Leaving Staci with another failed attempt to engage Dr. Hart.
Willie Wonka, indeed.
* * *
Evan sucked down half a bottle of water in his hotel room and then reached for the scotch. He poured two fingers, drinking it neat. It wouldn’t be his one and only cocktail this evening, that was for damn sure.
Staci Kay. Her name popped into his head.
Why couldn’t he escape this woman?
And why the hell had adrenaline pumped through his veins when she’d addressed him in the auditorium?
Yes, he was hot for her.
He was also aggravated beyond all belief at her. At himself—for still wanting her. When he knew that all she wanted was to stay under his skin until he stopped denouncing the podiatric hazards of high heels.
Which would never happen.
No matter how damn beautiful she was. How sensual. How alluring. How…tempting.
Idiot, he chided himself.
Get over her already.
Yes, that was the smart thing to do. But one look at her today—absolutely stunning in an emerald dress set off the shoulders—and he was back to lusting after her.
No doubt that’d been another ploy. If she could keep him in a constant state of arousal, perhaps she’d win this game?
He yanked on his tie to loosen the knot, then undid the first two buttons of his dress shirt. He took a big gulp of the expensive whisky. It burned a path to his gut, but didn’t quite eclipse the gnawing, the sizzling, within him.
All wrapped around Staci Kay.
His Liz.
You are a moron of epic proportions, man.
And here he’d always prided himself not solely on his ambition, but also on his brain power. But the little head overruled the big one this time.
She was that damn irresistible.
But, no. He could do this, he assured himself. He could maintain distance. He could retain his focus. He could ignore Staci Kay.
He could.
Evan phoned Tanya and followed up on messages she’d taken. Then he hit the speed dial number for his mother, always an awkward conversation because she was always distracted. But it’d been over a week since they’d spoken. He tried not to go that long, wanting to make sure she was okay. He knew from past experience that she could get so wrapped up in her work that she didn’t sleep for days, couldn’t recall when she’d last eaten. Evan worried incessantly about her.
“Honey, you read about my new serum, right?” It was the first thing out of Abigail Hart’s mouth when she connected the call.
“I did. Congratulations, Mom.”
She went to town about her latest creation, and Evan listened dutifully. At the end of her lengthy and highly detailed scientific discourse, she changed up topics and asked, “How’s the lecture circuit?”
“Interesting.”
He was being stalked by a gorgeous redhead, after all.
As Evan refreshed his drink and his mother returned to her own professional, valiant plight to rid the world of all disease, his mind continued to drift. That never happened. Then again, he’d never had a sexy woman follow him around the country.