“Too damn busy to date, not to mention you’ve got a daughter to worry about. Bud, I’ve heard it time and time again. And maybe that excuse worked when Cammy was a little girl, but she’s good and grown! Hell, she’s been out of the house for years, well on her way to being the next damn DA of this city.”
He was right, but it didn’t do any good in changing my mind.
“There’s work,” I said. “I just started at Pitt Medical after almost two decades working in public medicine. I’m going to need to make sure my head is in the game for at least a year or two.”
“Ah.” He waved his hand through the air dismissively. “Listen to you, talking like some boy fresh out of med school. Duncan and I didn’t hire you because you’re our friend, Noah – we hired you because you’re one of the best bloody OB/GYNs in the country. Hell,twocountries if you count Ireland. You’re so good at this job you could do it with your eyes closed.”
“Alright, alright,” I said. “Enough blowing smoke up my arse.”
He laughed that big, booming laugh of his, catching the attention of everyone nearby for a brief moment. “Just saying – it might’ve been a fire that finally got you to sign on with us, but it was your skills that made us want to make the offer in the first place.”
The fire. Other than Saoirse, it was the last damn thing I wanted to think about.
“Anyway, the reason I’m mentioning all of this is to make my case that it’s time for you to start looking for someone to spend your life with. It’d be a damn shame if you were single for the rest of your days, you know.”
“Now, you’re saying that like I haven’t tried dating.”
He laughed. “You went out on, what,threedates over ten years ago?”
“It was five – two of them were second dates.”
“All the same, five dates are hardly an attempt to get back out there.”
“Five dates were all I needed to realize that I didn’twantto get back out there. I’ve got my job and my daughter and my hobbies and that’s more than enough for me. And when I make partner at Pitt, I won’t have time for anything else.”
He grinned. “Already thinking about partner, huh? There’s that ambition.”
“I mean, if you’re going to go private, you might as well aim for the top.”
Finn nodded as he brought the whiskey to his lips. “Now, that’s what I like to hear.”
I ran my hand through my hair, my eyes drifting toward the exit.
“You know,” I said. “I think I’m ready to head out.”
“Aw, seriously?”
“Seriously. I made an appearance, rubbed elbows, and now a little time in my easy chair with one more of these” ? I raised my glass ? “is sounding about right. Got a new apartment to break-in, after all.”
“That’s about as boring as I’d expect from a man of a certain age.” He turned his attention to the crowd. “But this is a rare chance, lad. You’ve got plenty of single women here who’d kill for a chance to be with someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
“You know, a, ah, handsome doctor-type.”
I chuckled. “Finn, is there…anything you want to say to me?”
He laughed, reaching over, and giving me a punch to the arm.
“Funny, jackass. Anyway, you’ve got a party that happens once a damn year, if that, and if you’re even thinking about dating, this is the night to look for someone. The masks, silly as they might be, are perfect – kinda sexy, a little mysterious. Just the thing to get the ladies in the mood for…”
He went on, but I was suddenly distracted.
The woman was so damn beautiful that it hurt just to look at her.
She was tall and curvy, with wavy, sun-kissed blonde hair that was tied up above her head, tendrils hanging down over the purple and silver mask that hid most of her face. Still, I could make out her ice-blue eyes, slim nose, and full, plump lips.
Her dress was dark green, cut low enough to hint at her full breasts, the fabric clinging to her body like it was made for her alone. She moved slowly, with grace and ease, the sly smile on her lips suggesting that she felt right at home at a party like this.