Summer of Love Marie Ferrarella (easy books to read in english TXT) 📖

“Do I look like I’m not ready yet?” she asked.

Despite her coy bravado, Lila couldn’t help wondering what it was that Everett saw when he looked at her. Had he been hoping she’d be wearing something more appealing? Sexier?

Don’t borrow trouble, she warned herself.

Everett’s eyes slowly washed over the length of her. There was nothing but approval evident in his eyes. “You look, in a word, perfect,” he pronounced.

Lila smiled at the compliment, secretly pleased although she tried her best to appear indifferent. “Then I guess I’m ready.” Taking her purse, she walked out of the house, then paused to lock up.

Everett’s Mercedes was waiting in her driveway.

“By the way,” Everett said as he held the passenger door open for her, “I know you said we were going to a Chinese restaurant, but if I’m driving, you need to tell me the address.”

She waited for Everett to get in on his side. Once he buckled up, she gave him the address, adding, “It’s about half a mile past the Foundation. A lot of people from work like grabbing lunch at Gin Ling’s.”

Everett thought for a second. “I think I know which restaurant you mean,” he told her. He remembered seeing it when he’d driven to the Foundation. “That’s the one that’s built to look like a pagoda, right?”

“Right.”

Gin Ling’s was doing brisk business when they arrived. They had to wait a few minutes to be seated.

Thinking that Everett might grow impatient, Lila told him, “We can go somewhere else if you don’t want to wait.”

Everett made no move to take her up on the suggestion. “Do you like eating here?” he asked her.

She wouldn’t have suggested coming here if she hadn’t. That wasn’t the point. “Yes, but—”

“Then we’ll wait,” he told her, adding, “I’m not in any hurry. I like making the most of the little downtime I get.”

There was a reason why she had mentioned the idea of going to another restaurant. “I just don’t want to make you late.”

Everett looked at her as if he wasn’t quite following her. “For what? I don’t have a plane to catch,” he reminded Lila. “I’m driving back to Houston.”

“Doesn’t all that driving make you tired?” In his place, she’d find driving back and forth between Austin and Houston exhausting after a while.

However, Everett shook his head. “On the contrary. Driving relaxes me.”

Relaxing made her think about falling asleep at the wheel—not that Everett would ever admit that he was in danger of doing that. But she didn’t want to think that he ran the risk of having something happen to him because of her.

“Still,” she told him, “I don’t want you so relaxed that you just slide right out of your seat.”

“Never happen,” Everett assured her. Still, her comment made his heart lighter.

She was clearly worried about him, he thought, and that felt particularly encouraging. Because that meant that there were still feelings there. Feelings he intended to stoke and encourage.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I like staying in one piece as much as the next man. If I ever feel too tired to drive back, I’ll rent a motel room and sleep until I feel up to driving. And, don’t forget, there’s always Schuyler,” he reminded her.

A hostess came to show them to their table. Lila fell into place behind the woman with Everett following right behind her.

“Sorry, I was just remembering how stubborn you could be,” Lila told him as they were being shown to a cozy booth.

“Not stubborn,” Everett corrected, waiting for her to slide in before taking his own seat opposite her. “Determined.”

Lila smiled. “Right. Determined,” she repeated, humoring him.

“So how was going back to work?” Everett asked her after their server had brought them a pot of tea and then departed after taking each of their orders.

“Wonderfully hectic as always,” she told him.

But Everett was more interested in the state of her health. “You didn’t have any relapses or feel any ill effects from the flu?”

“No. I didn’t expect that there would be,” she told him honestly, smiling at Everett. “I always knew that you would be a fantastic doctor.”

Everett maintained a straight face as he nodded. “I haven’t mastered walking on water yet,” he deadpanned, “but I’m working on it.”

About to bring the small cup of tea to her lips, Lila stopped just short of completing the action, staring at him.

Everett laughed. “Well, you were making it sound as if I’d done something extraordinary,” he told her. “I just took it a step further.”

“You went out of your way for a patient—which was what I was,” she reminded him. “Not every doctor would have stayed with a patient for almost a week because there was no one to take care of her.”

“Not just any patient,” Everett pointed out, “but a patient I was once nearly engaged to.”

“And that near-engagement ended badly,” she reminded him. Before he could say anything in response, she went on to tell him, “You had every right in the world to call the paramedics, then have them take me to the hospital while you walked away.”

He inclined his head like a man conceding a point. “Okay. You got me. I’m a magnificent doctor—who was hoping for a second chance at dinner,” he added as if that had been his sole motive behind seeing to it that she got well. “In order to do that, I had to make sure that you stayed alive. The best way to do that was to see to it myself.” He shrugged. “I don’t delegate very well.”

She paused to sample the egg roll appetizer that had been brought to the table and then laughed.

“When did you get so good at twisting around words to make them back you up?” she wanted to know.

“It comes with the medical degree,” Everett responded.

“No, it doesn’t,” Lila countered. She felt herself verging on impatience at the way he was so dismissive of his own abilities.

“Okay, then let’s just say it’s an inherent