Page 46 of Doc Showmance
“Next time, please do it in a car or your room. Or how about walking to the backyard? Not on my front steps where the neighbors can see. Let’s have some food.”
16
Ian
The knock on my apartment door didn’t surprise me. What had shocked me was Amber phoning minutes after I pulled out of her driveway.
I opened the door to stare at her.
“What the hell was that?” She held up her hands.
“Was what?”
“Was what?You kissed me in front of all those people and lit off a firestorm of craziness with my siblings.”
“That, huh?” I stepped back to allow her to pace into my place. I might appear totally relaxed with my second whiskey in one hand, but my nerves were as frazzled as hers. I’d been spoiling for a fight even before Amber buzzed my phone and marched in here with a burr up her ass. Because I wanted her. Yet, I couldn’t have her. At least not in reality.
Everything about this sucked.
“Did you lose your mind? Now I’ve got insanity on the home front as well as the shitfest detonating between the work staff. Five more techs have texted me since the show aired. But Dr. Morris sent me a thumbs-up emoji.”
“That’s not too many people. Maybe it’ll blow over?”
“What’s wrong with you? This isn’t going to disappear. They’re going to make this so much worse for us.”
Too true.
“It’s what we signed up for. It’s what the show set up to happen. It’s going to make work weird and our personal lives even weirder.”
“I don’t want any part of this catastrophe any longer. I can’t believe you added fuel to the fire with that…that…kiss.” Her chest heaved with the extent of her anger and frustration. I couldn’t tug my eyes off her breasts. I suspected hers wasn’t simple anger over the show. She’d liked the kiss. I knew. I’d kissed a lot of women and recognized the difference between fake interest and genuine chemistry like ours.
She put her hands on her hips. “I figured out what we can do. You’ll quit. You have nothing to lose. You don’t even want to do ER medicine. Once you put in your notice all this can go back to normal.”
“Your contract will fall apart without me. Is that what you want?” In reality, I could quit. I didn’t have as much at stake as her. I didn’t want to leave. Not because I loved the job or that I thought I needed to go to pursue a future in TV. I wanted this. The back and forth. The wildness of desire and passion pinging between us.
As screwed up as it was, I wanted every bit of time I was allowed to be with her. I hadn’t felt this plugged into life since…well, hell, since the last time we argued in vet school.
“You’re an asshole.”
I took a step closer to her. “I don’t think you came over here to convince me to leave the show. Or to throw names at me.”
She backed up until her the wall stopped her.
I braced my free hand on one side of her head and leaned in. “I think you came over here for something different altogether.”
“You’re drunk.”
“Not yet.”
“I mean it. I want you to quit your job at the emergency hospital and get the hell out of my work world.”
“If I quit, you’ll make sure to push me completely out of your life, which to me is unacceptable.” I put the drink down on the hallway table but didn’t allow her to move away.
“None of this is real,” she gritted out.
“It’s not, huh? You know the problem with you, Amber? You don’t know when to stop pushing. You just keep pushing and pushing.”
I leaned in and covered her mouth with a hard kiss.
