Well, he shouldn’t be surprised she knew about that. Not much got past Emma. “Not expecting, exactly. But ready, very willing and able.”
“With me,” she clarified, as if she couldn’t possibly believe it.
Sadie was right. Emma had no idea how sexy she was. “Yes, with you. I can’t think of any other woman I’d undergo a physical exam and blood testing for.” He smiled.
Her cheeks blushed a sexy shade of red.
“For the record, pit bull was a term of endearment, for the protector of the pediatric ward,” he tried.
Yeah, she wasn’t buying it.
“Did you choose the location of our date?” she asked accusingly.
He shook his head. “No way. That was all Sadie.” Quite frankly, he’d tried to talk her out of it thinking once Emma found out what went on at The V-Spot she’d leave. Only she hadn’t and that intrigued him.
“Have you been here before?” she asked.
“No.”
“And you have no problem coming to a place like this for sex with a woman you hardly know? Why does that not surprise me?” She crossed her arms under her bodacious breasts, as if offering them up to him. Damn, that made it difficult to concentrate.
Luckily he maintained enough brain function to recognize it was probably not in his best interest to point out she’d come to a place like this for sex without even knowing who she’d be having it with. “We’ve known each other for four years, Emma. We see each other every couple of months.” Whenever he could squeeze a visit to her hospital into his schedule.
“As far as I recall,” she responded, while glaring at him, “and I have an excellent memory, in all those years we have never once had a meaningful conversation. You’ve given no indication you had any interest in me whatsoever. Yet here you are. Surprise! Let’s have sex.”
Granted, his interest hadn’t dawned until recently. “What do you mean no indication? I know for a fact I have complimented you, repeatedly, every time I visit.”
She tilted her head. “You compliment every woman you come in contact with. It’s like you can’t help yourself.”
Not every woman, but close. It made them feel good. He liked making people feel good. “With you I meant them.” Apparently his honestly didn’t impress her.
“That’s it.” She turned away. “I’m leaving.”
“No.” He reached for her arm. “Give me a chance to explain how this all came about.”
She turned, very slowly, and looked up at him with interest, waiting.
He cleared his throat feeling uncharacteristically nervous knowing whatever came out of his mouth would make or break their evening together. For some inexplicable reason tonight’s date with Emma mattered to him, more than any date he could recall. He wanted it to be a success. “About a month back I overheard you talking to Sadie at the Nurses’ station.”
“Spying, were you?” she asked with a set of raised eyebrows and another head tilt.
“Waiting,” he clarified. Truth be told it’d been more like lurking. Waiting he could have done anywhere, but he’d chosen to do it within earshot of Emma and her friend. “Sadie mentioned she’d narrowed down the candidates for your blind date. And you said...”
She hesitated.
He waited her out.
“Fine,” she snapped. “I said, ‘Make sure he’s good-looking, sexy and can handle a big girl like me.’” She put her hands on her hips. “For your information, I was kidding when I said that. I never thought—”
“What else?”
She looked away and quietly added, “I want to spend my twenty-fifth birthday doing exciting things I’ve never done before.” She stared off into the distance as if remembering the conversation. Something flashed in her expression, a look of longing, or a hint of desire to set some part of herself free. He could relate.
Brody stepped in front of her to regain her attention. “I saw my opportunity to take you out on a special date, and I took it.”
“Why?”
“Because I like you. Because I wanted to be the one to make your birthday special. Because you work so hard and care so deeply for each of your patients and their families. They all love you. I figured if anyone deserved to have their birthday wish granted you did.”
She stood there, watching him. So he went on. “When you left I pulled Sadie aside and told her to put me at the top of her list.”
“And she did, easy as that?”
He smiled. “If I’m to be totally honest, it took some convincing.” And sincere promises to make tonight Emma’s best night ever, to keep the specifics of their date private and to treat her heart with care.
“Come here.” She motioned him forward. Two steps and she reached up to his right shoulder and tugged. “Bend down.”
He did.
She placed both of her hands on his head, moving it from side to side as she checked his ears. An impromptu health screening? When she finished he said, “That was random. What were you looking for?”
“An earwig,” she said, straight-faced. “This situation has Cyrano de Bergerac written all over it.”
And he lost it. “You know what? I am sick and tired of you thinking I’m some dumb wrestler incapable of coherent speech or being thoughtful without someone prompting me. While I’m not in the habit of bringing my resume on dates, I’ll have you know I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise science. I’d just started on my master’s degree when my now agent came over to me at the gym and offered me the chance to make more money than I’d ever dreamed possible.”
After discussing all the perks, which included an endless supply of hot, willing women, it hadn’t taken much convincing to get a then twenty-one-year-old Brody to drop out of school and join National Coast to Coast Wrestling Entertainment the very next day. “And I’ve granted the most Make-A-Wish requests of any wrestler in the NCCWE.” Every single one he’d received. “A total of forty-two visits to terminally ill children around the country, at my own expense. You’ve seen my visits to your hospital. I make similar visits in whatever city I happen to be in whenever it can be arranged. Does that make me good enough for someone like you, or do you need to hear more?”
“Why the secrecy?” she countered. “Why not just ask me out on a date? Embarrassed at the thought of your friends seeing us together?”
No. “So you think I should have come right out and asked you out on a date?” he asked. “How exactly should I have gone about it? Corner you in the crowded Nurses’ station? Maybe follow you into one of those little rooms? Staked out your car in the parking lot? And if I had, what would you have said?”
Her guilty expression told him all he needed to know. “On the first
