Page 4 of Resisting the Handsome Doctor
"They said forty-five minutes. But it's been about ten, so..."
"So, you're stuck here."
"Looks like it."
We stare at each other through the half-open window. The rain is getting heavier, and I realize he's been standing out there getting drenched while I sit here like an idiot.
"You should go," I say quickly. "The reunion. You're here for that."
"Yeah." But he doesn't move. "Are you... were you coming to it?"
"No. I was going to the grocery store. Just bad luck that I broke down here."
Something flickers across his face. Disappointment? That can't be right. "That is bad luck."
"Story of my life."
He laughs again, softer this time. "I don't believe that."
Before I can figure out what to say to that, he's opening my door. "Come on. You can't sit in a dead car for forty-five minutes. Let me buy you a drink while you wait."
"At the reunion?" My voice goes up an octave. "I'm not dressed for—I can't just—"
"You look fine. Perfect, actually." He says it so casually, like it's a fact rather than the most surreal compliment I've received inyears. "Besides, it's just a bunch of people we went to high school with. Half of them are probably wearing jeans too."
They're not. I can see them through the windows wearing dresses and heels and button-downs. Real clothes. Reunion clothes. But Owen is standing there with his hand out, rain dripping off his nose, looking at me like my answer actually matters to him.
And I realize with sudden, crystal clarity that I have two choices.
I can stay in this car, wait for the tow truck in the dark, and go home to my quiet house and my predictable life. Safe. Invisible. Exactly what I've always been.
Or I can take his hand.
"I was hoping you'd be here," he says.
My heart stops. Restarts. Stumbles over itself.
"You were?"
"Yeah." His smile is crooked, almost shy. "I was."
I look at his hand. Back at his face. Those warm brown eyes behind simple glasses, watching me like I'm someone worth watching.
This is terrifying. This is every fear I've ever had about being seen and found wanting. But it's also Owen Harper, Levi's little brother, the only man I’ve ever loved, who grew up to be a doctor, standing in the rain asking me to have a drink with him. And maybe, just maybe, the universe's twisted sense of humor isn't so twisted after all.
I take his hand. It's warm and real, and when his fingers close around mine, fifteen years disappear like they never existed at all.
"Okay," I say. "One drink."
His smile could light up the entire town.
"One drink," he agrees.
And just like that, everything changes.
Chapter 2 - Owen
Fifteen years. Fifteen goddamn years since I last saw Ivy Rose, and the second her fingers touch mine, it's like every day between then and now just evaporates. Like I'm eighteen again, standing in my grandfather's kitchen watching her laugh at something Levi said, wondering why my chest felt too tight.
