Page 178 of The Doctors Will See You Now

But as I watched Will celebrate this success story with his girlfriend, Melody—after trusting her enough to call her up to assist from the clinic—I felt a twinge of loneliness I wasn’t used to.

Unwilling to think too much about it, I texted Harlow.

Me: Have dinner with me.

Harlow: No.

A smile took over my face immediately. God, yes. This was what I’d needed—to spar. These days, life without challenge seemed boring.

Me: Have lunch with me.

Harlow: No.

My smile deepened even further as I sank into the wall behind me and moved my thumbs over the keyboard on my screen.

Me: Have sex with me.

Harlow: NO.

Me: You know, I read something somewhere about protesting too much. It’s a defense mechanism to protect you from what you really want. With the way you shouted no like that, I’d say you really want to have sex with me again.

Harlow: Yet another guy who doesn’t realize that no actually just means no.

And just like that, my smile was gone. I shoved away from the wall and swallowed the thick saliva in my throat. I respected women more than anything. I might not always show it perfectly, and I might push the boundaries sometimes, but that was a hard fucking boundary I never crossed.

Me: Wow. That’s… I’m sorry.

Harlow: Fucking hell. That wasn’t fair of me. You know that no means no. I know you know.

Everything suddenly felt too serious again, and a deep, clogging pressure filled my chest. I had to do something to break through it.

Me: So that’s a yes to the sex?

Harlow: Haha. God, you are an ASSHOLE.

Seeing her laughter in those four little letters almost as well as I’d hear it if she were right in front of me, I finally felt lighter.

Me: Okay. I’ll ask again tomorrow. ;)

“You boned him!” Amanda shrieked into my ear. “You boned Dr. Erotic! This is almost too much to comprehend right now!”

“Would you stop yelling? I’m at work right now,” I whisper-yelled into the phone as I hopped to my feet and quickly shut the door to my office. Well, my shared office with another Gossip columnist. Since, I did most of my work from home—well, usually my favorite coffee shop up the street from my apartment—I wasn’t in the offices more than one or two days a week.

Thankfully, my office mate Fiona, was enjoying a nice reprieve in the Bahamas.

But it was more than clear I’d made a huge mistake on dishing the dirty details to Amanda while I was at Gossip’s offices. The last thing I needed was for my coworkers to hear I’d been rendezvousing with Scott Shepard. It was one thing to work with nosy people, but it was a whole other ball of wax when being nosy paid their fucking bills.

Unfortunately, it was either now or a six a.m. phone call East Coast time, thanks to the six-hour time difference my stupid jet-setting friend had created. And Lord knows, I was not a fan of waking up before the sun rose.

“Like, in your office at work?” she asked. “Or just sitting around in your underwear inside of your apartment at work?”

“In my office, smartass.”

“Are you wearing pants?”

“Obviously,” I muttered. “My boss would stab me in the vagina with her stiletto if I was just strolling around the offices flashing my beave to everyone.”

“So you’re a crotchless panties kind of gal?” my best friend questioned with a smile in her voice. “Go figure. I never would’ve guessed.”