Page 3 of Doc Showmance
Ugh.
The angles of his cheeks and chin, and the long dark lashes—all of it made girls act stupid. They propelled him into international stardom as the “sexiest vet alive.” He’d made sexiest man lists in magazines for the past few years. Sure, I looked at the gossip rags. I even eavesdropped when staff members raved about his deep voice during his internet videos. In real life, he was just as tall and just as sexy. Damn him. If he had a best feature, it was those eyes.
“So? Why’re you here?” I didn’t want to deal with the nervous jitters and instant grumpiness this man triggered. Because I didn’t want to recognize how magnetic and attractive he still was. “Are you doing a zoo episode in San Diego and thought you’d crash my show to boost your ratings?”
“There’s an offer on the table for me to come on staff here for a while.” He crossed his arms and folded a hand into each armpit.
Say what?
“You’re bullshitting me, right?”
It wasn’t that I doubted Ian’s ability to handle emergency medicine. This man might be a pretty boy who could become a supermodel if he applied himself, but he was also wicked smart. As in, I’d gone head-to-head with him in one-upmanship encounters in vet school. I hadn’t ranked number one in my class—and neither had he—but we’d been top ten.
The real reason I didn’t want him here? I didn’t know if I could keep myself from ripping him a new asshole every time I saw him out of protective instinct to avoid admitting I found him hot.No time for distractions. Especially not Ian Todd.
Susan moved into my peripheral vision with a new chart in hand. I hissed at him, “Think twice, Dillweed. Here, you can’t lose your shirt or wiggle your ass to fix a problem. You actually have to use your brain and have skills.”
“I think we established in the past my skills are waybetter than yours.” He winked at me. Fucking winked. “Flattered that you think it’s a spectacular ass.”
“I didn’t say that.” I rolled my eyes. Thesmartassworked its way up my throat, but Susan handed me the chart.
As I reviewed the notes for my next patient’s crisis at a computer terminal ten feet away from Ian, I watched my show’s producer-director—she worked in both roles—move in next to him and whisper something behind her hand.
Ian caught me staring at him. His eyebrows slowly rose. He grinned.
He was coming on staff. No doubt. Not with the way the producer’s speculative gaze narrowed on me.
Shit.
I wouldnotallow my issues with Ian Todd to become prime time drama that derailed my life.
2
Ian
“The plan is for you two to have a romance. It’s all camera bullshit, but we need it to increase our show’s ratings.” Marianna Rinkov, the executive producer of the veterinary ER show had sidled in close. She pushed her reading glasses onto the top of her head, into her sleek shoulder-length black hair. This woman was a manipulative snake with the compassion of a grapefruit. I’d experienced her my-way-or-nothing tactics when she directed three episodes of myVet in the WildTV show.
I glanced around to confirm no employees were within hearing range. Only Amber kept me in her peripheral vision. I said low, “You want me to fake dateher?”
“She’s not that bad. You’ve got to admit she’s got an edgy look to her that’s kind of cool.”
“It’s not that she’s unattractive.” Faking it with her was going to be all kinds of complicated. Those whiskey-colored eyes of hers jerked to me. Scheming glittered in their depths as if plotting how best to make me suffer. I hadn’t felt this level of excitement jitters while under a woman’s perusal in years. I wasn’t a masochist. I also wasn’t argumentative, but with her? We could be at each other’s throats in seconds. I’d forgotten how much fun it was.
The Amber I used to know kept me on my toes. I never knew if she was going to snipe at me or give me her nice side for a few seconds when forced to be collaborative. Either way, she challenged me to stay a step ahead.
The fact she hadn’t forgotten my nickname, Dillweed, thrilled me. Whenever I heard the word, which wasn’t often, it made me think of her and smile.
Marianna chuckled. “She’s a bit…uh, difficult. I’ll grant you that.”
“Difficult? She’s a terrier who’ll bite first and ask questions later.”
I couldn’t quite process the fact the woman I’d been drawn to years ago in vet school, before everything went to crap and we degenerated into constant arguing, was even more beautiful than before. If only she hadn’t been in the wrong place at the wrong time when I agreed to do that stupid Valentine’s Day video. Everything might’ve been different. Would I have worked up the courage to ask her out? Yes. I’d almost been there. She was a lot to handle back then, even before she became furious at me for existing in her space.
“You think you can pull off regular medicine in a place like this without making an ass of yourself or getting sued?”
“Not a problem.” I’d done day practice for a while when just out of school. Emergency medicine, however, was a whole different league. Only seeing patients at their worst with death on the line 50 percent of the time induced a high level of adrenaline. I liked it.
Medical and surgical challenges didn’t scare me.
