Page 3 of Dr. Do-Right
Code word is papaya.
Hands off Malachi.
Hands off Malachi.
Hands off Malachi.
***
It was after midnight. I had not mixed liquors, and I’d used papaya three times.
Sonia glared as she walked number three over to the karaoke machine, having rescued me from the most boring conversation known to man. There was only so much I wanted to hear about cryptocurrency.
She thought I was being too picky. She wasn’t wrong. I had very specific tastes in men these days.
Tall, dark, and untouchable pretty much summed it up.
I stopped to chat with people on the way to the kitchen, accepting all the hugs and happy birthday wishes my little heart could handle. After a few drinks, I was on the tipsy side of buzzy. My wits were still about me, but I was loose and warm and happy, surrounded by all the people who loved me. Well, most of them.
I was chatting with one of Sonia’s friends from the hospital when a shrieky gasp cut through the apartment. I’d know that shrieky gasp anywhere. Sonia was excited about something.
“Ri! RiRi!” she yelled. I left my glass on the counter, grinning while I yelled back, our voices carrying over the thumping sound system.
“I’m coming, I’m coming! Please tell me you hired a stripper.”
“Not my day job, but I’ll make an exception for the birthday girl.” That voice stopped me in my tracks. Low, lilting, humming with barely suppressed laughter. My favorite sound in the world.
I gasped, staring at Dr. Malachi Dobrev as he walked through my front door. “I thought… I thought you had work?”
“Surprise,” he whispered in my ear, pulling me in for a tight hug. My arms wrapped around him on instinct, pulling him even closer. His belt buckle dug into my belly.
“Isn’t that the famous TikTok guy? The therapist?” someone muttered behind me. But I was focused on another, more pressing question.
“What are you doing here?” My voice was muffled by his shoulder. He still hadn’t let go. I didn’t either. He felt too good, all of him pressing against all of me. The type of contact we rarely had. I savored it.
“You don’t think I’d let something as stupid as work keep me from my favorite girl on her birthday?” He finally pulled away, eyes roaming across my face, cataloging it like we’d been apart for years, even though I’d just seen him last month. “Don’t tell Sonia I said that,” he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. It dragged through my lip gloss. His eyes followed.
“Ri, look what he brought you!” Sonia was doing the shrieky thing again. A flash of a resigned smile crossed his face.
“It’s not for you. He’s for me. But you can hang out with him if you want.” Mal stepped backwards to take something out of Sonia’s arms. Standing like that, close to the door, in travel-rumpled clothes, he looked so much like the night I’d met him, it sent an aching throb through my chest.
That silky dark hair. Teasing smirk. It was all the same now as it had been that night two years ago.
Except this time, he held a squirming puppy in his hands.
“Happy birthday, Rija.”
Chapter 2
Two years earlier
I had prepared for this, I really had.
When Sonia had told me her brother was the social-media-famous Dr. Do-Right, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I couldn’t have been more surprised if she’d informed me she was related to Air Bud.
“This guy? That guy? Is your brother?” I shoved my phone in her face. I’d pulled up his channel, clicking on a random video with a few million views.
“Yes! That’s my brother, Malachi.”
