Flirting with the Doc of Her Dreams

The absolute shock on Emily’s heart-shaped face had Beth’s stomach spasming. Despite the local theater her friend often volunteered at she wasn’t that good an actress, was she?

Trying to pretend she wasn’t freaking out inside, Beth took a bite of her apple, chewed slowly, let loose an inner scream of denial, then shrugged. “I don’t want to discuss this any more.”

“I do.” Emily’s eyes glowed with excitement. “I want to know who you were texting with, because Eddie seriously had me otherwise occupied last night.”

Trying to squash her doubts and thoughts of what her best friend claimed to have been doing instead, Beth shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

Lord, she hoped her friend was teasing, that Emily had been the texter, as she’d been so positive about the night before when she’d been too tired to think clearly. Good ole Emily. Always pulling her leg and trying to push her out of her comfortable protective shell.

“Sure we will.”

Beth cut her gaze to her best friend. “How?”

“Hello.” Emily snapped her fingers in front of Beth’s face. “You’re smarter than that.”

Realization dawned and Beth’s jaw dropped. “Uh-uh. No way am I calling that number.”

Emily held out her hand. “Fine. I will. Give me your phone.”

“No way.” Beth’s gut clenched into tight knots. “If I wasn’t texting with you, then I prefer not knowing who now knows my biggest secret. How humiliating?!”

Emily didn’t look impressed by Beth’s inner misery. “So what if someone knows you think Dr. Randolph is the cat’s meow? The man is hot. It’s a fact.”

Beth couldn’t stop her blush.

“Plus, if what you said is true and he and Dr. Qualls have broken up, then he’s fair game now.” Emily waggled her perfectly plucked brows. “If you ask me, you should tell him you think he’s one fine specimen of a man.”

Beth went into sensory overload and mental shutdown any time the man was near. The last thing she should do was tell him how fine she thought he was. She shook her head. “I don’t know that they’ve broken up. Plus, even if they have broken up, they’ll probably just get back together.”

“Ask him, and you can’t judge every man by what Barry did.”

Beth shook her head harder, faster, as if that made her response more negative and would jar Barry Neal from her mind forever.

“You have a serious problem, you know.”

Beth knew.

“You let a stupid ex influence how you view all men, influence how you dress and act, and then, when you finally start getting over him, you fall crazy in lust with a man you avoid at all costs. I’ve never seen feet move as fast as yours any time he comes near.” Emily gave a disappointed sigh. “I really think this whole Eli thing is just another way for you to avoid getting back into the dating saddle.”

“Maybe.” But she really didn’t think so because she’d like to be back in the dating saddle. As far as the way she dressed and acted went, Emily was referring to her college days. One couldn’t wear streaks of blue in one’s hair, a nose ring, and colorful Hello Kitty T-shirts and retro make-up forever. The changes in her had nothing to do with Barry having crushed her heart and spirit. She’d grown up, had a more mature look, that was all.

“You’re crazy,” Emily accused.

If she’d revealed her silly schoolgirl crush on Dr. Randolph to some stranger then she couldn’t argue with her friend’s assessment of her mental state. She was crazy.

Crazy about a man who didn’t know she existed.

Whether to distract himself of his failure with Cassidy or for some other insane reason, Eli had thought of little other than the previous night’s text messages. He’d even gone so far as to try to track down who the number belonged to via the internet but had been unsuccessful as the number wasn’t a public one.

He couldn’t seem to put the messages from his head.

Especially at moments like the present one.

Moments he was at the hospital and searching every face as if somehow he’d figure out who the texter was by the look on her face. What did he expect? That the truth would be stamped across her forehead like a scarlet letter?

Most likely, whoever the texter was, she worked in ICU since she’d had to work late to cover for Leah Windham. She was also probably a nurse. Which made sense since she was friends with Emily Jacobs.

With a little patience and a leading conversation to find out who’d worked late the night before, he’d have this figured out before the day ended.

Usually he rivaled Job on the patience score, but today he just felt antsy. He wanted to know whom he’d been texting. Why it was so imperative, he wasn’t sure—he just needed to know.

He’d actually considered asking Emily which one of her friends was obsessed with him, but figured the woman would tell him where he could go rather than give him a name.

“Dr. Randolph?” A pleasant female in her mid-fifties caught him just as he’d been heading for the elevator. “A patient is being admitted to 303 with a pulmonary embolism and you’ve been consulted on her,” the charge nurse told him. “She’s not on the floor yet, but should be within a half hour.”

“Thanks, Ruth.” Glancing at his watch, he figured he should grab something to eat while still at the hospital. Then hopefully the new admission would be on the floor and he’d do the consult prior to heading back to his office to start his afternoon appointments.

Maybe, just maybe, while in the ICU, he’d get a glimpse of whoever he’d been texting with the night before, because, whoever she was, his interest was piqued.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_606d34b8-6a3d-55d8-b0b6-539752e9692d)

“DON’T LOOK NOW, but guess who just walked into the cafeteria.”

Before her friend had said a word, Beth knew exactly who had walked into the cafeteria where she and Emily were eating their lunch. Her Dr. Eli Randolph radar had started bleeping. Big time. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Which sounded ridiculous but all her senses seemed to be tuned into the man. Whenever he came around, she was just … bleeping aware.

Which made her palms sweat, her tongue thick, and her feet antsy.

Which had led to her asking her superior to please avoid assigning her to Dr. Randolph’s patients. Nurse Rogers might have thought her request odd, but without too many questions and an empathetic look she’d said she would do her best. She couldn’t avoid doing so altogether, of course, but for the most part she had attempted to accommodate Beth’s request and the few times she’d had to, Beth had avoided him during rounds.

“What if he is single now?” Emily asked, not willing to let go of their subject. “What are you going to do about him?”

Beth grimaced. “I never should have told you that I find him attractive.”

“You more than find him attractive. I’ve known you since college, have seen you through your two major relationships, and knew you way before Barry messed up your head and your sense of style. I would have known.”

Ugh at the reminder of her ex. She couldn’t care less about Barry, but her stupidity still stung. She could point out that it wasn’t her head Barry had messed up. It had been her heart, but what was one organ compared to another? Either way, she’d gotten over the cheater the hard way.

“I see how you look at that man so it’s not as if you could hide how you feel from me,” Emily pointed out, her gaze raking over Eli as if sizing him up. “I could point out that you never lit up like this around the doofus who left you for his ex and that Barry wasn’t even fit to tie Eli’s dirty ole tennis shoes.”

No, she hadn’t lit up around Barry. Just as well as he’d done the un-decent thing of sleeping with his ex while still living with Beth. Men.

“My question is, are you going to act on that attraction? Tell him you think he’s hot?”

Emily’s question snapped Beth back to the present and she frowned at her friend.

“Don’t be ridiculous and quit staring at him,” she ordered, but was unable to stop herself from doing the same. What was it about Eli that got to her so? Besides the fact that he was brilliant, breathtaking, and had the most amazing smile of any man ever, that was. “I’ve worked with him for months, and I seriously doubt he even knows my name. Why would I make a fool of myself that way?”

Why indeed?