Page 6 of Dr. Do-Right
He continued when I didn’t respond. “If we’re going down the ‘spelling out’ route, I’ll tell you that I’m very, very attracted to you and I’d like to explore that further, if you’d also like to. I think you would, considering how your pupils dilate every time you look at me.”
Oh, fuck. I liked the way he was so candid about…everything. Leave it to a world-renowned therapist to lay everything out there without a trace of ambiguity.
He held up a finger. “Sorry, I misspoke. Very, very, very attracted to you.”
“Was that a necessary point of clarification?” I rasped, watching as he set the limes and the salt in easy reach.
“Just making sure we’re on the same page. Something in here’s telling me we would be very, very, very good together.” He rubbed his knuckles back and forth across his chest.
Instead of running his eyes down my body when he talked about how good we’d be together, he focused on my face. Weirdly, it was hotter that he looked into my eyes when he said it. Like he was truly seeing me and not just my body, andthatwas what attracted him.Me.
Impossible, of course, since I’d given him the cold shoulder all night. Right. Cold shoulder. That’s what I was supposed to be doing.
But he’d stepped just close enough that my personal bubble rubbed up against his. Like a cat looking for pets. Well, mypersonal bubble might be ready to roll over and give it up for him, but I was not.
“You have nothing to offer me I couldn’t accomplish with my vibrator.” I’d meant for it to sound derogatory, but somehow it ended up sounding like a challenge. Or an invitation.
Interest flared in his eyes, so I backtracked hard. “I’m serious. I’m not interested. I refuse to be one more of Sonia’s friends sacrificed to your dick.”
The light in his eyes died, giving way to a serious, confused frown. “Sacrificed to… Okay, I admit the thing with Jess was a bad idea. Like, cataclysmically bad. But I swear, I have never touched one of Sonnie’s friends before or since. That was five years ago. I thought she said she was over that.” He glanced down at the counter, rubbing his jaw.
“Well, she’s not. And it’s not just Jess. Do you know how many friends she’s had to stop hanging out with because they were just using her to get to you?”
He stared at me for a beat, his face falling before he cleared his throat and stepped away to a more respectable distance. My bubble was intact once more.
“I did not know that. Thank you for telling me.” He seemed…contrite. And sincere, like he really was glad to know this information, and not defensive or offended like I’d expected him to be. “I wish I’d heard it from Sonia, herself. I’ll talk to her about it later.”
That, again, was a truth I hadn’t expected. My family was more of thehave a massive blow-out then sweep it under the rugtype. Maybe Malachi Dobrev actually was the real deal, practicing what he preached through his channel.
“I…well, yes. You should.”
He glanced at me, side-eyed. “If I promise not to sleep with you, will you hang out with me? Or are you going to pretend I have leprosy for the next week?”
Dammit. That’s right. Not only did I have to survive this party, but Malachi was visiting Chicago for an entire week, crashing at a nearby hotel. I was sure to see him around again.
I sighed, looking at the shot in front of me. It was better than looking at Malachi. Every time I did, I noticed something else: the freckle on the tip of his nose, slightly off-center and extremely kissable. Or the way he ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing it back subconsciously.
“I’ll hang out with you,” I conceded. A little drawbridge over the freezing moat that was currently protecting my reproductive system.
Regardless of Sonia’s friends’ unfortunate history of falling for her brother, she loved him fiercely. They’d stayed close as they’d grown up. Whenever he was in town, I hardly ever saw her. It would be good to actually get to hang out with her this week, now that I’d met him.
It had taken her several years, but now she finally felt comfortable letting me into their lives. I didn’t want to push the opportunity away. I knew how important both he and I were to her.
“You don’t even have to bring the vibrator. Though, admittedly, we could have some fun with that.” He scrubbed his palms over his face, grimacing like he was in physical pain. Everything south of my belly button clenched at the idea of having some fun with him and my vibrator.
“Careful, Doctor Dobrev.”
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry.” He sighed, his breath smelling like mint and limes. I wondered if he tasted that way, too.
He held up his shot glass, and I clinked mine to his. Both of us tapped them on the table before downing them, as if we’d done it a million times before.
Despite my growing attraction over the next week, we kept the flirting to a minimum. After he’d gone back to Colorado, a plain,brown-wrapped package had showed up at my door. The first vibrator he’d ever bought me, shaped like a little green cactus. The note had said, “For the best Cinco de Mayo I’ve ever had. Even if it started out a bit prickly.”
The note and the gift had made me smile. We’d laughed about it a few months later when he was back in town (outside of Sonia’s earshot, of course. We hadn’t technically done anything wrong, but by unspoken agreement, we kept this particular inside joke quiet.).
The next Christmas, a little candy cane vibrator. His next trip in town was around Valentine’s day. I got a little pink Rocket. On and on. The packages showed up, we laughed about it later, and in the meantime, I got myself off thinking about him.
Also, in the meantime, he and Sonia and I became closer than I could have imagined. We laughed until our sides hurt over chips and salsa. I learned about the work he was doing at his clinic and through social media. How he wanted to make sure that all families had resources to get help, even if they couldn’t afford traditional counseling. He asked me poignant, probing questions and, surprise, surprise, was a great fucking listener.
