Page 14 of Auctioned to Dr. Daddy

Is it just me, or is that the sort of question you ask when you’re fishing about someone?

Not that I’m complaining, of course. If she’s fishing, then she’s interested, and if she’s interested… Well God damn, so am I!

Chapter Six

Demi

“We’vesplit,”hesays,shoving the phone back into his pocket. “The divorce was finalized a few months ago but the relationship ended long before that.”

My gaze lingers on his hands—I can’t spot a ring line. Maybe he’s telling the truth. Despite not working at St. Peters, Nate’s love life has been a topic of interest at the nurses’ station, mostly about the back-and-forth with his ex-wife.

“So you’re not taken now? That seems like a crime. Do you have some kind of Nurse-Be-Gone spray that you use?” I ask, trying to make a joke.

But if he’s alone, maybe that means he’s not moved on from her.

He laughs. “I just haven’t been interested in dating. The divorce was rough, right up until the end.”

The corners of my mouth twist down. “Rough?”

“I’m sure that Tyler’s mentioned it at St. Peters,” he tells me, after a moment. “You don’t have to act like the nurses’ station is not gossip central in a hospital.”

“Gossip isn’t always the truth.”

There were many rumors circulating about his marriage but in all of them Nate sounded like a man deeply in love with his now ex-wife.

“Now you’ve got me wondering about what he’s been saying. Come on, Tyler might get Little Brother Gossip privilege, but I still want to know what’s going on.”

“No, it’s not about your brother. It’s this article I was reading, I say, waving a hand.

“It was talking about how Dr. Lockwood was working on a team to study vertical gaze palsy, and it had this section in it—you know, that brief little bio piece that they do?”

He nods.

“And it had a picture of his wedding from last year,” I continue, losing a bit of steam now that the conversation is on his ex-wife. “And you were in it.”

“Have you had your eye on me for a while?” he asks, brows raised.

“I mean, maybe. An appreciative eye.”

“Is it still appreciative tonight?”

“It’s very appreciative tonight.”

The waiter interrupts our moment as he sets our food on the table.

The salmon is good, and the brown butter is just nutty enough to sit well on the back of my tongue. I’m actually terribly allergic to real nuts, so brown butter is the closest that I ever get to the flavor.

I take a couple of bites, giddy about where our conversation was heading.

What should I do next? If this was a real date, I would be all about asking him back to my place for another drink. Something to really help finish the night off. But does this actually count as a real date?

“Speaking of taken, is there a Mister Winters that I should be concerned with?” Nathan breaks the silence.

As he asks me that, he pretends to look around, as though trying to spot the non-existent Mister Winters coming to knock his head off for stealing his girl.

The smile that I give him when he looks back my way is nothing shy of sultry.

Fingers reach up, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind one ear. I use the best attempt at a purr that I can manage when I say, “Not unless you’re looking to play the part.”

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