Stand Of Redemption(8)

Ria watched Peter stop to check on a few of the tables as he made his way back to the kitchen.

“Yes,” Ria replied.

As she turned back to Lacey, she couldn’t help but let her eyes look toward Nicholas again. She felt her stomach clench when their eyes met. He raised his eyebrow then nodded his head in acknowledgement at her before turning back to his date. Ria felt the rush of disappointment go through her at his quick dismissal. Then, she was pissed that she’d cared. She had been right; he had only wanted to use her for the moment.

“You okay?” Lacey’s question pulled her from her thoughts.

“I’m fine,” Ria mumbled as she took another drink.

Lacey started talking about her next medical rotation, and Ria tried to focus on their conversation instead of thinking about the man in the corner booth.

As she finally started to relax and listen to Lacey describe another medical student’s screw up, she felt a shadow come over the table. She and Lacey both looked up, each having to practically strain their necks because of the height of the man looking down at them.

“Lacey and Ria, right?” Nicholas asked as he looked at each of them.

“Yes, that’s right,” Lacey replied warmly. “How’s the arm?”

“Doing much better, thanks to you.” He smiled that beautiful smile of his, and all Ria could think was how many women he had fooled, hiding the emptiness behind the plastic gesture.

“I want to thank you for granting approval for a med student to participate,” Lacey stated.

“No problem. I’m glad my broken arm was good for something,” he said with a laugh that sounded hollow to Ria’s ears. Was it just her? Was she the only one that could see behind the façade he presented to the world?

“Are you ready?” the blond next to Nicholas asked him.

Ria saw the slightest bit of irritation cross Nicholas’s face, but he covered it very quickly. “Ladies, this is Leah. Leah, this is Ria. She made sure I made it to the hospital after Zane broke my arm. And this is Lacey. She helped set my arm and put the cast on,” he said to her.

Leah looked down at them with a smile. “I’m so glad you took such good care of him. I hope to see him fighting again very soon,” she crooned up at him.

Once again, Ria could see he was forcing himself to keep the smile on his face. It was clear to Ria that Leah was annoying the shit out of him. She couldn’t help thinking to herself that the poor woman wouldn’t last long.

Ria tried to smooth her features before anyone could see her. Glancing at Nicholas, she saw he had recognized her disdain of him. He lost his amicable expression. He didn’t like anyone seeing the real Nicholas. Damn, he was scaring her. No wonder he hadn’t cared if she had been fired. The only interest Nicholas had in women involved the satisfaction they could give him.

“It was nice to see you ladies; enjoy the rest of your night,” Nicholas said politely as Leah took his hand and pulled him to the door.

“He is one hot tamale.” Lacey sighed as she watched them leave.

“Yes, he is.” Hot enough to burn any woman dumb enough to have anything to do with him. “I wonder what she does for a living. Swimsuit model?” Lacey shook her head and rolled her eyes, causing Ria to laugh.

“Dinner is served!” Peter exclaimed as he set their plates on the table.

“Thanks, Peter. It looks delicious as always,” Ria said warmly.

“Enjoy!” Peter left to attend the other tables.

Ria decided to do just that: enjoy the drink and food, and force herself to forget about the man who’d just walked out the door without even being embarrassed to face her again after he’d had her fired. She should have thrown her drink at him instead of sitting there like a ninny.





Chapter 4



Nick was laying on his back in his king sized bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had given up on trying to get her out of his mind, had even considered going back to the hospital to see if he could learn more about her.

When he’d caught sight of her tonight, it was everything he could do to keep from staring at her table. Then, when their eyes had met, he had been forced to look away and listen to whatever the hell Leah was boring him with. He thought back. Oh, yeah, she had broken a fingernail that morning just hours after getting a manicure.

He groaned silently to himself. Leah was the classic definition of an airhead. Exactly the type he preferred to date. That was, until he had seen Ria.

He kept telling himself that the dark-haired woman wasn’t worth the trouble. She was obviously a handful and a smartass. Unfortunately for him, that was what had piqued his interest.

He was used to women throwing themselves at him and loving the fame that came with him. Ria was the first woman he had met who hadn’t known who he was and thought the sport he had dedicated his life to was a joke. He couldn’t help that it intrigued him.