Page 122 of Mr. Flirt

I flicked my gaze to Shep and saw him staring at the table next to us.

Figured.

It was a group of three women.

I brought my gaze back to Cliff’s.

“So, you’re a physician?” I remembered Shep telling me he was a doctor all those weeks ago.

“Trauma surgeon.” He nodded, taking a sip of wine as the server brought me another martini.

I took the last two sips of the first one so the server could take it away.

“Wow. That is incredible.” My head spun a little from the alcohol.

“The martini or being a surgeon?”

I laughed, feeling like the room was spinning, as I brought my eyes back to Cliff. “That you’re a surgeon. A trauma surgeon. Wow. That has got to keep the adrenaline flowing, right? Phew.”

He frowned at me. “Yeah. I suppose it does.”

Our appetizers came, and I snuck another look at Shep’s table. He was downing a shot.

How could he not even notice I was here?

“So, you must keep really long hours?” I asked, taking a sip from my new martini before eating a fried artichoke leaf.

“They aren’t the most conducive for dating.” He nodded. “But I can’t imagine being a divorce lawyer is exactly forgiving when it comes to billing.”

I pretended to shoot him with my index finger, which made him jump back a little. “Right you are. My evenings are pretty much eaten up by work, and I might get a few free hours on the weekend.”

Cliff smiled. “Sounds like we might be a match made in heaven.”

“You think?” I laughed again, but this time I wasn’t sure why.

I noticed Shep look in my direction, and for a brief second, I wondered if he had seen me.

My body stiffened, and I took another sip of my martini. Heat drifted through me from the mix of alcohol and overall bad decisions as I swallowed my pride and stared at Cliff.

“We’ve both established that we’re workaholics,” Cliff said, smiling. “But what do you like to do in your off-hours?”

I thought about it for a second and smiled. “Well, I love playing Jingle Berry Balls. In fact, it’s kind of my addiction.”

Cliff looked at me like I had three heads. “I have no idea what that is.”

I smacked the table so hard Cliff looked like he almost had a heart attack. “Oh. Sorry. It’s only the best pay-to-play game in existence. They have monthly expansions. In fact, I got to see what’s ahead before everyone else.”

Cliff didn’t look the least bit impressed. “Oh, wow.”

“It’s awesome. A real stress reliever.” I eyed him and nodded before taking another sip. I was past tipsy, but I didn’t care. “And when I’m not playing mobile device games, I’d say I love to read. I love eating.” I twisted my lips into a speculative pout, realizing Shep and I had never played this game. We never needed to do this dance. We just existed. We just were right.

God, I missed Shep.

I pushed down the crazy, drunk feelings and brought my attention back to Cliff.

Cliff was responsible. Serious. A physician. Stable.

God, was he stable...

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