Page 42 of Doc Showmance
I forced myself to take a slow intake of air.
No one else watching seemed bothered by what happened on screen.
I startled to realize Ian watched me, not the show, from where he leaned against the wall across the room. His eyebrows were drawn together. He mouthed,You okay?
I chewed on my lower lip before I nodded tightly.
The show skipped over thirty minutes of surgery to when Mac was in recovery. Then they showed the reunion of Mac with Wade. With the music and the camera angles, I felt myself actually tearing up. Hell, I hadn’t even teared up when I’d been in the moment.
Then there was Ian and…
What the actual hell was that?
Some sort of hot look passed between us on camera. I didn’t remember that moment, and I’d been there. I distinctly remembered mywhat-the-hell-is-he-doing-heremoment when I first saw him. That seemed to be where they’d gotten this footage. The shot snapped between the two of us in cut scenes, which amped up the suspense. Once. Twice. It made it seem like we were connecting or something when, in reality, we were gauging how to react to each other.
The episode ended with Wade’s interview at his house. Wade blubbered and blew his nose. “I didn’t realize how close I’d been to losing Mac.”
I felt sorry for him and as if I needed to apologize again for the drama.
The episode finally ended. Finally.
Was Joley going to kill me?
Joley was the first to speak. “Well, that was hot.” She rotated around and looked at me. “You don’t need help flirting. What was going on between you and Doc Hotness right there?”
I glanced at Ian, who hadn’t stopped watching me. In fact, he’d moved closer to me. We blinked at each other.
I asked, “Were you giving me that look? Because I sure as hell wasn’t giving you whatever they made that out to be. I don’t even know where that look came from. You think they CGIed it?”
“Listen, man,” Wade said to Ian. “I respect it if you and she might have something going on, but if it’s all a misunderstanding, say something. I’d sure like to throw my hat into the ring and ask her out. No offense, Joley, but she’s, like, the hottest badass I’ve ever met. And she saved my dog.”
A few har-hars of agreement from Wade’s cronies echoed.
“I’m standing right here, for fuck’s sake.” I couldn’t make sense of anything. Needed to escape.
Ian didn’t answer. He didn’t even seem to acknowledge Wade existed. Instead, he continued to watch me with his brows drawn even further down. No smile on his face.
Without warning, Ian snagged my hand to pull me into the kitchen, not that it had a door to block off others from hearing. Once in there, he whispered, “You okay? You look…pale.”
“That surgery… They cut out the hairy parts. Probably good. But I couldn’t stop remembering.” I whispered hoarsely, “That dog barely survived.”
“You’re good at what you do, Amber. Chill. It all turned out fine.”
When I continued to clasp and unclasp my hands, he said, “Look at me.”
My eyes shot to his.
“It’s over. You’re okay.”
“I know I’m okay. All of it…it’s so much. I mean, shit.” I asked low, “What was that they engineered between us? You think it’s their way of escalating it fast?”
“Maybe.” He cleared his throat. “We were staring at each other. I don’t remember it like that, but maybe it was hotter than we think.”
“Maybe.”
“That was some serious drama with Kovac. I agree you had every right to kick him out of surgery.”
“Guess so.” I leaned against the counter. “I don’t know what happened. One minute I was getting told I have to do you-know-what with you, and the next I’m in a war with Kovac to save a dog.”
