Page 325 of The Doctors Will See You Now

“All right. Calm down,” I soothed. “I shouldn’t have bombarded you with this. Let’s start simple, okay?”

She looked skeptical, but she nodded her agreement. “Okay.”

“You like me, right?”

“Scott…”

“It’s an easy question. Do you like me or not?”

“Of course, I like you! I let you stick your dick in me on the regular, as you so eloquently put it.”

I chuckled and winced at the same time. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

She rolled her eyes. “So, yes. I like you.”

“Then let’s start there.”

“I thought we already started!” she whined.

I laughed again. “Well, in a sense, yes. But this time, I mean with an open mind. Can you do that?”

She shook her head in the negative, but it wasn’t because her answer was no. She was just scared. I’d have to figure out how to change that.

“Are we sleeping with other people while we keep an open mind and like each other?” she asked and scrutinized my face for a reaction.

Resolutely, and with nothing to hide, I held her gaze. “No,” I admitted honestly. The truth was, I hadn’t had sex with anyone but her since this whole crazy thing started. And more than that, I didn’t want to.

She stayed quiet for a brief moment, and then, surprisingly, said, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I said okay, fuckface. Move on,” she demanded, and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning.

She wanted to move on.

So, move on I did. Lips to hers in an instant, I pushed my tongue until the tip met hers and kissed her with enough certainty for both of us.

She broke away a few seconds in. “I just have one more question.”

“Okay,” I said hesitantly, unsure what else she wanted from my bloody, mangled heart.

“Where the fuck did your beard go?”

I guess she misses it.

Tomorrow’s plan: start growing it back.

The sound of my phone ringing too loudly startled me awake. My eyes caught sight of the barely risen sun peeking through my bedroom window, and I groaned. It couldn’t have been past eight in the morning, and that left me wondering who in the hell was calling me at this god-awful hour.

I reached out from under my cozy comforter, and the cool air hit my skin, urging goose bumps onto my arms. I snagged my phone off the nightstand and slid my entire body, including my head, back under the warm cocoon of blankets. Even though the ringing had stopped, I tapped the home button and my phone came to life.

The numbers 7:45 glowed bright and blinding while a notification sat in the center of the screen.

3 missed calls Scott.

What the hell?

Before I had the time to send an angry message of Stop fucking calling me, he sent a text message, making my phone ping loudly.