Free Revealing the Real Dr. Robinson by Dianne Drake Page B

in the spirit of simplicity, how about we come up with a list of complicated topics we’re not going to talk about? You know, set our boundaries?”
    “Sounds like something I’d say.”
    “I know,” she said. “Isn’t that great? Since you recognized it, that means I passed my first test at being like you!”
    “Are you always this direct?” he asked.
    “No, but that’s one of my off-limits subjects.”
    “Like why you’re here is?”
    She stared at him point-blank. “I already told you why I’m here.”
    “And I told you I don’t believe you.”
    “So, let’s add that to the list. Also my family, and my family’s hospital.”
    “Which would all be interrelated with your reason for setting limits on what we can talk about, I’m guessing. And that’s probably off limits, too.” She was different. Fresh. He liked the honesty, even if it was a bit quirky and definitely brutal.
    “You’re right. Off limits.”
    “Which pretty well limits us to medicine.”
    “And the weather,” she added, smiling. “I’m always up for a good, rousing discussion on heat and humidity.”
    “Unless it’s one of my off-limits subjects.” Said with a deadpan face.
    “In which case, I’ll talk about this really advanced case of lupus I treated in one of my patients a while back, and what happened when we—”
    He thrust out his hand to stop her. “ We would imply your medical colleagues or your hospital, and I don’t want you breaking any of your conversational boundaries. Just trying to stick to our rules of engagement.”
    “So, in these rules of engagement, medicine’s basically out?”
    He faked a frown. It was silly chatter, he knew that, but it was the first time he’d just let himself go in a conversation other than with Amanda and Jack in so long he couldn’t remember. With Shanna, it was fun. Nonsense, but fun. “Not out, totally. But I think we’ll have to be very careful how we proceed.” Very careful, indeed.

CHAPTER FIVE
    “ Y OU barely touched it,” Ben said as the server was clearing the table of dishes. “If you didn’t like it, I’m sure there’s something else on the menu...”
    Laughing, she held out her hand to stop him. “That’s not it. Everything was delicious. But they served me enough to feed a family of four for a week. How’s anybody supposed to eat that much?” Shanna glanced over at his plate, saw it was empty. Practically licked clean. She shrugged a fake wince.
    “Except you, apparently. And, might I add, I’m impressed, unless you have the metabolism of a bird. In which case, I’m still impressed, but not as much.”
    “I think I skipped a couple meals today, maybe one or two yesterday, probably all of them the day before.”
    “Sounds like you need a keeper.” Which sounded way more involved than she’d intended it to. Of course she was safe on the domestic count, being a woman who’d never cooked a complete meal in her entire life, to the annoyance of her ex-husband, who’d wanted both professional status as well as a domestic diva in his little woman.
    “Or maybe I could simply use four more hours in the day, with an extra day tagged on at the end of the week.”
    “Four more hours and one more day in which you’d forget to eat. So, I have a question.”
    “Off limits?”
    “Shouldn’t be, but I don’t really know since we never got around to discussing what’s off limits for you. Anyway, it’s about Tuscany. You don’t seem like the type of person who’d ever want to take a holiday, yet there you were, all relaxed...”
    “Until you sat down at my table.”
    “That did disrupt you, didn’t it?” she said with a smile.
    “Not as much as looking up and seeing you standing there in my emergency room a few weeks later.”
    “Unavoidable. Both times, actually. You were sitting at the table I’d sat at every morning for a month, and I didn’t want to miss my view. It’s spectacular. Something I looked forward to. And there was nothing I