Wash

Elijah pressed his fingers against his lips. “That was pretty impressive.”

So are you. She grinned at him, and tried to ignore her inner voice.

He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. “Th-The idea, I mean. Smart thinking.”

She realized he was thanking her. “Then I believe you owe me dinner now.” She started walking to the restaurant, wishing the evening air would cool the heat off her face. “And I’m starving.”

Chapter 10

Charity spent the next day setting up the double conference room for the evening’s staff party. Last night’s dinner played over in her mind again and again. She’d set her iPod on the docking station connected to the room’s sound system and tried to focus on the task at hand.

Except the fake kiss kept tempting her imagination of what it might be like if Elijah wanted to kiss her. She couldn’t deny he was good looking. The whole doctor thing was a turn on.

Stop it! She rolled her eyes for the tenth time that hour. She needed people to come tonight, to relax and have a good time and want to be part of this gala. She moved another table to the wall perpendicular to the wet bar. Well, it wasn’t much of a bar until she had cases of beer, wine, and several bottles of whiskey delivered. Then she had to have one of those cafeteria fridges with sliding doors brought up. She’d just finished stocking it when her father walked in.

She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. It felt warm. She’d have to make sure the fans or A/C was on for the evening. Thank goodness the room had glass doors to a balcony that overlooked the city.

Her father cleared his throat. “The room looks different.”

Charity had the large conference table removed and put into the room across the hall. The room had loads of space now. She’d set tables and cushioned chairs throughout the room, covered the tables in white tablecloths with specks of silver sewn throughout. It gave the effect of glitter – like diamonds.

“There’s going to be quite a few people coming in and out tonight.” From the email replies, there would be at least fifty.

“What should I wear?”

The question took her by surprise. The man always wore a suit or something dressy. She doubted he owned a pair of jeans. “Just wear dress pants and a button up. You can wear a suit if you want, but this room’s pretty warm. You’ll be ditching the jacket before you finish your first conversation.”

“Noted. Do I need to make some sort of speech?”

“Do you want to?”

“No.”

“Then you don’t have to. Just mingle around the room and introduce yourself to whoever’s here.”

“Everyone knows who I am.”

Did the man always have to be so confident? It made him a great doctor but it also made him frustratingly annoying. “I’m sure they do, Dad, but you don’t know everyone here and people like to feel special if you make a point to talk with them or say hello or even ask their name.”

He opened his mouth, but then closed it and didn’t say anything.

“You’ll enjoy yourself. Be here by seven at the very latest. People will start showing up around six and want to eat. The food’s coming around seven, and if people start eating before you’re here, they won’t wait around. They’ll leave.”

“Okay. I’ll be on time.”

“Thank you.”

He walked out of the room without a goodbye or a see you later.

She let out the breath she didn’t even know she had been holding. Did he talk to his patients the same way? His bedside manner could probably use some work.

The clock above the door showed it was nearly four. She needed to get back to the hotel to shower and get ready herself. She did one more walk around the room and counted to sixty. That would give her father enough time to get to the elevator and be gone so she wouldn’t have to see him again until later on. She grabbed her stuff and dashed out the door, opting for the staircase just to be on the safe side.

After racing home, Charity showered, straightened her hair, and did her makeup. She stood in front of the hotel bed trying to choose between the two dresses she had brought. One was a just above the knee black designer dress with a gold buckle where the V-cut center met. The other had a long skirt dress and the top neatly twisted so the material pulled to the side right by her hip.

She tried the first on and posed in front of the mirror. Classy but it would make the corners of her father’s mouth pull down. Off it went and the charcoal long dress traded places. This one. She liked it because it made her small breasts appear larger and her waist tighter. Classy, but relaxed.

Good to go. She drove back to the hospital and made a mental note to ask her father for a parking permit. The walk from the visitor parking lot wasn’t the issue, but constantly carrying boxes would be easier. Tonight’s box weighed about twenty pounds. She had gone to the printer’s down in Atlanta this week and ordered an invitation with information about the gala six months away. Reading material and something for the hospital staff to mark their calendars and remember. The sheets had been done like a wedding invitation in heavy paper with gilded gold and sparkles to look like diamonds. They’d turned out really beautiful.