He spoke first. “You’re quite the Miss Popularity, aren’t you?”
“Excuse me?” There were about a millon different interpretations to that statement, none of which were good.
He shrugged. “It’s just that no matter what department we’re in, everyone seems to know you.”
She darted an amazed look at him. He looked almost bitter, despite his casual stance. Was Houston feeling left out of the hospital social circuit?
But that made no sense. The man shot out don’t-come-near-me vibes on a constant basis. Not exactly the way to build friendships. He must just think of her as a charming little fluff who had flirted her way through medical school.
Or slept her way through medical school, given what he was proposing. Suddenly anger replaced a good portion of her nervousness. She was an intelligent woman, not a brainless chatterbox.
“I’ve been here over a year now, and spent nine months doing ER orthopedic trauma, so I’ve met a lot of people. And set lots of bones,” she added, hoping to beef up her resume in his eyes. “Plus, I work a lot of double shifts to gain experience, and do two rotations a month for ER instead of one.”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her, his hands on the hips of his scrub pants. “Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep?”
“I told you, that’s not what’s been distracting me.”
Sudden awareness flared in the air between them.
“Don’t take too long to make a decision.”
Josie felt like she had already made her decision. “I’ll let you know as soon as I have.”
“Well, I’ll see on Monday then. I’m leaving for the day.” His blue eyes rolled over her, without hurry and with possession. “Unless you make a decision before the night is over. Then just text me.”
“And you’ll come running?”
He smiled tightly. “Something like that.”
More likely it would be her doing the running.
It was embarrassing to admit even to herself how long it had been since she’d had sex with a man. Given her demanding schedule, she hadn’t dated tons. Over the years she’d had a few boyfriends, of course, but even those had been lukewarm affairs, friendships more than grand passion.
She and her boyfriend Luke had called it quits after realizing that while they spent almost every day together palling around, they could go two or three weeks without sex and neither of them even seemed to notice. Never had she experienced a true melt-your-panties kind of passion.
Right now her panties seemed convinced Houston was the man to melt them and were halfway to liquid already.
Houston started to brush by her at the same time she turned to go the opposite way.
Josie found herself knocking into his chest again, stumbling from the impact, bouncing around the hallway like a pinball with hair. His warm hands came out and gripped her arms to steady her.
“Sorry,” she said, trying to quickly move out of his grip. Only she tripped over his foot. Her shoulder hit the wall behind him and she gave a nervous laugh. “Oops. I guess I haven’t got that clumsy thing under control yet.”
“I know a cure.”
That was the problem. So did she. Only that particular cure seemed destined to land her in even hotter water than she was in right now.
“What? Ritalin?” she joked.
He didn’t laugh. “Just one night, Josie. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy it.”
Enjoyment wasn’t in question. She was getting hot with himjust breathing in the same hallway with her. “I’m sure I will... would. It’s just I’m not sure this is a good idea. I have too much at stake and I’m already screwing up lately by acting like a klutzy flake. What if this makes it worse and I blow my entire career to shit?”
Screwing up her fists, she took a deep breath as he just stared at her.
“I’m not going to stand around and try to talk you into it. If you want me, you know where to find me.” He took a step away from her. “But do me a favor. If you don’t want to do this, stop wearing panties with lips on your ass. And stop bending over. The two together would tempt a saint, and despite what patients might say. I’m no saint.”
It was not the term she would have chosen for him either.