Page 18 of Doctor Daddy

I looked forward to a morning smile or wink from Mark. Before the onslaught of flowers began, he had started making sure to stop and say good morning, and sometimes he would even flirt. After the flowers, his flirting ramped up a notch. He would comment on the new flowers of the day. Sometimes even going as far as smelling them and trying to get me to tell him which ones I liked best.

My shift dragged on. It was a long day, and I hadn’t seen Mark once. Lisa cooed over the newest arrangement. I grabbed my sweater and headed back to the locker room. It was time to clock out and leave.

In all of my tiredness, I mimicked the morning trudge. All my belongings for the workday, and a tired posture as I left.

“How was your day?” I looked up to see Mark waiting outside the doors.

“Hey, long. Are you just coming in?”

He shook his head. “Was there another delivery of flowers this morning?”

He knew there was. I knew he knew.

I nodded. “Yep, more flowers.”

“Did you like them?”

“They’re pretty. No one seems to know what’s going on. A couple of the girls have been taking a few home when their shifts end. It’s getting overwhelming.”

He gave me a slow nod. I tried to read a sub-context into his movements. I couldn’t figure it out.

“You are welcome to take some up to your office. I bet your staff would like some flowers to pretty up the place.”

“My staff would wonder why you’re giving me flowers.”

I laughed. “Then your staff would have to wonder why I was giving flowers to anyone who would take them. You didn’t hang around here just so you could talk about flowers with me.”

“No, but I was waiting for you. I was headed out and thought I’d see if you were interested in having lunch with me.”

My insides did a little flip. Only I was entirely too tired to go eat in public. And if I was going to go out with him, I wanted Mark to see me at my best.

“Not today.”

“I think that’s the first time you didn’t flat out reject me and say no.”

I leveled a glare at him. He seemed to have forgotten the gala. There was a whole lot of not rejecting him going on that night.

“Well, if I can’t have lunch with you…”

I held up my hand and stopped him.

“I was up way too late last night. I’m very tired and am going to go home and take a nap. Try again later.”

He chuckled. “How many times are you going to make me ask you out before you say yes?”

I looked at him. I liked the way his smile reached his eyes, and they crinkled up at the corners. He didn’t look like he was of the same generation as my parents. He looked more like he was ten years older than me at most. The age didn’t bother me. He was so good-looking and interested.

“As many times as it takes, I guess,” I said with a shrug.

“So, there is a yes in there somewhere.”

I leaned away from him. It was entirely too easy to get close to him. He was all hot and sexy and I wanted to touch him again. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted him to suffer the way he had made me suffer this past month of ignoring me.

I should have ignored all feelings for him and moved on with my life. But I was drawn to him. Even standing in the damp parking lot my body was reacting while my mouth was being a smart-assed brat.

“I’ll see you later, Mark.”

“Yes, you will.”

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