Page 9 of What the Doctor Ordered

K iley

“Shut the hell up!”

I resisted the urge to place my hands over my ears as Lily’s voice threatened to pierce right through my eardrums and smirked at my best friend. I had just told her everything that had occurred a few days earlier with Kramer and then with Simon.

“Man,” Lily said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you ended up meeting two hot doctors in the same night and then went home with one of them! You’re wilder than I gave you credit for.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the couch cushions, growing exhausted as I was reminded of the insane events that transpired. “Too bad the first one turned out to be a cheating jerk,” I grumbled.

“But the second one didn’t!” Lily sang, giving me a mischievous look.

I laughed and shook my head at her. “I literally just met him, Lily,” I pointed out. “He could be a cheating jerk too, for all I know. It doesn’t matter anyway though since, as I’ve already told you, this is a business arrangement.”

Lily tilted her head and pursed her lips thoughtfully. Then she smirked at me. “Right,” she said, making little air quotes above her head with her fingers. “Just a casual business arrangement. Okay, I get it.”

“Lily, I’m serious!” I protested. “He needs someone to pretend to be his fiancée, and I could really use the money. We’re just helping each other out. I couldn’t even call us friends with how businesslike this is going to be!”

Lily, who had been painting her nails while I told her about Simon and Kramer, examined the finger she had completed before blinking at me. I could only describe her expression as skeptical. “But the two of you slept together,” she pointed out, pointing her newly manicured finger at me.

I blinked at the digit that was pointed at me. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “So?”

Lily’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean ‘so’?” she demanded. She threw her hands up in the air roughly, causing her swirly blonde ponytail to bounce. “Having sex with a guy you just met is like naming a stray animal. As soon as you do, you’re locked in. There’s no escape!”

I just stared at her. “What kind of bullshit is that?” I asked in dismay. “There are plenty of people who have sex with someone and then don’t end up staying with them.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Lily said impatiently.

“Think about it, Kiley. You literally saw this guy naked and he saw you naked. That’s like the definition of vulnerability.

You had everything on display. This guy is connected to you now, even if you don’t end up in a relationship with him.

But to be fair, you are his fiancée now. ”

“Fake fiancée,” I corrected immediately.

If nothing else, she was going to get that straight.

“I don’t even really have to do anything except go with him to boring social functions.

That’s how casual it is. In fact, that’s what I’m doing tonight.

Simon’s probably on his way to pick me up right now. ”

Lily frowned at me. “But if you don’t want this to be casual, if you want more, you do have the power to do something about it.”

“I want this to be casual,” I told her firmly. “Going on that date with Kramer made me realize that I really shouldn’t be dating right now. I need to focus on school so that I can graduate on time and not accumulate even more debt.”

“She says as she leaves to go on a date with the guy,” Lily muttered.

My phone chose that moment to vibrate, signaling an incoming text. I glanced down at it and read the message from Simon telling me that he had just parked out front.

“Want me to come to your apartment to get you?” Such a gentleman.

I had purposefully left out the number of the apartment so that he wouldn’t show up at the door. I winced as I imagined the look on Lily’s face if she had Simon in front of her.

“No, thank you,” I typed quickly. “I’ll be right down.”

I knew I had made the right decision when I looked up and Lily was giving me a knowing look.

“That your fiancée?” she asked mischievously.

There was no point correcting her at this point. I just nodded. “Yeah, he just got here. Gonna go down and meet him. I’ll probably be late tonight.” I stood up and checked my reflection in the mirror, making sure my hair wasn’t mussed from me lying on the couch.

“You go, girl,” Lily said with a wink.

I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling. “We’re literally just going to a business dinner. I’m obligated to attend as part of our agreement.”

Lily’s eyes grew serious all of a sudden. “Maybe you should try to take some time off of work,” she suggested. “We have midterms coming up soon, you know.”

I flinched. That did sound nice but until I got that tuition money from Simon, I couldn’t just stop working. I had bills to pay. “I can’t really afford to right now,” I said regretfully. Then I turned, waved at her, and grabbed my keys. “See you later, Lily!”

Lily just shrugged and beamed at me. “Have fun!” she sang as I opened our apartment door.

I smoothed my dress down as I got to the front of the apartment complex and saw Simon’s sleek black car.

He was leaning against it, his hands in his pockets.

I tried not to blush as I approached him.

He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a burgundy-colored tie peeking out.

His thick wavy hair was slicked back away from his forehead, making his hazel eyes stand out.

He smiled when he saw me, straightening as I stepped in front of him. “You look beautiful this evening, Kiley,” he said.

This was all just pretend, but my cheeks heated up anyway at the compliment. Lily helped me pick out the strapless lilac dress I was wearing. “Thanks,” I murmured. “You look really nice tonight, too.”

I thought I noticed Simon’s eyes darken for a moment, but they were back to normal before I could be sure. “I have something for you,” he said, reaching into the pocket of his suit jacket.

My heart skipped a beat when he took out a small, velvet box.

“You don’t have to wear it,” he said. “Especially since it wasn’t part of our agreement, but I thought it would make the whole thing more believable if you had one.”

My mouth went dry when he opened the box to reveal a stunning diamond ring with intricate metalwork. There was a square-shaped rock in the center that shimmered beneath the dim streetlight. I could tell from the look of it that it was expensive.

“Did you just buy this?” I asked in wonder.

Simon nodded. “Yes, I just picked it up on the way here,” he said. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to wear it.”

I couldn’t believe he was saying this even though he obviously spent thousands on it. “What would you do with it if I said I didn’t want to wear it?”

He considered that for a moment. “Probably just encourage you to keep it and sell it so that you could pay for next year’s tuition.”

“I’ll wear it,” I said quickly, my eyes widening. Now that I knew this ring must have cost tens of thousands of dollars, I took the box from him carefully. “And just so we’re clear, I will not be selling it because I am returning it to you so that you can get your money back.”

I shook my head in amazement. Just how much money did this guy have?

I swallowed hard before sliding the ring onto my finger, and just stared at it.

It was strange to have a ring on that finger.

I never imagined that I would have one at this point in my life and definitely wouldn’t have been able to predict these particular circumstances either.

A large part of me still couldn’t believe that this was real. I was living a strange life, for sure.

“Thank you for the temporary ring,” I joked, dropping my hand. “It is beautiful.”

Simon chuckled. “Thank you for being my temporary fiancée,” he said. “I look forward to this. Shall we go to our first function together?” He opened the passenger door for me.

I smiled and nodded. “Yes, let’s.”

Perhaps it was due to the darkness outside, or maybe it was because I hadn’t been sleeping well since I had been staying up to study for the past week, but a sudden feeling of fatigue washed over me.

Simon had some gentle jazzy sounding music playing in the car, which wasn’t helping me stay awake. My head felt heavy, there was a gentle buzzing in my brain, and my skin felt warm.

I shook my head hard, partially to stay awake but also because I refused to get sick. I had midterms coming up; I couldn’t afford to be sick now. I was probably just tired.

I noticed Simon glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. “Are you feeling alright?” he asked. “You’re awfully quiet this evening.”

I blinked rapidly, trying to will my body to wake up and fix itself. “I’m fine,” I said. “I think I’m just a bit tired from school and work.”

Simon was quiet for a long moment before he made a sound in the back of his throat that I identified as disapproval. “You should be getting at least seven hours of sleep a night,” he lectured. “Have you been eating three square meals a day and drinking enough water?”

His questions were just causing my shoulders to sag even further. “I think so.”

“You think so,” he repeated and his tone was flat. He glanced over at me once we were stopped at a red light and he must not have liked what he saw because he made another unhappy sound in the back of his throat before he made a sharp U-turn.

“Simon?” I asked, my voice rising in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“You’re pale and can barely keep your eyes open,” he said. “I don’t know how I didn’t notice when I picked you up, but you are in no condition to be out right now.”

I was kind of relieved to hear him say that since my body did suddenly feel like it was on the verge of coming down with something, but I also didn’t like how vulnerable I felt. “Are you taking me home?” I asked.

“We’re going to my house,” he said shortly, his hands tightening on the wheel.

“That’s really not necessary!” I said quickly. “My roommate should be home, so I won’t be alone.”

Simon shook his head, his jaw set stubbornly. “I’m taking you to my place so that I can keep an eye on you,” he said. “I have some medical equipment there and I would like to give you an examination to make sure you’re alright.”

“That’s really not necessary!” I said again, panic rising now. “I’m really fine. Let’s just go to dinner. We had a deal, after all. You can’t let me back out on the first work function. That isn’t fair to you.”

Simon glanced over at me with narrowed eyes. “What’s not fair to me is that you agreed to obey me and yet, here you are fighting me as soon as I try to take care of you.”

I flinched and shrank back in my seat. “Why do you care so much anyway?” I muttered. “You don’t really know me. I’m just doing you a favor in return for tuition money.”

Simon was silent for several seconds, almost glaring out the windshield in front of him. “I’m a doctor,” he finally said simply. “I was bred and trained to care. It’s my job.”

I didn’t really have a response to that, so I just kept quiet and leaned back in my seat, trying hard not to fall asleep. I desperately wanted to.

What was even more difficult was trying to resist the urge to believe that Dr. Vale actually did care about me.