Chapter 8
Zane
I couldn’t get Dillon and her ridiculous high heels out of my head. Each time I saw her she had on a different pair. She wasn’t answering my texts and she hadn’t been by the office in two days. I was starting to think it was something I did to keep her away. There was no way she was avoiding me just because we’d had sex. Would she?
I ran a frustrated hand down my face. This was insane. I didn’t get all beat up over women not texting or avoiding me. Kade was having a field day with my mood swings. He enjoyed seeing me like this. Sadistic motherfucker.
As I caught a glimpse of blonde hair around a corner I hustled to see if it was Dillon talking to another doctor. My heart pounded in my chest, which confused the hell out of me, but I needed to know if she was here. It was her, but instead of talking to another doctor, she was talking to one of the PA’s I’d nailed her first week at ESEC. I grimaced when I saw the two standing together, but it was too late to pretend I wasn’t there. They both looked up with odd expressions on their faces.
“Hey Dillon. Kate.”
“Hi Zane,” Kate answered. Dillon continued to stare at me without answering.
“Can I steal Dillon away for a few minutes?” I asked Kate.
She bit down on her lip. “Sure. We can catch up later.”
Dillon nodded and looked at me expectantly. I took her arm and led her towards one of the supply closets. She allowed me to lead her away, but the tight line of her lips told me she wasn’t happy about it. I needed to play this cool, avoid sounding needy, and talk her into going out with me.
“Are you avoiding me?” I asked.
So much for not sounding needy.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times before answering.
“I’m not avoiding you, but I don’t know what you want. This isn’t easy for me, Zane. I’ve been so unprofessional in all this.”
She hadn’t cared about professionalism when I had her bent over in my office. Where in the hell was this coming from?
“Go out to dinner with me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Me saying that I need to be more professional means you ask me out on a date? I think that’s the exact opposite of what I meant.”
“We can talk about ESEC.”
“I have everything I need from you for now. If that changes I’ll be in touch.”
She tried to push past me, but I wrapped my fingers around her arm. The shiver that ran up her spine told me she wasn’t immune to the attraction between us.
“I don’t care about your article. I want to get to know you better, Dillon. You promised.”
“Why?” she demanded.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But there’s something between us.”
Her mouth tightened into a thin line. “I’ve already put out for you. Why would you want to get to know me better?”
I tugged at my hair. “What the hell Dillon? I admit that there’s this insane attraction between us and you ignore it. You’re determined to make this difficult on me, aren’t you?”
She grinned, showing her dimples, and bit down on her lip to hide it. “Maybe.”
I grinned back. “What do I have to do?”
“I have a work thing tomorrow that I could use a date for. Are you in?”
I look at her in surprise for a few seconds. She’s inviting me to meet her co-workers?
She shook her head when I didn’t immediately answer. “You know what, never mind. It was a stupid idea.”
“I’ll be there. Just tell me what to wear and when to pick you up.”
Her lips tipped up in a small, shy smile, not a look I was used to seeing on Dillon. She’s always so confident and sure of herself. “Pick me up at seven tomorrow night? It’s a cocktail hour thing.”
“Sounds great.” I look down at her feet just to catch a peek of her shoes, some strappy leopard print mule that fit her perfectly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She pulled her purse in closer and nodded. I watched the sway of her ass as she walked away, feeling a little better. Even if she’d been avoiding me before, she wasn’t now.
* * *
Dillon’s co-workers weren’t expecting her to bring anyone. I couldn’t tell if they were confused that it was me, or if it was just weird she brought a date in general. The evening had started out good when I met her outside her apartment. She greeted Stella and started to slide in graceful as always. Of course I checked out her heels, some bright green crocodile skin looking things, and whistled. She grinned over her shoulder as she dipped into the car. The woman’s shoes were becoming an obsession. As I walked around to get in the car I smiled to myself and shook my head.
La Bella was striking with Carrara marble and dark walnut woodwork trim everywhere. The place reeked of opulence and class. Dillon fit in perfectly with the surroundings, looking gorgeous in her black cocktail dress. She took my hand and led me over to the bar, ordering us both glasses of expensive scotch.
“What’s next? Are you going to smoke a Cuban with the men later?” I teased. “You might just be marriage material if you say yes.”
She smiled. “Are you going to have an orgasm right now if I tell you I’ve done that exact thing several times?”
I grabbed at my chest and groaned. “You seriously might be the perfect woman.”
She took her glass and turned out towards the room. “I’ve learned to play with the big boys. In my profession, you learn to blend in, become anything you need to get what you need.” Her lips left a red lipstick stain on the crystal and somehow I found it curiously erotic. “Zane, I’m excellent at my job. I’m driven. I have lofty goals that most people don’t understand, but oddly enough I think you actually do.” Her emerald eyes met mine. “And that scares the hell out of me.”
I took a sip of my scotch. “My parents didn’t think I would make it through medical school, let alone through my first surgical rotation. I know a thing or two about ambition and determination to prove yourself.”
Dillon’s expression softened. “You’re nothing like I expected, Dr. Turner.”
“What did you think I would be like?” I asked, smirking.
“Cold. Calculating. A manwhore.” She grinned. “At least I was right on one count.”
I chuckled. “I enjoy sex, surely you won’t hold that against me.”
“I don’t. It’s just weird to find someone who has the same mindset that I do. Relationships never work out for me. I don’t waste my time on even pretending to be in one anymore. Sex is simple. Less messy. But for some reason I like you.”
“The feeling is mutual, Ms. Hart.”
We stared at each other for a few seconds before being interrupted. I was irritated at the disruption, but Dillon looked almost guilty.
“Will, this is my date, Dr. Zane Turner. Zane, this is my boss Will Lewis.” The man seemed almost pissed off when Dillon told him who I was. I hoped he didn’t have a thing for her.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand. “Wait. Are you the William Lewis that wrote the expose on Senator Johnson?”
He nodded, a wry smile on his face. “I am. It took me months to put it all together.”
I leaned back on my heels. “Wow. That was an impressive piece of investigative journalism, sir. It rocked the medical community for sure. A few of the men I work with were good friends with the senator.”
“You weren’t friends with him? I thought most of the ESEC doctors all hung out together.” Will asked, obviously fishing for insider information.
“No, I went to school in Boston before moving back. I did most of my residency at Mass General. Those guys are all older than me and like to point it out frequently. The only reason I’m even at ESEC was because of my father.”
“Your father?” Dillon asked. Her hand tightened around her glass and I frowned.
“Well, my stepfather. He’s the Chief of Surgery at Parkview. He wanted me to go into a solid practice when I moved back instead of opening my own and he insisted. Honestly I would’ve stayed in Boston, but my mother begged me to move back.” I swirled the scotch in my glass and looked at Dillon. She looked uncomfortable. “Are you okay?”
She pasted a smile on her face. “Fine. I could use another drink. Do you want one?”
I held up my almost full glass. “I’m good for now.”
She nodded and excused herself to walk back over to the bar. Will and I watched her walk away.
“Dillon is a good girl. She’s a hard worker and incredibly driven,” he said quietly.
“She is. We were just talking about that.”
“You’d do well to remember that.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Are you implying that I wouldn’t support Dillon?”
He shook his head. “I’m not implying anything. I’m just telling you that she puts work before anything. Including relationships, so don’t get too attached.”
“I think you’re overstepping here. Dillon’s a big girl. She doesn’t need her boss warning off her dates.”
He smirked. “That’s what I thought, Zane.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
“Enjoy the rest of your evening, Dr. Turner,” he said as he walked away. I watched him stop and say something to Dillon. Her body stiffened and she nodded once. My hands balled into fists and I wanted to punch the asshole. What the hell did he mean? And where the fuck did he get off trying to warn me off Dillon?
She placed her hand on my arm as she came up next to me.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, fucking peachy,” I said under my breath. She gave me an odd look. “Everything is fine. Listen, I’ve got this thing tomorrow morning. Mainly it’s just brunch with a couple of my friends. Would you like to come with me?”
She bit down on her lip. “Zane, you just heard me say I wasn’t the relationship type.”
“Who said anything about a relationship? It’s just brunch. You know what, never mind, forget I even asked.”
“Zane, I already have plans. Maybe—”
My cell vibrated in my pocket and I reached in to grab it, holding up a finger to stop Dillon. It was the hospital and I don’t think I’d ever been so relieved to see that number.
“Dr. Turner,” I answered. She listened to my side of the conversation as I talked over a case with the nurse, trying to decide if I needed to go do an emergency surgery tonight or wait until tomorrow. I hung up almost as quickly as I’d answered.
“I need to go in. Do you want me to take you home now or do you want to stay?”
She stared at me for a beat before answering. “I think I’m going to stay. We should talk about—”
“Later. I’ll call you later.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight Dillon.”
I felt the heat of her gaze on my back as I walked away. My head told me I should get her to let me take her home, but my pride told me to let her find her own way. If she didn’t want to meet my friends that was fine, but why in the hell had she brought me to a work thing if she didn’t want to be seen with me. Thank goodness I hadn’t had more than two swallows of that drink because now I could go do what I did best.
Cut.
* * *
The dark sunglasses I wore did little to block out the sunlight that made my head pound even harder. We hadn’t finished the surgery until after three in the morning. It had taken me forever to finally wind down and go to sleep. Now I was facing my friends with two hours of sleep and what felt like the world’s worst hangover. Kade wolf whistled at me as I sat down at the table and I flipped him off.
“You look like shit,” he said laughing.
“I had an emergency surgery last night,” I said, answering his unasked question.
I glanced at my brother’s fiancée when she placed her hand on my arm. She looked at me sympathetically. “Why didn’t you just stay at home? We would have understood.”
“I wouldn’t stand you guys up,” I said smiling. Savannah and my brother Justin had been together for three years and had been planning their wedding lately. I’d be happy to have her as a sister officially. In two months time they would finally be married. Justin had been a lot like me before they met, screwing everything in a skirt and making a complete ass of himself. She’d changed him though and I absolutely adored her. They only made the drive to Parkview every few months, but we made sure to meet up every chance possible.
“You’re lucky, Savannah, if it had just been me he would have stayed home in a heartbeat,” Kade said grinning.
“Damn straight.” I finally pulled my sunglasses off and put them down next to me.
“When’s the last time you slept?” Justin asked. “Kade’s right, you look like shit.”
“You guys are all assholes. Except you,” I said to Savannah. “You I’ll keep. Are you sure you want to stay with my brother? He’s kind of a dick.”
She laughed. “You ask me that every time, and my answer never changes.”
I grinned. “A guy can hope.”
“How did last night go?” Kade asked. “You went out with Dillon again, didn’t you?”
“Dillon?” Savannah asked.
I glared at Kade. “It wasn’t a date. And it didn’t go. Twenty minutes after we got there, I got called out to surgery.” I shrugged. “No big deal.”
Savannah stared at me for a few seconds. “You like this girl, don’t you?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that? No, I don’t.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously, Savannah. I don’t.”
“Whatever you say,” she said skeptically. “But you’ve never actually taken a girl on a date. And more than once? That’s practically a proposal from you.”
“It’s just sex. There’s absolutely nothing there except good sex.”
I chose that moment to look around the restaurant and when I did, it felt like the wind had been knocked out of me when I noticed the girl in question sitting with some guy across the room. She was grinning at whatever the fucker she was sitting with had said.
Savannah followed my gaze.
“It’s just sex huh?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I’ll be right back,” I mumbled.
“We’ll save your seat.”
I heard her laughing as I crossed through the crowded restaurant.
Dillon was the last person I expected to see sitting across the room while I was having brunch with my friends. I cleared my throat and she locked eyes with me as she looked up from her conversation.
“So this is why you couldn’t have brunch with me this morning? You were meeting up with some other guy? You could have just told me. We aren’t exclusive, or even dating for that matter.”
“Zane—”
“I didn’t want a date for today; I wanted you to meet my friends, Dillon. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but if you were seeing someone else you could have just told me.”
“Zane—”
“I’m such a fucking idiot—”
“He’s my brother,” she said loudly interrupting me. A few tables looked our direction. Her cheeks flushed. “Zane, this is my brother Jake. Jake, this is the asshole I was just telling you about.”
“Dr. Turner,” Jake said holding his hand out to shake mine. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Oh god.
My mouth opened and closed several times as I tried to figure out what the hell to say to that. Her brother? I’d acted like a jealous asshole in front of—fuck because of her brother. As I glanced between the two of them sitting in front of me, belatedly I noticed the resemblance. Their eyes were the same vivid green, and the shape of their noses was similar.
“I’m sorry, Dillon,” I said lamely. “Can I play it off that I only got a few hours of sleep last night?”
“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled and waved her hand for me to sit down.
“No thanks. I’ll…see you later. My friends are back at the table.” I motioned across the restaurant vaguely. “Again, sorry. It was nice meeting you Jake. I’ll try not to make an ass of myself if it ever happens again.”
Instead of going back to where my friends were waiting, I went into the bathroom to splash water on my face. This girl was getting under my skin. The idea of her eating with some other guy had my stomach so tied up in knots that I’d made a complete idiot of myself going over to confront her. I wanted to drop kick my ass all the way back to my house.