2. Chapter 2
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.”
“This… this man? ” I watched as he laughed at something an interviewer said, gesturing with his hands as he discussed tips for maintaining intimacy in long-term relationships.
“Yes! That is my brother.”
“Y-you…look nothing alike!” It was the only thing that came to my mind, other than, oh, God, her brother is hot.
“We’re both adopted, Carrie,” she droned, referencing a truly dimwitted woman from our nursing program. We’d taken to calling each other by her name when we did or said particularly dumb shit. It wasn’t often, thankfully.
“I know but… I just don’t get why you didn’t say anything till now?”
I’d known she had a brother, of course. I’d known her for four years, lived with her for three. She had a mom and a dad and a brother, all of whom still lived in Colorado. She dutifully flew to see them on major holidays. I’d waved to her parents on FaceTime before, but, come to think of it, she always took calls from her brother in another room. Sus.
“Exactly because of this.” She snatched the phone away, shutting the video off. “Listen, I’ve been told that he’s hot.” She pretended to gag. “Sometime around high school, I realized all my friends were, like, totally gaga over him, which is gross. Once I got to college, whenever he visited or met my friends, it was like they fell under his spell.”
I frowned, eyeing my phone. It wasn’t beneath her to unlock it and set my home screen to a picture of her butt, or something. I’d have to grab it back soon. “Well, that sucks, but it doesn’t—”
She held up a finger. “I’m not done. Christine, my roommate freshman year? Wouldn’t stop asking me to set them up. She followed us to dinner one night when he was in town. Literally stalked him. Still texts me sometimes about him.”
“Okay, that’s crazy, but—”
“Naomi, my high school friend, always wanted to hang out when I went back home from college, but ditched me constantly to hang out with him instead.”
I winced, starting to get the picture. “Yikes.”
“He actually dated my friend Jess, just before I met you. It was bad. So bad. When he dumped her, she barged into my biology class and started screaming at me. She was my best friend, and she totally lost her shit over him.”
“Fuck, Sonnie, I’m so sorry.” I rubbed my thumb across her hand. That sucked. Big. My bestie talked a big, loud, confident game, but I knew she was more sensitive than she let on. Her friends and her family were her entire world. Having so many of them abandon her for her brother must have been horrible. My heart broke a little for her. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
She sighed. “I was scared. You’re like my BFF soulmate, Rija. I couldn’t stand to lose you, too.”
“Hun.” I pulled her up from her chair into a hug. “You’ll never lose me. You’re my best friend.”
“He’s coming into town this weekend, and he wants to see my apartment. And meet you. I’m fine with it, now, but…Rija you have to promise.”
“I promise.” I said, without needing to clarify what the promise was. Sonnie was my soul sister, more family to me than my actual family was. Whatever she needed, I’d make it happen.
“I’m serious. Please, just…stay away from my brother. Hands off, you know?”
“Sonnie. I swear. I will not touch your brother. Now give me my phone back.”
I was familiar with Dr. Do-Right. Malachi . A couple’s and family counselor who’d ridden the social media wave to become one of the most famous therapists in the world. Like, celebrity status. I wouldn’t say he was Dr. Phil or anything, but he wasn’t far off, and it was easy to tell why.
Besides promoting his feel-good platform of doing right by other people and yourself, the man oozed sex appeal, especially when he was dishing out scintillating bedroom advice and winking at the camera. Despite his rising popularity, he still managed to keep an air of humility about him. Top the whole package off with his doctoral degree from Yale and legitimate counseling chops? Consider my panties practically dropped.
But no longer. I was shutting down that train of thought before it left the station.
I did my research in preparation for his visit. Watched his videos—all of them, even the ones from a few years ago with bad lighting. I’d acclimated to his deep-set, piercing black eyes. Those high cheekbones and the Romanesque nose, covered in smooth, olive skin. Dark swaths of hair that hung nearly down to his chin.
I’d even cranked the audio, inoculating myself against his smooth, intellectual timbre as I listened to his closing tagline again and again, “Remember, if you’re going to do anything, try and do right.”
I’d thought I was prepared.
I was wrong.
Nothing can prepare you for Dr. Malachi Dobrev. Not when he’s standing in front of you, in the flesh.
“Rija. You’re the one keeping my little sis in line, huh? I’m Malachi.”
His dark eyes sparkled with mischief as he stood in our entryway, framed by the front door. His fingers were warm as they wrapped around mine. Nearly hot, like vitality was leaking out of his pores. His teeth were straight. Shiny. I wanted to know what they’d feel like sinking into my skin.
I blinked, trying to remember all my preparations and mantras. Alas, the only thought running through my head was that Malachi Dobrev was the hottest man I’d ever met in my life.
Somehow, against all odds, he was more attractive off-camera than he was on my phone screen. One look at him set my heart racing. My skin tingled where it touched his. Goosebumps shivered up my arm. The sharpening of his gaze told me he knew it, too.
And was interested. His lips curled up in a sinful smile.
I’d done the only thing I could do: jerked my hand away from his, glared at him like he’d tracked poop onto the carpet, and run away.
I’d managed to avoid him for the rest of the night. His visit coincided with me and Sonia’s truly epic annual Cinco de Mayo party. The apartment was packed with plenty of people to buffer the charged air between Malachi and me. I ruthlessly placed as many bodies between us as possible.
Sure, his relationship advice was sound and always evidence-based. And his family counseling center in Colorado was literally raking in awards and charitable grants to support his work with under-represented populations, and families and couples who couldn’t afford traditional counseling.
But that didn’t matter. Over the years, too many people had chosen him over Sonia, and I refused to be another one of them.
I had resolved to be polite, but distant. To not give the man a second glance after he walked in the door that night. All that resolve had crumbled to dust the second he’d wrapped his hand around mine. It continued to flail like one of those car lot blow-up men as he seemed to chase me around the party. I couldn’t get away from him, no matter how hard I tried.
Eventually, I escaped to the blessedly quiet kitchen, rinsing a few glasses to get a jump on tomorrow’s dishes.
“I can’t help but notice you’re not avoiding anyone else at this party. So, I have to assume I’ve done something to upset you.” Even though I’d only known him for an hour, I could still identify his voice over the pounding bass and chattering voices beyond the kitchen. Dammit. “Which is odd, since I just met you earlier tonight and you’ve barely said a word to me since.”
“I’m not avoiding you.” I was, but I didn’t have to admit that to him. I shot a haughty glare over my shoulder. “Like you said, we just met. How conceited do you have to be to assume I’m thinking anything about you, at all?”
I was thinking everything about him. I’d thought I’d been prepared. I was so unprepared. I was like a toddler in an OR. No clue what I was doing and surrounded by potentially dangerous, pointy objects. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, no matter how hard I tried. He’d cast his freaky voodoo on me, and I didn’t know what to do about it other than to act unforgivably rude and then sprint in the opposite direction.
“No, you’ve definitely been avoiding me. Impressive, considering how small this place is. I almost hopped over the couch earlier to catch you when you were talking to the redhead.”
I steeled my spine and turned around to face him. Bad move. One look and I was drowning all over again. No wonder so many of Sonia’s friends had gone down like the Titanic. He smiled when I turned, like I’d done it just for him, and he liked that.
“I think you mean Nurse Daley,” I over-emphasized her credentials. “She’s a very intelligent, capable woman who is more than just her hair color.”
Maybe he was a misogynist? Honestly, it would make my life easier. Come on, Dobrev. Give me something to hate you for so that I can slam the door on this crazy lust swelling inside me.
“Joanna is very intelligent and capable. I was just talking to her about her campaign to include more LGBTQ+ representation in the clinical trials she’s assisting. She and her partner are doing great work at the shelter downtown. We had a good chat about it. You should have stuck around.”
“I know about the work they’re doing at the shelter,” I snapped. I’d accompanied Joanna and her girlfriend, Maggie, several times, giving free medical exams and updating prescriptions for LGBTQ+ teens who had been kicked out of the house or were down on their luck. The fact that he’d so quickly learned about the work that was so close to their hearts seemed like a point in his favor. Dammit.
“Maybe I’ll see you around, then. I’ve offered to hook them up with some counselors I know in the area. Do a video on the shelter to boost visibility. It’s good shit.”
It was good shit, and another point in his favor. Or maybe like five points, given how casually he’d offered his help to mere strangers at a party, just because they were doing meaningful work.
I scowled, officially enraged by selfless acts.
“Again, I have to ask: are you this frosty to everyone? Or is the honor all mine?” He circled around the small kitchen island, setting off a fresh wave of panic. I could barely clench my fingers around the crazy attraction I felt for this guy. If he came any closer, it was going to start dropping out the sides, like an overly-full pile of laundry.
My panties would be at his feet.
“I’m inclined to think it’s just me. Sonia talks about you like you hung the damn moon. And you’ve been perfectly lovely to everyone else here. I have theories, of course.” He smirked, reaching around me to pull a bottle of tequila closer.
I’d snagged it in hopes of making myself a drink strong enough to douse whatever mating instincts were making me want to leap across the room and run my tongue over his lips. As he pulled back, his forearm brushed against mine. Just like when he’d shaken my hand, sparks erupted where we touched. Sweat prickled my neck.
His eyes flicked down to the point of contact, eyebrow quirking before he met my gaze again. “That’s theory number one.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I sounded strangled. Probably because I was simultaneously trying to hold my breath to avoid breathing him in, and attempting to take deep soothing inhales to calm down my nervous system. A challenge, sure, but I was very capable. Most of the time.
He smelled like the ocean.
“I think you do, but I’ll spell it out for you, if you’d like.” He filled a plastic shot glass and slid it in my direction, reaching across the counter for a lime and some salt. “You don’t strike me as the type that needs much spelled out, though. Maybe you’ve just forgotten what crazy sex hormones feel like. Nursing is a stressful profession. I can’t imagine you have much time for dating.”
Was it just me, or did that question sound hopeful? Very leading. He was fishing to see if I had a boyfriend. I didn’t, but admitting that felt like conceding another point and I was already woefully behind on the scoreboard.
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, and that was 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, my personal 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 the have a massive blow-out then sweep it under the rug type. 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.
Month after month, visit after visit, as the three of us got closer and closer as a unit, the strings connecting me to Malachi also pulled taut. Until they snapped.
Sonia had been working the late shift one night while Mal was in town. One too many margaritas found us slouched on my sofa, ignoring the Parks and Rec episode playing in the background.
“What’s the theme for this visit going to be?” I wondered out loud, attention snared by the buttons he’d opened at the top of his shirt. As always, the tension simmered between us. By unspoken agreement, we kept a tight lid on it when Sonia was around. Now she wasn’t here, and it was spilling over.
“I’ve always wondered, do you use them?” He pulled on his lower lip while he studied me, eyes at half mast. The sight of him reclined across the cushions made my blood run hotter. I was in over my head.
“Yes,” I whispered the truth. We’d been circling around each other for just long enough, and my inhibitions were just low enough, that I wanted to set more of that scalding chemistry free. I was tired of ignoring it, even though I knew why we had to.
A low grunt punched out of him. The raw desire on his face made me look away. My eyes flickered down, only to settle on the bulge at the front of his pants. Ah, fuck, that wasn’t any better .
“You like them?” He murmured, gaze raking down my body. My nipples puckered against the lace of my bra.
“Yes.”
His tongue darted out to wet his lips. They gleamed in the low light of the TV. “Good.”
We kept staring at each other, chests rising and falling too fast for two people just sitting on the couch. I swallowed, reminding myself again and again: Don’t touch Malachi. Don’t touch Malachi. Just touch yourself later .
Like a coiled spring, the thought set off a chain reaction that shook me all the way to my core. A realization. I couldn’t touch him. But I could touch myself.
“Would you like to see?” I didn’t recognize my voice, so husky and low. He studied me for a second, downing the rest of his drink.
“Fuck, yes.”
I didn’t touch him at all when he watched me take myself to orgasm twice with my favorite toy. And I didn’t touch him when he jerked off as he watched.
The rest, as they say, is history.