Page 378 of The Doctors Will See You Now

After a quick perusal of the first floor, I headed upstairs to my sanctuary—The Rare Book Room. All wood floors and a quiet space, the room squeezed on my chest and hugged me right in the heart. The sights and smells of well-used books sitting prettily on the shelves and that undeniable beautiful scent of vanilla and almond—it was just as I remembered.

I found an open, plush velvet seat nestled between two giant shelves in the corner of the room and happily plopped my ass down.

Pulling my laptop out of my soft-leather briefcase and resting it in my lap, I took a short detour to my favorite real estate site, but after I came up empty-handed on my ongoing house hunt, I scrolled through work emails and focused on my priority tasks of the day.

CMI had a home base in Midtown, and since I’d relocated to New York, I’d even obtained my very own office space. But some days, I just needed a place where my coworkers weren’t milling about and interrupting my flow.

My calendar for today was stacked with five prospects to follow up on, and when I saw the name Nick Raines listed, I smiled like a loon.

It'd been two days since our trivia night, and if I was being honest with myself, this sighting of his name wasn’t the first time I’d encountered it. Dr. Nick Raines had filtered into my brain a lot over the past forty-eight hours.

I was fascinated by pretty much everything about him. His insanely intelligent mind. His career. His dry humor. His sexy smile.

I pulled my cell out of my briefcase and tapped on my text inbox. Sure, I knew he didn't want to relocate to LA, but let's be real, my "following up" was just an excuse to message him.

Me: What did Phoebe change her name to?

His response came a minute later.

Nick: Princess Consuela Banana Hammock.

I grinned. So he could at least retain information. Trainable. That was good.

But my smug high didn’t last for long. My phone pinged with another message.

Nick: What is the biggest part of the brain?

I had no idea, and I’d just bet the smartass knew it.

With a few quick taps to my laptop, I pulled up Google and typed in the question. Instantly, the first few sentences of the top search result caught my eyes. I clicked the link and quickly scanned the first few paragraphs for an answer.

The biggest part of the brain is the cerebrum which makes up 85% of the brain's weight. The cerebrum is the thinking part of the brain, and it controls your voluntary muscles.

Aha! I smiled and typed out my researched answer.

Me: The cerebrum.

Nick: Google?

Me: Obviously. Google knows everything.

Nick: Fleetwood Mac's Sex Pants would be disappointed, you little cheater.

Me: Haha. It's a damn shame trivia night doesn't use questions from the MCAT, huh?

Nick: Pffft. The MCAT? That's mere child's play, sweetheart. You don’t really start learning until your hands are in a brain.

Sweetheart. I grinned. But deep down, I wasn’t so sure he even realized he’d used that sentiment. Surely, he probably called everyone, including his daughter, sweetheart.

Instead of analyzing, I redirected the conversation toward business.

Which, I realized was total bullshit. I knew the answer to my question before I even asked it.

Me: I had you on my list today for follow-up. So, have you rethought your decision on relocation to LA?

Nick: It's still a no, Ms. Hollis.

Me: Hmm… Are you sure?