Emily’s brain.
Instead of Ruth telling her to come back to ICU, she heard a resounding click.
Pulling the phone away from her ear, she looked at the number.
Aiiiiggghhhhh!
“What?” Emily asked, making Beth wonder if she’d just screamed out loud or if it was the way all the blood in her body had drained that had clued her friend in that something was wrong.
“It’s …” Her voice choked up.
“Come on,” her friend encouraged. “Spit it out. You look like you just got news your best friend died and I know that didn’t happen because I’m sitting right here.”
Beth closed her eyes then held the phone out toward her friend so she could see the screen.
“What? It’s clicked off. Tell me.”
“It was the number.”
“The number?”
“The number.” She put great emphasis on her words.
“The number you thought was me?”
Wondering if one could hyperventilate to death in a hospital cafeteria, Beth nodded and struggled to get air into her vice-gripped lungs.
“What did they say?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Emily looked bamfoozled.
Beth shook her head, feeling a bit bamfoozled herself. Breathe, Beth, breathe.
“Then why did whoever it was call you?”
She shrugged, took a deep breath, then another. “Maybe they’re going to harass me.”
“About what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Nothing wrong per se, but … I might have mentioned wanting to tie up and lick a certain doctor all over.”
Emily’s eyes widened and then she burst out laughing. “You didn’t?”
Beth grimaced at her friend’s mirth and at her own foolishness. “I told you that I revealed my fascination with the man.”
“That isn’t the same thing as saying you want to tie up the man and for your tongue to get up close and personal with his personables.”
Her friend had a point. Unfortunately.
“What else did you say?”
Beth gave a pained look. “I don’t remember exactly. Something about wanting our bodies slick with sweat and gliding together.”
“Oh, baby.” Emily’s eyes danced with delight. “I wish I had been pulling your leg and sending those messages. Sounds like some hot reading and you know I love a steamy read.”
Feeling a fool, Beth nodded. “I was tired and you’d promised retribution. If I’d been thinking clearly I’d never have sent those messages.”
“Like I said before, so what that you did. So what that someone knows you think Dr. Randolph’s hot. What does it matter in the grand scheme of life?”
“I don’t want him to find out.”
“Hello.” Emily snapped her fingers in front of her face again. “We’ve already had this conversation. You do want him to find out that you’re interested in him. You need to let him know. Up close and personal.” Emily waggled her brows, then added mischievously, “With your tongue. And his personables.”
Fighting the panicky feeling still welling within her, Beth rolled her eyes. “You really aren’t my best friend, you know. You’re just some freak with great hair I tolerate because we work together.”
Patting her pulled up dyed bright red locks, which matched her personality much more than any natural shade could, Emily leaned back in her chair and grinned. “You love me and we both know it.”
“Sad, but true.”
“Just as we both know I’m not going to let you sit on your butt while your dream man is single and needs consoling.”
Beth’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” Emily’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “You make a move or Dr. Randolph and I will be having a very interesting conversation.”
“You wouldn’t,” she repeated.
“Wanna bet on that?”
No, she didn’t, because if Emily believed she was doing what was best for Beth she wouldn’t hesitate to spill the beans to Eli.
Which meant that she would have to make a move herself. Otherwise there was no telling what her friend would say to him.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced toward his table. Her gaze collided with his. The air caught in her lungs and threatened to burst them.
He was looking straight at her!
He didn’t look away when their eyes met.
Instead, he grinned.
Grinned.
At her.
That’s when she noticed what he held in his hand.
His cellphone.
“HELLO, BETH.”
Where was that cardiologist? Beth needed him. Pronto. Her heart was going to stop any moment. She was sure of it.
Dr. Eli Randolph was smiling at her, had just said her name.
He knew her name?
He’d said her name!
For no good reason except to speak to her. Had he ever done so before?
No. Never. She wasn’t even sure that he’d ever looked directly at her before lunch today. Definitely, they’d never locked eyes. He was looking now and, try as she might for fear of what he might see, she couldn’t break their eye contact.
A light shone in his twinkling blue gaze that she’d never seen before. She couldn’t quite label what she saw, but she couldn’t deny that a definite interest shone there.
Had whoever she’d texted with the night before revealed her secrets to Eli? Recalling his smile in the cafeteria, the phone in his hand, Beth swallowed. Had she texted with Eli the night before? Was that even possible? If so, was he toying with her because of the things she’d admitted while thinking she was talking
