With this guy, the dialogue just rolled. Relaxed. No awkward pretensions. Just straightforward honesty.
She glanced at him as they walked. He seemed sosmart. Why was someone like him delivering flower arrangements? Then she berated herself. Some people choose happiness over money, and as she had so recently discovered, some of those that chose fortune were schmucks.
Jessie stopped outside the cardiac ward, curiously reluctant to say goodbye. “Well, here you go. Delivered safe and sound.”
“Thanks. I would have been stuck in this place forever.” He hesitated, looking at her. “I’m Zach, by the way. Zach Thomas.”
“Jessica. My friends call me Jessie.”
“Are we friends?”
“Sure thing. We’ve braved the depths of the hospital corridors and discussed the merits of chocolate and cupcakes. That qualifies us as friends.”
“You work at the ER?”
Okay, now he was fishing. For once, she didn’t mind. “My last name is Balais.”
He hesitated and then went for it. “Would you like to go for coffee sometime?” He paused, a brow rising. “Or a decadent chocolate cupcake?”
Jessie tilted her head to look at him. Man, he was tall, and those shoulders...
Zach misinterpreted her momentary speechlessness for reluctance. “Uh... It’s okay. I get it.”
She hurried to reassure. “No. I mean, yes. I don’t drink coffee often, but tea would be awesome. And, maybe, a cupcake.”
He set the arrangement on a chair, flashed her another heart-stopping grin, and fumbled his phone out of his pocket. “Sorry. I’m horrible at this. I don’t use this thing much.” His big hands made the device look tiny. He had the strong hands of a farmer, but his long fingers showed sensitivity.
Sensitivity? This guy was getting to her.
Zach’s mouth pulled off to the side as he contemplated the device. “I’ll need a number.” His eyes flashed to hers. “Smoke signals are so out of fashion.”
She laughed again. How long had it been since she’d done it like that, spontaneous and straight from the core? Still, her natural caution had her giving him her landline number. Which she let roll to voicemail the majority of the time.
He carefully punched it in and smiled again at her. “Nice to meet you, Jessie Balais. Thanks for the rescue.”
“I always rescue pulchritudinous young men with giant flower arrangements.”
“Really?” His brows danced.
“No. Only you.”
“I might be flattered if I had any idea what that meant.”
She grinned. “Look it up. It was myRaise Your IQword yesterday. Not sure I pronounced it right, to be honest.”
He laughed and bent to pick up his burden.
As Jessie walked away, she had a spring in her step that hadn’t existed before. Zach Thomas was a pretty damned good start to her day.
* * *
Jessie walked away.
Zach’s thundering heart matched the pounding in his head. He usually avoided hospitals like the plague. For him, they were torture. The emotional overload had hit him the moment he parked the van.
“Can I help you?”
The woman behind the desk eyed him, radiatingimpatience.
