“Excellent. We’ll be making the decision by committee in the next two weeks, and then we’ll let you know.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“You’re welcome.” And Mags stood there until Adam left. Then she cast a dismissive glance at Nikki and disappeared as silently as she’d arrived. But her voice carried down the hallway. “Don’t think that any of these boys have the time for personal entanglements, Ms. Fine.”
Entanglements?
As if Nikki were a spider, tripping and then trapping men in her web, for God’s sake.
But Mags hadn’t finished. “Not to mention that we have a
strict
policy against fraternization with students.”
Oh, yes? Well, Nikki herself had a strict policy against hurling staplers at coworkers’ heads, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t tempted.
10
ADAM SAT IN HIS OLD Mustang, perspiring in the still formidable evening heat of Miami. He sneezed for the fifth time and cursed whatever chivalrous instinct had driven him to buy a bunch of mixed wildflowers for Nikki, who, of course, hadn’t arrived home yet.
His exam had not gone well—he knew that—and yet here he was, not studying again. Wasting time and sweating and losing his focus, all because of Nikki. What was wrong with him?
Had he not learned his lesson in high school?
Evidently not.
He pushed that thought aside. Where did women go after working a nine-to-five job? The grocery store? A yoga class?
Though she’d refused to give him her phone number, he’d remembered her last name from a glimpse at her credit card when she’d tried to pay at the minor emergency center. So he’d used the internet white pages to track down her address and number.
At last his patience was rewarded, and Nikki drove into the parking lot. She pulled into a spot, got out and then reached into the backseat for some grocery bags.
Her navy skirt pulled tight against her delectable backside, and Adam couldn’t help but drink in the view for a moment before he recalled why he was there. He climbed out of the car and approached, floral bouquet in hand.
Adam opened his mouth to greet her suavely but sneezed again instead.
Nikki let out a startled shriek and clocked her head against the Beetle’s door frame before whirling around.
“Hi,” Adam said, before sneezing again. “Sorry. I brought you some flowers but I think I’m allergic to them.”
“What are you doing here?” Nikki asked, rubbing her head with a grimace and looking none too pleased to see him.
“Didn’t we have this same conversation earlier today?”
“Yes, but how did you find my address? Frankly, it’s a little creepy that you’ve turned up here.”
He winced. “I don’t mean to be at all creepy. Just dedicated to trying to apologize.”
She just stood there, frowning at him.
“Uh, besides, didn’t you say the other night that you had a creep radar? And that it didn’t go off around me?”
Her lips twitched, which he took as a hopeful sign. At last she took the flowers from him. “Thank you. They’re, uh, beautiful.”
The sad truth was that they had once been beautiful, but due to their time with him in the hot car, they now looked a little worse for wear. Their heads hung limply from their stems, and their leaves had lost all vibrancy as the sun and the heat leached and then boiled off their oxygen.
“Not so much,” Adam mumbled.
She stared down at the bedraggled flowers, unable to contradict him.
“But you are,” he added. “Beautiful, that is.”
She tilted her head and evaluated him. “Wow. You’re really trying hard to butter me up.”
Adam felt his cheeks flaming. “Uh, yeah. Yes, I am. Is that a problem?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Possibly. Though I kind of enjoy watching you grovel—”
“Do you? You’re too kind. I guess I deserve that.”
“But I was warned today not to fraternize with any students at the medical school.”
He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “Well, that’s okay, then. Because my instincts toward you are anything but fraternal. And may I point out that we are nowhere near the medical school right now.”
“You’re bad,” she said, shaking a finger at him.
He nodded. “The worst.”
“And you should know that I’m only still talking to you because you hold my job in your hands.”
“Right. There is that.” He hoped she knew he was kidding. He moved closer to her and took some of the grocery bags out of her hands. “How’d you like to invite me in?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll keep groveling if you do. Providing you with sick satisfaction. How can you turn that down?”
She laughed, then bit her lower lip. “I really
was
warned about associating with students.”
“And how will they ever know?” He dropped his voice and looked around mock-surreptitiously. “Do you think you were followed?”
“Of course not,” she admitted.
“So…?”
“Well, okay, you can come in for a beer or something—”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Or something.”
“Don’t push your luck.” She took the remaining bags from the car, hitched a striped tote bag over her shoulder, and then mesmerized him again by walking toward the building. He caught a subtle, a very faint, triangular line under that navy skirt. It disappeared between her—
“Are you coming or not?” she called over her shoulder.
He blinked and shuffled his feet forward. “Yes. I mean, I hope to, again. One day.”
She glanced at him, clearly understanding his meaning. “How much money did you bring, slick?”
He sighed. “Are we ever going to be able to move past that?”
“Depends,” she said, jingling her keys.
“On?”
“Whether I decide to let you off the hook.”
“I was afraid it might work that way.” He changed the subject. “So who’s that undead woman in your office?”
Nikki wrinkled her nose and drew out the syllables as if naming a hemorrhoid cream. “Margaret.”
“She doesn’t seem to care for you much.”
“I think Margaret cares for me about as much as she’d care for a dung beetle that crossed the toe of her shoe. And it’s only taken her one day to develop that much affection, too.”
“Impressive. I’m tempted to bring her flowers, too, since she seems instrumental in handing out the Perez scholarship.”
The words produced a withering glance from Nikki. “What’s involved in that?”
“Oh, the Perez foundation only funds an entire year of med school at Palm Peninsula. It goes to a deserving, upstanding, outstanding student who needs the money.”
“Wow. A whole year. Maybe you
should
bring Mags some flowers,” Nikki said. “No joke.”
They began to climb the stairs to the second level, where her apartment was. “But she doesn’t have nearly as nice a body—or personality—as you do,” Adam said. “And besides, I’d rather get by on my own merits, not calculated flattery or bribes.”
“You have merits?” Nikki teased.
“A couple. Well hidden, of course.”
She opened the door to her apartment and motioned him inside. “What are they?”
“Let’s see…I volunteer with the Alzheimer’s patients over at Jackson Memorial. I tutor at-risk kids in math and science. I haven’t flunked out of med school yet. And I even do apologies.”
Nikki followed him and closed the door behind her. She flicked on some lights.
Her apartment was decorated mostly in yellows and blues. Dark blue couch, soft yellow walls, blue-checked kitchen curtains. Nothing was expensive, but it was neat and cheerful.
A small TV perched in an oak entertainment unit opposite the couch. A few books kept company with some framed photographs and knickknacks.
Adam picked up one of them after taking the grocery bags into the kitchen. “Is this your mom? Your home?”
Nikki nodded, chewed at her lip again and sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He made a gesture for her to continue talking.
“Her house needs a new roof,” Nikki finally said. “And she has no way to pay for it.”
“That’s tough. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged and changed topics. “So you’re a medical student.”
Adam shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah.” He waited for that I’m-so-impressed look, but it never came. Interesting. Neither did the glazed-over, dollar-signs-in-the-eyes expression. If anything, she seemed disapproving.
She shook her head. “When I turned around and saw you standing there, I almost peed in my pants.”
Adam cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. “It’s always been a dream of mine to affect a woman that way,” he said dryly.
“Oh, you know what I mean. I was petrified.”
“You weren’t even a little bit happy to see me again?” He moved toward her.
“No.” But the corner of her mouth quivered. She moved to the refrigerator, opened it and reached in for a beer. “You were my worst nightmare.”
Adam moved closer, so that when she emerged she turned and faced the wall of his chest.
“Oh…” She extended the beer bottle.
He took it, wrapping his fingers partly around hers so that they held it together. “So. Are you a little bit happy to see me now?”
A pulse beat double-time at the left side of her throat. She swallowed.
“Hmm?” Adam reached out and tucked a curly, golden strand of hair behind her ear. He stared at her perfect, lush mouth with its voluptuous bottom lip.
She nodded and swallowed again.
He took a step closer, and to his disappointment, she dodged out from between him and the refrigerator while he tried not to remember what she looked like naked—and failed miserably. He stood in a state of semi-arousal and took pulls on his beer as she bustled around the tiny kitchen, putting his flowers into water and arranging a plate of cheese and crackers.
“Have a seat,” she told him, gesturing toward the couch.
So he did.
Nikki followed him and set down the plate. Several cubes of cheese, a pile of crackers and a few olives winked up at him, a poor substitute for what he really wanted. He started to envy the randy little pimentos inside the cushy flesh of the olives. Damn it. That was truly pathetic.
“Help yourself,” Nikki prompted him, and he watched the way her lips caressed the wineglass as she drank.
Yeah, he’d like to help himself, all right. He shot her a peremptory smile and snatched one of the evil, sexually mocking olives. He popped it into his mouth, savaged it and swallowed. Then he poured beer after it, the oral equivalent of a cold shower.
He should be studying. He knew that. He shouldn’t even be here. But…he was. He’d been unable to stay away.
“Adam, why are you here?” Nikki asked. “Did you come for sex?”
“What kind of a question is that to ask?” Adam tugged at his collar and shifted once again on the couch.
“Did you?”
He squinted at her. “Are you asking me,” he said slowly, “if I came over to take advantage of the situation? Sex for silence? Is that the kind of person you think I am?” He heard the rising anger in his tone. “Really, Nikki?”
His outrage seemed to reassure her. “No, I didn’t really think that. But I guess I needed to be sure.”
“I came because you were obviously upset to see me in the dean’s office, and I wanted to let you know that you have nothing to worry about.”
“And the flowers?”
“I brought those because I wanted to make you feel better about the whole weekend.”