Smooth Irish (Book 2 of the Weldon Series) by Jennifer Saints

disaster in regards to her dress and her hopes of making a
good impression on several of the hospital’s board members, but
that didn’t mean she and Brad couldn’t salvage something from it.
And it was up to her to do it. She needed to focus on Brad and all
of those twenty-five traits that made up Mr. Right. She followed
him onto the dance floor and adjusted herself in his arms. “There’s
a silver lining to this rainy evening,” she told him smiling.
“We'll just have to find it.”
    Nan forced herself to relax in Brad’s
arms as he led her in a slow dance. Their bodies moved well enough
together to the beat of the music, but Nan couldn’t seem to shut
her eyes and lose herself in the magic of the song. She kept
peeking at Jackson.
    “ You're an optimist,” Brad
said. “That’s an admirable quality to have.” He sent a
thousand-watt smile her way. “I recently read a book about the
habits of successful people and optimism was the one area I
lacked.”
    Brad listed the traits, expounding on
their benefits. Many of the traits were the very same ones she’d
put on her Mr. Perfect list. Yet, as Brad’s voice droned on, Nan’s
mind wandered.
    Jackson leaned against a high stool
with one knee bent to cradle the curve of his guitar and his other
leg stretched out in a relaxed stance that oozed a sex appeal sure
to melt any female in the room.
    She was looking right at him when his
gaze singled her out of the crowd. Nan automatically tightened her
hold on Brad’s shoulders and inched herself closer to him, looking
for any sort of a lifeline to save her from the nebulous sea she
fell into whenever Jackson was around.
    Brad didn’t seem to notice. He stayed
on beat like a metronome and told her about a speech he planned on
giving at a medical convention the next week. Nan nodded her head
and tried to focus on what he was saying.
    “ The day I was born, my
parents declared me a genius. From that point on, every moment of
my life was planned out for me to be the best at everything. I
think doctors should apply this philosophy in their treatment of
patients. To achieve optimum healthcare, a patient needs to make a
plan for it when they are young and adhere to it everyday of their
life. Anything that doesn’t fall into the plan’s guidelines should
be discarded.”
    Nan blinked. She was a planner,
but…surely she didn’t sound as fanatical about plans as Brad did.
“Isn’t that extreme? Didn’t you do fun things as a kid like make
mud pies or watch a silly movie?”
    “ Mud pies? Not hardly, I
excelled in golf and chess. When my family traveled abroad, I had
my own tutor and became proficient in the native language of the
country we stayed in. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone. If
you’re not learning or achieving, you’re being left behind. If you
aren’t constantly choosing healthy then your body will suffer. I
plan on raising my children that way from birth.”
    Nan drew a deep breath. She’d grown up
with practically nothing, but she wouldn’t trade the lazy
afternoons she’d spent daydreaming under the ancient oak tree near
her family’s trailer for what Brad described. Did he ever enjoy ice
cream treats and chocolates? Have pretend tea parties in a mud
hole, or go on cloud watching picnics with messy hot
dogs?
    The beat of the music changed. The
drummer tapped out a fast tempo as the band launched into Johnny B. Goode . Brad stopped
dancing and pulled her off to the side of the dance
floor.”
    “I don’t do fast,” he said and Nan nodded.
    She felt so off key with Brad. What
was wrong with her? Maybe she was coming down with a virus. She
felt a little dizzy. “I could use a drink,” she said over the
music.
    “ Me, too. I’ll be right
back.”
    Brad left for the cash bar before she had the chance
to tell him what she wanted to drink. Then she relaxed, remembering
he was on call. He’d bring back a Coke or something, she told
herself as she watched him. He didn’t saunter and he