The car fell silent again – but it wasn’t heavy. It was thoughtful. Shifted.
Jamie looked like he’d just been handed a map to another future.
And Maya?
She was staring straight ahead, stunned. Hands clenched tightly in her lap, eyes glistening – caught between gratitude and disbelief.
Damien didn’t speak. He didn’t trust himself to.
Because the weight in his chest had only grown heavier.
Not long after, the car pulled up to the hospital entrance.
The moment it stopped, Jamie was the first to speak. “It was nice meeting you, Mr. Blackwood.
And you too, Mr. Horton.” He leaned forward and gently tapped the driver’s shoulder. “And you, sir. Thank you again for the ride! Take care!”
Damien gave a small nod. James smiled and offered a polite, “You’re welcome.”
The door opened, and Jamie climbed out first.
Maya turned to Damien, her expression reserved but sincere. She offered a subtle bow of her head. “Thank you, Mr. Blackwood. Please take care.”
Then she glanced at James. “Sir.” A soft, silent thank-you in that single word.
But just as she shifted forward to exit, Jamie’s voice cut in.
“May! Wait- not yet!”
He suddenly ducked back into the car, surprising everyone inside. In one swift move, he shut the door again-and since Maya was seated in the middle, she was caught completely off guard.
Her body jerked with the motion and, before she could stop it, she was pushed right up against Damien-thigh to thigh, shoulder grazing his chest.
The contact was brief, accidental.
But it was enough to light a fuse.
Maya’s face turned the shade of a tomato as her shoulder brushed against Damien’s chest, and their knees pressed too closely together. But she quickly pulled herself together, straightened her posture, and scooted back to create space-flustered, but composed.
She shot her brother a look. “What’s wrong with you, Jamie?”
Jamie huffed, clearly annoyed, and pointed toward the hospital entrance. “That weird doctor is there again. Look!”
Damien and James followed his gesture.
Standing near the entrance was a man in a white coat, probably in his late thirties, holding a takeout bag in one hand and a single red rose in the other. He kept checking his watch, glancing toward the sidewalk like he was waiting for someone.
Jamie leaned forward, his tone laced with frustration. “He probably saw our name on the schedule. He’s going to start pestering you again. I told you he’s weird!”
Damien’s gaze narrowed on the man in the white coat.
Tall, Clean-shaven. Polished in that over-eager way. He had that look-the kind that screamed smug and persistent. The kind that assumed a woman like Maya should feel lucky to be noticed.
Damien’s jaw ticked.
The rose. The fucking rose.
Who the hell brought a rose to a hospital check-up?
The way the man kept looking toward the curb, checking his watch like he was waiting for something personal – it didn’t sit right. Not with Damien. Not with the heat crawling under his skin.
Then Jamie’s words echoed again.
“He’s going to start pestering you again.”
Pestering. So this wasn’t the first time.
Damien’s fingers curled slightly, resting on his thigh.
He didn’t like it.
Didn’t like the idea of some persistent doctor making Maya uncomfortable. Didn’t like that Jamie already knew the man’s behavior well enough to be wary. Didn’t like the image of that guy walking toward her, smiling, thinking he had a chance.
And he especially didn’t like the sudden, gut-level urge to break something just to get the image out of his head.
Calm the fuck down, he told himself.
But the tension didn’t leave. Not when Maya leaned slightly forward to look, her hair brushing Damien’s arm. Not when she sighed under her breath like she was preparing for battle.
She shouldn’t have to.
Not for that.
James watched quietly through the rearview mirror. Not Maya. Not Jamie.
Damien.
He saw it – the twitch of the jaw, the stillness before the storm. Subtle, but James had worked with Damien Blackwood long enough to recognize the signs.
This wasn’t just annoyance. This was possessive.
So he took the liberty to break the silence.
“Boyfriend?”
The question was smooth, casual. Too casual.
Maya stiffened instantly beside Damien, but it was Jamie who answered.
“Pfft! He wishes!” the boy scoffed, arms crossed. “No way. That guy’s obsessed with my sister. May already turned him down, like, a thousand times, but he keeps pushing it. Every time we’re here, he’s lurking around. Sometimes with flowers, sometimes with takeout – breakfast, lunch, coffee, whatever. Dude even tried giving her concert tickets once. He’s weird.”
“Jamie,” Maya hissed, elbowing him hard in the side.
He winced but didn’t back down. “I’m just telling the truth.”
Damien said nothing but James caught the slight shift in his boss’s gaze, the tension sharpening.
Interesting.
“Persistent, isn’t he?” James mused out loud, still watching Damien. “That can be… irritating.”
Maya groaned, clearly flustered. “Can we not talk about this right now? Jamie, let’s go, stop stalling. They have important places to be and we’re already late. Come on, out. Now.”
Damien leaned back, tone unreadable. “What’s his name?”
Maya blinked. She didn’t expect the question.
“Dr. Beckett,” Jamie answered before Maya could. “Creepy guy with a white coat and no boundaries.”
“Hmm,” Damien said, as if the name alone gave him reason to blacklist someone.
Jamie grumbled, “He gives me the creeps. I told Maya not to even talk to him.”
“She doesn’t,” Damien said quietly, with a finality that left no room for argument.
The words hung heavy in the air.
Maya glanced at him, startled. Not at the words at the certainty behind them. Like he already knew. Like it mattered to him.
Too much.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.