Page 15 of Dr. Do-Right
I felt instantly ashamed at how excited I got at the thought. I heaved a sigh. This had to end. Now.
“Sonia, Malachi and I—”
“You’ll be fine! But you’ll have to be his date to the gala, since I won’t be around. He needs protection from all the thirsty housewives.”
Unbidden, my attention snagged on Mal. He was scowling, but the only thing I could picture in my brain was him in a tux. He went to a lot of fancy events, so he had several, and looked smoking hot in every one of them. He glanced at me, eyes doing a double-take when he caught me staring.
“Sonia…” He started, without taking his eyes off me.
“It might be weird, but you two might want to get a little touchy-feely for that one.”
My thoughts screeched to a halt. Mal’s head snapped towards his sister. Had she just…
“What?”
“Those housewives can get feral at the auction. Probably best if you guys act like you’re together, you know? Maybe they’ll leave you alone when they realize they can’t compete with your hot Latina girlfriend.” Her straw rattled as she slurped up the remains of her sangria. “I’m glad I got to tell you both in person, but I gotta hop if I want to finish packing tonight. My flight’s at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow.” She rolled her eyes.
“Sonia, wait! I need to talk—”
“I didn’t mean to spring this on you. It’ll be okay, Ri.” She squeezed my shoulder a few times, inching out from the table. “You’ll have Malachi while I’m gone. And when I come back in a few weeks, we’ll all settle back in.”
She barely paused to pet Siggy’s head before bustling onto the sidewalk.
I stared after her, mouth ajar. Siggy whined to see her leave.
“You want me to go chase her down?” Mal refilled Sonia’s glass before taking a sip.
“How are you so calm right now? She wouldn’t let us get a word in. This was supposed to happen today!” My napkin twisted in my hands.
Mal shrugged. “She gave us an official moratorium on the no touching rule. That solves the vast majority of my current problems.”
“Your current problems include contract disputes and emergencies back in Colorado.”
“Like I said, biggest of my problems. Solved. Come here.” He lunged, hauling my chair closer and dragging his palm up my calf. He groaned. In public. Audibly. I barely suppressed the full-body shudder his hands instigated.
“Mal,” I gasped. “We have to tell her.” I leaned closer. I wanted more of his hands on me. Higher.
“We will.” He leaned in, too. We were inches away from each other. “But maybe this is a good thing. What were we going to tell her today? That we’ve been having air sex for the last six months?”
“I wouldn’t call it air sex…” I grumbled, shifting my knee to feel the slide of my skin against his. I wanted him to move his hand, but he kept it still, aside from a slow circling of his fingertips against my calf.
“Now, though, think about it. She gets back from New York. We tell her we got closer, physically, at the gala. That there’s been something going on for a while, but we didn’t act on it until then. She’s practically giving us an opening, Ri.”
“You’re a therapist. Aren’t you supposed to be against lying?”
“What part of that is a lie?”
Hmm. He had a point. Telling her about our relationship like that would soften the blow. Maybe we could even soft-launch it while she was in New York. Send her some pictures of us together. Let her get used to the idea instead of just dumping it all on her at once:I’m in love with your brother and he makes me come with nothing but his eyes and we’ve been air fucking in secret for months behind your back.
“Air fucking.” I murmured, staring at his lips. They curved into a smile.
“You’re right, that is better.”
“So…what now?”
Finally,finally, his fingers inched up past my knee, splaying on my thigh. I gasped.
“Now, we—”
