“Um, let’s see. There’s not a whole lot to know. I’m a doctor. I’ve lived in the city my whole life. My parents live here too.”
“Yeah?” She tilted her head to the side. “That must be different, never having moved away from your parents. I wonder sometimes if that’s the way to do it. My mother is always saying how much she misses me.”
“Well, honestly, I didn’t have much of a choice. I was going to go to Johns Hopkins when I graduated from high school, but my mom actually got really sick, and I felt like I needed to stick around for her through that.”
Her full lips folded into a frown. “I’m so sorry. That’s awful. Do you mind me asking what happened?”
I nodded. “Ovarian cancer. They were sure she would…well, you know.” I knocked on the wooden table, a rush of emotion making my gut clench in a vice-grip like it always did when I thought of how close we came to losing her. “She’s fine now, though. My father nursed her through and made sure she went to all the best doctors and received top-notch care. You’ve never seen a doctor work so hard for someone who wasn’t his actual patient.”
“Your father is a doctor, too?”
“Yeah,” I took a sip of my drink, worried that I sounded like the kind of dipshit that couldn’t think for himself. I’d always just knew I’d follow in my dad’s footsteps. But work like Bren’s? That was pure passion which echoed through her every word and gesture. “It was a family practice, actually. I did my internship at the office, and residency in the local hospital and then, when my dad was ready to retire, I took it over, just like he did with his dad.”
“Wow. That’s an incredible legacy.” She smiled, but suddenly a note of tension re-entered the space between us. Like she knew.
I cleared my throat. “That was more happenstance than anything. We all just happened to find fulfillment in treating patients.”
“I can understand that,” she said, nodding. “I see the vets come in and care for the babies or the sick animals and it feels very” —she paused for a moment before adding—“noble.”
“Thank you.” A little rush of heat surged through me at the smile that lit her face, and I glanced away, trying to shove the memory of her writhing beneath me from my mind.
This wasn’t about that. This was about getting to know each other the way we should have that first night.
I couldn’t seem to knock the devil off my shoulder who insisted that just because we started the night differently tonight didn’t mean it couldn’t end the same way. Me between those silky thighs, that tight pussy clenching over me as she called out my name.
I coughed and shifted in my chair to ease the sudden pressure behind my zipper and shot her a smile.
“We’d better figure out what to order.”
Before I shit-canned this whole dinner idea and ordered another helping of Bren Matthews.
Chapter Eight
Bren
I’d never wanted a glass of wine so badly in my entire life.
Though, of course, I would have taken a shot, too. Or maybe a hole in the head. Anything to get me off this constant roller coaster or to make me less likely to hide under the table until he finally gave up and left.
Swallowing hard, I forced myself to remember what he’d just asked me but was saved when the waitress stopped by our table to take our order. “Uh, the apple, bacon, and gorgonzola salad, I think. Sounds good. Not that I’m like craving apples or anything.”
He nodded. “It does sound good. Steak for me, please.”
He ignored my complete spazziness just like he had earlier. Which, of course, made perfect sense.
Because that’s exactly what he was—perfect.
Seriously, not only had this guy completely rocked my world in bed, but now he was telling me about his close family ties and how he stayed in the city to take care of his ailing mother? What was he going to say next, that he was up for sainthood after performing his next miracle?
“What’s on your mind?” His deep, rumbling voice broke through my thoughts and I looked up at him, feeling weirdly like those clear blue eyes of his could see through me and into my mind.
“What?”
“You have a weird expression on your face. I was just wondering why. What’s going on in your head?”
“Oh, uh” —I cleared my throat—“it’s silly.”
“Something about the animals?”
“No.” Damn. Why hadn’t I just said yes? That would have been the perfect out.
“Then what?” He laughed.
I glanced around and finally huffed out a sigh. “This is going to sound stupid.”
“I doubt it.”
“Well, then, if you have to know, I was wondering why you’re still single.”
He raised his eyebrows and I rushed to finish my thought.
“I mean, you’re handsome and successful. You’re a doctor. You must have women falling all over themselves to get to you, and you see hundreds of women in your office.”
“Dating a patient is not an option,” he said. “It’s unprofessional, not to mention unethical.”
“Okay, fine,” I murmured, slicing my hand through the air. “Other than that, though. You have to have had women fawning all over you, and you’ve got these stories about bringing babies into the world and taking care of your sick mom and all that, so, like, what’s the deal?”
“What’s the deal?” he repeated, and his eyebrows hitched slightly higher. Taunting me. Why couldn’t I make sense while talking to him? I’d had just about enough of stuttering Bren and wondered when poised Bren would come out of hiding.
“Yeah. Why aren’t you already taken? You’re what…thirty?”
He cleared his throat again. “Thirty-two.”
It seemed ludicrous. Unless, of course, he was already taken and hadn’t felt it pertinent to fill me in on that fact. I toyed with my fork trying to act nonchalant as I waited for him to respond.
He rubbed at his perfectly chiseled jaw. “Well, I do date quite a lot.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re single.”
He eyed me and then took a sip of his drink. “Look, I’ll tell you the truth, but then I’m going to be the one sounding silly.”
“Seems only fair at this point, considering the level of awkward I had to suffer through on your exam table,” I fired back.
“You got me there.” He tipped his head in a clipped nod. “The reason I haven’t settled down with one person is because I’m looking for more than just sex and companionship.” His intense gaze burned into mine as he leaned forward, and I barely suppressed a shudder. “It’s going to sound cheesy, but the fact is, I want a soul mate. Someone who not only loves me, but understands me on my deepest level, you know? Accepts me for who I am, faults and all. After watching my parents all my life—and especially through my mother’s illness—I just think life is too short to waste it on anything less.”
A lump knotted in my throat.
Life was too short.