Page 380 of The Doctors Will See You Now

“Lex, please just pick a slice and give me the other.”

She huffed. “It’s not that simple.”

“Lexi.” I tried to be patient, I really did, because it was amusing as all hell and seriously special to watch her mind work, but if I let it, this could go on forever.

“Give me a minute,” she shushed me, waving a hand and diving closer to smell each slice. I could only assume she was assessing the herbs.

I was just about to reach out and grab one before they both got cold when my phone rang in my pocket.

Lexi, knowing that meant she’d have a little more time for her appraisal, smiled gleefully.

I narrowed my eyes, and then without looking at the screen of my phone, swiped my finger across it to answer it and put it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Well, hello, trivia letdown.”

I rolled my eyes and sank back into my chair with a smile. Charlotte. “I never claimed to be good at trivia.”

“You’re a neurosurgeon!”

“Yeah, that means I know about the brain. It also means I have very little time for anything else.”

“Jesus Christ, I’m coming over later to give you a DVR tutorial.”

“Most of the time, if I’m home, I’m sleeping or spending time with my daughter. Not watching TV.”

“Couldn’t some of that time with your daughter be spent at a sporting event?” she argued cleverly.

I laughed. “Charlotte.”

“All right, all right. Jesus. I just expected a better performance out of you, Dr. Raines.”

“Sorry. I guess you’ll have to find a new partner for…” I glanced at Lexi and decided to abbreviate. “FMSP.”

“No way!” she nearly yelled. “You’ll just have to brush up for next time.”

“Next time?”

“Trivia night is every Wednesday.”

My eyebrows drew together. Lexi, meanwhile, finally slid a slice of pizza back over to me. It was the one I’d started with.

“You know I said no to the job, right?” I asked suddenly. I knew she knew, but she was still trying to make me her new best friend. I didn’t want to let myself succumb to the pull, only to find out it was all a powerful professional ruse.

“Yeah,” she said easily. “Of course.”

“All right.”

“Why?”

“You’re just contacting me a lot. I wanted to make sure you knew it was a dead end.”

For the first time since I’d met her, she actually sounded a little bashful. “I’m contacting you a lot because you’re cute.” She laughed, but it was completely devoid of its normal magnificence. “And dense, apparently.”

Jesus, I’m an idiot.

“Charlotte—”