Page 29 of Doctor’s Surprise Twins

Maggie glowed as we walked away, and I scowled. “Did you have to let her think we were dating?” I offered my arm, and Maggie rested her hand in the crook of my elbow as we entered the venue.

“She was a harmless old lady, Derek. She probably saw that massive bulge in your pants and decided you were hot for me.” She smirked and extended her hand to another colleague of ours who strolled up.

I’d hoped it wasn’t that obvious that she had aroused me. It was difficult trying to hide something like that to begin with, but in these tuxedo pants, it was near impossible. The shame of having it pointed out to me, coupled with the embarrassment that others might see what Judy saw, made it deflate like a burst balloon. We greeted people we knew as we saw them, but the distant small talk continued.

When Gretchen Muelfield, former Sunday school teacher and high-school principal, strolled up, Maggie was all grins again. She drank in the attention like a diva, and I wished I had just stayed home.

“Well, Magnolia Brock and Dr. Derek Holt, fancy seeing you two here together. What a hot item you were back in the day. It’s nice to see the flames of love never died.” She shook Maggie’s hand and then mine as she chatted. “How is Peter? How is Curt? What are those boys up to, anyway?”

“They’re hardly boys anymore, Mrs. Muelfield.” Maggie’s grin was gorgeous. I just wished it wasn’t at my expense. These people were chipping away at my resolve. “Curt is a pharmaceutical rep, and Peter, well...” She looked at me, so I answered.

“Peter is fine. He’s doing well.” That was all I could tell her because I didn’t really know what Peter was doing other than mooching money off me and working in my barn.

“Well, you two just make an adorable couple, you know.” She squinted through her coke-bottle glasses. She had to be pushing eighty years old now. “Good to see you. Maybe after dinner, we will have a chance to catch up.”

Every time someone said we made a cute couple or commented on how good we looked together, my tie tightened around my neck more. As we walked away from Gretchen, Maggie hugged my arm tighter.

“Lighten up, Derek. It’s not a huge deal. You don’t have to climb up on the stage and make an announcement that we’re not a couple.” She sounded hurt, but her smile remained fixed. She was good at that, hiding her emotions. I, however, was not, so the permanent scowl stayed on my face right up to the point we sat down across from Gypsy and her date, which turned out to be the man I thought Maggie might have been seeing. Fuck, did I have that all wrong. I felt like an idiot for not seeing that, but at least Maggie wasn’t seeing him. Finding that out felt like opening a new can of worms. Half of the weird behavior she’d been exhibiting lately had been things I’d blamed on her dating someone else—like missing work, lunches alone, ignoring my texts. If it wasn’t that guy, who the fuck was it?

“Boss, wowzah!” Gypsy batted her eyelashes at me. “You clean up nice!” She offered Maggie a hug and then sat back down, snapping her cloth napkin in the air before draping it across her lap.

“Thanks.” Not knowing what else to say, I focused on my flatware, shifting it farther away from me on the table. Gypsy’s date spoke up, adding his reaction to my apparently obvious status.

“You have an absolutely stunning woman, Dr. Holt. Really, you’re a lucky man.” The guy didn’t have a clue, and judging by the look on Gypsy’s face, she didn’t have the heart to tell him. I’d already protested it too many times to count, and when I opened my mouth to offer my dissent, the emcee’s mic crackled and the night began.

Three hours later, we were on our way out and got bombarded by another round of greetings and goodbyes, well wishes for our happiness. Maggie never once protested, and even when Gypsy gave us suspicious glances, Maggie’s lips remained sealed, so needless to say, as soon as we were in the limo, the gloves came off.

The chauffeur drove us back to her house as I drove my point home. “That was a disaster. I’ve never been more humiliated in my life.”

Maggie scoffed, angling in her seat to glare at me. She crossed her arms over her chest, making her cleavage pop out farther. She had no clue what she was doing to me, and I felt like even if she did, she wouldn’t care. The rage painted on her face glued me to my seat.

“Humiliated? You know what’s humiliating? It’s being told repeatedly how pretty I look on your arm, only to hear you tell countless people howundateable I am.” Her scowl deepened, and I cringed.

“I never said you were undateable. I just don’t want to be seen as the guy who dates his employees.”

Maggie remained silent as we rode across town to her place. I walked her to the door but told the limo driver to wait for me to come back. Despite the calm expression on her face, I knew she was still angry with me. I could tell by the way her shoulders were squared and she avoided eye contact. The longer I spent around her, the more I could see through her put-on happiness.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. I just didn’t see the problem with letting people think what they think.” She let herself in and left the door open behind her, and I followed her in. If it was an invitation to continue our evening, I couldn’t take it. But I didn’t want to leave until we’d settled up and I felt better about the way things ended this evening.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Maggie

I didn’t knowwhy I left that door open, but I had and he’d followed me right in. I probably subconsciously wanted him to follow me even though I was very irritated with his behavior. Derek had a way of getting under my skin, which I had forgotten about. It wasn’t at all that different from our teenage years and dealing with his irrational fear of Curt finding out about our make-out sessions. Except we weren’t teens, and this didn’t concern my brother.

I yanked off the gold drop earrings and kicked my heels off. The jewelry clanged on the counter as I dropped it, and I headed for the fridge to have a beer before I forgot that I, in fact, could not have a beer, which only soured my mood more. I turned around and glared at Derek. He wasn’t entirely to blame, but this new thread of anger I’d found gave me an outlet to release some of the hormonal roller coaster I was riding.

“Do you have to stare at me like that?” I pushed past him, heading to my bedroom to change. The dress was uncomfortable, and I just wanted my sweats and T-shirt. If I couldn’t have alcohol, I could snuggle up with a good chick flick and a pint of ice cream.

Derek had other plans. He followed me, stalking angrily to my bedroom and stopping in the doorway. “I wasn’t staring. And I think this is a bit childish. We could just talk about what is really wrong. You are angry that I said this is just sex and friendship. You never got over that, and you’ve been taking it out on me for weeks now.”

I struggled with the zipper, straining to reach the clasp. My back was to him, and I didn't want to respond to his accusation because honestly, he was right. I hadn’t gotten over that, but I couldn’t tell him why I hadn’t gotten over it. He didn’t want to hear that I was in love with him and that I likely had been since we were kids.

I felt his fingers push mine out of the way as he unzipped the gown. The cool air against my back caused goosebumps, and I stepped away from him, turning to see his scowl had not changed despite his helpfulness.

“Are we okay? Like, our friendship?” The way he said it did not communicate that he was feeling guilty for the way he treated me or the things he’d said. It was more like he wondered whether I was going to call him out on his behavior and cut him off.

And I was.

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