Dare to Tease (Dare Nation 4.5)

“Okay, Dr. Northfield,” the receptionist said without looking up from her work.

The sun had set and the lights in the parking lot didn’t all work. Dammit. He had to get the money from his father, because he doubted he could get the funding he needed from a bank.

He paused at the car and he heard the beep of her doors unlocking. A light reached them from the corner of the lot, and when she turned toward him, he glimpsed her pretty face in shadows.

“Thank you for everything tonight,” she said, head tipped up toward him.

He smiled and brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “I’m glad I was here. Do me a favor?”

She lifted her eyebrows. “What’s that?”

“Text me when you get home so I know you’re safe.” And he didn’t mean he was checking up on her in a brotherly way, either.

“Okay.” From the gleam in her eye, she obviously knew he was expressing interest.

What kind? What could they have together? He had no idea. Not yet. But he intended to find out.

* * * *

Hudson waited for Bri to drive away before he strode back into the clinic and headed to find Braden, who had settled into their shared office. Ever since they’d started working, the original head doctor, Thomas Anderson, had begun shifting more work their way and doing less on his end, just one of the reasons they were working on a takeover plan.

“Hey.” Hudson pulled out a chair and dropped into it, the long day catching up with him.

Braden turned and glared.

“Knock it off,” Hudson muttered. “It’s not like I’m some asshole who’s going to hurt your sister.”

“You’re not someone with serious relationships in your background, either.” Braden’s point was well made.

His romantic history was bland at best. He’d had women in his life but none who’d stuck or who he’d had any interest in pursuing a serious relationship with. Until Bri, but he wasn’t going to share his feelings about her with Braden. Whatever happened between them was private.

“Trust me or not, but I’m not discussing her with you.” Hudson kicked his feet up on the desk. “Want to order in dinner?”

After a long stare off, Braden nodded. He called in sandwiches from a nearby restaurant, and then talk turned to their plans to turn this run-down clinic into a state-of-the-art health center.

“Are you going to New York this weekend?” Braden asked, leaning back in his seat.

Hudson nodded. “My cousin is getting married, and we’re close. I wouldn’t miss it anyway, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone and talk to my father about releasing his hold on my trust fund.”

“It’s for a damned good cause.” Braden gestured around them.

Hudson didn’t need to look at the peeling beige walls, cracks on the ceiling, or old equipment to know his friend was right.

“I’ve never asked him for a cent for anything frivolous. I hope Dad takes that into account.” But he knew his father didn’t care about good deeds and helping others. He shrugged because he’d never understood his father and never would. “He and Evan were alike. Dedicated to the trading business and caring about things like family legacy and heirs. It sounds like a nineteenth-century drama.”

Evan had been married, he and his wife trying to get her pregnant when he’d passed. TMI as far as Hudson was concerned, but that’s how his family was. Trying to birth an heir to the fortune.

“I’m really sorry you lost him,” Braden said.

“I know you are, and I appreciate it.” It was different for his friend, Hudson thought. Braden was close with all of his siblings, whereas Hudson and Evan had been distant, not sharing things in common. “I miss the thought of him, but we rarely spoke, so I have some guilt tied up with it all.”

Braden frowned. “You shouldn’t carry that burden because you were different and didn’t bond. Grieve? Of course. But don’t feel guilty.”

“I’m working on it.” He swung his legs around and placed his feet on the floor and rose. “As far as our plan, we’ll know a lot more after I go home this weekend.” And he wasn’t looking forward to the trip or the groveling he’d have to do in order to get what he wanted.

He worked a late shift at the clinic and finally locked up for the night. The warm Florida air hit him when he exited, but after two years in Brazil, he was used to humidity and heat. He climbed into his Ford SUV, turned on the ignition, and raised the AC, plugging in his phone and setting the music before pulling out of the lot.

He drummed his fingers to a current song on the radio as he drove toward the apartment he rented in the same building as Braden, when his cell phone rang and his father’s name popped up on the screen.