Georgie on His Mind (10 page)

Not that she was interested in Walt's love life for any reason other than simple curiosity. She just figured that maybe
she should get to know Walt a little better. For Brad's sake.
Walt did seem a little different now than when she'd known
him all those years ago. She hated it when people made assumptions about her, but here she had pigeonholed someone
else in the exact same way. Maybe Dee was right, and she
should give him a small break.

Walt came over and stood next to her, waiting for the
label to print out so he could compare what she typed out
to what the actual prescription said. This was her moment.
While Dee was at the register, Georgie couldn't resist taking the opportunity to satisfy her own notions about his
attitude toward relationships-and maybe about the man
himself.

She hit the ENTER key and turned toward him. "Is it
because you feel suffocated?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

She sighed. The words flew out of her mouth before she
could stop them. Sometimes she wished she could lasso her
tongue. "Uh, you know, the reason you aren't in a relationship. Is it because you ... you know, feel that way?"

"You mean suffocated?" he asked with an amused grin.

"Yeah" She bit her lip and looked away. Great. Now he
was laughing at her. But way in the back of her mind suffocation was her biggest fear, which was why she always wanted
her dealings with the opposite sex to be light and breezy.
Less chance for anyone to dictate how she'd run her life.
Once she became independent from her brother and lived on
her own, she didn't want anyone interfering with what she did.
Maybe her fear was irrational, she wasn't sure. Until now,
she'd never even spoken about that fear aloud.

He must have sensed her anxiety because he closed the
gap between them and his expression softened. "No," he
said gently. "I've never felt-I don't feel suffocated. What's
the matter, Georgie? Why are you asking about this?"

"Oh, I ... I don't know." She gave a little shrug, trying to
shake off his concern, and went back to typing the few prescriptions Dee had set down next to her. She felt foolish for
voicing her question to someone like Walt and tried for a dif ferent mood. "I'm sorry, Walt. I guess I'm just surprised that
you aren't with someone. You seem like the kind of man
who should have a nice girlfriend."

Staggering backward, Walt clutched his chest. "Whoa, be
still my heart, was that a kind word I heard from you? Maybe
there's a chance we can be friends after all."

"Well, I am sorry you don't have a girlfriend. If you did,
you could have stayed with her and you wouldn't be living
with Brad and me" She glanced over at him and laughed
when she saw his face fall.

"I should have seen that one coming," he murmured,
shaking his head.

"You must be slipping in your old age, so I'll cut you
some slack. Dementia can't be that far off for you, so it's a
good thing I've already taken it upon myself to do some
thinking as far as the business is concerned"

He didn't bother stifling a groan as he snatched the prescription label from the printer. "Look, Georgie, no offense,
but I was district supervisor for six years in Philadelphia. I
think I can come up with some of my own ideas to help the
pharmacy. Thanks anyway, but I've got it covered"

"Okay," she challenged. "If you're such a smarty corporate business man, why don't you run an idea by Dee and
me, and we can give you our opinion on it?"

Walt rubbed his chin and let a few moments pass while he
seemed to think about it, but when no impromptu ideas
came forth, he clamped his lips and stared her down with
a heated glint.

She smiled smugly and continued to wait for an answer.

Dee came over with a few more prescriptions and set
them on the counter by Georgie. "Mrs. Johnson is coming
back to pick those up tomorrow, so no rush. Oh, and she wants someone to show her a good glucose monitor to buy when
she comes back too"

"Thanks," Georgie said, picking up a prescription and
fanning herself with it. "Actually, Mrs. Johnson's request
plays a part in the idea I came up with. Would you care to
hear it now, Walt? Or are you still trying to come up with
your own plan?"

"Okay, fine," he grumbled. "Let's hear it."

"Great. Here's what I was thinking. We could set up a
mini diabetes expo in the center of the store. You know, set
up a table with free brochures and sample products. We could
have an extra pharmacist available all day just to talk to customers about their disease and how they're managing it.
Maybe we could even suggest customers bring in a chart of
their daily blood sugar levels for a free analysis. Oh, and we
could give away a free blood sugar monitor as a door prize.
What do you think about something like that?" She held her
breath and waited.

Walt's brows pulled together as he rubbed the back of his
neck. "A diabetes expo, huh?"

"Uh-huh. And at the risk of tooting my own horn, I think
it would be a wonderful service to provide to the community.
This little store could fill a niche that those big corporate
drugstores can't provide: genuine concern for the health of
our customers"

"Hey, Georgie, that's pretty good," Dee commented.

Georgie smiled then looked anxiously at Walt, who
seemed to be still considering the idea. He was staring at the
floor. She thought she heard him utter a few grunts, but then
he suddenly looked up and his lips slid into a breathtaking
smile. "All right, Georgie. I might have to agree with Dee
here. It is a pretty good idea."

"Oh my gosh. You really think so?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, actually I don't think I could have
come up with a better plan myself. A diabetes expo sounds
like the perfect solution to get customers in the door as well
as show them that we care about them. You know something,
Georgie? You really surprise me. Who knew you'd be beauty
and brains all in one package"

He sounded so sincere she wanted to hug him. Her idea
was good. She knew it was. But it was nice to have her idea
validated anyway. Walt even looked right into her eyes when
he spoke that last part about having beauty and brains, proving his sincerity all the more. For once, someone really appreciated the advice she had to give.

Only ... maybe he appreciated the advice a little too much?

Because something suddenly changed in the way Walt was
looking at her just then, and she had to swallow hard. His
gaze took on an almost seductive quality as his hand moved
to her shoulder. He moved even closer, and she caught that
delicious light pine scent of his aftershave. Her heart began
to hammer in a nervous rhythm. For one brief crazy second,
it looked as though Walt was going to kiss her. Right there in
the pharmacy.

Right there in front of Dee.

Right there in front of Mrs. Johnson-and any other customers still lingering in the store.

Oh, Lord.

The real problem was she wasn't as appalled at the idea as
she had hoped. Walt's lips looked so soft. Almost too soft for
a man. Which probably meant he'd kissed a lot of women in
his life-women who wore extra-moisturizing lip gloss. A
man who seemed to be so popular with women couldn't be all
that bad. Could he? For some reason, she desperately wanted
to find out if that theory rang true, so being the complete
hussy she was, she decided to help him out and leaned in too. Then the phone rang. And they blinked at one another.

The moment ended.

The phone rang again, and Dee twisted in between them to
answer it. "Somers Shore Pharmacy," she chirped into the receiver as if she hadn't almost witnessed her boss and her friend
about to make out right there in front of her. Dee grabbed a pen
and paper and started jotting down prescription numbers.

Georgie moved away from the computer-and away from
Walt's hand on her shoulder-to give herself some air. That
was close. She wasn't sure what had just happened there, but
she thought she'd almost kissed Walt Somers. Her brother's
best friend. Her new boss. In the pharmacy.

But she couldn't help herself. Her lips had felt like they'd
been caught in some invisible tractor beam. Oh my gosh, yes.
Aliens or some other life force had to have been involved.
That was the only way to explain her reaction. Otherwise,
she'd have to admit that she actually wanted to jump her
brother's best friend.

She glanced at Walt, who was looking everywhere but at
her. She rubbed her temples and hoped something witty
would magically pop into her head before Dee hung up the
phone. The silence between them was deafening. She had to
say something to Walt-anything-to break up the tension
radiating around them or she was going to scream.

Luckily, Walt cleared his throat and spoke first. "Uh, again,
great work, Georgie. We should start putting your plan into
action as soon as possible. Before summer hits. I'll go see if
I can find the numbers of some of the pharmaceutical sales
representatives in our area. Maybe they'd be willing to give
us some free samples and things we can give away to customers who show up for the expo." He immediately swung
around toward the filing cabinets and started digging through
its contents.

Georgie stood motionless, staring at his back like some
jackanape. That near-kiss had vanished so quickly she thought
she might have imagined the whole thing-until she noticed
the paper Walt pulled out and was studying.

It was upside down.

Oh, great. She obviously had him spooked. The poor guy.
What a dope she was. Walt had given her idea about the diabetes expo serious consideration. He had treated her as a
professional equal. Then she almost ruined everything and
kissed him. He and Brad would have had a good laugh about
that too, much to her expense. One little compliment and she
went into full-force infatuation mode.

Not a good way to exhibit maturity.

She snuck another peek at Walt. He was still reading his
paper upside down. She had to smile.

Dee was right about another thing. Walt was sure fine to
look at. Georgie couldn't help but appreciate the way his lab
coat molded nicely over his wide shoulders and back, and
she experienced a little tingle of awareness again.

Hmm. Infatuation mode was pretty hard to distinguish from
lust mode. But she supposed there was no harm in enjoying
the view. For now. At least, until she could decide if this infatuation with Walt was a good or bad thing. Maybe after their
dinner tomorrow night with Brad, she'd have the answer.

I thought you said Georgie was going to meet us here?"

Brad tipped his chin hello to a passing blond, whose smile
at the mere acknowledgment could have lit up all of Las Vegas, before he answered. "Yeah, she'll be here. But I think
she said something about getting her toenails painted or
something before coming over."

Walt lifted his beer and took a healthy swallow. The last
thing he needed was to be reminded of any body parts on his
friend's sister. Georgie had adorable toes-not that he had a
toe fetish or stared at her feet often-but when Georgie was in
a room, it was hard not to notice everything about her. Toes,
ears, eyes, hair, legs ... lips. He had just proved that point
yesterday when he'd almost kissed her in the pharmacy.

What had he done, thinking he could invite her out like
this and prove he could still treat her like he always had?
This friendly dinner get-together idea wasn't going to work
at all-not if he wanted his relationship with Georgie to remain platonic.

Why couldn't he just remind himself that Georgie would bring nothing but complications to his life? She was like
family. He was her boss. Her brother owned several guns ...

Walt looked back at Brad and forced a smile. "Toenails
painted, huh? I hope she's not getting all dolled up just for us"

Brad snorted as he picked up a menu. "Get real."

"Oh, right. What I meant to say is that Georgie is a natural
beaut-She's very attract-Uh, she doesn't strike me as the
type of woman who gets her nails done on a regular basis."
Walt mentally rolled his eyes at himself. He needed to get
his act together before he went and blurted out in front of
Brad that he had the major hots for his only sister.

"Nah, she isn't the high-maintenance type," Brad said. "I
can guarantee you if she is getting dolled up, it's not for us.
I'm sure my sister's got some ulterior motive. I just hope she
doesn't attract any more of those loser types I've had to get
rid of. It's getting to be a bit of a hobby, one that's going to
send me to the grave if she doesn't start becoming more
discriminate."

A moan from the bar area had them both craning their
necks to see the wide-screen TV around which most of the
men in the place had congregated. After a few minutes of baseball highlight reports, Brad pointed toward the crowd around
the barstools. "Hey, what do you think about him? You think
that guy over there would be a good candidate for Georgie?"