And if there was a punishment for coming in the locker room after surgery, then bring it down on her, because it was damn well worth it.
Chapter Thirty-Four
This is a bad idea.” Josie stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom and inspected herself.
A shudder couldn’t be prevented.
Sara laughed. “Oh, come on. You look great.”
Great was a stretch. She looked as white as a polar bear in this bikini. Why she had ever thought it would be a good idea to buy a Hawaiian-print bikini was beyond her at the moment.
It had been an impulse, like a lot of things lately. Houston had invited her to the beach, a murmured invitation with his finger still inside her, and she had managed a shaky nod. It had seemed natural, her body still pulsing, while she felt sexy, to put on a bikini and splash around in the surf in front of him.
“I’m not talking about the bikini. I’m talking about hanging out with Houston outside of the hospital. Or his condo.”
Now she decided she’d rather die. Slowly. Eaten alive by a thousand sewer rats than frolic on the beach with him and pretend that she was feeling nothing other than friendship. She wasn’t ready to fully admit that though.
“I look about one thousand shades whiter than every othertwenty-seven-year-old woman in Florida. You look fantastic. It’s not fair. When do you have time to tan?”
Sara flipped her blond hair back over her shoulder and shrugged. “Josie, it’s a fake tan. It’s that lotion you put on to make you look tan. I don’t lie in the sun anymore without SPF 30 sunscreen on. You of all people, a fellow doctor, should know the dangers of skin cancer.”
“I don’t have to worry about it.” Josie grinned at her pale reflection and reached for her cover-up. The cover-up that was going to be staying on her every second she was on that beach or she would fry like a tomato, no matter the SPF.
“There’s never time to go to the beach.”
“This will be good for us. Fresh air. People not suffering from illness or injury. A chance to relax.”
Josie certainly needed that. After the episode in the OR yesterday, she needed to lounge around in the sun and read the latest celebrity gossip on her phone. She was sadly out of date on who was dating who in Hollywood.
She just hoped seeing Houston wouldn’t be awkward. Which it would, of course, since she had let him get her off in the hospital locker room. A blush heated her face just thinking about it. But he had invited her to the beach, and well, it was his fault their conversation the day before had dissolved intothat. Not that she regretted it. The total opposite, in fact. It had been eye-opening to watch him touching her, to see her own expressions of pleasure, her body leaning into his fingers…
“Relax. Got it.” She took a fortifying breath and thought calming thoughts that didn’t involve sexy surgeons.
“Okay, slather on the sunscreen and let’s go. The sun, the surf, and gorgeous half-naked men await us. Or man, in your case. You’ve narrowed the field to Houston. I’m still searching.” Sara stepped into her high-heel sandals and tied a little sarong around her red bikini.
“You’re wearing high heels to the beach? Won’t you sink in thesand?” Josie pulled on sneakers and wiggled her toes. Was that a hole forming in the toe? She really needed to hit the buy button for about ten different online shopping carts.
Maybe that would be her new year’s resolution.
“Yes, but so what? The heels make my legs look longer.” Sara slung a floral bag over her shoulder.
Said Sara, whose legs were already eight miles long. “Then I should be wearing six-inch heels.”
It might be a gamble bringing Sara. She didn’t know how Houston would react to that, or what he had planned. But he hadn’t called it a date, had only said he missed the beach and wanted to go, and frankly, she needed Sara as a buffer.
Walking through her tiny living room, Josie said, “Why do I have the feeling you’re on a mission? A find-a-date-at-the-beach mission?”
“Because I am. I told you I haven’t had a date in six months.”
“Working crazy hours makes it tough to date.”
Sara dug her sunglasses out of her purse as they stepped out into the brilliant sunshine. “I think I intimidate men. That’s why I’m going for the frivolous look today.”
Sara’s logic seemed a little flawed. “Don’t you think you want a man who loves that you’re intimidating?” Josie asked, then wondered why she thought she knew anything about what men liked.
“In theory. But it’s not brains that initially attracts a man’s attention. Same for women with men. It’s either looks or a bubbly personality.”
Josie jumped into Sara’s sedan. “You’re totally wrong. I have a bubbly personality, and it hasn’t done a thing for me.”