by Marie Harte
Lana’s diatribe in the background faded, so Swanson must have moved away from her before he said, “I need some remedial training for our two newest hires, because they’ve been fucking up the intakes.”
Swanson must have been seriously stressed for him to be swearing so much.
“Okay. I’ll talk to Lana to book their training time.” Zoe mentally selected her best trainer for the assignment. Lana was a top-notch MA who coordinated for all the medical assistants in Swanson’s clinic. She knew her stuff…and her coffee creamer, apparently. Zoe had to fight not to laugh.
“Good. You talk to Her Highness about scheduling.” He sighed. “We’ve also had complaints of laptops crashing when our people try to put in notes under the new patient template. Can you fix that ASAP? Oh, and the medication refills are slow. We’re getting a lot of pissed-off patient complaints from the pharmacy. And the patient demographics button sometimes has to be tapped three times before the data screen comes up. What’s that about?”
Zoe wrote it all down, asked him a few more questions, and was about to hang up when Swanson jarred her with a question she’d been hoping not to hear.
She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I asked if you’d meet me for lunch on Monday. I have a few more tweaks for our consult template, and I’d rather not harass you over the phone about them. You’re much easier to get a commitment out of when we’re face-to-face.”
Swanson could outstare Satan himself when he wanted something. And he had a habit of getting her to agree to fix his problems before everyone else’s, even when they were minor. Zoe still had no idea how he pulled off his Jedi mind tricks. But she’d smartened up. Lately, she’d dealt with him via phone calls and emails. Or sent Ginny. Apparently that wasn’t working for him anymore.
She sighed. “Fine.”
“Hey, it could be worse. I could ask our no-show manager to handle it. He’d spend the time pretending he wasn’t trying to see down your blouse, no doubt wondering how he could somehow justify having sex with a woman no longer in her teens. I just want to talk to you about work.”
“Funny, Mr. Swanson.” Though he had a point. She couldn’t stand Dan Garrison either.
He snorted. “I thought so. You owe me.”
“For what? Making your job easier? More like you owe me.”
“Please. I’m keeping Garrison contained and making myself look like the bad guy with Lana. So when you schedule that training, she’ll still be madder with me than with you for taking her people away.”
“Um, didn’t you piss off Lana all on your own? You know, by forgetting the creamer?”
“It was all part of a larger plan.”
Zoe laughed. “Someone needs therapy to take care of those delusions…and it’s not me. Okay, I’ll get on the software issues and meet you on Monday for lunch.”
“At eleven.”
“Better make that noon. I have a feeling the new directors’ meeting Cleo scheduled Monday morning is going to add a whole new pile of work for me.”
“Monday morning? What time?”
“Seven.”
“Seven? That’s when we have our providers’ meetings—at seven. I schedule our clinic’s meetings.” He sounded strangled. “You said Cleo Brewer scheduled it?”
“Yes,” she said, cautious. Swanson sounded ready to explode again.
“Damn it,” he barked, added, “Don’t be late,” and hung up without a good-bye.
Not too bad, considering she hadn’t been frozen by Swanson’s icy displeasure. He burned with a cold tongue. But he reserved his cutting remarks for those who deserved them. Fortunately, Zoe’s diligence had served her well. Her coworkers took her seriously, and she loved her job. She and Swanson rarely had run-ins, though she’d heard more than her fair share about him from Cleo.
And speak of the devil… Bright-green eyes peered at her from behind the doorframe.
“Might as well pop your head back in and have a seat.”
Cleo joined Zoe in the office once more. Handing over a cup of steaming coffee, she sat back and slurped her own. “So how’s Mark McDreary?”
Zoe took a sip of her coffee and grinned. “Don’t you mean Mark McDreamy?”
Cleo snorted. “Please. That man has no heart, no dreams, and nothing more than a handsome shell going for him. If it weren’t for his dark good looks, he’d be the epitome of a troll. Like the kind that lives under the Fremont Bridge. Hmm. Now I think about it, there’s a resemblance in that stony glare.”
Zoe chuckled. “He’s not so bad. He had some valid complaints. And Lana’s giving it to him for not replacing the coffee creamer.”
Cleo shared her mirth. “Oh man. I’d never get between Lana and her coffee. Not if I wanted to live. That’s like telling you that you’ll have to miss your exercise classes because Bill’s son got sick.” She gave Zoe a pointed glance.
Zoe flushed. Obviously Ginny had been telling tales. “I already apologized to Ginny for being bitchy. But you know how it is when your routine gets interrupted. I was cranky because I—”
“Had to miss gym time with Sergeant Studly. I know.”
“Smooth, the way you worked that in.”
“That’s why they pay me the big bucks.” Cleo placed her coffee down and rubbed her hands together with relish. “So what’s the deal? How did the date go?”
“Date?”
“Please. I know everything that goes on around here. Our own microcosm of reality, and I’m the reigning deity who sees everything.”
When Cleo got that all-knowing look in her sparkling green eyes, she spooked Zoe a little. “What? Are you reading my future again?”
Cleo had hinted once that the women in her family were highly intuitive. But the way she ran the administrative section of the medical group so smoothly was more than unnerving. No one should be that organized.
“Yes. I read your tea leaves…and your day calendar. You penciled in Gavin’s name yesterday.” She gave a wide grin. “Besides, I’m your best friend. It’s my job to know these things.”
Zoe sighed. “I tried to keep this quiet. Piper and my parents don’t know.”
“I get you not telling your mom and dad. But come on. Piper? She’s cool.”
“She’s on this relationship kick right now. It’s weird. For so long she was against marriage, and now she’s talking about joining at the hip with some guy because time is short.” She felt a familiar pang. “With my sister gone, everyone’s all shaken up.”
Cleo nodded in understanding. “I miss Aubrey too.” She gave a dramatic sigh. “Yeah. And I’m still not falling for the whole woe-is-me change of subject, woman. Tell me about Gavin. What happened last night? Did you two have sex?”
“Cleo.” Zoe’s cheeks heated as her gaze shot to the open door.
Cleo grinned, and honest to God, she totally resembled a feline in human form. Jet-black hair, green eyes, and if she’d had whiskers, they’d have been twitching.
“Well?”
In a low voice, Zoe stated, “We did not have sex.” Unfortunately. She cleared that thought right out of her head. “He took me to a place in Magnolia.”
“He lives out there? Nice.”
“No. His sister’s friends with the owner. So we’re at this house with the most amazing kitchen ever.” Zoe described it, familiar with the envious expression on Cleo’s face. She’d felt the same. “Yeah, marble countertops as far as the eye could see. And even better, they had amazing plant beds.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Zoe still couldn’t believe how fun the night had been. “Gavin bought me pink work gloves, and we played in the garden beds all night. He made me cocoa too.” And kissed the breath out of me.
“Wait. By played in the garden beds, you mean—”
“We weeded and replanted things. It was amazing.
”
Cleo shook her head. “I feel so sad for you. You’re pathetic, and you don’t even realize how pathetic you are.”
Zoe flipped her off.
Cleo pretend-caught the gesture, kissed her fingers, and flipped it back to Zoe. “Now if you’d literally gotten down and dirty rolling in rose petals—”
“With all the thorns, roses would be a bad idea. But candytuft or geraniums would work if I didn’t care about crushing flowers. Which I do.”
“Hey, nerd girl. I’m trying to make a point. You had him all to yourself last night, and you pulled weeds. How is that romantic?”
“You had to be there.” Zoe frowned. “Come to think of it, he promised to take me to dinner.” Since she’d promised to keep quiet about his state of arousal at the gym. “Good thing I made that second date then. He owes me.” She grinned, pleased with herself that now she could rationalize her need to see him again. Because she missed him already. And that was too damn weird. Gah. She could feel his lips on hers as if he were still there, closing her in the warmth of his embrace.
Cleo stared at her, wide-eyed.
“What?”
“You look kind of weird. Smiley. Dopey.”
“Hey.” That took care of the smiley.
“Tell me exactly what happened last night. Leave nothing out.” Before Zoe could protest, Cleo moved to close the door behind them, then sat back down on the edge of her seat. “I told Ginny you needed her to cover the phone for a solid hour. I’m taking an early lunch break for this. You’re mine until eleven. So come on and share. My love life is nonexistent until Scott gets back.”
With her boyfriend deployed overseas, Cleo was at loose ends romantically.
Zoe groaned. “It was bad.”
“Bad how?”
“Bad in that I had to keep telling myself I don’t do one-night stands.”
“Yes.” Cleo fist-pumped in the air. “I knew you liked him.”
“So what? He’s likeable. Good-looking.” An understatement. “And he kisses like… Well, it’s like devouring a s’more in one bite.”
“That good, huh?” Cleo’s smile was way too wide for her face.
“Yes.” Zoe remembered the kiss and felt warm all over. “He kissed me under the moonlight. He took me on a gardening date, because he knew I liked plants. It’s like he’s thinking about more than just doing me. And it’s a little scary.”
“Because…?”
“Because I want to do him too.” How painful, yet freeing to admit. “Piper thinks I’m obsessed with him.”
“Um, you are. You’ve been talking about the cute jerk from the gym for months.”
“I have?”
“Yeah.” Cleo snorted. “Even I could tell you have a crush, and according to my brothers, I’m clueless about stuff like that.”
“Obsessed is a strong word.” At Cleo’s raised brow, Zoe amended, “I mean, well, I wasn’t exactly obsessed…until last night. The date was too good to be true, Cleo. So I’m giving him tonight to show his true colors.”
“If he’s smart, it’ll take him way many more dates than just two to expose himself.” She paused, then chuckled. “See what I did there? Expose himself?”
Zoe intentionally ignored her. “If he tries to get into my pants on date two, I won’t have to go any further.” And maybe she’d save herself some drama early on, because Gavin had trouble written all over him. She liked him. A lot. “Although I did tell Piper I’d try to be more like Aubrey.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “No, I want to be more like my sister. I want to have fun with life.”
Without warning, her eyes welled as grief intruded.
“Damn it.”
Cleo’s smile gentled and seemed to shift to shared understanding. She took a tissue from Zoe’s desk and handed it to her. “When my mom died, I was a basket case. Then my dad and uncle passed the next year. I’d be fine, then just break down for no reason. But that’s part of the healing process.” She pointed to her face. “Look at me. Just talked about my family. No tears.”
Zoe blew her nose. “How long did that take?”
“Ten years. But hey, no more crying about it. I’m still sad inside, but it’s a healthy, buried pain. I think. That’s what Matt and Josh tell me. Then again, they’re assholes.”
Zoe sputtered a surprised laugh. “Your brothers are not assholes. I like them.” And if she hadn’t been so busy with work before the mess with Aubrey, she might have asked one of them out. Cleo’s brothers were hot.
“Just because they wear badges does not make them good guys. Well, technically they are the good guys, but…you know what I mean. Now stop stalling and tell me about Gavin and his kisses.”
So Zoe told her everything. About Gavin’s charm at the gym, trying to get her to smile. About rolling around on the mats with him and getting tricked into “wrestling” before his brother looked in. And about the most romantic date she’d ever gone on that had ended in hot chocolate with real whipped cream, mini marshmallows, and a sweet kiss good-bye. Not one gropey instance where he pushed for sex.
Cleo kept nodding. “He’s into you. Really into you, not just for the wham-bam. I’m shocked.”
“That the man doesn’t want sex?”
“No, that you haven’t thrown him over yet. I like this new you, Zoe. Time to give a relationship a try. Look at me. Took me a while, but now Scott and I are tighter than ever. I think we might even get engaged when he gets back from his temporary duty in Germany.”
“Really? I didn’t know it was that serious.” Scott’s temporary duty had already been extended months longer than the six he’d initially been gone.
Cleo beamed. “I know. The last time he was back on leave, we had the best time. He was so sweet and attentive, more than he usually is. I don’t think he wanted to go back. And we’re talking about Stuttgart, Germany. The land of beer and blond chicks.”
Zoe laughed. “Beer and blond chicks, huh? Funny, I thought Germany was about more than that.”
“Not for Scott.” Cleo teased. “So what are you doing tonight?”
“I invited Gavin to my place for dinner and a movie. I thought we could watch something on Netflix together and hang out.”
“Seriously? I didn’t know Netflix and chill was your kind of deal.”
Zoe frowned. “What?”
Cleo sighed. “Like I said. Pathetic. So what are you cooking?”
“That’s not the point. Gavin passed the first test. Let’s see what he does on the second.” She frowned. “Now what’s this Netflix and chill business about?”
* * *
Gavin had no idea what to do about the upcoming evening. According to his sister, sex on the first date would have been bad. But the second should work, right? Except he didn’t think he could do it. And that freaked him out.
He could fuck a woman, no problem. Detachment—check. He was the king of meaningless sex. Of course, it meant something during the doing, but after, he and his partner would part ways without a problem. Also, the reason he’d been with those particular women at the gym was because they’d wanted nothing more than a few orgasms and clean sex.
But Zoe meant more than a mindless screw. The pleasure with her was in being with her. Not just being with her.
He groaned and covered his eyes with his forearm as he lay back on the couch in his living room.
“Seriously, Gavin. The whole patient lying back on the couch while confiding his problems is a stereotype. I don’t really use the couch in my practice except as a seat,” Ava said, her wry smile a testament to a terrific sense of humor in a shrink. “When you asked me for some advice about Zoe, I thought we’d talk. Sitting up. Like normal friends.”
“Is that what we are? Friends? You’re going to be my sister-in-law someday, if Landon doesn’t screw up your relationship. You’re a future sister. That means
I can hang all out with you. Pick my nose, walk around in my boxers, include you in the prank wars…” He peeked from under his forearm and saw her grimace. “Too immature for you?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.”
“Yeah, right. I know you encouraged my brother yesterday to switch out Mom’s toothpaste for that numbing agent you got from your dentist.”
She buffed her nails on her shirt and glanced away from him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He snorted. “Right. Hey, it was damn good. And Mom is still blaming Dad, which means we’re all safe from the wrath of Linda for a while. Now help a brother out.”
She sighed. “Fine. Continue to lie on the couch. Tell me about your problems, Gavin.”
He frowned. “Shouldn’t you have a notepad to write this down?”
“Gavin.” She tapped her fingernails in a rhythm that only someone with an interminable amount of patience could have. Of course, she was dating his brother. With Landon, patience was not just a virtue; it was a requirement.
“I’m kidding.” He sat up. “Tell me how to handle Zoe. I mean, we’ll eventually get to the good stuff. I hope. But I’m oddly reluctant to rush it, and I’m not sure why.”
“Because you care for her more than your other casual partners.”
“I was waiting for you to call them my conquests. Good on you for being a feminist and refraining.”
Ah. There. That tic in her forehead. And his job was done.
“Kidding, Ava. I respected those other casual partners. I think a woman wanting to have sex should go for it whenever she wants. I’m a forward-thinking guy.”
She blinked. “I’ll say. You have a much rangier vocabulary when we talk one-on-one. Interesting.”
“Yeah, I try to underwhelm at every opportunity. Gives me an edge.”
“But not with Zoe.”
“Nope.” He shrugged. “She rejected me for months. Last night we hung out at Hope’s rich friend’s place and dug in the dirt. And Zoe was into it.” He didn’t understand why he’d been having so much fun too. “I liked it.”
