Page 37 of Dr. Aster

“Yeah, well, something tells me that dancing around each other like this and not seeing where it goes would be the disaster.”

“I’m not dating you,” she confirmed again.

“I know,” I answered with a smile. “I’ll be at your house on Tuesday morning, and we’ll hit the road and drive until something comes up.”

“You’re such a nut. Thank God you don’t plan surgeries like this,” she teased, but I could tell she was nervous.

Strangely, I wasn’t. My drive to spend more time with this woman was too strong to let me be nervous. I was excited and intrigued, and for the first time in a long time, I felt a spark of renewed energy ignite in me.

I didn’t know where it could all lead, but I wasn’t afraid to find out.

Chapter Fourteen

Mickie

It was the first day of October, and though I loved the intensity of the season changes while transitioning from summer to the crisp mornings of fall, that never really happened in Southern California, where the weather seemed to range between the seventies and nineties for most of the year.

I had no idea why I was feeling so sentimental that October was here, but I was, and it made me miss my home for the first time in a long time. In Tennessee, after the first cold snap hit, the leaves would start to change in various colors, and the air felt lighter and more exhilarating.

Knock! Knock! Knock!...Knock…Knock. Kno?—

I yanked the door open before John’s SWAT Team greeting disturbed the entire hillside and saw Mr. All Smiles standing before me wearing a tight white T-shirt and jeans.

I turned away so as not to let the temperature heat up my insides and ruin our outing.

“Were you trying to make me think the house was being raided, or do you always announce your presence that way?” I teased.

“And here I thought that pumping up your adrenaline in anticipation of our outing would score me some points.”

I smirked at him after he took my duffle bag and pillow into his arm, “Don’t worry about scoring points with me. We’re hiking and enjoying camping in the woods for the night.”

I watched his bicep muscle pop and flex after he tucked my pillow under his arm and restrained myself from allowing my jaw to hit the floor after seeing how fit he was. Knowing how cocky he was, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he worked out this morning to get his pump on to work me up into a frenzy tonight.

“So, speaking of not scoring points,” he started after I turned to secure the lock on the front door, hearing the alarm beeping its countdown before it set. “I see you have no friends joining us on our chaperoned mountain trip today.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said the last few years had been isolating,” I said. “I mean, I have acquaintances, like the girls I was out with the night we met, but that’s about it.”

These days, if I wasn’t working, I was sleeping. My lifestyle didn’t leave much time for fostering friendships; luckily, I was introverted enough not to care.

“Well, good,” John answered, setting my bag in the backseat of his lifted and incredibly badass red Toyota 4Runner. “Because I hardly have any friends here on the West Coast that would do shit like this for or with me. The doctors I usually spend my downtime with after-hours would be the only ones I could ask along.”

“So why didn’t you?” I questioned. I was a bit shocked that this gorgeous specimen of a man was in the same boat as I was, with no real friends to count.

He grinned at me, eyes peering over the gold rims of the aviator sunglasses he’d just slid on, “If I had invited any of my doctor buddies along, they would have laughed and treated me like a little bitch for needing a wingman. All we ever do together is grab drinks or dinner, and inviting them on a camping trip is a bit of a leap from that.”

I stepped up into the 4Runner, and the fragrance of the newness of this car smacked me in all my senses. God, I loved the smell of a new car. The only time I’d ever experienced this for myself was when Dad bought me a Honda Civic for my high school graduation. He chose it because it would last me forever, and he was right. The goddamn thing wouldn’t die.

“Wow, this is really nice,” I said, turning back and seeing the back was filled with camping gear and duffels.

“Thanks. I just bought it yesterday,” he chirped, looking as proud as I must’ve when my dad handed me the keys to the Civic.

“Yesterday?” I was confused. “What happened to the Ferrari?”

“The Ferrari doesn’t go into the woods, gorgeous,” he said. “She’s covered and tucked nicely away in my garage at home.”

“Do not tell me you bought this just to go camping,” I said, wondering if this guy was for real.

“Okay, I won’t,” he answered, glancing over his shoulder as he backed up, turning from my aunt’s driveway and heading down the long, winding road.

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