Best friend's Baby Sister [END]

BFBS : 17

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Chapter 9
REBECCA

"You have got to be kidding me." I blink. Once. Twice.

Freen Sarocha is still there. She's staring back at me, and good Lord, that woman looks fine as hell in that navy blue suit. Her dark hair is a little messy.

I'm instantly turned on. And equally annoyed. What the hell is she doing here?

"Rebecca? Is everything all right?" William follows my line of sight out the glass door. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong." I force a smile and look back up. William Jakrapatr works at our sister company and is partnering with me on this new big project. We dated for a while a year ago, and are better friends than lovers. He's a nice guy, too nice really, and working with my ex isn't as awkward as I thought it would be.

Don't get me wrong, it is awkward to work with an ex when he's still in love with you. But it's manageable.

"I'll be right back," I say and stand, moving quickly out of my office. Freen steps in my direction. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Rebecca, nice to see you too." She gives me her trademark smile, and if I wasn't still pissed at her for whatever the hell she was trying to do before, I might have gotten weak in the knees.

"Are you stalking me?"

"I'm not doing a very good job at it, am I?" She laughs and lets her eyes wander over me. "I like professional-Rebecca. You look very...proper."

I cross my arms. "Seriously, what are you doing here? Do I need to call security?"

William comes up behind me. "Is she bothering you, Rebecca?"

Freen pushes her shoulders back and stares at William.

"No," I say. "This is my brother's friend, Freen. I didn't expect to see her, that's all."

"Oh." William holds out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm William. Which brother's friend? She's got a lot," he says with a chuckle.

"Heng's," Freen says and shakes William's hand. Something changes in her demeanor, and it's then I notice how tired and worn Freen looks. "I'm attending a physician's conference in the city."

"But that still doesn't explain why you're here," I press.

"I'll let you guys catch up," William says, reaching out to take my hand. He gives it a squeeze. "Call me if you need anything. See you later." He turns to Freen. "Nice to meet you." He walks past us, going to the party to celebrate the successful launch of our new program. The shock starts to wear off and my heart speeds up. Freen is here. In my office. The last time I saw her, she grabbed me and almost kissed me.

And I wanted her to.

I still can't think of that incident without growing wet. I've dreamed of it over and over, and in my dreams, she finishes what she started. I want to tear off her suit jacket and untuck her shirt, slowly undoing every button before peeling it off her body.

Freen closes the distance between us. She smells even better than I remember, and the scent of her cologne triggers something animalistic inside of me, making me think there's a good chance I might actually rip her clothes off.

"Sorry to startle you," she says. "I really had no idea you worked here."

At a loss for words, I just nod.

"I was going to text you and tell you I was here, but I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me after..." She trails off and looks away.

After she made it clear getting close to me bothered her. I think. Maybe? I can't get a read on her.

"Well, welcome to Chicago. You've never been here before, have you?"

"No. It's nice."

"You sound surprised." I inhale and try to get my heart rate to go back to normal. Usually, I complain that it's too cold in this office, but right now I'm sweating. And it has nothing to do with Freen. Nope. No way.

"I didn't know what to expect, really." She casts her eyes in the direction of the party. "And it was a last-minute thing. One of the surgeons I worked under when I first started my residency got me into the convention."

"That was nice. Right? Or are conventions awful? I kinda hate going to them. I have to talk to too many people and I don't like most people." Shit. I probably shouldn't have said that.

Freen laughs, eyes brightening. "Honestly, it's nice to sit down for hours at a time. I haven't done that much lately. And I'm hoping talking to one of the surgeons speaking will get me a foot in the door for a fellowship I want."

"A fellowship? I'm guessing it doesn't have anything to do with taking a magical ring to Mordor."

"Unfortunately, no. But if it was, I'd just ride the giant eagles, right?"

I hike an eyebrow. "You do know that wouldn't have—you like Lord of the Rings?"

"Now you sound surprised."

"You and Heng always seemed so alike, so yeah, I guess I am." I bite my lip, wrestling my libido down. "What are you doing here though? Like in my office here?"

"Oh, I, uh," she starts, diverting her eyes to the ground for a second. "Another doctor and I went out to lunch together and ran into your secretaries. They invited us back for some sort of work party." She's trying not to cringe as she talks, and it's both adorable and repulsive.

"You were hoping for a booty call."

"It's not technically a booty call if I'm not the one calling."

I put a hand on my hip. "You're not helping your case, Sarocha."

"Fine. Yes. But not me. Just Tyler."

"I thought all doctors referred to each other as 'Doctor Whatever' and not your first names."

"It depends on where we are. In the hospital setting, we do. Mostly. Hey," she says and playfully nudges me. "We spent over a decade in school. We've earned being called 'doctor' all the time." She smiles again and dammit, I'm going to have to change my underwear. "I didn't know you were so high up in the company."

"Unlike you doctors, I don't need to go around bragging."

Freen and I suddenly realize there are other people in the office, including Rene, who keeps looking over her shoulder at us.

"Do you want to go find your date?"

"No," she answers quickly. "I didn't want to come, but I'm glad I did."

"Yeah." I find myself smiling. "Me too." Our eyes meet, and I want to ask her to walk back with me, introduce her to my co-workers, and get a drink or two at the bar.

Then I remember I'm mad at her.

— TBC 🐻