Page 31 of The Interns

“Those two really hit it off, huh?”

“You have no idea. It’s nauseating, actually, how into each other they are. I was totally the third wheel. I’m not even sure why they wanted me there.”

“Sorry I left you hanging last night. I just needed to get—”

“It’s fine,” she interrupted. “Trust me. I shouldn’t have asked you anyway. It was out of line.”

“That wasn’t it at all. I wanted to go. Next time, I’m in.”

Her brow scrunched and head tilted, questioning his sincerity.

“I am,” he promised.

“Sure. One day?” she teased.

She was totally blowing him off, but he’d hold her to it. “Someday. Soon.”

“Riiight. So how was your night?” she asked.

“Not very eventful. I stopped by my brother’s place to visit for a bit, then I went home, caught up with laundry, did some reading for the case, and fell asleep early. That makes me sound about eighty, huh?”

She entertained his lame joke with a chuckle. “Only seventy,” she said, her voice low and husky, with a late breaking little smile that showed how pleased she was with herself at her quip.

He stilled. His sense of professionalism and visceral reaction to her undeniable sexiness at that moment clashed. He basically short-circuited just like he had last night when she all but purred Go for a triple header? He was almost positive it wasn’t personal, and it was for the best that he kept on thinking that way. They had just gotten to a good place with their working relationship, and he couldn’t risk fucking that up. He was grateful he’d decided to drop in to visit Emmett on his first night in his new place without the girls, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have been able to decline her invitation last night and who knows what may have happened.

“You have a brother?” she asked.

“Yeah, two of them actually, but only one still lives here.”

“Any sisters?”

“No, but I do have two nieces so it’s not a total boys’ club.”

She nearly choked on the sip of coffee she’d just taken. He stood to see if she was okay and she waved him off as she coughed.

“Wrong pipe. God, it’s already ten,” she said, quickly changing the subject as she glanced at the clock above his desk. “Okay, just let me finish my coffee and eat some breakfast, then I promise we’ll get to work.”

“No rush.”

She took a foil wrapped sandwich out of the white paper bag, then folded the top over and tossed it to him.

“Bacon, egg, and cheese. Don’t make me be bad alone,” she begged.

He bit down on the inside of his lip. Good God, Hendricks. He kept his eyes on the bag, opened it, and inhaled the scent of the greasy breakfast that was a departure from her usual yogurt or oatmeal, then threw a grin her way.

“Only for you.”

* * *

After putting in a good day’s work, Reed rewarded himself with a late afternoon ball game at Turner Field with his best friend since grade school.

“You know this is the first night I haven’t been at the bar in over a year,” Dev said.

Reed was surprised to hear such a thing, but on second thought, he hadn’t been around as much as he would have liked to for the past two years to even notice.

Dev Reddy was the son of doctors who had moved to the States from India a few years before he was born. His parents took positions at an underserved hospital near Clayville and quickly became beloved fixtures in the community. Though Dev didn’t share their love of medicine, he did inherit their strong work ethic and position as a beloved member of their small town.

“Well, thanks for spending it with me,” he said, raising his Coke to toast the occasion.

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