Chapter 2
MALLORY
Oh my God.
Oh.
My.
God. No… gosh.
I shifted on the exam table and the paper beneath my bare butt crinkled. So did the ridiculous gown I was wearing.
Theo James just came in the door of my woman’s appointment. With a beard on his rugged face that he hadn’t had the last time I saw him. That was just unfair.
Theo James.
And he was the doctor. Who was going to look at my vagina. Literally sit on a stool between my spread legs with a light shining on it. He was going to put his fingers in it.
God, was my wax okay? I shaved my legs, but did I use enough lotion?
I didn’t want to have alligator scale calves.
Oh crap, I kept my rubber ducky socks on because it was pet week at school.
If socks weren't bad enough, what about all my nooks and crannies?
Were they normal? Was one side bigger than the other for all women?
What about inside? How was it supposed to look?
Was he going to peek and run away? Or worse, laugh?
I wanted to have a hot and sexy vagina. Pussy. Whatever Lindy wrote in her romance books. But when I looked at mine with a handheld mirror, it didn’t look hot. Maybe mine was–
“Mallory?”
His deep voice had me blinking. Sh–sugar.
I gave him a wide smile. “Sorry. Um, what are you doing here?”
“Dr. Robinson retired. I’ve taken her place.”
Dr. Robinson retired? Just like that?
“Here? I mean, now? I mean…” I closed my eyes because I felt like a moron. Of course Theo worked here. Now. He didn’t wear a stethoscope around his neck–which was really flipping sexy–and walk into a woman’s health exam willy-nilly.
Did he?
He came all the way into the room, set the laptop down on the counter across from me, then leaned against it.
I’d seen him in casual clothes before. The three times I’d seen him.
Yes, I was counting. The first time was in the wallpaper photo on Mav’s laptop.
The second, at my brother Arlo’s bar the week Bridget met Mav.
And the third, the night I went to Mav’s–and Bridget’s–place for barbeque and he was just…
there for an impromptu visit. Every time he’d been casual in jeans.
Now? He had on a white doctor coat over a pair of khakis and a white dress shirt. He even had on a tie.
A tie! I squirmed on the table.
Crinkle!
Gah. Sit still, Mal!
The tie did it for me, but so did the doctor’s coat. So did everything about him. One look at his photo back in July and I’d told Bridget I was going to marry him. Yes, I was crazy. Yes, I lusted after him. Why? I had no idea.
Every time we met, he was quiet and broody. Intense. Totally not my type. Except my ovaries popped out an egg every time I breathed in his dark man scent. Was it cologne or body wash? And my vagina, it got wet. Very wet. Like Slip and Slide on a hot summer day kind of wet.
Which meant…
Squirm. Crinkle.
I was wet now. Naked beneath a gown. And he was going to find out.
Did other women get wet for their doctor?
Did he–or she–discover it when they did the exam?
Wait, how many vaginas had he examined before…
as a doctor? I was suddenly jealous and freaked.
Maybe mine wasn’t on the same vagina league as the others.
I was short and curvy. Some gorgeous women, all willowy and tall, had to have an equally gorgeous vagina.
She had to.
What did I know? I’d never done this before!
“Mallory?”
I startled and met his dark gaze. “Yes. Hi, Theo. I mean, Dr. James.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Theo’s fine, unless you’d be more comfortable calling me Dr. James in this setting. You’re here for a gynecological exam. I know this is a small town and everyone seems to know everyone else.”
“Just like this, right?”
It was possible the corner of his mouth quirked a little more, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Exactly. I’m sure I’ll meet many people I will treat at the grocery store or a restaurant. But this is different. You’re different.”
You’re different.
My heart leapt and I clasped my hands in my lap with secret glee. Except he didn’t mean it as praise. He didn’t mean it as You’re different from every woman I’ve ever met, and I haven’t stopped thinking about you or wanting to fuck you so hard you forget your name.
“You mean because I’m Bridget’s friend and she’s all hot and heavy with your brother. Then there’s Lindy, who’s more a mom to me than my own, with your other brother,” I clarified, bringing myself back to reality.
He nodded. “I can reschedule you and have Dr. Jeffries do your exam if you’d feel more comfortable.”
He was the other doctor in the practice, but I’d never seen him except one time when I was nine and had strep. He was nice, but he was old. Well, probably not old, but not young. And a man. A nice man, but a man. I always stuck with Dr. Robinson, a woman. Until now.
Theo was rejecting me. Did he not want to see my vagina?
All of a sudden, I wasn’t doubting my vagina, I was proud of it.
Mine was as good as any other woman’s! I was going to stand up for my lady parts.
He was a doctor and I needed birth control.
Just because I avoided all male doctors until now didn’t prove I was hot for Theo.
I admitted–and had told Bridget for months–that I lusted after him and wanted to marry him.
It didn’t mean we couldn’t behave in a patient/doctor manner. Right?
“If you don’t treat women who are Bridget’s friends, you’re going to lose a lot of business,” I advised.
He nodded. “Probably true. If you’re comfortable with me… with the visit, then we will proceed. The nurse will be in the room during the exam, but first we can go over your health, any questions or concerns you have. Do you still want me?”
I swallowed. Gosh, this was hell.
Of course I still wanted him.
Between my thighs.
Fu–dge! If there ever was a be careful what you wish for situation, this was it.