Fail to Love by Maci Dillon
Doctor Love
“Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.” ~ Albert Einstein
RAVEN
As we pulled into the driveway of Sean’s inner-city suburb home, something told me the tour of his three-story riverfront home was going to take a little while to navigate fully.
“Wow,” I marveled as we drove into the garage, fully lined with floor-to-ceiling cabinets, not one item left out in the open. The garage was immaculate. “Remind me never to invite you to my place. I wouldn’t want you slummin’ it,” I choked out.
“I’m an obstetrician-gynecologist, and I enjoy a sterile environment. You’ll see I’m not a materialistic person. Inside there are minimal personal items that make my house a home.”
I stepped out of the car and worried about scuffing the garage floor. What does that tell you?
“The only place in the entire house you’ll find any trace of me is in my bedroom and the study. Other than those two areas, my housemaid, Gloria, keeps everything else in check.” Sean laughed at my expression and placed his hand on my lower back to guide me further into the house once I had secured my heels in my other hand.
The open-plan kitchen, living, and dining area were immaculate and larger than my entire apartment. “Not very homely, huh?” I teased, puffing the silky cushions on the sofa and trying to keep off the shaggy cream rug, even in my bare feet.
“Not my doing, I assure you. I contracted my cousin, Gina, an interior decorator, to spruce the place up for a photo shoot a while back. This…” he gestured to the room with his arms out, “… was the end result.”
“It’s beautiful. I love what she’s done with the place.”
“Yeah, you should’ve seen it before… wide-open spaces with a splash of dull here and there,” he joked.
“What was the photo shoot for?”
It was hard to ignore the way Sean winced at the question. “Bachelor of the Year nomination a few years ago.”
I cocked my head to the side. “OMG, you’re Dr. Love?” Laughing, I clutched my sides. “I see it now. Sorry, I’m not up with all the media hype.” He looks different in person but in the best way. He’s won a few years in a row now.
He rolled his eyes at my reaction, and was that a blush? “I assure you I didn’t accept or appreciate that hideous title. And I’m glad you had no idea.”
“You’re in the running again this year?”
“Afraid so. If I take the title again this year, I’ll have won the most years out of any other bachelor in the competition to date.” He combed his hand nervously through his short dark hair. “It’s not a claim-to-fame moment for me. Over forty, insanely successful, and forever a bachelor.” He appeared to be embarrassed by the idea of the nomination, so I let it go.
It was so good, I filed the piece of information away for when I needed to rile him up or piss him off.
Sean took my handbag and placed it on the kitchen counter—solid marble, no less—and led me toward the outdoor area, through the pool room and oversized, fully stocked bar. “I must be in heaven. What a perfect place to entertain all those single ladies and Dr. Love loonies.”
He turned to me with a strange expression across his face. “Would you believe me if I said I’ve never entertained here?”
I gasped. “No way. You’re not serious?”
“Dead serious.” He continued to lead me toward the deck overlooking the Brisbane River. “A few of my close friends and colleagues have dropped in and have been given a brief tour of this area of the house, and then we’ve sat by the pool over a few beers. That’s about it.”
“Why? Are you a hermit when you’re not in doctor mode?”
“That’s just it, I guess.” He shrugged. “I work long hours, and when I’m able to chill out, I go out with friends or hang at JJ and Miles’ house.”
“Your mates are seriously ripped off,” I teased. “In fact, give me their numbers, and I’ll tell them so.”
“You can tell them in person next time you see them.”
“The guys you brought to Will and Chloe’s on New Year’s Eve?” I assumed he was talking about Miles and JJ. I recalled they have their own inner-city bachelor pad.
“The one and the same, yes.”
He opened the tinted glass door to the floating wooden deck lined with bamboo and a huge Jacuzzi in the corner by the resort-style swimming pool.
Excited, a golden ball of fluff raced over to us. Tongue flapping and tail wagging, she sniffed and rubbed herself against the both of us. “Hello, there. You’ve grown, haven’t you, girl?” I never officially met her when I ran into Sean at the café that day. “What’s her name?”
“Wednesday,” he answered as he ran his hands over her neck.
“As in the day?”
“She’s a rescue, and the day I picked her up was a Wednesday. It was her lucky day, so that’s what I named her.” Sean chuckled, and my smile grew. No wonder the man was a repeat nominee for Bachelor of the Year.
Fitness model looks—check.
Fuck me eyes—check.
Award winning smile—check.
Puppy rescuer—check.
Mansion on the river—check.
Baby deliverer—check.
It was difficult to find things not to like about him. I’d do good to remember he’s off-limits, so I must at least act as though I dislike him.
For now, it was easy to get lost in the view. Fairy lights danced in the breeze, and light from the stars and moon reflected on the quiet ripples of the river.
“Beautiful.”
“Yes, you are.” He moved as if he were going to embrace me or pull me to him but hesitated. I continued to peruse his setup, pretending as if I didn’t notice. A full outdoor kitchen lined one wall, and a hotel-sized television filled the wall beside the Jacuzzi. In the center was a massive ten-seater outdoor dining table.
So extravagant for a single man who didn’t entertain at home.
“Now for the upstairs tour.”
I followed behind while my mind spun with the possibilities of what the tour might involve.
When we reached the second level, I noticed a gate across the staircase to the third level. “Danger ahead?” I asked, pointing at the barrier.
“Pretty much,” he said, not even looking. “Storage, mostly.”
A grand piano sat to the right of the stairs. “Do you play?”
He laughed loudly. “Not one note. It was a feature for the magazine exposé. Gina’s idea.”
Above the piano was a life-size oil painting of a blonde-haired woman kneeling, her hands tied behind her back intricately with rope.
“This is a beautiful piece of art, Sean. Is it personal to you?” What I really wanted to know was did he know the woman in the painting?
Sean hesitated and offered nothing but an awkward silence. “Why don’t I show you the gym and theater room?”
I turned to him, arms crossed over my chest, and waited. Chloe’s words came flooding back to me. He prefers a certain type of woman in the bedroom. Maybe he loves the submissive type.
He lowered his head, gave in to my stance, and came to stand beside me.
“Yes and no,” he said as he stared at the image.
“Geez, thanks for clearing that up.” I playfully swatted his shoulder.
He laughed, covering the top of his arm as if I’d hurt him.
“I don’t know the woman in the painting, but it really spoke to me. I bought it at an auction many years ago. Gina displayed it for the photo shoot, but before that, it sat upstairs in storage.
“Does bondage interest you?”
He peered down at me, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a sexy grin. “Not particularly,” he answered with a casual shrug. “I love the representation of trust in this picture. The art of precision also speaks to me.”
“Okay.” I was pleased with this new insight. “Should I expect to find a tool chest displayed at the foot of your bed?”
He nudged my shoulder, and his lips turned up in a cheeky grin. “Is that your way of saying you want to see my room?”
“You wish, Dr. Love.” I rolled my eyes.
Yes, I’m intrigued, and I want to see his room but not today. Maybe not ever.
At the other end of the sweeping corridor was a set of sliding glass doors that opened out onto a small balcony overlooking the river. The media room and Sean’s room were on the right of the hallway with a super-sized guest room and the gym on the other.
The gym had floor-to-ceiling windows that opened out onto the riverfront and housed every piece of equipment you’d find in your local gym.
“And this is my room.” We stopped outside a closed door, and I clasped my hands together in front of me, eyeing him while I recollected my dirty thoughts.
“Maybe I should leave this to my imagination,” I told him, worried if we stepped inside, we might not make it back to my car.
“I didn’t bring you here to seduce you. Though I’m not saying I wouldn’t love to.”
My lady parts vibrated from the seductive tone in his voice, a low hum of anticipation settling in my panties.
“Where’s your study?” I realized I hadn’t seen it yet and needed to shift my focus from the bedroom. Now would be a good time to leave the vicinity of his personal space and replace the mental image of Sean naked, sweaty, and—
“Ah, my man cave.” He grinned sarcastically. “Right this way.”
He ushered me into his room—exactly what I was trying to avoid—then through the walk-in closet on the opposite side of his bed and through another door that led right into his study.
The perfect hidden oasis.
A flat-screen television, a potted palm tree, and a massive timber oak desk and filing cabinet were up along the far wall. Another table was set up along the window to the right of the room, filled with medical books, charts, and images. The view offered glimpses of the river and bike paths winding through the gardens below while the walls featured numerous landscape paintings, photos, and certificates.
“You don’t do things by halves, do you?”
“It’s not in my nature to, no.”
A heavy silence filled the air when our eyes met. Part of me wanted to run to him, but the safer, more intellectual side of me told me to run in the opposite direction and get the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.
Nervously, I rubbed my hands up and down the length of my arms as if attempting to ward off a chill. In actual fact, my blood was simmering beneath his gaze.
“Umm, my car, I should…” I didn’t know what I should do, but the only reason I was here at all was because my car wouldn’t start.
Sean broke from our trance, and his gaze darted around the room. “Yes, of course. Let me call my mechanic and have him take a look at it. But first, I need to address the look you think I gave you.”
I glanced away from Sean at the mention of it. This conversation was easier in the dark when he couldn’t see my humiliation.
“Raven…” he grabbed my fingertips and caressed them lightly until my eyes met his, “… I promise you, there was no look. You’re fucking beautiful. Sprawled out on the bed before me like that, I nearly embarrassed myself when I went down on you. When you came, I was kissing my way up your body, and I felt your scar.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I blinked them away.
“I’m a surgeon, I noticed. I wasn’t disgusted, just concerned. I looked up at you as I ran my hand over it to make sure you were okay.”
I lowered my head, realizing what a drama queen I’d been. “I’m sorry, I thought—”
“It’s okay. But you thought wrong.”
Sean made the phone call and arranged to have his mechanic take a look on his way home from the workshop in half an hour. We had to meet him there, so Sean changed out of his suit into a pair of shorts, a tee, and his runners. Wednesday came for the drive, and Sean promised to take her for a run once my car troubles were sorted.
On our way back to the hospital, the awkward conversation about my health continued.
“Can I ask what happened?”
“I was nineteen when I fell incredibly ill. It turned out my appendix had shriveled up and started to rot my insides. They weren’t able to do keyhole surgery because of some other issues they found. Hence, the size of the scar.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
The raised purple tissue sat across the width of my pubic bone similar to a C-section scar. I rarely think of it, and if men have noticed it before, they’ve never mentioned it. Until Sean.
“Toxic shock syndrome. It’s lucky you didn’t die.”
In some ways, I did, but I didn’t tell him that. Losing my spot on the national cheerleading team was the end of my dreams and the killer of my motivation for a long time. Once I learned to focus on the positives, my life began to change. I’d always wanted children of my own, so I chose to be grateful for the partial rather than full hysterectomy.
Falling pregnant may prove to be more difficult, but it wasn’t an impossibility. And this was what I chose to focus on from the whole ordeal. One day, when I found my Mr. Right, I still had a chance for a natural childbirth.
