Doc showmance, p.18
Doc Showmance, page 18
“Where’d she go?”
“To get coffee.”
I released a small bit of pressure on him and slammed him back against the refrigerator once more. “What shit came out of your mouth?”
“Offered her a good time. Guaranteed to be better than with you.”
What? Red hazed my brain with the need to hurt him.
I leaned in, hoping my breath reeked as foul as my mouth tasted. “Stay away from her. You might’ve been able to pull that shit with Maya, but don’t ever with Amber. You’re lucky she didn’t cut off your nuts. She’s good at neutering. You do something like that again, and I’ll put the scalpel to your balls myself.”
“Her loss. Not like I’m super into her type, but I figured she’d be happy to get her freak on.”
I punched him. Direct hit to the nose.
Brock wailed and cradled his face. Blood oozed down over his lip. “You broke my fucking nose.”
“Serves you right for being a dick. I can’t believe you said that. Amber has more integrity than anyone in this entire house. I’m packing us up. No way are either of us staying here.”
“That girl’s a liability who brings nothing to the table. What can she do for you, Ian? She can’t do a single thing to help your life or your career. She’s got no wealth, no connections, and a marginal job in the service industry. She’s worth no more than a fling. Definitely not worth getting this worked up over.”
I stalked toward him, grumbling low. “That woman paid her own way through school, supports her entire family, and is the most intelligent and stubborn person I’ve ever met. She’s hands down the best vet I’ve ever seen in action and is right now wandering on her own through the city to get away from you.”
I stormed out of the kitchen. With jerky movements, I stuffed all of Amber’s belongings into her suitcase. I’d apologize later for the crap packing job. I collected my things, took a quick shower, and called the driver—the one I hired, not my parents. We wouldn’t leave San Francisco yet since I still hadn’t gotten my few minutes with Dad, and we agreed with Marianna to stay until tomorrow. If we didn’t do our time here, I feared what new thing she’d force us to do. Staying meant there was an end in sight. I wouldn’t examine how the thought of only seeing Amber for four to five more weeks filled me with despair.
But I refused to remain in this house.
In the car, I texted Nabi: Have you heard from Amber?
Nabi: Yeah, hon. She’s right here. We’re down at the waterfront grabbing coffee. Her, me, and the camera dude.
Ian: Your usual place?
Nabi: Yep.
Ian: Be there soon.
I marched into the small coffee shop and squinted into the darkened atmosphere. I didn’t even realize I’d been holding my breath until I found them at a window table. Somehow, I feared she’d be in line at the airport buying herself a return ticket. I wouldn’t blame her after yesterday and then this morning.
Holy fuck. She was so naturally beautiful.
Amber in a pair of skinny jeans and a form-fitting black T-shirt floored me. Her red-streaked hair danced down her back, free. Her curvy chest was in tight contour in the shirt. Her lips were shiny from some sort of pink lip gloss and her eyelashes mascaraed, making them stand out more than they usually did.
I gripped my cell phone in my palm tighter, not realizing how desperately I’d wanted to see her this morning, but now I second guessed myself and what happened yesterday. Did she remember? Had she meant it?
There was nothing I could do to rewind the choices I made in the car and after. I didn’t want to take anything back. I also wanted this to be our moment to do a real step forward. A sober step forward.
“Morning.” Amber looked guarded. “I had to get out of the house. Your brother… Good God, he walked right to the edge of the cliff of insanity and dived off.”
“I’m sorry for whatever he said. I packed all our stuff. We’re not staying there, not with him and my parents.” I took the seat across from Amber and next to Nabi.
“You packed us up?”
“You wanted to stay there?” I looked at her, eyes wide.
“Uh, no. I’m… Call me impressed by you growing some balls around your family.”
“I’ve always had a point beyond which I’m done. I said I didn’t want to do this from the beginning. It always degenerates into someone like Brock doing something unforgivable since he has no empathy, or Mom arranging me to get cornered with her choice of a future wife.”
“I’ve been treated like dirt before, but I’ve never felt quite as shitty as the way your brother spoke to me.” She lowered her tone to whisper to me, “He proposed a pity fuck and that you might be gay. He even said you were happy to share your girls.”
“You should’ve punched his balls.” I could dream. “Maybe even cut them off. He’s a soulless jerk.”
“I didn’t want to get anywhere close to his disgusting balls.”
“I broke his nose.”
Amber covered her mouth. “You didn’t.”
Nabi chortled. “Go Ian.”
As I started scanning for hotels on my phone I said, “Wanted to do worse. I’ll find us a hotel or a rental house, but we’re not staying there.”
“I knew you and Amber…that there was something real, something hot.” Nabi made a sound that wasn’t a laugh or a chuckle but more of a snorting happy sound. “Just watching you in real life… This is like being part of a fairy tale.”
“Not like any story I’ve ever read,” Amber said. “Can we go home now, Ian? I’ll even pay for my own commercial ticket. Happy to sit in the middle or ride in cargo.”
I didn’t answer. Because we were stuck. We’d agreed to do this. Did I want to be here? Nope. I dreaded the next time we had to get close to my family again.
“Well?” she asked. Her eyes raced back and forth over mine as she waited for my answer.
Sweat rolled down my spine. I wanted to say yes.
Say something.
Anything.
She crossed her arms and sighed.
“You look good,” I said to her.
“Do you really think a compliment is going to get you out of forcing me to endure more time with your family?”
“Maybe?” I tried to say cutely.
“It won’t.” She scowled.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, Marianna is going to be sorry. She should come up here and spend time with them.”
“It’s no wonder she and my mother hit it off. They’re cut from the same manipulative mold.”
We settled into uncomfortable silence.
“So…Maya.” Amber sipped from her to-go cup. “How about both of you fill me in on what happened there? From my perspective sure as shit looks like your mom has green-lit her to get her claws back into you. She got head table seating last night, and I got the loser table.”
“Are you jealous?” I asked.
She scoffed. “Oh my God, Ian. This whole thing is insane. How could I be jealous when all I know is secondhand gossip from the blonde twins about you and Maya? You and me aren’t…” She side-eyed the camera in the corner. “We’ve kind of been tossed together.”
I scrutinized Nabi, who didn’t seem to pick up any truth about us potentially faking all this. Nabi watched avidly like we were a live TV episode.
“I’m sorry,” I started. I took a deep breath and decided to tell her the truth. “I should’ve given you the heads up on Maya. She’s my mom’s choice for who I should marry. Earlier this year we dated for a short while. Six weeks to be exact. I came home on week six from a trip to China where I’d been filming for two weeks to find her and my brother fucking on my sofa. My sofa. That was my place. I hadn’t even given her a key. Obviously, Brock… He could never stand for me to show him up on anything. I think my TV celebrity drove him to a whole new high of competitiveness.”
“That’s… I don’t have words for it.” She tugged her lower lip through her teeth. She reached to take my hand. “You’re a real dillweed a lot of time, but you don’t deserve that. The sliminess of them at your place disgusts me. Does fidelity mean nothing in your family?”
“Not a damn thing.”
“You and me…” She worked her lower jaw. “I’m not that kind of person. If I decided we were going to try for something serious, something beyond a few fun times, then I expect you to be one hundred percent in, like I’d be. I’m possessive of the people I care about.”
“Me too,” I muttered.
“I can be driven to do horrible things to people who play with my feelings or screw around on the side.” She broke into a wide grin. “I know the sheriff pretty well.”
“How do you know him?”
“Seth? He sort of dated Joley.”
A lady bumped into me while trying to control her little dog coming in the door. She froze, staring at me and then at Amber. She took in Martin filming us. “I’m sorry. Hey, you’re…aren’t you…Dr. Todd and Dr. Hardin from the TV show?”
Great. Just what we needed was to be recognized.
“It is you two. Oh, wow. Dr. Todd, you’re even more handsome in person.”
“Thanks?” I rubbed my neck.
The lady asked, “Can I take a picture with you two?”
When I didn’t jump to reply Amber said, “Sure.”
Interest perked up among other customers who now looked our way. “I think we better take off.”
Nabi said loudly, “Yeah, let’s get you two a room before it gets any hotter in here.”
Twenty-Six
Ian
There were no hotel rooms at any of the places I wanted to stay. Who knew a holiday weekend made it virtually impossible to find a vacancy that wasn’t in a part of town I refused to house us? So I begged. I cajoled. And finally, I found a room at an insane price.
“I got us a room. Finally,” I told Amber in the car. I glanced to the driver, who was a pro at pretending he wasn’t listening to us. “They said it’s the last one they’ve got. I planned to get you your own room, but there’s only this one. It’s got one double bed. I suppose we can figure it out.”
“One bed?” she squeaked out. She lowered her voice to a whisper, “Listen, whatever might’ve or didn’t happen yesterday has to be a mistake, right?”
I didn’t reply. I remembered everything in vivid detail. I thought we worked pretty damned well together. Now she was moving us back to square one?
The car pulled in front of the downtown hotel. I jumped out and grabbed our stuff from the trunk. I glared at Martin, who sat in the front passenger seat. At least the camera wasn’t rolling. “I didn’t get a room for you, Martin. They don’t have any more. You’re not staying with us. You can either find your own place or stay at my parents’ house. I’m not a travel agent.”
“I’m following you in,” he said.
I hated this. Couldn’t wait to put a door between myself and the camera. “You do remember this is fake, right? That all of this is inflated baloney for TV?”
“Getting a room at the hotel? That’s pretty hot stuff.” Martin had the camera on his shoulder.
Amber’s face looked pinched.
“Come on, Amber. We’ll probably see Martin again when he colludes with my parents. For now, Martin, I’ve got one hell of a hangover and just want to sleep until next Christmas.” I wheeled both mine and Amber’s suitcase toward the elevator after we checked in.
“Bye-bye,” I waved at Martin as the doors shut. “Thank you, Jesus. He’s gone.”
“Yeah, it’s a miracle.” She didn’t sound sarcastic, but also quieter than normal.
I had to use the key to get the elevator to move to the floor where the room was located. At least Martin couldn’t barge in for a surprise visit.
“Wow,” Amber said as she exited the elevator and I keyed us into the modest room that had one double bed. “This place is into the simplistic Scandinavian look. It’s so…white. Kind of makes me uncomfortable.”
“I’m going to have a water. You want anything?” I moseyed to the mini refrigerator and pulled out a chilled water.
“That probably costs over ten dollars,” she eyed the bottle.
“Probably does.” I twisted off the top and toasted it her way. “I don’t care. I’m sending the bill to the show.”
“So, last night… Do we chalk up yesterday as us getting drunk and weirdness?”
“Sure.” I pulled her into me and set down the water bottle. One hand slid into her hair to guide her face up to meet mine. I almost kissed her but didn’t want to push whatever this was. Not yet. “I’m not drunk now. Feels pretty real, doesn’t it?”
“What is this?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I recognized something between us even back in vet school. Call it chemistry or hotness or whatever you want. Now that we found our way back to each other, we’re locked into a game of insincerity that won’t give us a chance.”
She threw her head back, holding my stare. “I’m not sure what’s going on, either, but I’m intrigued by this new version of you. Seeing your family helps me understand you more. I see why you ran from your life here, but I don’t know how that family made a person like you.”
I let out a harsh laugh. “I wonder that sometimes, too.”
“They did make you. I can see it in your ambition and determination, which are the same as I saw in your mother last night. You learned beyond what they taught you, though. Somehow you found compassion.”
I thought I’d wanted her back in veterinary school, but it was only a spark compared to the inferno I now tried to contain.
“You also developed that fake smile that drives me nuts.” She glared.
“Other people like it.”
“Looks good on TV. I’ll give you that. It also makes you hard to read, which is the intention, isn’t it?”
“Nothing fools you.”
“I’m good at watching people and figuring out their nuances.” When she met my gaze, the sincere interest in her gaze, interest in me, stole my breath.
I moved my hand up her body to touch her chin.
“Stop teasing me, Ian.”
“I don’t tease. Not you Amber. There’s always been something about you that makes me barely able to control myself when I’m around you. In the past when I couldn’t touch, I lashed out in frustration.” I swallowed as I forced myself not to pull her into me. “I’ve never met anyone else who looked beyond my exterior and got what’s inside. You’ve always been able to see me when no one else could.” I dropped my hand and shook my head. “I’m not sure you comprehend the magnitude of that.” I didn’t want to walk away from her like our lives dictated must happen. I didn’t want to lose someone who felt like she was a part of my soul. That scared the hell out of me.
“We need to be strong, Ian.” Her shoulders dropped. “All of this is fake, and it’s on TV. I want you to know I value our tentative friendship.”
“Jesus,” I groaned as I let her go. I kicked off my shoes. “Friendship? You feel nothing more?”
“I’m not sure. Last night had to be a fluke. Right?”
“You’re feeling something for me that’s more than friendship, but you’re scared. I do remember everything that happened last night before I passed out, but, sure we’ll resume our friendship.” I sat on the bed and clicked on the TV. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I had a headache. How about we flip through channels and find some eighties or nineties movie? We can sit here doing nothing until my parents pull us back in. I’m thinking they’ll have a dinner event planned.”
She kicked off her own shoes and snuggled in close to me when I lay back. My body thrummed with excitement from her fresh scent and curvy body curling into mine. “Who said you could use me as a pillow?”
“I did.”
I paused my channel clicking on Back to the Future while I tried to figure out if it was movie number one, two, or three. Didn’t matter. It worked. The fact her firm breasts were pressed into me, and her palm fell across my chest… This was the epitome of mixed messages. Felt like she was the one pushing this into becoming something more.
She rolled away, stood, and dropped her jeans.
What the…
“What are you doing, Amber?”
“Changing,” she answered casually. “Those pants are tight. They’re not right for lounging and watching TV.” She slipped on flannel pajama pants from her suitcase and kept on the form-fitting shirt.
The vision of the thong that trekked through the two perfect globes of her ass imprinted on my brain. How could I focus on anything but that? She had a beautiful body, one I wanted to explore.
She leaned forward to flip her hair over her head and secured it into a messy bun.
“There,” she announced. “If I could trust you not to lose control, I’d take off my bra, too.”
There’d be no stopping me taking this to the next level if she did that. Sound would not come out of my throat.
Friend zone.
Must remember that.
“Do you want to take your bra off?” I asked hoarsely.
“I won’t. I know you have limits. Do you want to take your pants off?”
I did, but they were effective at hiding my hard-on. “Good attempt to get me naked.”
She curled into me again. I caught a glimpse of her grin.
“This doesn’t feel like you’re trying to keep us platonic,” I whispered.
“I haven’t decided about us yet. I’m keeping my options open.”
“I don’t understand you. You just said all this is fake.”
“You said at some point that this didn’t feel fake. I remember you said I had that feeling, too. How about you shut up and we watch the movie?”
I honestly had no idea what was going on between us. I didn’t know if she wanted me to make a move and cross the line. I had no clue.
All I knew was that I liked her right here. This was comfortable. I trusted her, unlike most people I knew in this city. I’d let her stay here for as long as she wanted to be.
Twenty-Seven
Amber
