Stuck With The Billionaire Best Man: A Brother's Best Friend, Enemies To Lovers Romance by Bertie Stein

Author:Bertie Stein [Stein, Bertie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2023-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Alora

​“All done!” The doctor’s voice brings us back to reality. “I told you that would be the worst part.”

​It takes a second to process what he’s talking about, and then I remember the terrifying syringe that he said would numb my hand. I had almost forgotten about it entirely as I am still reeling from the shock that Dustin is holding my hand. He’s looking at me with a tenderness I never would have expected from him, and it warms me all over.

​ It makes me forget everything.

​“You’re doing great,” Dustin assures me, and I find myself hoping he doesn’t let go of my hand. It feels safe.

​He doesn’t let go, and the stitching process doesn’t take as long as I thought it would. Just as the doctor promised, I don’t feel anything but slight pressure at each threading, and before I know it, he’s wrapping my hand in a bandage and giving me aftercare instructions.

​“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” I say as I hop down from the table.

​“It rarely is as bad as we build it up in our heads,” the doctor chuckles. “And you’re lucky to have such a supportive boyfriend by your side.”

​I freeze, my blood turning cold. “Oh, he’s not—” I begin at the same time that Dustin beats me to it with an abrupt and blunt, “We’re not together.”

​The doctor looks from me to him and then shrugs. “Could have fooled me. Best of luck to you, Alora. Call us if you have any issues with your sutures.”

​We leave together without talking, and Dustin takes his place behind the driver’s seat of my car like it’s some long-standing, understood dynamic.

​I’m having trouble sorting out my feelings. I guess the best word for it would be “deflated”. When Dustin was holding my hand, I was experiencing this inexplicable high that I never in a million years would have associated with being in close proximity to him.

​But when he was so quick to correct the doctor who confused us for a couple, and the way he was so detached and matter-of-fact in his correction, it was like that bubble inflating inside me popped.

​ Which I know is irrational because I was starting to correct the doctor, too. Because we are in fact not together.

​So, are my feelings rooted in the speed of which Dustin said we weren’t together, as if that was the last thing he would want anyone to think, or was it the tone of his voice?

​And why was I overanalyzing this? Dustin has been the opposite of my friend for as long as we have known each other. This whole situation today, from the moment he walked in to find me spilling blood into the sink, has been a fluke.

​“What are you thinking about?” Dustin must notice my silence, and he glances over at me, his brows furrowed.

​“That it’s going to be crowded by the time we get back,” I say, and the lie comes easily. “All the other guests will have arrived by now.

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