Page 49 of Doctor I Do

“Hi. It’s lovely to meet you,” I reply with a grin.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Alex says, shaking his head.

“Garbage. I owe you my life.”

The way Gary says it stuns me silent. I want to know the story.

Gary clears his throat and hands the food menu over. “Here is the menu. The way I’d order is one from each section and share. I made them to share.”

Sounds good. I like to have a little bit of everything.

Gary gazes at Alex and me. “I’ll be back to take your order soon.”

“Thank you,” I say.

Gary walks off and we read the menu. I’m thinking it will be better if Alex takes charge here. Everything sounds delicious; I’m having a hard time choosing.

“How do you know him?” I ask curiously.

He lowers his menu to the table and leans in, clearly not wanting to shout it out. I mimic him, understanding he’ll be whispering. “I operated on him.”

My brows rise to my forehead, and I lean back with an O-shaped mouth. “Ah. Right. That makes sense. So, you dine here often?”

“To be honest, I don’t dine in at restaurants,” he replies.

“Anywhere?”

“Anywhere,” he deadpans.

“But why?” I ask, totally confused.

“I work a lot.”

“That’s a shame, and that’s part of the reason having majority of the business that scares me. No life.”

He shakes his head. “You can do whatever you want soon. You’ll be one of the bosses. That’s why you need to figure out where the business is right now and work out how you want to run it. You can hire people to work. You don’t have to work twenty-four-seven.”

“Yeah. I need to think more about the way I want to run it. At the moment, I’m listening to the way my parents run everything, just to understand things first.”

I relax, realizing I’m taking this business as my own. And I’m really loving the work so far, even if I’m just standing back and watching for the moment.

“Definitely take this time to sit back and observe. Then after some time, if you see an area needing improvement, step in and change it,” he says, offering advice.

“Good idea. Not just a handsome face, are you?” I wink playfully at him.

“If only I was handsome on the inside,” he mutters.

My face drops at his words. “What makes you say that?”

“I’m ugly on the inside.” Alex’s words are ice cold. “But at least you find me hot,” he adds in his familiar light tone and wiggling his brows.

I stare into his detached eyes with a gut feeling he’s internally struggling with something.

If I’m right, I need to tread carefully. I don’t want to push him and have him shut down. Instead, I want him to know if he’s ready to share I’ll be here.

“No one is perfect. We all have blemishes. Including me.”

He puts his hand over mine on the table. His thumb swipes back and forth over my skin. It’s hypnotizing.

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