cleared his throat. “If you’re not busy tonight, how about having dinner with me?”
The color drained from Rikki’s face. She practically stumbled before coming to an abrupt halt, though she covered it well by searching the asphalt for the invisible stray rock that must have tripped her. “You want to have dinner with me?”
“I believe that’s what I said.”
More stunned silence.
“Are you involved with anyone?” he asked.
“Well, no. But…” She bit her lower lip.
“I know, it might be considered improper of me to ask you out, but it’s not like I’m your boss or anything. We may work for the same hospital, but I don’t sign your checks, and it’s just dinner, you know?”
“I’m parked over here.” She pointed to an older and well-worn car. “Um…”
“Listen, if I’ve put you on the spot, forget I said anything, OK? No hard feelings.”
“No. It’s not that.” She glanced briskly his way, as though torn about what to say, and dug into her backpack for her car keys.
An odd feeling of discomfort prompted him to do more explaining. “I enjoyed watching the movie with you the other night, and I thought we’d started to get to know each other at the donor center. You seem like a nice woman and, bottom line, I don’t feel like eating alone. That’s all I’m saying.”
He didn’t want to pressure her into feeling obligated to go out with him. Though usually any woman he’d asked out jumped at the chance. Damn, had he gotten that rusty in the last few months?
Rikki still hadn’t located her keys, and dug into several different pockets of the backpack in a frustrated manner. So how could he get out of this awkward mess he’d made and still save face?
“I’m not on call, but I gave you my beeper number earlier today. If you change your mind, beep me. I’ll keep it turned on, just for you.” Let her think whatever she wanted about the double meaning of “turned on.” She did flip his switch—that, he couldn’t deny.
But he had his pride. He’d dump the dinner invitation in her lap, and if she didn’t follow through, he’d know she wasn’t the least bit interested and forget about it. But, damn, he could have sworn there was something, some kind of chemistry between them. He’d definitely felt it. And he really did want to explore where it all might lead.
Maybe he’d been wrong?
He reached into his shirt pocket for his business card and handed it to her. “Don’t lose that number.” He attempted a dashing smile while feeling strangely insecure. “My cell phone number is on it, in case I don’t answer my beeper.”
She read the card and recited his number. “OK.” She scratched her nose. “I’ll see how things go.”
Not the most encouraging answer in the world, but he’d settle for it.
No fancy automatic car opener for Rikki, she shoved the key into the lock, swung open a creaky and dented door, and slid inside behind the steering wheel. He noticed a child’s booster seat in the back. Did she have a kid?
Right this minute he didn’t care if she had three kids, he just wanted to take her out to dinner and have a good old-fashioned date with a woman. This woman. Male pride made him take the last word. “I know the perfect place for a great meal.”
Before she could answer, he spun around, stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled slowly toward his new car in the doctors’ parking section. He casually whistled, and hesitated long enough to make sure her clunker of a car started.
By six o’clock Rikki had grown restless. Nothing remotely interesting was scheduled on TV. She’d seen all of her DVDs a million times, and wasn’t inclined to rent anything new. Her best friend had a rescheduled blind date she couldn’t get out of, and had promised to celebrate her birthday with her on Sunday night.
Brenden sat quietly on the floor, playing with his favorite toy robot in his Superman Halloween cape.
She flounced down on her couch and put her fuzzy slippers up on the coffee table. Another Saturday night at home—but this time, it was her birthday.
She couldn’t get Dane out of her mind. Wasn’t he totally out of her reach? Had he really said he’d liked talking to her? Well, they’d had a good time watching the Monty Python movie, and they’d both laughed at all the same parts. She imagined his chiseled face. What would his close-cropped hair feel like to run her fingers through? Ha! As if she’d ever have the chance.
His beeper number repeated in her head. How often did mature gorgeous surgeons invite her out to dinner? Never!
Meghan, the teenager next door, had offered to watch Brenden as a birthday present—why not let her?
Oh, what the hell. She searched for his business card, and a sudden rush of jitters made her drop it twice. She stood tall and swallowed, picked up the phone as a stream of adrenaline trickled through her chest, and dialed.
When he answered, she realized she’d been holding her breath. “Dr. Hendricks?”
“Call me Dane. What took you so long?”
How had he known it would be her? She picked at her hair, flustered. She heard children’s voices and lots of racket in the background, wherever he was.
“Daddy? Daddy?”
“Hold on a second, Rikki. OK, girls, behave tonight. Emma, don’t be a tattle-tale about everything Meg does, OK? And Meg, don’t give Emma anything to tattle-tale about.”
She heard him kiss his daughters, and another woman’s voice spoke up. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of them,” she said. “We’re going to play dress-up and bake cookies and watch movies.”
What sounded like a herd of little girls clapped and squealed, “Yay!”
Rikki smiled. She’d never been to a sleepover party. Come to think of it, she’d never played dress-up either.
More kisses. More goodbyes. A door closed.
“You there?” Dane asked.
She snapped out of her memories. “Yeah.”
“When shall I pick you up?”
Ever cautious as a single woman, she answered without thinking. “I’ll meet you.”
After he’d told her the location of the restaurant, a place she’d never be able to afford on her own, her nerves doubled.
Now it was her turn to play dress-up.
Dane sat at the bar at his favorite steak house in Beverly Hills, nursing a beer. He’d pulled some strings to get a last-minute reservation. It was an unusually warm evening for early November, thanks to the Santa Ana winds blustering through L.A. He almost left his sport coat in the car, but remembered that the restaurant required men to wear jackets.
He
