Chapter 8

Olivia

I closed the door to my office and leaned against it with a shaky sigh. It had been a mere hour since Liam had left, and I’d barely recovered. Every step I took, I could feel my thighs rub together and the damp silk between them. He’d brought me to the most explosive orgasm I’d ever had—right here, at work. Of all the stupid things I’d thought I could do, letting some internationally famous soccer star make me lose my mind during an examination was dead last on the list. My body was still reverberating from those heated moments, little shocks of pleasure pinging through me. Just thinking of it now made me wet again. If he walked into this room with me right now, I knew exactly what I wanted—him inside of me. Because he’d only given me a taste of what it could be like with him and it might damn me straight to hell, but I wanted more and I wanted it so badly, I could hardly stand it. My channel throbbed and a flush ran through my body.

I shoved away from the door and walked to my desk. By some miracle, I’d gotten through my next two appointments. I was relieved to finally have a few minutes to myself. I sank into the chair at my desk and clicked my computer on. Some dry, boring billing notes might get my mind off of Liam. I was a few minutes into typing up a report when my phone vibrated. I slipped it out of my pocket, glanced down at the screen and gasped.

Hello luv. What kind of complications would I need to have for another appointment with you?

I didn’t recognize the number, but I knew without a doubt it was Liam. Who else would text me something like that? I had no idea how he’d gotten my personal number and certainly no idea what to do about it. I’d spent much of the afternoon torn between the depth of my desire for him and the need to regain control of my life. My God. I was putting my professional career on the line, all over a man. All I could think about was when I could see him again. I’d spent the last hour swinging between the poles of a raw, burning need I’d never experienced—ever—in my life, and berating myself for throwing my sanity and ethics out the window by giving into the madness he elicited inside. I couldn’t let myself do this. It was insanity, pure and simple.

There is no need for an appointment with me. You’re in good hands with the PT team.

Excellent. Let’s have dinner.

My cheeks were hot and all I could think about was the feel of his fingers inside me. No dinner. We could not do dinner. I couldn’t be around him because he made me completely insane.

No thank you.

I forced myself to immediately turn my phone off after that and turned back to writing up my reports for the week. The next few hours were the most inefficient use of time I’d ever experienced. I was like an engine that wouldn’t turn over. I’d try to start writing and get about two or three sentences in and then look down at my phone, it’s screen dark. The urge to turn it back on was beating like a drum, meanwhile I was still wet and could hardly think straight because of it. All these years I’d dismissed sex as a pointless endeavor unless you wanted to have kids. What couldn’t have been more than ten minutes with Liam’s lips and hands on me and my indifference to pleasure had been shattered spectacularly. He’d shaken me to the core.

I spun in my chair and looked out the windows over the skyline of Seattle. Lights sparkled in the night sky. I took a slow breath and finally gave up on pointlessly working. I’d go home and start fresh tomorrow. Surely by then, I’d get a grip on my body.

A short while later, I walked into my apartment. I lived a few blocks down the street from the clinic. It had never even crossed my mind to consider living further away. I was so work focused, I simply wanted the convenience. I kicked my shoes off by the door and hung up my dripping raincoat before walking into the kitchen and putting the kettle on for tea. My apartment was in an upper floor of small building with rather quaint apartments. The kitchen wasn’t much more than an alcove off the living room through a small archway. The entire apartment had hardwood floors and tall, arched windows, which let in ample light even on rainy days. That said, I was rarely home during the daytime, except on weekends.

I padded through the living room to my bedroom, quickly changing into a pair of soft fleece pants and a sweatshirt. It was early autumn in Seattle, which meant chilly weather. The radiators grumbled slightly when I turned up the heat on my way back into the kitchen. I heated leftovers in the microwave and settled on the couch with my laptop and my tea while I absently nibbled on my food. With the television rumbling in the background, I reviewed referrals. One of the luxuries of my job was the option to take or refuse cases. There were only a few exceptions to this. For example, Liam. Under no circumstances would the clinic turn down a high-profile case such as his.

Even though I experienced pangs of conscience over how much money we charged our patients, one thing I loved at the clinic was that the medical team would refer cases out to other specialists if they thought the injury in question required expertise we didn’t have. We tended to focus more on joints, while there were a few other specialists nationally who were better suited for spinal injuries.

After a few chart reviews, I zapped off emails to the referral team regarding the cases in question. I tried to dig into some research we were doing on recovery times for different ACL repair procedures, but my mind kept wandering to Liam. With a sigh, I closed my laptop and started flipping through the channels, hoping to find something to nudge my mind out of its unsettled state. My cozy apartment with its comfy loveseat and ottoman and cheerful purple throw rugs felt lonely just now. It wasn’t that I had no friends. Daisy was my dearest friend, and we had a small circle of friends that occasionally got together. My aunt was the only family I had to speak of, but we rarely saw each other. She lived in a small town roughly an hour outside of Seattle in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. With my nearly relentless work schedule, I had precious time to drive out to visit her.

I couldn’t pin down what it was, but something about Liam elicited this odd loneliness. I didn’t like it. He made me want things I’d never wanted. For starters, another bone-melting orgasm would be just fine. It wasn’t only that though. He was funny and sly and watching him with Alex let me know he was a good friend. As much as he projected a teasing, devil-may-care attitude, it was clear he had more depth to him than.

I stood up abruptly, restless with the disquiet I felt inside. I left the TV on because I didn’t want to hear the echoing silence around me and walked into the bathroom to fill the tub. That’s what I’d do. I loved baths. They were one of the few things that helped me unwind when I was tired and stressed. A few minutes later, I sank into the steaming hot water with a sigh. I rested my head against the tile wall and let the heat seep through me. Once I was warm all the way through, I grabbed the soap, quickly sliding it everywhere to wash the day away. When the bar of soap slid between my thighs in the course of cleaning, my mind and body flashed back to the feel of Liam’s fingers working their magic. That was it. All it took was no more than a second, and I was hot all over and my channel throbbed.

Today had been eye opening in more ways than one. I’d meant it emphatically when I said sex was boring. Because it had been. Until Liam got a hold of me. We hadn’t even technically had sex, but I knew beyond even the thought of a shadow of doubt that going further with him would be unlike anything I’d ever imagined. I nearly threw the soap into its dish and splashed water on my face. Nothing nudged my mind off the madness Liam elicited though, so I climbed out of the tub and ran my wrists under cold water, a quick trick to cool the body down. I supposed I did cool off, but when I was lying in bed, I could feel the pulse of my channel and the slick heat there.