Kate’s eyes widened and she sat back. One of
each
? There were six desserts on the cart. And this guy was a cardiologist. “None for me, thanks.”
His eyebrows rose. “Two forks,” he said to the waiter as if she hadn’t spoken.
Kate frowned, holding both hands up. “No, really. I’m good.”
She met the waiter’s amused gaze and narrowed her eyes.
Craig waved at her with his fork. “Dig in. You ladies always say you don’t want dessert but as soon as it arrives you scarf it down,” he said, through a mouthful of cheesecake.
He pushed the chocolate torte over toward her.
She pushed it back.
“No. The meal was huge and the wine. I can’t. Really.”
Craig shrugged.
He finished the cheesecake and started on the passion fruit-mango mousse cake. She watched dumbfounded as he made short work of it, finishing in three bites.
She glanced around the restaurant.
He reached for the crème brûlée. At the rate he was shoveling in desserts, he would finish them all in short order.
“Are you on call?” Kate finally asked, nodding at the phone as he finally put down the fork to tap out yet another message.
“What? Uh, no.” He glanced up, then looked past her. His eyes lit up.
“Will you excuse me? I see Mark Cass leaving with his wife and I need to speak with him a moment.”
Kate froze. Dr. Cass? She did
not
want someone from the hospital to see her with Craig Billingsly. God knows what the rumor mill would do with it and there was no likelihood of second date.
Craig stood, put his cell phone down on the middle of the table with a murmured apology, and took off after Dr. Cass.
She stared at the phone. Now it was close enough to see, and she wished it weren’t. Who kept the picture of a live human heart as the background of their phone?
Gross.
The phone vibrated.
She tried not to peek, but it was too tempting.
Eyes wide, she leaned over a smidge to read the incoming text message from someone saved into his phone as ‘Kelly’.
Free 2nite?
Kate sat back. The phone vibrated again. Another incoming message popped up on the screen below the first. A photo. A photo of ‘Kelly’, in a black merry widow, holding a crop. Against the backdrop of the bloody heart. Her stomach clenched.
She chanced a look over her shoulder. From the body language of all involved, it didn’t seem like the conversation with Dr. Cass was going all that well. Arms waving, bodies rigid as they discussed something she was too far away to hear. Mrs. Cass, the only one facing her directly, appeared incensed.
The phone vibrated again. This text was from ‘Bitch’ and it said:
Stop texting me! Contact thru lawyer only.
Kate sat up straight in her chair. Bitch? His ex-wife perhaps? And who was Kelly? The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Kelly looked vaguely familiar. Was she a nurse at the hospital?
The waiter came over to see if she wanted another glass of wine.
“No, thanks.”
“Another dessert then, ma’am?”
Kate gave him a disdainful look. He smiled and glanced down at the phone on the table. Her body tensed as the waiters’ eyes widened. He glanced at Kate, then back at the phone. She felt a wave of heat rise up through her neck into her face. She averted her gaze. The man made a choked sound and strode away.
Craig reappeared at her side.
She studiously avoided looking at the phone, watching out of her peripheral vision as he slid it off the table into his hand.
Stomach in knots, Kate debated her options. Should she tell him she saw the messages? It was snooping and she didn’t want to get in a big discussion about it with him getting defensive or lying or whatever.
She took the easy way out.
“Listen, thanks so much for dinner. It was great. I, um, really appreciate it. Really. I had some reservations before, since we work together and I, I … ” She took a deep breath, “I’ve come to realize I don’t want to date someone I work with.”
What had been a polite, expectant expression morphed into surprise then anger flashed in his eyes. A nanosecond later, the anger was banked and his expression turned pleading, his large blue eyes wide, he held a hand out to her, and leaned forward.
“Kate. Don’t worry about work. They’re desperate to keep me.” His phone buzzed on the table next to him. Once, then again. He seemed oblivious.
Kate leaned back, pressing her lips together. “No, I get that. It’s just that
I’m
not comfortable. The gossip. I’m just, it’s not … .so, thanks for dinner.” She rose, putting her napkin on the table, grabbing her purse. She stumbled over the chair leg of a neighboring table. “Excuse me. Sorry.”
Heart racing, she pushed through the restaurant door and out onto the street. Hampered by the tight skirt and unaccustomed to high heels she teetered, breathless, up a half block before ducking into a store alcove.
Digging through her bag she found her phone and tapped on her contacts, found Ava and pressed the button.
“Ava?”
“Kate? I can barely hear you!” Ava shouted.
“Where are you?”
“Whaaat? Hold on. Let me get somewhere quieter … okay … what’s up?”
“Where are you?” Kate hissed.
“I’m at Agave. Hey, aren’t you supposed to be on a date?”
“I’m coming to you; I’ll be there in ten,” Kate said, disconnecting the phone.
She peered out of the alcove. He was probably still paying the check or finishing dessert. Crossing over to the other side of the street, she hustled the four blocks to Ava’s favorite bar.
Her friend was standing by the entrance, lemon drop martini in hand when Kate walked in.
Ava stared, then gave a low wolf-whistle, handing over the drink.
Kate took one sip, then a second, then downed it while Ava watched, eyes huge.
“Whoa, girlfriend! You’re running tomorrow.”
Ava took the glass back, put it on the bar next to her and steered Kate toward the quieter of the two lounges. She parked Kate on the crimson velveteen sofa and fell onto the cushion beside her.
Ava leaned toward her. “So?”
Kate told her about the date. Now that she was away from Craig Billingsly, the whole thing seemed funny, in a horrible kind of way.
Ava drew back, shaking her head, laughing. “Oh, Kate. You sure can pick ’em. Are you sure it was a human heart?”
Kate nodded, wide-eyed. “I guess I should thank my lucky stars he wasn’t a proctologist.”
“A whaaa?”
“Never mind.” Kate shook her head, glumly. “Hopefully it won’t be too awkward at work. I don’t run into him much.”
“You want to stay here?” Ava checked her watch.
“Hell, no. I want a ride home.”
Ava sighed and glanced around the bar. “Not much talent here tonight, anyway. And I’m running the tent at the five-K race at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”
“Good. I’ll see you after.”
Minutes later Ava pulled into her driveway. Kate reached for the door handle. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, I hooked up with Alec Sawyer in New York.”
Ava stared at her in the dark car, open-mouthed. “Did you — ”
She laughed. “No. Not that. We just kissed — there may have been some groping.”
“And?”
“And nothing. I came to my senses. I realized I was playing with fire, thank God.”
“Fire? So it was good.”
The heat rose in her cheeks and Kate looked away.
“Goddamn it. Why didn’t you tell me? Are you going to see him again?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She blew out a breath. “Ava, he is so far — ”
“If you say ‘out of my league’ I’m going to throttle you. Fair warning.”
Kate rubbed a hand over her tired eyes. “Can we talk about this later?”
“No. I know you think he’s hot — ”
“Yes. He’s gorgeous. And smart and funny and sweet. And women shove their phone numbers in his pockets at airports. And he dates women who look like super-models. Heck, they probably
are
super-models.”
Ava reached out a hand and took Kate’s. “If you like him, you can’t hold that stuff against him.”
“I know. It doesn’t matter anyway. We were both embarrassed by what happened.”
“How’d you leave it?”
“He wanted to take it further that night. I didn’t. He was cool about it. But the flight back sure was awkward. Okay.” Kate reached across to give her friend a hug, difficult in the confines of Ava’s sub-compact car, then opened the door and stepped out.
“See you tomorrow at the run. And Kate?”
“Yes?” Kate leaned in the car door.
“Promise me you’ll give Alec a chance if it comes to that?”
“After tonight’s experience? Ha!”
“Promise!”
“‘Night, Ava.” She shut the door with a grin, walked up the path and let herself in to her silent cottage.
It had been a week since the rescue. Back in Cielito for the past two days, Alec looked for her every morning while he surfed. This morning the ocean was laughably flat. No one in their right mind would be out trying to surf an ocean that was lake-like in its calm. He sat astride his board, the early morning sun reflecting off the blue sea. If he did see Kate this morning, what explanation could he give for being out in such poor conditions? Why didn’t he call her? This attempt to bump into her was a bust and he couldn’t put off his meetings in LA tomorrow.
He spotted her then. Running. Loose red hair gleaming in the morning light, neon pink shoes in motion. His heart gave a leap. Even at this distance, he could see when she spotted him. He put a hand up, she waved in response. Turning his board toward shore he lay down, paddling hard.
“Morning.” He pulled his board from the water as she ran up.
“Hi.” She stopped, breathing hard. “I was hoping to see you. Doug Curley was discharged two days ago.”
“That’s awesome.”
“Yeah. He wants to thank you in person. I have his info at home,” she said, staring down at her feet.
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.” He nodded. “Do you have time to grab breakfast or something? I can get his info from you then.”
She hesitated. Her enchanting green eyes met his gaze, her face flushed, hairline damp. “Uh, okay,” she said.
There it was again, that little hitch in his chest. Odd. He usually felt lust a little lower.
“Want me to swing by after I clean up?” he asked.
“I’ll be ready.” She ran backwards for a moment, gave him a dazzling smile and headed back down the beach.
• • •
Almost two hours later, Kate watched Alec across the table on the patio of the sidewalk café, breakfast devoured, leisurely enjoying coffee and people watching. Hard to believe she could be so comfortable casually chatting with the guy she had jumped in a cab. He was funny and easy to talk to, just like he had been over dinner in New York. There was something about him. Granted, he was charming — charismatic even, but he had a sincerity about him. She’d been around charming men and distrusted them and she’d be willing to bet her father was charming. But instead of recoiling from him, she found herself falling further and further into the soft comfort of his voice.
What had Ava told her? Not to hold stuff against him that he couldn’t control?
A familiar face in a hooded sweatshirt and board shorts appeared, whizzing down the sidewalk on a skateboard in front of them.
He caught her eye and did a double take. “Kate!”
“Buzz. I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Buzz picked up his skateboard and clambered over the railing.
He leaned over to give her a hug. His lips puckered and Kate quickly averted her mouth, taking the kiss on the cheek. She shook her head. He hadn’t changed since high school. He pulled up a chair from a neighboring table; the smell of patchouli emanating from him widened her smile.
Kate introduced the two men. “I went to high school with Buzz. He works at Pizzatown and does some contracting jobs for a friends company. Buzz, this is Alec Sawyer — ”
“Yeah. I know who he is. Big fan, man. I heard you lived in town.”
The men chatted a few minutes, discussing everything from construction in the area to the coming swell generated by storms raging in the Pacific.
“So Alec, any chance you’ll get back in the biz?” Buzz played air guitar over the table.
Alec shook his head. “Nah. I just represent the talent now.”
As they talked, she watched a convertible red Mercedes pull into a metered parking spot across the street. The occupant didn’t emerge. Mercedes were a dime a dozen in this town, but lately she had been seeing that particular one everywhere, on her street, in town. The personalized plate read FIXNHRT. Fixing hurt? Maybe a therapist or psychiatrist. Strange what people put on their license plates.
Kate sipped her coffee. Pleasantly exhausted from her run and her shift, she lacked the energy to feel nervous or awkward with Alec. Her phone vibrated. She pulled it out and checked the number. Billingsly. She turned it off and stuffed it back in her pocket, frowning. Ever since that bad date, he had been leaving voicemails and sending text messages. The message he left last night was really over the top. How he could give her everything she could ever want, she just had to give him a chance. Was there a way to block his calls and texts? Ignoring him didn’t seem to be working.
“Kate, you ok?” asked Alec.
“Yeah, sorry, yeah,” she said, and Alec smiled, and turned back to Buzz.
She cast a surreptitious glance Alec’s way. God he was sexy. She must have relived that incident in the cab a hundred times since returning to Cielito. To make matters worse, he played a starring role in each and every one of her fantasies. He’d even crept his way into her dreams. She watched his beautiful mouth as he spoke to Buzz. Perfectly shaped lower lip, slightly fuller than the upper, quirked in an amused half smile as he listened to Buzz. It was impossible to see that mouth and not remember how it had stroked her own. Her fingers touched her lips reflexively. Alec’s gaze caught and held hers and the heat of arousal mixed with embarrassment crept over her. His smile turned knowing. She looked away.
He turned back to his conversation with her friend and she resumed her study of his features. Presumably he always had that five o’clock shadow, highlighting a strong jaw and enviable cheekbones. Even right after he had shaved, leaving for their appearance on the morning programs in New York, his beard was evident. Most men with that much scruff on their face were hairy everywhere. Not him, his arms only had a smattering of hair. It took her a moment to realize that deep-set, intense, bright-blue eyes were watching her with amusement, corners creased with laugh lines.