"Well, if he wins ... he'll be too ecstatic to yell at me?" she squeaked.
He made an annoying buzzer sound, and she flinched. "Wrong."
"Well, this is all your fault," she snapped, poking him in his bare chest with her index finger and trying not to notice how taut his muscles felt. "Maybe if you hadn't been so highhanded, ordering me to listen to you, and if you would have encouraged Brad to get out more instead of moping in front of the TV, I wouldn't have been forced to enter him."
"Forced to enter him?" Walt stepped back, rubbing his hands all over his face in frustration. "I've been in town less than thirty hours and you're blaming me? Oh, that's nice. That's just great. Honestly, Georgie, I don't know whether to laugh or to ... to..
"Cry?" she supplied.
"Spank you"
She would have snorted, but the flicker of heat in Walt's eyes stopped her cold. There was something laced in his comment and expression that didn't have anything to do with treating her like a child. If she didn't know better, she would have thought in that moment Walt even regarded her as someone more than Brad's little sister. A phenomenon in its own right, considering the way everybody acted toward her lately. But then, Walt turned away with a chuckle, and she was certain she had made a mistake in thinking that. A big mistake.
"All right," he said, shaking his head, "seeing how this is somehow all my fault, I won't tell Brad what you did. I'm sure nothing will come out of it anyway. I mean, what are the odds, right? He'd probably have a better chance of winning the lottery."
Yeah, the odds were bad. Part of Walt's words relieved her, and also depressed her at the same time. She had hoped the contest would be the perfect diversion for her brother and would get her some breathing room. "I guess you're right. But I really wanted him to go on that date. I felt so sorry for him."
"You felt sorry for Brad so you entered him in a contest to win a date with a TV star?" He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "I hope you never get any of those compassionate feelings toward me."
She gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Don't worry. You're more than safe"
With her stomach now in knots, she tossed her bagel on the counter. "The only reason I entered Brad was because I think he's lonely. He needs someone to occupy his thoughts. With the way he's been overly concerned with me, I'd say he has way too much time on his hands. His actions are not only affecting my life but his too." She bit her lip and hesitated a moment more before letting Walt in on her plan B. "You know, um, I was even hoping, um, since you were back in town that-"
"Wait. Don't tell me," he said with a chuckle. "You want me to take Brad out and maybe see that he meets a nice girl."
Her eyes widened. "Wow. How did you know?"
"Call me psychic."
"I suppose it's better than some of the other names I could call you."
A wide grin spread across his face. "Well, well, now who's acting like old times? You know, I could complain about how you talk to me as well. Ever since I came to town, you've been treating me as if I were still fifteen and running over your Barbie with my dirt bike."
"You did that?"
Walt's smug expression suddenly turned guilty, and he cleared his throat. "Uh, I can't quite remember. Hey, it might have been Brad now that I think about it. Or some other jerk he was friends with. Tim Clark, I think. You know, it's all a big blur to me now."
She cracked a smile. "Sure, it is."
Despite what she knew he'd done all those years ago, his lighthearted mood was so infectious and charming she laughed and lightly punched him in the arm. But as soon as she started to draw back her hand, he caught her off guard by reaching out and taking hold of it in his own.
"Uh, listen, Georgie," he said, thoughtfully studying their joined hands for a moment. "If I was the one who had run over your Barbie, well, I'm sorry. Even if we weren't friends back then, I would like us to be friends now. Not only for Brad's sake, but for the pharmacy's sake too. I was a difficult kid-kind of mad at the world because of my mom leaving. But it still wasn't a very nice thing to do, especially to my best friend's sister."
She stared at their joined hands too, trying to decide if she liked this new side of Walt or not. The seriousness he used combined with his deep, velvety voice had a strange effect on her heart rate, and she suddenly didn't know how to act. For all her talk about wanting to be treated as a grown woman, the only thing she could think of now was running and hiding under her covers.
She pulled her hand away from his grasp and fervently tried to switch the mood back to one she felt safe with. "It-it's not a big deal. So, how about it? Are you going to start acting like a real friend and stop being such a stick in the mud?"
Walt shrugged. "Okay. Why not? I'll take Brad out Saturday night. I could use a little fun myself."
Yes! Saturday was perfect. That would give her three days to find a date and maybe go out herself. Her own social life was already looking up. "You mean it?" she asked eagerly.
"Sure. But on one condition."
Ugh. And just like that, her good mood became crushed, much like her old Barbie's head.
Here we go. She knew Walt was acting too good to be true. This was it. This was where the true Walt would come out, and he would make her promise him breakfast in bed for a month, maybe even a year. Maybe he'd even want her firstborn and her firstborn's firstborn.
"You've got to come out with us too," he finished.
She blinked up at him, thinking she overestimated his guilt for mowing down her old Barbie. Why would Walt want her hanging around a boys' night out? That didn't sound like such a hot idea. Having his younger sister around wouldn't be conducive to Brad relaxing and meeting a woman.
"Go out with the two of you?" she asked. "Oh. I don't know. I ..." Think, brain! Think!
Walt leaned in, looking vaguely amused at her uneasiness. "What's the matter?" he asked. "We haven't seen each other in years. It'll be a great opportunity for us to catch up and get better acquainted with each another."
Better acquainted with Walt? She didn't think that was such a hot idea either.
She dropped her gaze away so she could think better, but her mind stalled when she ended up with an eyeful of his chest hair. Not only was she not sure she liked this new personality of Walt's, but she wasn't sure she liked this new dress code of his. Handsome, kind, and shirtless was not a combination that was going to resolve this sudden infatuation she was feeling toward him anytime soon.
She drew a shaky breath and looked up. "Well, uh ... as a matter of-"
"Great" He beamed, and the corners of his eyes crinkled in a way-too-appealing manner. "It's a date then"
"Oh. Yeah, that sounds ... great" A date. With Walt.
And her brother.
No, not great. And not exactly the kind of date she was looking for. But maybe this was what she needed to get a guy like Walt out of her system. Ever since she'd seen him, her body responded to him in ways she wasn't used to. It worried her.
Whenever she'd gone on dates or hung around attractive men in the past, she'd always been able to have a great time and keep her emotions in check. But when she looked at Walt, it was an entirely different matter. The last thing she wanted was to be drawn to someone like him. He was just like her brother-overprotective, domineering, someone who saw her as a person unable to make intelligent decisions. Yikes. No, she didn't want that. She had met and even dated a few of those Neanderthal type know-it-alls in college. That was enough for her. She wanted a man who saw she had a good head on her shoulders and saw her for what she really was-not just a little sister who needed protecting.
She was sure that once Walt and Brad were together, they'd go back to their old ways of treating her, and she'd be reminded of all the reasons why she should ignore her physical reaction to Walt. Then she could go back to concentrating on a more important matter-finding her brother a woman.
After four days at the store, Walt was still finding things he could improve upon. He hadn't anticipated putting this mu
ch work into it so soon, but once he had a chance to oversee the pharmacy without his uncle in the way, Walt's business instincts automatically took over.
Expired drugs had already been pulled from the shelves, but prescriptions from four years ago still needed to be boxed and filed away. The antiquated way of keeping their books had to be updated to a better computer system. The good news was the video surveillance camera he had ordered would be in next week. He hoped they'd at least be able to figure out how the condom thefts had happened and prevent any other shoplifting. Now if he could just come up with a way to keep their sales from slipping further, he and his uncle might actually be able to hold on to their business for the foreseeable future.
Walt decided to give his eyes a break from all the paperwork he'd been perusing and checked his watch. Eleven fifty-five. The next technician was scheduled to arrive any minute, and it happened to be one Georgiana Louise Mayer.
He sighed.
Maybe it was his imagination but it seemed as though Georgie had been avoiding him these last few days. Fortunately for her, he'd been pretty busy doing paperwork in the stock room. Randall had been understanding enough to do pharmacist duty all week so that Walt could look over the business aspects of the store more closely. Today would be the first time she and Walt would really be working together.
A small part of him even looked forward to it.
"Hey, Walt"-Dee called, breaking into his thoughts-"I need you to come over here and check this drug interaction before I print the label."
Walt pushed Georgie out of his mind and approached the computer. After he typed in his initials, he began flipping through the screens until he located the interaction. Dee kept courteously silent as he reviewed the potential problem, but he could tell she was anxious to speak to him about something by the way he heard her fidgeting behind him.
"Okay, I'm going to write a note on Miss Hanley's prescription bag to remind you that I want to talk to her about how to take these pills before she takes them home" When he was met with silence, he turned around and looked at her. "Got that, Dee?"
"Sure, no problem," she said, but she had a glimmer in her eyes that made him uncomfortable. "And speaking of no problems ... how's living with Brad and Georgie going?"
Walt avoided her gaze and finished writing his note on Miss Hanley's bag. How was living with Brad and Georgie going? Living with Brad was fine. Living with Georgie, well, that was another story. True, he'd barely seen her but those few brief times had been hellish enough. Especially when she sashayed around the condo in nothing but skimpy Red Sox nightshirts.
There was a limit to how many cold showers a man could take in one morning.
He played with the folded-up edges of the prescription bag and hesitated answering another moment, hoping his response wouldn't come out sounding like the outright lie it was. "Living with them is great. Why?"
"Oh, I don't know. I thought I picked up on some kind of vibe between you and Georgie the other day." Dee gave him a tight smile and pried the prescription from his fingers. "I guess it must have been my imagination."
"Yeah, I guess so," he muttered.
Vibes. Yeah, right. Women see what they want to see. There weren't any vibes going on between him and Georgie. How could there be? He may have thought Georgie was very attractive, but that didn't mean there were any vibes going around. Vibes would mean he was interested in her. And that wouldn't be right. Getting involved with her would muck up his employee-employer relations. More importantly, his friendship with her brother. He wasn't about to test its loyalty. Brad's friendship meant too much to him.
Dee cocked her head. "You know, you don't sound like the same Walt Somers my brothers used to talk about when they were in high school. Does that strangely noncommittal answer mean that Georgie is out of luck and you're already involved with someone else?"
"No," he said with a sigh. "There's no one else. I haven't had the time to think about dating lately."
"Ah-ha, the plot thickens," she said, grinning. "This is getting better than any Clay Hayes show I could be watching now." She plopped down on one of the stools nearby and made herself more comfortable. "So, allow me to analyze, if you will. A good-looking guy like yourself has no ex-girlfriends in the background or hot prospects on the horizon? What's the matter with single women today? Next to Brad, you seem to be the most eligible bachelor around." Her eyes narrowed as she suddenly wagged her finger at him. "You have any funky skeletons in your closet we should know about?"
"Uh, no. No skeletons in the closet. Just your average hometown boy who likes to keep his love life an off limit topic from town gossip."
"Hmm," she said, nodding and tapping her chin. "I get it. Butt out, right? Oh, pooh. That's no fun."
"What's no fun?" Georgie rushed into the pharmacy just then, with flushed cheeks and those long red curls of hers kinking and swaying against her shoulders like festive Mardi Gras streamers. "Sorry I'm a little late, Walt," she said all out of breath. "Couldn't find my lab jacket. I guess I'll just wear Al's over there, if that's okay with you"
Walt could only nod as the scent of oranges and flowers floated around him as she dashed toward the coatrack. He wondered if all his employees smelled as good and he just hadn't noticed yet. He stood there, transfixed by her scent. Then his breath caught in his throat as she unbuttoned and slowly peeled off her sweater coat. Oh, crap! He realized he was doing it again-ogling her like a sex-starved teenager.
Were these the vibes Dee had alluded to? Or was he losing his mind? Georgie wasn't doing a striptease in the pharmacy, but the way his body was responding she might as well have been. He quickly caught himself and closed his mouth before Dee got any further suspicions.
So much for not being interested. Brad would slug him for sure, if he knew where his mind was heading. Georgie wasn't even wearing anything provocative-a light-blue blouse and a plain black skirt that fell to just above her knees-yet he still couldn't look away. He noticed Georgie had very nice legs, and although Al's pharmacy coat was at least two sizes too big, it wasn't anywhere near long enough to cover them up.
He was obviously in for a long night.
"What's no fun?" Georgie repeated, shoving some pens in her pocket and walking over to them.
Dee jerked her thumb at Walt. "He doesn't want to talk about how such a prime specimen like himself has managed to elude the marriage market for so long."
Georgie batted her eyes. "I could probably venture a guess or two"
When Walt didn't respond to her jibe, she felt a small stab of guilt for automatically poking fun of him. Customers approached the register, and Dee hurried over to wait on them. A prescription came through the fax, and Georgie went over to the computer to type a label. Unfortunately, she had to force herself to concentrate on what she was reading.
Well, why wasn't Walt seeing anyone? The man certainly had attractive attributes, if you went for the hot, blond, surfer type. He wasn't a workaholic. He obviously wasn't a playboy either. And, unlike Brad, Walt couldn't be distracted from meddling into his sibling's life. So why was there no girlfriend in the picture? There must have been droves of women dying of heartbreak when he'd moved from Philadelphia to Maritime City.
Not that she was interested in Walt's love life for any reason other than simple curiosity. She just figured that maybe she should get to know Walt a little better. For Brad's sake. Walt did seem a little different now than when she'd known him all those years ago. She hated it when people made assumptions about her, but here she had pigeonholed someone else in the exact same way. Maybe Dee was right, and she should give him a small break.
Walt came over and stood next to her, waiting for the label to print out so he could compare what she typed out to what the actual prescription said. This was her moment. While Dee was at the register, Georgie couldn't resist taking the opportunity to satisfy her own notions about his attitude toward relationships-and maybe about the man himself.
She hit the ENTER key and turned toward him. "Is
it because you feel suffocated?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"
She sighed. The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. Sometimes she wished she could lasso her tongue. "Uh, you know, the reason you aren't in a relationship. Is it because you ... you know, feel that way?"
"You mean suffocated?" he asked with an amused grin.
"Yeah" She bit her lip and looked away. Great. Now he was laughing at her. But way in the back of her mind suffocation was her biggest fear, which was why she always wanted her dealings with the opposite sex to be light and breezy. Less chance for anyone to dictate how she'd run her life. Once she became independent from her brother and lived on her own, she didn't want anyone interfering with what she did. Maybe her fear was irrational, she wasn't sure. Until now, she'd never even spoken about that fear aloud.
He must have sensed her anxiety because he closed the gap between them and his expression softened. "No," he said gently. "I've never felt-I don't feel suffocated. What's the matter, Georgie? Why are you asking about this?"
"Oh, I ... I don't know." She gave a little shrug, trying to shake off his concern, and went back to typing the few prescriptions Dee had set down next to her. She felt foolish for voicing her question to someone like Walt and tried for a dif ferent mood. "I'm sorry, Walt. I guess I'm just surprised that you aren't with someone. You seem like the kind of man who should have a nice girlfriend."
Staggering backward, Walt clutched his chest. "Whoa, be still my heart, was that a kind word I heard from you? Maybe there's a chance we can be friends after all."
"Well, I am sorry you don't have a girlfriend. If you did, you could have stayed with her and you wouldn't be living with Brad and me" She glanced over at him and laughed when she saw his face fall.
"I should have seen that one coming," he murmured, shaking his head.
"You must be slipping in your old age, so I'll cut you some slack. Dementia can't be that far off for you, so it's a good thing I've already taken it upon myself to do some thinking as far as the business is concerned"
Georgie on His Mind Page 6
