BWWM Interracial Romance 2: Open Heart by Elena Brown Page B

legitimately busy; any hospital doctor would be, much less one so talented and dedicated. He suspected that she took on shifts above and beyond her schedule, that she was the kind of doctor that her superiors could count on to come in on her day off to take care of a staffing shortage. She was efficient and personable.
    He would never be able to forget the way she had taken the time to explain everything to his niece Amanda; Ashley had sat down and told Amanda what they were going to do and why, breaking it down so that the girl wouldn’t be afraid. It was easy to see why she worked in the pediatric unit so much—and the Emergency department as well. The way she had taken him down a peg with such ease told Tony that Ashley was a woman who was not afraid to offend a person in the name of honesty. He had absolutely been out of line—hungover, only staying with his niece because he loved her. If it had been a friend’s child, he would have told them to figure out a way to take time off. But Amanda had always been special to him, and when his brother had called him in a panic, worried for his sick daughter but under pressure from his job to show up for an important meeting, Tony hadn’t even hesitated.
    Tony picked up his phone and flipped through the contacts until he came to Amanda’s number. He hesitated a moment; was he texting her too frequently? He had decided to send her text messages rather than calling her because he knew that she was a busy woman; a text was something she could answer when she was free, could take her time to get to—or answer quickly when she had a minute to spare. A call would put pressure on her to devote her attention to a return call.
    He decided to go for it. Hey, beautiful, he typed, are you free any time soon? I’ve been spending too much time in the office for my own sanity. He sent it and waited, trying to turn his attention back to the report. Tony knew it was important—any report that was brought to him as CEO was something that deserved his attention—but it was difficult to force his mind onto the subject at hand when he was thinking of Ashley.
    Sooner than he could rightfully expect, his phone chirped, announcing a response to a text. I’m so sorry, Tony, but I’m incredibly busy. It read, and he wondered if she really was sorry—if he hadn’t somehow driven her away.
    We lost one of our best ER docs in a car accident last week, and they’ve asked me to double up. It was plausible, and Tony was happy for Ashley at least in terms of the amount of money that she was surely making.
    I have days off, but I’ve been on the go so much that I just end up sleeping all day. I’d be terrible company. He sent back a text saying that he understood—that he admired her dedication to the job. He asked her to get in touch when things calmed down a little more at the hospital, and decided to leave it alone at that.
    Tony managed to read through the report and make a decision, sending off an email and deciding that he really had spent far too much time in his office of late. Since Ashley wasn’t available to distract him from the grind of his work, he would visit with his friend Vince.
    Vince had been Tony’s mentor when Tony had first started to get Beaumont Financial off of the ground. It had been a risky venture, but when Tony approached the older man with his business proposal, Vince had immediately latched onto him, not only happily investing in Tony’s company, but also giving Tony regular advice—sound advice—on how to manage it as it grew. He was someone that Tony could count on not only for an outside perspective on life, but also for a good time when he needed it. Vince had gotten wealthy in the financial industry as well, and he managed his businesses so efficiently he had time for a lifestyle of clubbing, cruises, and working vacations; he had told Tony at one point that it just made sense for him to work while relaxing—it was the maximum in efficiency. “Why should