Page 4 of Promised Secret (Promises, Promises #3)

Chapter One

DAN

“Doctor Dan, I gots a boo-boo here.”

The kid lifted his hand to show me the Spider-Man bandage wrapped around his pointer finger. There was pride on his face as he looked up at me with shiny eyes.

“Look at this battle badge! You’re a brave kid, aren’t ya?” I said, ruffling his hair.

He giggled, mouth wide open in a toothy smile sprinkled with holes from the loss of his baby teeth. The sight reminded me just how much I hated showing my holey smile when I was a kid. Unlike my patient here, I was a pretty vain thing back then, caring about how I looked to others.

It was more like I’d always wanted to present the best of myself. Flaws had to be hidden and out of sight.

I’d now learned that wasn’t the case. Humans weren’t perfect. We weren’t designed to be. But that didn’t make us anything less than fucking amazing.

It was people like the kid sitting in front of me, smiling and so proud to show off his wounds, that reminded me of that over and over again. They weren’t afraid of displaying their vulnerability and how they’d conquered it.

I ruffled the kid’s hair, then walked him and his dad out of the clinic. He turned around, waving his hand high above his head at me as he walked backward. I waved back and laughed when his dad wrangled him to turn forward again.

When I first returned to Kither Springs to start working at the family clinic, I had my hesitations. It was a huge culture shock from the busy hospital in the city where I’d done my residency, and I honestly thought I’d get bored with how slow it would be.

Instead, it was the opposite. The kids in town now all knew me as Doctor Dan, and that made me seem cool in their eyes. Their enthusiasm toward me was boundless, as they always scrambled to show me one thing or another.

I found myself more connected to the community than ever, despite having lived here my entire life. Well, aside from the period I was away for higher education.

“That was the last appointment for the morning,” my receptionist told me while checking the schedule on her computer.

“Thanks, I’ll take my lunch now. I wouldn’t be opposed to a lunch date,” I said, giving her my most charming smile.

Rosa rolled her eyes and continued clacking away on her keyboard. She’d worked at the clinic for years. She’d started back when I was a teenager, so she was now immune to my charms.

Though it wasn’t like I’d start up something with someone from the clinic, especially not someone who was already married. I might be known as the playboy doctor in town, but even I knew to keep my work and personal life separate.

“If you want company, you know where to find it. Your brother is just around the corner and probably due for his lunch break soon, too.”

My facial muscles stiffened, but not enough for her to notice. I’d gotten good at masking my emotions over the years.

“Maybe I want company from someone I don’t live with. Have you ever thought about that?” I replied, and she rolled her eyes again.

When Frederick came from the back, I leaned against the reception desk and faced him, elbows out on both sides of me. “How about you, Frederick? Wanna grab some lunch? My treat,” I said, waggling my eyebrows.

His expression didn’t even change from his usual frozen one as he held up a paper bag and replied, “Next time. I brought sandwiches.”

I let out the most dramatic sigh and turned back to Rosa. “Can you believe that? I was rejected for sandwiches!”

She snickered.

“They’re good sandwiches,” Frederick insisted, still sounding as serious as ever.

He came to my side and dropped his paper bag in front of him. He towered over my six-foot frame. He was undoubtedly the biggest man I’d seen, with bulky muscles that suited a professional boxer, not a nurse.

When he first applied for the open nurse position a year ago, I was skeptical if he was the right person for the job.

The man didn’t smile once during the entire interview, and I worried his serious face and large build would scare away the kids and elderly, who were a huge portion of our clientele.

It didn’t help matters that he was an out-of-towner, which meant I had no frame of reference for his character.

But something told me to take a chance on him. I think it was his eyes that were filled with determination, but there was something sad about them, too. They reminded me so much of my first meeting with Clay that I decided to give Frederick a chance.

It was a good thing, too, because he was fucking amazing at his job. He was always on top of his work, and I didn’t think the man missed a vein once in his professional life. And contrary to my worries, the kids loved his huge size and always asked him to pick them up.

Frederick would grumble and moan about it, but he always complied with their requests. Babies loved him too and giggled their way through their shots whenever he administered them.

Maybe they were able to see through to his kind soul. What our year working together taught me was that he was a giant teddy bear.

Except for when you called him Fred or Freddy, then the claws came out. I had to learn that the hard way. He hated those nicknames. But aside from that, he didn’t have a mean bone in his body.

“I can save them for dinner if you really want some company for lunch,” he offered.

I turned to him and pounced. He caught my hug with a grunt.

“You’re really the best, you know that, right? If you didn’t work for me, I’d totally take you on a date,” I told him.

“No, thanks,” he replied, without missing a beat. He patted my back in comfort as he returned my hug.

Rosa snickered again, which then turned into a full-blown cackling. I gave her a glare.

“And what’s so funny, Mrs. Banks? Care to share with the class?” I snapped the question at her.

She swiped a finger under her eye to wipe away the stray tear. Her eyes were still bright when she said, “You think you’re hot stuff, don’t ya? Dating all the boys and girls within a ten-mile radius of the town, then going and breaking their hearts. It’s good to see someone knock you down a peg.”

I huffed, arms still around Frederick because he gave really good hugs and his large hand patting my back was comforting. I could see why the kids loved him.

I couldn’t even argue with her, since everything she said was true. My playboy ways weren’t a secret around here, much to my lao-ba’s annoyance.

He’d made it abundantly clear he was not happy with my dating around and wanted me to hurry up and find a nice person to settle down with. At least he was accepting of my bisexuality and didn’t care if I was with a man or a woman.

That was the great thing about my dad. He was always supportive and only wanted what was best for me. When I was a kid, he was a lot stricter, but after marrying Sandra, he’d chilled out a lot.

Though no matter how laid-back he was now, I knew for a fact that he’d have a major issue with the person I really wanted to settle down with.

The person I was still head over heels in love with despite trying to get over him for the past who knows how long.

The one person I wanted, but I could never really have.

And as if summoned by thoughts of him, the clinic door opened and in walked the person of my desire. Clay Segall—my stepbrother.

He looked so fucking sexy in his police uniform, his dark brown hair cropped short in the back with longer tufts of bangs hanging over his forehead. Small beads of sweat had his hair clinging to his skin, and even still, he was the most magnificent person I’d ever seen.

God, I was so fucking screwed.

I was not supposed to continue lusting after my stepbrother. It was a secret I promised myself that I’d push deep, deep inside where it’d never see the light of day. Because no matter how much I wanted it, being in love with my stepbrother only had one ending.

In disaster.

Clay looked between me and Frederick, who still had his arms around me and had continued to give my back gentle pats through my lust-filled mind from seeing Clay.

With us this close, I wondered if he felt my heartbeat speeding up? Frederick peeked down at me, his expression hard as always, but there was a hint of worry there, too. His brow furrowed, as if he wanted to ask me something.

My pulse thrummed harder as I tried to decipher his thoughts from his eyes. Did he learn the secret I’d been trying to keep since I was fourteen?

It was the year I’d realized what I felt for my best friend was more than friendship.

I’d been crushing on him for years, but fourteen was when I learned I was well and truly head over heels in love with the man.

I wanted to hold him and kiss him like I’d seen couples do on TV.

I wanted us to be together as more than best friends.

I’d geared myself up to confess my love to him and make us boyfriends, and I would have if our parents hadn’t announced they were dating before I ever got the chance to.

For the last fourteen years, I’d kept my crush under wraps for my dad’s sake, but was one lingering gaze going to ruin it all?

I pleaded with my eyes for Frederick to keep his mouth shut regarding whatever he thought he might know. Frederick’s brows furrowed deeper, clearly confused by what I was trying to convey. His confusion made his arms wrap tighter around me until we were pressed without an inch of space between us.

“What are you two doing?” Clay suddenly asked, a dangerous tone in his voice. He sounded like he was ready to make an arrest.

That shouldn’t have been sexy, and yet I was ready to offer myself up to him. He could do whatever he wanted with me.

A snort came from behind us. Finally letting go of Frederick, I spun around and found Rosa trying to hold her laugh back by putting a hand over her mouth. She composed herself when all three pairs of eyes were on her.

“While I’d love to sit here and watch this play out, my husband has lunch ready for me. I’ll be waiting to hear the play-by-play later,” she said, grabbing her purse and walking around the reception desk.

“Don’t hold your breath ’cause you won’t be hearing anything, ’cause there’s nothing to hear!” I called after her departing back.

She just waved her hand and didn’t even look back as she left us in silence.

I looked back and forth between Clay and Frederick. Clay glared at Frederick, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

Nobody spoke.

Forcing a laugh, I clapped my hands to get their attention.

“Let’s go get lunch!”