Kimberly

"Ms. Hart," Tommy says, his eyes narrowed at me. "You can take a seat right up here."

He motioned to an open spot right in the front row.

I wanted to disappear. Where was the fire alarm when you needed one? Could it be possible to fake a heart attack? Maybe not the best idea when you're in a room full of medical professionals that will know when you're faking it.

I didn't immediately answer and I suddenly became aware of the various pairs of eyes pointing in my direction.

He wasn't continuing the presentation. Instead, he waited for me to respond.

"I think I have the wrong room," I lie and offer a weak attempt at a smile. I was actually dying on the inside.

I continue to feel for the door behind me, slowly inching myself to the exit.

"I think you're exactly where you're supposed to be." He puts one of his hands in his pocket and points to the empty seat in the front row with the other.

The nerve.

My tongue is fighting behind my teeth to get a word out, but I suppress it. I just want out. I don't want to cause a scene. Where was the hot airplane guy I had dreamt of last night?

I lift my chin and say nothing else as I turn and exit the room. Immediately I feel a burning heat at the back of my neck and I do my best to ignore it. His voice is coming through the open door as I continue walking.

"Sorry for the interruption," He clears his throat. "Where was I? Oh, right, communication…"

I'm steaming as I stomp my way down the hall. What the fuck was that? Who does he think he is? He's ordering me around? Why? Because I turned him down? Now I feel even better about rejecting him.

And he's a doctor? The most pretentious doctor I have ever met and I've met plenty.

This is one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I don't think I'll survive any more of these conferences, especially any that are lead byhim.

I go back out into the lobby, where I see Lacey giving me the sourest expression, and sit down in a chair.

Did I do something to her?

I shook my head and tried to ignore her, which became increasingly difficult with her slamming away at her keyboard.

Think of something else! I pull out my phone and my fingers hover over the keyboard.

Ugh! This is easily in the top ten worst days of my life.

I begin typing Thomas Oliver in the google search engine but then quickly delete it. No! I'm not going to bethatgirl. Instead, I open up my Instagram and begin scrolling through the new feed. It's nothing but inspirational quotes that I know don't do a damn thing for me and fitness models that I'll never look like.

This was a bad idea.

I bite my lower lip and open the search engine once again and type in Thomas Oliver, but this time I hit 'search'. I'm sure this is a bad idea, but who cares at this point? I want to know more about Doctor Jerk-face.

Immediately I sink in my chair and feel all the air in my lungs flee.

Doctor Thomas Oliver is an American-born philanthropist, mixed-martial artist, and board certified neurologist that is based in the New York Tri-state area. After having grown up in the foster system, Doctor Oliver received several scholarships that helped finance his education. He received top honors from prestigious Columbia University School of Medicine.

Of course.

Doctor Oliver gained notoriety back in 2015 when he became linked to Katherine Hillard, heiress to Pharmaceutical giant Hillard Industries. His projected net worth is estimated to be at an impressive seventy-five million dollars. As of today, Doctor Oliver's charitable donations have exceeded fifty million dollars and have helped spread awareness to non-profit organizations for underprivileged youth. He has participated in Celebrity Flag Football in previous years in support of charitable military organizations.

Dear God… he does charity work?

His newfound fame has allowed him to be included in People magazine's sexiest man alive issue, which has previously featured celebrities such as David Beckham, Chris Hemsworth, and Bradley Cooper. He has amassed twenty million followers on Instagram, giving him the title of sexiest doctor on the internet.

I rolled my eyes. Add to the huge ego.

Unable to read more, I exit out of the tab and throw my phone in my purse. He was too perfect. Do men like him actually exist? I guess so!

He's famous? Like, internet famous? I was right about that whole Instagram model girlfriend. I mean, that's just so typical.

How have I not heard about him? We're both in the medical field, you'd think that I'd have at least heard his name somewhere or Trini would have mentioned him. She's into all the hot Instagram doctors and he istheking of hot Instagram doctors, apparently. She'll die once I tell her who I sat next to.

I guess my thorough internet research took a lot longer than I thought because not more than two minutes went by before the lobby was filling up with people that had exited out of Tommy's hall.

I feel weird calling him Tommy now. Eww. Is that what all of the girls that don't turn him down call him?

And why didn't he tell me he was a doctor? Well, I suppose that was my fault. I did tell him that I didn't want to know specifics, but if I had known I was talking to Instagram royalty then maybe I would have asked more questions.

I see him walk out into the lobby, standing taller and more handsome than any other guy in the room. Oh, fuck. I can see why he earned that stupid title now.

His suit is an exceptionally fitted hunter-green that accentuates his incredible physique. It was like that suit was made for him. It takes someone with some serious confidence to show up wearing a color like that, but it fits him so well. He has the confidence, he has the brains, he has the entire package.

He has to have one flaw, right?

Tommy begins walking with a group of men but he holds the attention of the entire room, mine included. One of his hands is swinging at his side while the other is on the button of his blazer.That's it!That's the picture they should use for the next cover ofPeoplemagazine's sexiest man alive. He walks right in front of me without even giving me a glance.

Ouch. I'm not sure why that hurt but it did.

Where's the bar?

I need it more than anything after the day I had. It wasn't so much that it was bad, but it didn't get any better after my disastrous morning. Luckily, I didn't run into Hot Airplane guy— I mean, Tommy— Doctor Oliver, again. It was better this way. We stayed out of each other's way and I was able to breathe.

Somewhat.

I enter the bar and find that it's bustling with some of the members that had been at the event today. I think we all needed a drink after this long day. I'm never letting Trini talk me into this again. I'm dying and it's only day one.

I head over to one of the bartenders working the end side of the bar and grab a seat in front of him. It's a long table that extends several feet, with multiple bartenders. The lights have been dimmed, giving us a nice break from the painful fluorescent lights from this afternoon.

"Hey," he smiles, "what can I get you?"

I blink the tiredness away and groan.

Something to wake me up.

"Cosmo," I mumble.

He throws a towel over his shoulder and nods, "Coming right up."

Is it too early to call it a night? It's a little after five. I mean, I already feel ancient, might as well fall asleep when all of the older people turn in too.

It would be best to fall asleep and start the day over right. Maybe I'll skip Tommy's lecture again. I don't really want to face him. He ruined the image I had of him in my mind.

"Hello," I heard a male voice come from behind me. "I saw you sitting alone and I was wondering if I could join you?"

I turn to find a shorter male around my age with his blazer hanging off his forearm. His brown hair is slicked back with some kind of oil that smells like toothpaste and his white button-down has a mustard stain at the collar. I suppress the urge to gag when he sits beside me and my nostrils are assaulted by whatever he sprayed on his body.

The 2000s called, they want their Axe body spray back.

This man looks like a Howard.

"Stuart," He says, smiling.

Oh, god. It's worse!

"Hi," I nod and shift myself slightly away from him.

I don't want to be rude, but dear god. I can't handle the smell. It's literally torture.

"And you are?"

Bored out of my damn mind, thank you.

"Kimberly." Maybe if I don't speak, he'll leave me alone.

"Here you are," the bartender says as he places my drink in front of me.

I immediately reach for it and bring it to my lips. I needed this. More than I realized, actually.

"Long day?" Stuart asks, a slight smile on his lips.

I continue drinking until the bottom of my glass is up and I finish it with a refreshing,Ahh.

"Is it that obvious?" I wipe at my lips. I don't even care that I'm being disgraceful.

Stuart continues to stare at me and then shakes his head.

"Maybe a little," he chuckles. "I saw you at Doctor Oliver's seminar in the morning. He's pretty inspirational, isn't he?"

Did he miss the part where I walked out?

"You think so?" I asked him. Sure he's donated a shit ton of money and he came from the nothing, but the guy is a total dick-wad.

"Of course," Stuart nodded, "I look up to him so much. He has the confidence and brains to do whatever he wants."

God, what a little brown noser. Stuart is so far up Tommy's ass that it might even make me blush and I've seeneverything. It appears that women want to date him and men want to be like him.

And as if we had summoned the devil himself, Tommy walks into the bar in that same suit that he was wearing earlier. And of course, in each arm was his perfect accessory, two tall blondes that complimented him.

I knew I was just a throw away. I'm not usually this pathetic. I'm not stupid. I know that our encounter on the plane was just something to help him pass the time, but he just has something about him that makes you feel special.

I felt seen and noticed. Worthy of attention. He even made my freckles seem like a beautiful thing, something that I had been consistently teased about as a kid.

The girls are giggling on his arm, hanging off of every word that he says as he escorts them to the opposite end of the bar. He hasn't looked my way once, and really, what do I expect? Those girls look good on him.

"What are your plans for the rest of the evening?" Stuart asks me as he rubs the palms of his hands on his slacks.

I look at him, deadpan. He is not seriously trying to pick me up, is he?

"Sleep." A one word answer that should tell him everything he needs to know.

Who am I? Rejecting men left and right? I love it. I feel twenty all over again.

"You don't really want to talk to me, do you?"

Even though I can act like a real bitch at times, that's not who I am at heart, and I really don't want to leave that kind of impression on him… even though I'm one more whiff away from vomiting all over his lap.

"I'm sorry," I shake my head, "My day didn't start off great. I need a reset."

"We all have those," he smirks. "But I'm just glad to be out of the house. My kids were driving me nuts."

My head tilts, "Oh, you have kids?"

"Four; 3 girls and 1 boy," he sighs, "It's a full-time job."

I give him my first real laugh, "Tell me about it. I have three and I don't even know how I do it. I can't even imagine four."

"Yeah, well, they're my everything." He pulls out his wallet and begins showing me his family picture. They all take after him a little bit.

"Aww," I can't help but giggle, "They're adorable."

Stuart and I talk for a little while longer and I find myself genuinely enjoying his company. I learn that he's a physical therapist from Texas. He's smart and articulate, very family-centered, and surprisingly kind of funny. I might have judged him too soon by the axe body spray, which still has to go. Maybe once I get to know him better I can tell him to go easy on it. It's a chick repellent.

I've been so fixated on our conversation, that I completely forgot about Tommy on the other end of the bar. When I look over at him, I see that he has addedtwomore girls to his party. He's leaning on the table, one hand in his pocket while the other holds a drink. Each one of those bimbos is twirling their hair. They're like little malfunctioning robots, doing everything in unison.

So weird.He likes that? They're fembots!

"Bathroom break," Stuart says as he stands up, "I'll be right back."

I nod and pull out my phone and begin scrolling through some emails. It's a mix of junk mail, bills, and confirmations for online purchases I've made. I may have a shopping addiction that might need to be addressed.

"Here you are ma'am," the bartender says as he brings me another cosmo.

I look up at him as he begins to walk away and I call out to him "Oh, I didn't order this."

"I know," he says and hands me a piece of paper with some writing scribbled on it. "It's from the gentleman across the bar."

He didn't.

I take the note and open it. When I read the words, a heat begins to run through me.

'You owe me three.'

I look up to see Tommy with a drink to his lips and his eyes on me.

Author note: Hope you're enjoying this story so far :) It's a different one but it's fun. I have one more prewritten chapter that I still need to edit. I'm not sure when that will be up but I'm hoping soon. See you next time!