose bumps start to rise
on her bare arm.