So why wasn’t she more excited? Why did she feel indifferent toward him, and the prospect of getting to know him better? Was it ridiculous for her to think she’d one day feel that spark…that sudden, unexplainable attraction, to someone? Like she’d felt when she’d run into Andrew, in this very room?

Lauren closed her eyes and laid her forehead in her palm, her elbow propped on the table. She couldn’t stop thinking about him, and it was becoming a problem.

Andrew’s eyes.

Andrew’s smile.

Andrew’s hands.

She ground her teeth together in frustration. This was bad. Very bad.

He was a patient. He was off-limits. Right? Even if she wasn’t directly over his care anymore, she was a provider at the cancer center where he was receiving treatment.

Plus, as previously discussed, he was too attractive. Even if he hadn’t ended up in her clinic that day, she still wouldn’t have been interested.

Shouldn’t have been, anyway. She couldn’t even convince herself—no wonder Mandi had given her the side-eye.

Stop it. Focus. You’re here to study, and you’re going on a date with someone else. Everything is F-I-N-E.

Pep talk complete, Lauren lifted her head and opened her eyes, to find herself looking right at a smiling Andrew.

“Hi.”

Lauren blinked.

He was still there. Still smiling.

“Andrew? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to study.” He held a laptop and notebook in one hand. “What are you doing here?”

“Same.” Lauren’s pulse sped up and she pulled at her ponytail, a nervous gesture she’d picked up in her teenage years.

She took him in, standing tall before her, wearing fitted jeans and the same blue hoodie as the first time they’d met. Square shoulders and rounded biceps filled out his upper body, and his pushed-up sleeves revealed muscled forearms. A light, scruffy layer of facial hair covered a perfectly symmetrical jaw and his thick, chestnut hair was still very much present, the chemotherapy not having ravaged that part of his body yet.

His brown eyes scanned the tables that surrounded them. Lauren knew they were all full, as she’d hovered for ten minutes for a couple to leave before she’d snagged the one she currently sat at.

“You can sit here,” she offered. She was alone at a four-top table. “There’s plenty of room. It gets packed here on Friday nights.”

“You sure?” At her nod, Andrew set his stuff down diagonally across from her. “Thanks.”

Lauren had spread out all over the table and pulled her materials closer to her corner. “If I remember right, your sister said you’re soon to be a mediocre attorney…that must mean you’re in law school?”

“Yep. I’m in my third year.”

“What kind of law do you want to practice?”