Page 78 of Bound By Fire
“Some bloodwork came back,” I say, already moving past her toward the corridor. “I wanted to check on something. I’ll be right back.”
“Do I need to get out my whip and chain?”
I laugh. “I swear I won’t be long,” I call over my shoulder. “Or you can come and look for me.”
“Your dress arrived earlier,” Carla shouts after me.
I whip back. “What dress?”
She squeezes her eyes shut and then opens them. “That’s it! I’m going to tackle both your inbox and your calendar going forward. I’ll get Jimmy to make it so that I have real-time access and that everything I put into your calendar shows up on your side, too.”
“Oh my gosh!” I make a pained noise. “It’s that charity thing, isn’t it? The one that brings in millions to my department each year. The one I’m speaking at. It can’t be, Carla. That’s only in a few weeks.”
“You’ve been saying that for weeks, Dr. Keller. It’s tomorrow night. Your dress arrived earlier and?—”
I close my eyes and make another pained noise. “Nooooo. Not right now. I have too much going on.”
“You will be absolutely fine.”
“I haven’t even written anything down. I don’t have a speech.”
“You love what you do. I’ve never met anyone more passionate. Speak from the heart.”
“I’m not sure about that. I might freeze… What then?” I shake my head.
“I’ll put something together for you. You can tweak it and make it your own.”
“That would be amazing.”
“Go and see your patient, then get your ass back here so that you can get through your admin work. That’ll leave you plenty of time to practice your speech this evening.”
“Okay.” I nod. I hate this part of what I do, but it is one of those things.
“Oh, and you need to try on that dress. If it’s a total disaster, you’ll still have time to get something off the rack. I picked this one out for you, and I think it’s absolutely perfect.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” I wave a hand.
“You really are worrying me a little. Is there anything going on? Anything I should know about?”
“Nope, it’s all good.” I wish it were true. “Just a little stressed with everything that’s happening.”
“Alright, then,”
I head down the hallway before she can interrogate me some more.
Carla knows something is up. I really hope she doesn’t put two and two together. Ridge and I had sex once.
It’s done.
It isn’t going to happen again.
If Carla finds out, she’s going to be incredibly irritating about it. I might never hear the end of it. It’s why I didn’t tell her in the first place. It was totally out of character. Just like my behavior from last night was out of character as well.
Nope, not happening again. None of it is.
