Dr. Fake It - A Possessive Doctor Romance

He held up his hands. “Thought I’d try one more time.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “How about we make a compromise.”

“I’m listening.”

His smile got bigger. “You’re making it really hard to help you, you know.”

“I’m not really used to men trying to help me.” I took a breath and relaxed myself as much as I could.

“Fair enough,” he said, his voice soft. “You’re going to have a bad reaction to what I’m about to suggest, but hear me out before you do, okay?”

I nodded and gestured at him. “I’ll reserve judgment.”

“I think you should marry me.”

I took a sharp breath and my eyes widened. He was right—I was about to have a very bad reaction. That was exactly what I wanted to avoid with Cosimo, and now the asshole thought he could do the same thing to me? I pushed my chair back and stood up, knocking the table and nearly spilling what was left of my food on the floor. He smiled at me and leaned back like he hadn’t said something absolutely insane and terrifying.

“What are you talking about?” I took a step away from the table.

“It’ll be fake,” he said, “completely fake, but here’s the thing. You won’t take my money because you don’t want to owe me something, right? How about you earn that money instead?”

I shook my head. “I’m not going to trade my body to you. I wouldn’t do it with that other asshole, and I’m not about to start now.”

“That’s not what I mean.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “I’m fucking this up.”

“Yeah, you really are.”

“Look, I’m a single guy, okay? I’m one of the best doctors at Mercy, but I’m young and I don’t have a wife or kids. I want to move up in the ranks, get promotions, run my own team, but guys like me don’t get that sort of responsibility.”

I hesitated. I knew I should run out of there right away. He wanted to take me exactly like Cosimo did—but something in his tone and his eyes made me hesitate. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“I have sort of a bad reputation.” His smile was almost bashful. “There’s a reason Fiona didn’t want to leave you alone with me.”

“Oh, god,” I groaned. “Do you sleep with patients? Are you going to human traffic me or something?”

“Jesus, no, of course not. I don’t sleep with patients.” He paused and shrugged. “Nurses, though? I definitely sleep with nurses.”

I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they might fall out the back of my head. “You’re a freaking cliché, you know that?”

“Guilty as charged. But look, I need to clean my reputation up a little bit if I want any chance at a promotion, and there happens to be an opening right now in the Emergency Department. This could be a seriously big stepping stone for me if I land the job, except there’s no way they’ll consider me.”

“You think getting married will help your chances?”

“Absolutely.” He stood up, but he didn’t come near me. I felt tense, still on the edge of running—but what he was saying made a kind of sense. I could imagine how a guy like him might get passed up for promotions, especially if he was sleeping his way through the nursing staff. Based on how smart and handsome and charming he looked, I was pretty he was telling me the truth about that.

“So what you’re saying is you and I will get married—just like that asshole Cosimo wanted—except with you, it’ll be temporary, and it’ll be fake.”

“Right, temporary and fake. You’ll have to come with me to work functions and meet some colleagues, and you’ll have to pretend to actually, you know, be in love with me, but otherwise? We’ll live like strangers. I’ll pay off your debt to Cosimo and you’ll stay my wife until I get a promotion.”

I chewed on my lip. “How long would that take?”

“I don’t know. A year, maybe.”

It wasn’t a horrible deal. Thirty thousand for one year of my life—I’d taken jobs for less. Except this wasn’t some normal job, this was marriage, and he wanted to take me as his token bride, just like Cosimo did.

The difference was Gavin wasn’t a violent criminal that tried to kill me, and he was making it clear that there was an end date.

Cosimo wanted to own me forever.

“I’m not sure,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not sure I can trust you. I mean, I just told you that mafia asshole wants to marry me, and then you say I should marry you, instead.”

“I can see how that might be a little fucked up.” He shook his head and leaned up against the couch. “Thing is, if you’re married to me then Cosimo can’t push you into anything, right?”