Doc Showmance, page 24
I’d texted Ian multiple times tonight to ask to meet or to talk by phone. No reply.
Was he ignoring me? Was this him breaking up with me? He seemed fine after that whole fiasco.
God, I was paranoid.
I still wasn’t clear on if he or Kovac had gotten fired. None of the staff knew. My boss didn’t have time for me this afternoon after I saw about ten emergencies.
This was what Ian had classically done to one-nighters in the past. Slept with the lucky woman and then never respond to her texts or calls.
Which was ridiculous since we had to face each other tomorrow.
This new needy me sucked. I petted Pinot, who sat on my bed next to me. “This has to end, doesn’t it?” I said to the dog. “He’s leaving. I’m getting attached, which I don’t do. Yep, time to nip all of this in the bud.”
Impatient me pulled on jeans and a hoodie over my T-shirt. I grabbed my purse and drove to his house.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I banged on his front door. I didn’t bang too loud; didn’t want to wake the neighbors. So what if it was close to eleven? I needed to resolve this now.
Ian answered, disheveled and disoriented. And sexy as hell in his briefs and a T-shirt. I might be addicted to him.
“Were you asleep?” I asked.
“Yeah. Some woman kept me up the past couple nights.” He ran a hand through his messy hair.
“Why didn’t you return my texts?”
“Phone died.”
“You going to invite me in? This will only take a minute.”
“Amber…it’s been a day.” He massaged his forehead. “What’re you angry about?”
I pushed past him into his place. “Was that whole thing this afternoon orchestrated? Did you know ahead of time?”
“Seems the producers decided it was an easy way to up the drama.”
“You knew?” I yelled.
“I didn’t say that. Sure as hell wouldn’t have punched Kovac if I’d known. I found out afterward that Marianna’s producer-partner wanted her to up the tension.”
“I can’t believe… We’re ending this right now. You and I are done. It’s not as if there was anything real here to begin with.”
He tugged a hand down his face. “You want this to end our… I don’t know what the fuck we call it, but you want to do this right now?” He blinked at me. No fight against my decision?
That hurt.
“Good to know it meant so much to you,” I said sarcastically.
“Come on, Amber. That’s not what I said or meant.”
“You’re leaving in two to three weeks, maybe sooner. Which you neglected to mention. You probably got conveniently fired. I can’t…I can’t do whatever the hell this is.”
His brows dropped, and he took a few steps closer to me. I backed up. If he touched me, I was a goner. Had to be tough about this. To save myself.
“You’re afraid.” He leaned in closer. The smell of him overwhelmed my senses. To protect myself, I breathed shallowly.
“I am not afraid. I’m making decisions to move on with my life.”
“Uh-huh.” He moved closer, until his mouth almost touched mine.
My body betrayed me and leaned into him. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
“Tell me you’re not afraid now,” he whispered. “I am.”
“Why are you afraid?”
“Scared as hell you’ll kick me in the nuts.” His lips twitched upward but didn’t lift into a full Ian smile. “You’re driving me out of my mind, Amber. I can’t think of anything other than you. You’ve driven me to violence twice, which isn’t me. I’ve punched two people in less than a week over you. So, yeah, I’m scared. I want to run, too. We both probably will run at some point, but how about we not do this right now. Not tonight.”
I struggled to find resolve even though my insides went gooey over what he’d said. “Ian, we’re—”
He cut me off with his mouth. His lips sealed over mine, taking control of my mouth completely and totally.
His fingers trailed past the hem of my jeans to the globes of my ass.
I aimed my mouth for his neck to kiss and then bite.
Ian moved his neck to give me more access. I opened my mouth wider and kissed more of his neck, which tasted salty and smelled of the aftershave he wore every day.
“Jesus, Amber,” he hissed when my teeth bit harder than I should’ve.
His hips rolled into me, and he did it twice more as I kissed and sucked on the skin harder. “You taste good.”
A wild groan erupted as he arms wrapped me, pulling our fronts closer together, tight. My breasts smashed against his hard chest. “If you don’t want this you need to go. I want all of you. Right now.”
I wanted this. Wanted him. “This doesn’t change anything.”
“I never said it did.”
In a movement so effortless, he stripped me of my pants and my thong. He hauled me up against his body. My legs instinctively wrapped his waist.
We barely made it to the edge of the doorway to his bedroom before he was entering me. Inch after inch, slowly until he was seated completely.
I sucked in a breath. I’d never felt him without a condom. He rolled my back off the doorframe to use the support of the wall instead.
He gasped, followed by a groan. “Oh, fuck that’s amazing. I forgot… I never forget. Let me get a condom.”
“I’m on birth control. It’s okay. Let me feel this.”
“I shouldn’t.”
“I trust you.”
Then he moved, up and down. Over and over again. Until it was faster and harder.
“Jesus,” he chanted over and over, his whole body tight and straining. His breaths became as ragged as mine before he slipped his forearm beneath my ass.
All I could do was wrap my arms around him and hold on as each of us took everything we could from the other. He kept moving even when I was shaking, when the orgasm powered through me.
He smiled, but it was far more than that awful plastic smile. He lit up. His hips powered into me. His grip tightened until his moans became husky and rough. I almost couldn’t hear his choked groan as he pulsed inside me. His entire body stiffened. He cried out what I think was my name, but he was hitting something inside that made me see stars. I clung tight to him.
Both covered in sweat and out of breath, we collapsed when he carried me to the bed.
“God help me,” he muttered.
“That was perfect.” I trembled and wondered if I was dying. It was a good way to go. No complaints. My fingers traced the ridges of his chest down his abdomen.
“It was,” he mumbled beside me. He got up and returned moments later with a washcloth. He muttered, “Cleaning. Sorry. I’ve never done it that way. Not going to say I regret it but that was a whole new level for me.”
“Me too.” We still had to break up. I just had to gather enough courage to see it through.
He pulled me into him. “I don’t know if I can let you go. I don’t think I ever let go of what we had even from back in school.”
“You have to,” I whispered. “You’re leaving, and neither of us is looking for forever.”
Thirty-Seven
Ian
We’d both conked out hard, but she’d slipped away in the middle of the night. Yet again. Although I couldn’t believe I slept through her leaving, it had been three nights in a row of staying up way too late.
I’d gotten up to exercise but before I started, I stared at the text message from my agent, Danny Hicks.
Danny: Call me ASAP. Big studio to pick up your TV series.
I punched his number and put it on speaker phone, unsure he’d be up this early. Also uncertain I actually wanted to continue the Vet in the Wild series. I had to choose between being a veterinarian in real life or pushing my TV career to the max.
“Ian!” Danny boomed into the phone like he’d already had three coffees. “You won’t believe this. I’ve got two streaming services fighting to buy your TV series. Of course, it’s contingent on having you on it. I have so many requests for appearances that I’m not sure what to do with them. UC Davis even asked if you’d do the commencement address for the vet school this year.”
“Do any of them know about Colombia?”
“No one cares. Yesterday, live on the Today Show, was magical. What they do care about is how people are clamoring to see your TV show’s reruns. They’re replacing the show’s director and producer, which is a godsend to get away from that Marianna bitch. Everything you set up to film in South Africa is still a go. That means regardless of who ends up owning or directing the next season, I need you packed and on a plane to South Africa on Saturday. You’re done with San Diego. You’ll be in Africa for two weeks. Then back in the States for two weeks of prep for the next place to visit.”
What about Amber? I tugged at my hair. “I feel like I shouldn’t rush off yet.”
“Is that because you like working as a vet at her place or because the fake romance turned into something not quite so fake? Honestly, this ER show is incredible. The two of you are magic together. I can’t wait to see this week’s episode. You and Dr. Hardin are smoking hot on the show.”
“You saw what happened yesterday when I punched Dr. Kovac?”
“It was cathartic to see you deck the asshole. All the shit he’s given Dr. Hardin over the past few months had me yelling. Me? I rarely get revved about anything on TV these days. She’s amazing. Wish I lived closer to have her be my vet.” My agent was fanboying? And he’d been watching the show since long before I joined? Danny changed his tone to serious. “Do I need to get you a lawyer or a PR fixer over the punch? Is it okay?”
“It was arranged TV bullshit that they forgot to tell Amber or myself about. They set us up. Pisses me off, but I admit they got some extraordinary footage. I think we might need to consult a PR fixer just to make sure it spins well.”
“You got it. Ian…” Danny sighed into the phone. “You like her?”
“Perhaps,” I hedged.
“Shit. You weren’t supposed to fall for her. You like her as in she’s super in the bedroom and you want to ride this out another few weeks to cool your dick, or you like her as in there’s actual long-term potential here?”
“I don’t know. I like her as her. The badass you see on TV is real. That’s not fake. She’s quite something.”
“You better figure out what’s going on. Your ass needs to be on a plane Saturday to go nurse some giraffes and monkeys.”
“They’re baboons, not just any old monkeys.”
“Whatever. I’m having my assistant book your plane tickets. I’ll talk to the producers of the ER show about letting you out of your contract two weeks early. For what the new services have on the table, no matter which one we choose we can more than buy out this current contract.”
“I could return after South Africa, right?”
“You could be shooting in four other locations over the next few months. This is it, Ian. You’re on the cusp of being the next international wildlife ambassador. People love you helping injured wildlife.”
“It’s everything we hoped for, I guess.”
“You guess? Where’s the fresh out of vet school kid who pitched this idea to me a couple of years ago? Nothing was going to stop you. And now you’re giving me a you guess? You fill a vacant niche left by Steve Irwin. People still want to see injured baby rhinos and know someone is giving them the attention they need. They want to know someone’s out there working to preserve the twelve still in the wild and all that tree-hugging wild animal bullshit.”
“I don’t want to be the crazy guy toting wild creatures on some interview show. I won’t cross that line. I also don’t want to handle venomous creatures. Steve Irwin was amazing but that’s not me. I’ll do interviews and any event to promo a legit sanctuary that needs to raise money. I won’t become that guy in khaki with animals on TV.”
“We won’t sell you as that guy who brings on animals. Fair warning, every interview you do will ask about Amber. That’s all anyone wants to talk about.”
“It’s a lot at once.”
“You think you and she could do some sort of crossover series? Just tossing out an idea.”
“She doesn’t do exotic animals and has a fairly grounded life here.”
“Sounds to me like you need to break it off with her and leave.”
I wasn’t on my game at work, which meant my communication skills with clients sucked. I didn’t make life-threatening mistakes, but I had trouble focusing. I knew I needed to make this breakup happen. While on camera.
Marianna had been very clear in the morning meeting. She wanted it dramatic, with yelling. She’d cryptically said, “We’ll help you get there.”
I didn’t like the idea of her “helping.”
At noon, I found Amber in the doctors’ office.
“Hi.” She glanced up. The brightness and joy that filled her eyes made me melt. I couldn’t do this. After all we’d been through, to see that she no longer gave me the kill stare thrilled me.
I didn’t want to do this. I wanted her in my life.
I started, “So I got a call this morning and—”
“Ian, honey, we need to talk,” said a familiar female voice that made my skin crawl. Both Amber and I glanced to the doorway where Maya stood with her precise curls, impeccable makeup, and some sort of expensive, designer white outfit.
“I’m so sick of this goddamned show,” I muttered. This must’ve been Marianna’s way of helping. To Maya, I said, “Why are you calling me honey? Last I remember you and me were done. Might’ve been when you hooked up with my brother on my sofa. Didn’t help when you and my mother bullied Amber at dinner over a painful event in her past. We’re done. As in we’re not getting back together. I’m sorry.”
“But I’m pregnant.”
I blinked at her. Foremost in my mind was the impossibility her child, which probably didn’t exist, could be mine.
“That’s exciting.” Amber’s face was devoid of emotion. I couldn’t gauge her real reaction. “Who’s the father?”
“Who’re you?” Maya asked her.
Amber’s gaze narrowed. Sarcastically, she said, “You have nooo clue who I am? We had dinner together?” Amber spun her chair to fully face Maya. “Why are you here?”
“Are you here to imply your child is mine?” I stared at her flat belly. If she was indeed pregnant, she had to be in the first trimester. Her slim frame would show everything.
Amber rose from her chair, and even though she only came to Maya’s shoulders, her presence felt imperious. “You jumped on a plane to fly down here and sneak your way to the back of the clinic for what? What’s your endgame, knowing full well you and Ian are over, and he’s seeing someone new?”
Maya draped herself all over me. “I need you, Ian.”
I pried her hands off me to clasp them together in front of her, held in place by one of mine. “What kind of help do you need?”
Amber’s brows pinched together. “Do you legit need help? I’m sure both of us would be happy to do whatever we can, but if this is bullshit for the camera then that’s your loss because I’m fed up with them feeding us baloney to spice up the drama. How about you, Ian?”
“Amen to that.” I rubbed my forehead. “Maya, I’m happy for you if you wanted a baby. What do you have to ask me that couldn’t be done in a phone call?”
The look Maya cast behind her suggested she searched for the camera.
“Maya,” I said as gently as I could manage given how colossally pissed off I was she’d agreed to participate in more fake bullshit. “I can be a friend to you if you need. I suggest if this is about getting your five minutes of celebrity on camera that you go. Give me a call later and tell me how I can help with whatever’s going on.”
I liked that the cameraman looked disappointed.
“This is not how this was supposed to go,” Maya whispered.
“I know.” Moving out of her way, I gestured at the door.
“You’re supposed to get angry,” Maya said to Amber.
Amber scrunched her lips. “Angry about what? A baby is a huge thing. But I’m one hundred percent sure Ian had nothing to do with its conception. Why do you persist in trying to hurt him?”
“Damn you both.” She threw up her arms, spun, and left.
Once gone, the cameraman, some new guy I didn’t recognize, leaned in. “Meeting right now in the conference room.”
“Of course, there is,” Amber muttered. “That was…”
“Asinine? Desperate?” I caught her arms to spin her face me before she moved to leave. “Thanks for believing in me.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for. That was stupid.”
“Let’s go do this meeting.”
I needed to tell her I was leaving on Saturday. That was three days away. The dryness in my throat forced me to swallow. By the time I felt ready to talk Amber had already left. Please let this be about orchestrating our dramatic breakup, not me leaving.
The second I entered, I said, “Bringing in Maya was total bullshit.”
“It should’ve worked, but the two of you just can’t be predictable.” Marianna jumped up out of her seat in an animated movement I’ve never seen the lady make. “Like hell you’re leaving on Saturday, Ian.”
Amber froze and blinked at me. Her eyes went wide. “You’re what?”
“Things have changed, Marianna. As I’m sure my agent has alerted you. There’s an opportunity in South Africa that can’t wait. Things were put in motion months ago.”
“I have you contracted to be here for two more weeks. You’re not getting out of your fucking contract.”
The door opened. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Marianna, tone it down.”
Disoriented and slightly dizzy from all the gathering emotions, I watched my agent make his dramatic entrance. Was this scripted? How had my life turned into a daytime soap opera?
Danny marched in, his presence one you couldn’t help but notice. Tall, with dark hair and olive skin. I’d always wondered whether his looks came from Italian or Hispanic roots. His last name “Hicks” wasn’t his given name. He’d entrusted me to this secret last year when he suggested I rename myself to get away from the cloud of my father’s empire.
