Page 64 of Endurance
Tonight was a bad idea.
“Hello, ladies,” a low voice utters from the other side of my stool, breaking through my cone of hell.
I turn and am surprised to see Tanner’s fellow striker, Roan DeWalt, commandeering the spot right beside me. I’ve only seen him play once since he joined Bethnal, but he’s one of those footballers you can’t not know. He looks like a movie star with his caramel skin and super light brown eyes that suck you in.
He smiles kindly right at me. “How are we this evening?”
“Hi, Roan,” Indie practically growls over her shoulder, still watching Tanner like a creepy Peeping Tom while chugging down her wine like water.
“Hey, Doc.” He gestures to the guy standing next to him. “This is my mate, Adam. He’s a friend visiting from back home.”
“Hello, Adam,” I say, reaching out to shake both their hands because Indie seems to have lost all common courtesy.
Roan holds my grip for longer than necessary, his eyes dropping down to my bare shoulder and drinking in every beauty mark speckling my flesh.
He finally releases my hand and furrows his brow at Indie, who’s still horribly distracted. “Everything all right, Doc?”
She swerves her slanted eyes to him. “I’m thinking it might not be, Roan.”
“Anything I can do to help?” He looks at me.
My eyes snap to his with fierce intensity. I reach out and grab his shoulders. “I’m good with a scalpel. How are you with a shovel?”
“What?” He looks completely confused, his perfect skin forming a single crease between his brows.
“Oh never mind.” I turn away from him, grab my next shot that’s been kindly delivered, and down it like a champ.
“So you’re friends with our lovely doc here?” Roan asks, his voice far too low and smooth, reaching places inside of me that haven’t been touched since Tanner.
My answer is short and clipped, trying to quiet the beast inside. “Yep, since med school.”
“So you’re a doctor, too?”
“She saves babies,” Indie adds, grabbing her shot, drinking it, and training her eyes back on Tanner, whom I can’t bring myself to look at again.
“I really wish people would stop saying it like that.” Indie should know better.
“Is that what you do?” I can feel Roan’s eyes on me. They are the same eyes that all men get when they first discover my profession and all their fantasies pop into the forefront of their minds.
I turn my drooping eyes to Roan who’s blatantly checking me out. I smile coyly. “Let me guess, you’re envisioning a naughty nurse scenario right now?”
He nearly chokes on his lager. “How did you guess?”
I shrug. “Call it female intuition.”
“I’m good with naughty doctor, too.” He waggles his brows right at me.
This feels right. This exchange. This pithy banter. It’s what I excel at. Indie and I spent our Tequila Sunrise nights dancing at clubs and I never had a problem pulling guys. It was as easy as breathing for me. This is exactly what I need in order to forget about Tanner and the Harris Hoes he’s currently talking his stupid, ape-like drivel to.
I bite my lip and then ask quietly, “Would you be a bad patient?”
His smirk is pure sex. “I’d be whatever you want, babe.”
I roll my eyes, hating his answer.
“Belle!” Indie shouts my name as if she’s been saying it for a while. I swerve my head to look at her and nearly fall off my stool when I find a seething Tanner standing three feet away from me, nose to nose with a small but fearsome Indie. Well, more like chest to nose.
“What do you need, Tanner?” Indie asks, crossing her tiny arms over her chest like she’s a seven-foot-tall bodyguard.
