Page 10 of Dr. Off Limits

Sutton

Tonight wasn’t supposed to go like this. First, men weren’t as gorgeous as Beau outside of films. It just didn’t happen. Secondly, men who were remotely good looking weren’t also sexy and attentive, and they didn’t talk about magic rowing boats.

I had to give Parker her due: I wasn’t thinking about anything other than what was right in front of me tonight. And what was right in front of me was Beau. It was just so... easy between us.

“What do you like to do when you have a day off?” I asked. I wanted to know everything about him. Surely he couldn’t be as amazing as I thought he was. There must be a personality disorder or criminal record I could tease out of him.

“Not much. My brother Nathan isn’t a medic. He and I like to kick around business ideas. Then he tries to convince me to give up my job and go into business with him.”

I wanted to know more, so I paused. People liked to fill silences. Life as a hairdresser had taught me that much. But he didn’t take the bait and the silence stretched between us like strings of mozzarella fresh from a bite of a favorite pizza.

“He obviously thinks you have a talent for business,” I said, eventually.

He shrugged. “I had a lucky break at university with a business idea. He thinks I have untapped potential.”

“A business idea? Tell me more.” Beau struck me as the kind of guy who could effortlessly turn his hand to anything. Life just seemed like a breeze to someone like him.

He shook his head. “Nope. Can’t do that. It’s in the area we can’t talk about.”

“Intriguing,” I answered. “The only problem is, my imagination is always much more vivid than reality.”

He laughed and I wondered whether he’d just come back from holiday. Was that his natural skin tone, or was he one of those men who fake tanned?

“Yes, I’ve got it. You invented a mind-reading computer!”

The corner of his mouth nudged upward. “If I had something like that, I think I’d be using it on you right about now.”

Beau didn’t need to know how many times I’d mentally undressed him tonight, how I’d wondered whether all his brothers were as handsome as he was, whether or not his large hands were an indicator of the size of his other organs.

“That would be embarrassing,” I said.

By the expression on his face, he knew exactly what I meant. “Same.” Heat seemed to roll off his body and curl around me, almost like I could feel him despite him not touching me.

I’d never felt so comfortable with someone I was so completely attracted to. It was as delicious as diving into warm chocolate, but an almost imperceptible voice reminded me nothing was so easy. It must be a trick.

Easy or difficult, it didn’t matter. Beau was off to Africa next week. I didn’t need to think beyond this evening.

“Okay, tell me something you like to do in London when you’re not working.”

He looked away and cleared his throat. “I used to go swimming.”

I nodded, wondering how to follow up with that. “I can swim,” I said and then felt like a total idiot. “I mean, I used to swim a lot when I was younger. Before I started med school. Now, the closest I get to the water is listening to a recording of waves lapping on the shore on my meditation app while I mix myself a cocktail.”

“Well there were definitely no cocktails in the bathing pool on Hampstead Heath. Or tides come to that.”

“You used to swim in a pond on the Heath?” I asked. “Like outdoors in the cold?” That was the most sinister thing he’d said all evening.

“It feels surprisingly good. The dopamine hit is intense—stimulates the vagus nerve, and obviously, it’s great for circulation. I trained for an Iron Man at one point and used to be a member of the club.”

I started to laugh. “An Iron Man? Of course you did.” My mental undressing had revealed rock hard muscle under his shirt.

“You don’t believe me?” he said, still smiling.

I didn’t think either of us had stopped grinning like lunatics since we’d sat down. He was relaxed and warm and so much fun. And of course, handsome. This was the best date I’d ever been on. How could I not smile?

“I don’t think you’re lying. It’s just you’re.. .” I was going to say he seemed to be the perfect man, but I wasn’t dishing out compliments like that to a perfect stranger. “You know, you seem to have it all together.”

He laughed. “I’m thirty-six. I’m supposed to have it a little bit together.”

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