On his way out, Dexter muttered under his breath even as he waved and tried to make his “thanks” sound genuine.
He dug his hands deep in his pockets, and his head hung low as he wandered back to his office.
Simone perched on his desk, her silky legs swinging and her short skirt pushed seductively up to the top of her thighs. Her cleavage showed so much he could almost see her nipples. He wondered why the bottle-blonde bothered to dress at all. Did all women think him such a bimbo that they thought they’d attract him with skin? For once, he wished a woman would seduce him with her scathing intellect.
“What are you doing here? What do you want?” He tried to keep the sigh out of his voice, but one look at Simone’s disappointed moue told him he’d failed.
Simone pushed off her seat, purring, and sidled up to him. She swept her arm wide to indicate the wine, cheese and crackers spread over his desk. “I bring sustenance. I thought we’d be cosier having lunch in private here instead of that crowded cafeteria. You like?”
He pushed his hair off his face, gave her a wide berth, then sank tiredly into his chair. “Thank you but not today. I’m bone weary and not in the mood.”
She pouted prettily, rounded the desk, and climbed on his lap without invitation. Then she leaned so close his nose was between her boobs and her cloying perfume suffocated him. With hypnotising fingers, she kneaded his shoulders. “I know what my poor baby needs. I’ll get you fixed right up.”
When she nuzzled his neck, he’d had his limit and gruffly said, “Not now, Simone. I just want to be alone.”
She feathered kisses up his throat to his lips, and against them, she murmured, “You don’t mean that, honey pie. Mommy Simone can make you better than new.”
He hated babbling baby talk. When she popped open her shirt and let her breasts swing free, he grunted and shoved her off of him. “Get out and don’t come back. I don’t appreciate this.”
Simone blinked, dazed, as if she couldn’t believe anyone would reject her. “You’re dumping me? You dare?”
He leaned back. “Yes.”
He was ready when she screamed and stomped, but her screeches still made him wince. If he hadn’t been sure before that she wasn’t the woman for him, he was now.
“Please stop embarrassing yourself. It’s not at all appealing.” He poured himself a glass of her bottled water and sipped while he watched her show.
Finally, she stopped ranting and faced him. She slapped him with a resounding sting then fisted her hands to her hips. “Of course, I don’t turn you on. You’re gay. I bet you and Dr. Hunky are getting it on. You’re dirty little secret is blown wide open now.”
He laughed in her face at the absurd hypotheses. “Keep lying to yourself, sweetheart. You’re the only one who’s going to comfort you.”
A knock sounded on the door, a glorious noise to his ears. “Come in.”
Ben stuck his head in, but when his gaze landed on Simone, a blush highlighted his cheeks. “Uh, I see it’s a bad time. I’ll come back later.”
For once, he was happy to see the other man. “No, no. Come right in. Simone and I are finished, and she’s just leaving, aren’t you, Simone?”
Simone jutted out her jaw and huffed off. On her way out, she flung over her shoulder, “Fine! I’m sick of you gay guys leading us on.”
After she left, Ben closed the door and leaned on Dexter’s guest chair. He pointed to Dexter then to himself. “Did you tell her something I should know about? Am I missing something?”
Dex handed a bottled water to Ben. “Nah. She assumes any man who isn’t bowled over by her raging beauty and scintillating personality has to be gay.”
He lifted his glass to Ben in a toast. “Somewhere out there are nice women for us.”
Ben swished his drink and stared into it. Then he cleared his throat.
Dex looked up, and the hand holding his drink hovered midair. “Not that I’m not enjoying this male bonding surprisingly enough, but I get the inkling you have something on your mind. Spill.”
Ben gulped down his drink then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Well, yeah. You should know Char’s in love with you, not me.”
Dexter reeled. The last thing he wanted to talk about was Charity. She was right up there with Simone for busting his balls. He thought about not answering, but that was childish and a dead give away to how deeply he still ached for her.
A wry chuckle escaped his lips. Of all the people with whom to have this conversation, he couldn’t believe it was Ben. But then again, Ben was the only one with all the lurid details. “Okay, I’ll bite. What makes you think so?”
Ben tipped the bottle to his lips and poured the last drop of water down his throat. Then he stuffed cheese and crackers in his mouth. After he repositioned himself, he scratched his jaw. “Because she shot me down flat when I tried to propose.”
Dexter almost fell off his chair, and he stared at the younger man. “You what? She what?”
“Oh, yeah. Talk about the kiss of death. She still wants to be ‘friends’.”
“So what makes you think she loves me? She hasn’t told
“The way she looks at you when she thinks no one’s looking. She’s still got it bad for you, buddy. If you feel the same, go get her. I’m not a threat.”
Dexter wasn’t so sure and besides, he was still smarting. “I don’t know. She’s wilder than me-”
Ben thumped his thigh. “She’s almost as big a prude as you. We all got caught up in the moment that night. Let me ask you something?”
Dex wasn’t so sure he wanted to answer, but he nodded and folded his arms across his chest.
“Do you love her?”
He searched his soul and couldn’t deny the answer. He stretched and stared at the ceiling. “Yeah. Unfortunately.”
“Then stop being a doofus and go get her, man. She’s too good to stay single long. Or are you the big dork I’ve always thought you were?”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Ben grabbed more cheese and crackers for the road and headed to the door. He saluted smartly and tapped his heels. “Oh, and take a shower. You reek.”
Char massaged her aching neck after another gruelling night in the OR. All she wanted was a hot shower then to fall into bed and sleep for a week. Unfortunately, she only had two days off, but it would have to do.
“Nurse Reynolds, can I have a moment with you?” Dexter blocked her way from the scrub room, an indiscernible look in his eyes.
God, he looked so tasty but so aloof she couldn’t stand it. Hot and sweaty and eager to get out of here and get human again, she tilted her head and looked cross-eyed at him. “Can’t it wait? I’m dog tired.”
Dexter leaned against the door and refused to let her by. He put his fingers up in a Boy Scout salute. “It won’t take long. Scouts’ honour.”
“Please be quick. I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.” For emphasis, she yawned and patted her mouth.
He crooked his finger at her then swaggered to his office and held the door wide for her.
She felt a trap and hesitated outside his door. “Am I in some kind of trouble? Is Amy waiting in there to ambush me? Can’t you just tell me here and be quick about it?”
He towered over her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Only if you want everyone to overhear.”
She checked both directions down the dim, deserted hallway and splayed her hands wide. She looked askance at him. “Yeah. It’s a real rush hour. Suit yourself.”
He cracked a charming, lopsided grin and bowed. “
Her pulse raced, and she almost swallowed her tongue. She did a double take to make sure she was with Dexter and not someone else. But it was Dex. “Did I get sucked into an alternate universe? Or am I getting hard of hearing?”
Or maybe one of them had gone crazy? He couldn’t have called her ‘my love’. He wouldn’t do that. He’d hardly been able to look at her.
He put his hand at the small of her back and ushered her into a place that definitely didn’t look like his office. Rose petals blanketed the floor. Soft coloured lights and romantic music transformed it from an office to a den of…what? Love?
She bit back a guffaw and turned questioning eyes on him. “What’s this all about?”
He closed the door with a soft click, advanced on her and captured her hands in his. “Us.”
“What?” She choked on the word, disbelieving her ears, sure now she was caught in some cruel time warp or maybe she was delusional.
“As in ‘you and me’.”
A cynical laugh scraped her throat, and she heaved a huge, tired sigh. She rubbed her forehead. “There is no ‘you and me’.”
“I’d like there to be. Ben told me you shot him down and why. He thought I should know.”
Anger hummed through her veins. Was she ever going to repay her ‘friend’ Ben this ‘favour’. She backed up and came up short against his desk. “Okay, so I told him I wasn’t in love with him and just want to be friends. So?”
“And that you love me?”
She searched his eyes, but she didn’t find any answers. Not wanting to be humiliated, she said, “I didn’t say that. He was extrapolating.”
Dexter closed the gap between them and trapped her with his arm on either side of her. He leaned so close his breath mingled with hers and her eyes crossed to see him. “Well? Did he extrapolate correctly? Are you in love with me?”
As she decided whether or not to confess that she was madly, deeply, and crazy in love with him, he got down on his knees and extracted a blue velvet case from his pocket. In front of her astonished eyes, he opened it to reveal the most gorgeous, breathtaking diamond solitaire she’d ever laid eyes on.
“I love you. I’m in love with you and I want to spend my life with you, Charity. Will you do me the honour of being my wife?”
In shock, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move or speak. She could only drown in his beautiful, intoxicating, deep-brown eyes.
“Char?”
That pulled her out of her reverie, and she took the box and gazed at it open-mouthed. “Do you think it’ll fit me?”
Dexter stood and pulled out the ring and held it before her. With a plea in his voice, he asked, “Is that a ‘yes’?”
In rapture, she smiled and nodded her head and squealed, “Yes! Yes! And Yes! I’ll marry you.”
He crushed her to him and took possession of her lips. After he’d drunk long and deep like a man dying of thirst, he pulled back just far enough to gaze into her eyes. “Will you forsake all others and be all mine?”
She took the ring and tried it on but it was too loose.
“It was my grandmother’s. We can have it sized to fit.”
