Unfriending the Dr by Piper Sullivan
Ryan
“Wow, she looks even better than the day I won her.” Gavin stood beside me, arms folded, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Did you do something else?”
I laughed at the awe in his voice. It was one of my favorite parts about showing off a restoration job, even though this wasn’t one. This laugh was the best part of my Monday so far. “I had one of the boys give her a good wash. The long drive through the Nevada and California desert made the Bel Air pretty dusty and covered in bugs.”
“She’s beautiful.” Gavin’s feet began to move as he slowly circled the car, an expression of awe on his face. “Thanks, Ryan.” He handed over the credit card absently, still staring at the shiny dashboard, the chrome dials on the inside and even the tires.
I laughed, suddenly getting a glimpse of how Persephone felt watching me and the guys take in a new restoration job. “You don’t want to know how much it costs first?”
Gavin looked up at me, brows dipped in confusion. “Is the price negotiable?”
“Since you can pay with no problem, no. But most people want to examine the bill to see what they were charged for.”
“I trust you, Ryan. Besides, if you stiff me I’ll just flirt with your girl. How are things going with the lovely Dr. Persy, anyway?”
Persephone was the last person I wanted to talk about right now, or for another few days. “Things are not going at all. We haven’t spoken at all in the past twenty-four hours.” Those words felt like sawdust on my tongue, twenty-four hours without Persy was like a day without water. Or food. It was un-fucking-fathomable. The last time we’d gone this long without talking was when she was so buried under medical books and learning the ropes of becoming a practicing doctor. But those were unusual circumstances, and I hated the feeling of not knowing what was going on in her life.
Was she spending time with Ferguson?
Had she decided to give them another shot?
A small part of me knew she hadn’t. Persephone was a lot of things but she wasn’t a cheater or a liar. If she was even thinking about getting back with her ex, she would tell me first.
Then again, she hadn’t told me he’d called. Or that he would be visiting while Titus and I were camping.
The truth was, I didn’t know anymore. I knew Persephone as my best friend, not as the woman I loved.
Gavin’s low whistle brought me back to the present. To the Bel Air and his bill. “That’s tough, Ryan. I’m sorry to hear that. I really thought you two had a good shot at making it.”
I laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re a rockstar and a romantic.”
Gavin shrugged. “What can I say? I am a complicated man.”
“Complicated is overrated,” I assured him. “Falling in love with your best friend is complicated.” It was too complicated and I should have known better. A small part of me probably did know better, but a bigger, hungrier, more desperate part of me wanted Persephone, consequences be damned.
“That’s what you say now, but I can see how much you miss her. Own that shit and get her back. Whatever you did, apologize, get her flowers and apologize again.”
“Just like that?” The problem was that I had nothing to apologize for. Nothing at all.
“Yeah. Women just want us to acknowledge that we were wrong and be sorry about it. Flowers or chocolate or something else they enjoy always helps.” Gavin flashed a knowing smile and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “Do it fast though, before some sexy rock star moves in on your girl.”
I barked out a laugh and shook my head. “I don’t need to have your car in my shop to tinker with it,” I reminded him with a smile.
“Good point.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, another reminder that this wasn’t the best and brightest Monday I had ever lived through. It was the reminder that Titus’ bus would arrive two blocks away in less than five minutes. “Gotta get going. Time to pick up Titus.” Just because things were a little strained between me and his mother, didn’t mean I would shirk my responsibilities.
“I’ll walk with you. I could use some of this Oregon fresh air you people are always going on about. It’s the air here part of some type of pyramid scheme?”
I laughed. “No but the salty air does seem to put a little pep in the steps of our older citizens. Oliver was a cranky SOB when he first got to town, now he’s like everyone’s favorite uncle.”
“Hmph.” Gavin stopped at the corner and inhaled deeply before he let it out slowly. “It’s all right, I guess. If you’ve sucked in one air, you’ve sucked in them all. But I’ll pretend it’s giving me good juju, for the sake of the townsfolk.”
“Of course.” I rolled my eyes. “It has nothing to do with the fact that everyone in town is fawning all over you?”
“Not everyone,” he growled and crossed the street with a whistle that said he didn’t want to talk about that one person who wasn’t fawning all over him.
I made it to the bus stop just as the bus pulled away, and I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of Persephone standing there with her arms folded, violet eyes shooting daggers at me from twenty feet away. “I’m not late,” I assured her and double checked the time just to be sure. Nope. Two minutes early. “Hey, Titus.”
“Hey Ryan!” He jumped up and down, waving as though he might not be seen.
“How was school?”
Titus rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh. “Everyone wanted to know about the camping trip and what happened. The older boys wanted to see my bug bite,” he admitted proudly.
“Cool. Feeling all right?” I was engaging in small talk with a kid, just to avoid looking at my best friend. If I could put off whatever conversation we had to have, I would.
Leave it to Gavin, to point out the elephant in the room directly. “Persy, my love. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
She smiled at Gavin’s charming greeting before shooting another glare my way. “I figured it was the only way I’d get this guy to talk to me.” She aimed a thumb in my direction.
“Good idea. How about I take the tyke so you two can hash out your issues?”
Persy perked up at the idea, but she was overcome by a moment of skepticism because Gavin was a seemingly carefree celebrity after all. “What do you know about taking care of kids?”
Gavin shrugged and flashed the grin that made women of the world lose their collective shit. “Don’t give them drugs or alcohol. No electric sockets or soft cheese. Right?”
She let out a loud laugh that told me her Monday was nowhere near as terrible as mine. “The soft cheese is for pregnant women, otherwise you’ve got it. And hold his hand when crossing the street.”
Gavin looked at Titus and shrugged. “You all right with holding my hand, kid?” Titus said nothing and Gavin laughed. “It’s only a couple blocks to the diner so that’s two, maybe three hand holds.”
Those were the magic words. “All right, but I’m not a little kid. I’m a big kid.”
“Yeah, yeah. Everyone’s in such a hurry to grow up. I miss being a kid,” he told Titus and took his hand, before glancing over his shoulder and mouthing the words, “One hour,” to me and Persephone.
Persephone and I fell in step as we walked silently towards my shop, for the first time in ages, the tension between was thick enough to cut with a knife. “You’re upset.”
“No, I’m confused. Wondering why you were with your ex in the middle of the night.”
“We had dinner,” she admitted. “I figured it was best to discuss his reasons for just showing up in town in private. I didn’t want the whole town to know my business before I had a chance to digest it all.”
“Late dinner,” I mumbled and held the door open to the shop, waving her inside.
“Don’t be a jerk, Ryan. He drank almost a full bottle of wine while he told me all about his cheating wife and learning that two of his three children aren’t his, biologically speaking. I couldn’t let him drive back to his hotel drunk, not even to avoid making you jealous.”
I stopped just in front of my office door at her words, turning slowly with an incredulous look on my face. “So he came here to get to know his real son, the one he so conveniently forgot about for the past five years?” The guy was a bigger ass than I imagined. “And?”
“And nothing, Ryan,” she growled at me and yeah, the sound made my dick twitch even though I was angry and upset. I was also still a man, very much attracted to and in love with this frustrating woman. “I told you that I don’t want him. I want you, but it seems as if you no longer want me.”
“Bullshit,” I shot back. “You know I want you, Persephone. I’ve wanted you for a long damn time. I want you more than anything, period.” I stared at her long and hard, making sure my words, the urgency in them, was as clear to her as they were to me. “But there is a reason you were so secretive about Ferguson. You’re not sure that I’m the right man for you. His arrival had to have you wondering if you were selling yourself short by being with me.”
“Now who’s full of shit?” Persephone was beautiful when she was mad, taking a step forward to give my chest a good hard poke. “You’re the only fool who thinks you’re not good enough. You own your own business, you’re a hard worker and you wear those sexy overalls that have starred in more than one of my fantasies lately.” That was nice to hear, but it didn’t change her secrecy. “Fine,” she growled again, the sound a direct line straight to my dick. “I didn’t tell you about Ferguson because I knew you would be pissed, or maybe because I knew you would be disappointed in me.”
“For going back to him?”
She glared. “No dummy, for considering letting him into Titus’ life even after he already walked away. I had to think about it, without your input. Can’t you understand that?”
My shoulders relaxed. “I can understand. Hell, I do understand it Persephone. But your secrecy had my mind wandering to places it shouldn’t go.”
“I didn’t realize you were so easily rattled, Ryan.”
I shrugged at her playful words. “I’m not, usually. But nothing matters to me the way you and Titus matter.”
Persephone blinked rapidly, a sure sign that her violet eyes were about to fill with tears. Instead, she smiled and kicked the office door closed with more force than necessary. Her smile grew darker and her eyes lit with something that looked a hell of a lot like lust, dark and hot and determined.
Then she was in my arms, long legs wrapped around my waist, one hand in the center of my back, the other fisting my hair at the nape of my neck. She growled and slammed her mouth against mine with the ferocity of a lioness, but the kiss was long. It was slow.
It was hot as hell.
Persephone’s tongue flicked inside my mouth, her tongue met with mine in a slow dance that flooded my veins with fire. I gripped her ass and held her close, but the way she took charge of the kiss was so damn hot that I was happy to let her lead. She kissed me, her soft lips hypnotizing me while her moans went straight to my cock.
I don’t know how long the kiss went on but it wasn’t nearly long enough. Forever wouldn’t have been long enough, but this kiss was the kind of kiss that hinted that forever was a possibility. I didn’t want to let her go, but soon—too soon—Persephone pulled back with eyes hazy with lust, and a small smile. “I want you Ryan, and when you decide that you want me too, come and find me.” She slid down my body, tempting me with every sweet curve until her feet hit the ground.
I opened my mouth to tell Persephone that I wanted her, badly, that she was the only woman I wanted and I wanted her forever. But she walked away, hips swaying with the kind of attitude that a woman like her should always have, before I could formulate my thoughts.
Just outside the office door, Clyde waited until Persephone was gone before he let out a long, low whistle. “You are not the man I thought you were Ryan, if you let her walk away. She’s fine as hell and she’s a doctor. You could definitely do worse, but probably not much better than that.”
The wisdom of a seventeen year old. I let out a laugh and shook my head as I left my office and looked at his smirking face. “Thanks for that, Clyde.”
“Anytime, man. Anytime.” He pushed off the wall and shook his head. “That’s a quality woman right there.”
He wasn’t wrong, and for the rest of the day Persephone’s words bounced around in my head.
Let me know when you want me the way I want you.
Words I’d been waiting a long time to hear.
