Janice Lynn – NYC Angels: One Night in Manhattan (страница 2)
His gaze followed the motion. This time, he swallowed and Olivia grabbed hold of the bar to steady herself because once again she feared falling.
What was happening to her? She did not react to men this way. Not ever. Not even Clay had affected her so instantly, so intensely, and she’d been a silly school girl back then. Yet, her body fizzed like shaken-up soda.
The funny thing was she could see Brandon was just as confused by his reaction to her. His brows had slightly veed and he stared at her so intently she wanted to squirm on her barstool.
Or maybe that was his game? How he picked up his woman of the night. She’d heard about men like him.
“I should tell you up front,” he confessed, his gaze never wavering from hers. “I’m moving out of state soon and not looking for a relationship.”
She barely suppressed an eye roll. Right. Who did he think he was fooling? She might have only arrived in the Big Apple yesterday, but he was New York born and bred, a city slicker through and through. “Why are you telling me?”
“You know exactly why.” His gaze remained steady, intense,
Olivia glanced in the direction he gestured, but the place was so crowded that she really couldn’t tell which group he referred to.
“I saw you walk in,” he continued with a slight shrug of a broad shoulder. “And I haven’t been able to stop watching you.”
Wondering if he was some kind of psycho stalker, she repositioned on the bar stool.
He gave a low laugh, a self-deprecating grin curving one side of his mouth. “I’m not helping myself out here, am I?”
Not wanting to let her guard down, but unable to stop herself from reacting to his seemingly genuine interest and warmth, her lips twitched. “Not really.”
“Anything I could say or do that would convince you I’m not some thug?”
He didn’t have the appearance of a thug, but then, what was that really? Some media portrayed bouncer type who talked in monosyllables? Hello, she watched the History channel. She knew that in reality some of the most notorious serial killers had been nice-looking charismatic men.
She shook her head. “Not really. Sorry.”
Her Momma would be so proud.
“That’s too bad,” he said, their eyes meeting as they realized he’d repeated her earlier words.
Olivia’s breath caught. There was something about the man, something appealing and mesmerizing. But she didn’t do relationships and she sure didn’t do the things everything about him suggested without one.
“Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be over with my friends. You’re welcome to join us,” he paused, his gaze dropping to her mouth and she’d swear his breath hitched. “I could introduce you, show you off to my pals. I’d be the envy of every man in the building.”
On her best night, she seriously doubted that would be the case, but his words warmed her all the same. Then again, maybe he was drunk. He looked sober, but with the way he was looking at her as if he believed what he’d just said, she wasn’t ruling out that possibility.
“No,” she shook her head, reminding herself that men were a life complication she didn’t need. Not that she’d ever forget. Her frequent phone calls with her mother ensured that. “Thanks for the offer, though.”
He waited as if he couldn’t believe she wasn’t going to stop him from leaving. Perhaps he couldn’t. He gave another shrug and then turned to leave.
Unable to deny her need to squeeze in one last look, she twisted on her bar stool. Despite their brief encounter, she suspected his image would linger in her mind for many years, if not the rest of her life. Meeting him was like a searing of her very being and already she felt a void and wanted to call him back to her.
He disappeared into the crowd, joined a boisterous group who were obviously ribbing him. Had he made some bold claim to his friends about picking her up?
Her gaze lingered in his direction. She caught only glimpses of him through the moving crowd, but she couldn’t drag her gaze away.
“He seems like a good fellow.”
Startled, Olivia spun, stared at the bartender who dried a glass with a white cloth.
“You know him?” she asked the weathered man who was sixty if he was a day.
“He’s in here a few times a month. Always with a group. Not much of a drinker, but always tips well. Never seen him chat up a woman before.” The bartender set the glass down behind the counter and leaned toward her as if telling her a secret. “Never thought I’d see him strike out if he did. Makes an old fellow feel he might as well push up daisies if the likes of him strikes out.”
Trying not to show how curious she was about the man burned into her mind, she took a sip of her drink. “You can’t judge a book by the cover.”
The bartender laughed low, as if he knew exactly how Brandon had affected her.
“You can’t judge the contents without cracking the spine, either.” His wise old eyes met hers and twinkled. “Sometimes you just have to read the book and when you get really lucky, it turns out to be a keeper.”
“Don’t tell me you finally met a woman who caught your interest and she turned you down flat.”
“Fine. I won’t tell you.” Brandon didn’t look directly at his friends, just took a sip of the soda he’d not really planned to return to when he’d gone to the bar to introduce himself to the most alluring woman he’d ever met.
“Wow.” Ryan glanced toward where Olivia sat talking with the bartender and studied her intently. “She really turned you down?”
What was with his pals? It wasn’t as if any of them hadn’t ever struck out. Okay, maybe it had been years, but they were all just as single as he was. Not that he wasn’t happily single. He was. He’d devoted his life to the children’s hospital, not to pursuing women. He hadn’t regretted that devotion. How could he when his own sister had benefited from Angel’s hospitality many years before? Had inspired his becoming a doctor?
“He’s not even denying it,” Ryan accused incredulously. “Ouch. She must really have been less than impressed by our boy.”
“Man, not boy,” Brandon corrected. “Just because you all find me irresistible doesn’t mean everyone does. Unfortunately.” He turned slightly toward the beauty who’d caught his eye with her long black hair, ivory skin, and big green eyes. She still chatted with the bartender, toying with the straw in her drink, and looking way too vulnerable sitting alone at the bar. Everything about her called to him as surely as if he heard the beat of her heart beckoning him to return and dance to her tune.
“Uh-oh. Somebody has it bad,” Ryan teased, slapping Brandon’s shoulder playfully.
Maybe. Definitely, he’d never been instantly taken with a woman before. For that matter, he couldn’t even recall the last time a woman had interested him. He barely dated and when he had, the relationships never lasted more than a few weeks.
“One has to wonder at her sanity for blowing a guy like you off,” Becky mused, shaking her head in wonder.
“Ha, if you heard his lame pick-up lines, you’d have blown him off, too,” Ryan assured, taking a swig of his longneck then glancing toward the bar. “I should go introduce her to a real man.”
“There’s a real man here? Besides me?” Brandon made a pretense of glancing around the table.
“Where?” he teased, although the thought of some other man catching Olivia’s eye, possibly getting that invitation to share a drink and dinner with her, made him want to spit nails rather than joke around. “Oh! You meant you.”
Everyone at the table burst into laughter, ribbing Ryan, who perhaps hadn’t ever struck out with a woman. Never that Brandon knew of, but Ryan didn’t discuss his life outside the hospital.
“A real man, eh? Who was it who had his manhood shot down? Not me,” Ryan reminded, not looking in the slightest concerned by the teasing.
Brandon took another sip of his drink and shrugged as if the rejection had been no big deal.
“Just as well since I’ll be in sunny California a month from now working on my tan while you pull out your winter coats.” A couple of groans went around the table. “Would hate to leave a pretty little thing behind with a broken heart.”
“You guys are awful,” another of the neurology department nurses teased. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were all womanizers.”
“Guess it’s a good thing I’m leaving before you figure out the truth,” Brandon countered, leaning back in his seat, thinking how much he was going to miss his colleagues. They were so much more than mere coworkers. They were his friends. His family.
His only family.
No, he wouldn’t think about Bev, how he’d been responsible for ruining her life and would spend the rest of his making up for that wrong. Just as well for Olivia that she had given him the boot. Smart woman.
Becky’s lips pouted. “You could always change your mind about leaving. Angel’s needs you.”
From having been a family member of a patient who had received loving care at New York’s first and finest free children’s hospital to dedicating his own life to serve other children there, the Angel Mendez Children’s hospital’s was the best thing that had happened to Brandon. Ever.