Chapter 3
Okay, Sandy, think I ordered myself.
He was clearly far more inebriated than he let on because it was clear they had a drink or two before they got to the pub.
That meant I had the advantage if I could just get him to loosen his grip a little. I blinked rapidly in an attempt to keep the tears at bay and told myself to keep it together.
The last thing I needed right now was to cry, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me be vulnerable.
He wasn’t worth it. When my throat was no longer clogged up with emotion, and my eyes were dry, I noted with horror that he was running his fingers through my hair and sniffing it.
Once he was done, he placed his head in the space where my neck met my shoulder and began to lightly run his mouth over the sensitive skin there. My stomach recoiled and turned as I tasted bile in the back of my throat.
He was clearly enjoying this because his bulge just got bigger, and the worst part was he thought I was enjoying it too. He used one arm to hold us together while the other wrapped itself around my neck in a chokehold.
Oh, God.
He was into the kinky stuff too.
Actually, this could work out to my advantage.
This depended largely on my acting skills, but I thought I could pull it off. I just needed to keep my goal clear and present in my head to get through this. I let that thought fill me with purpose as I went slack against his grip and made a small whimpering noise in the back of my throat.
As expected, he groaned into my ear. “Yeah, you like that, don’t you?”
I made a small noise in a response, and he carefully removed his hand from over my mouth, testing to see if I would scream. I could, but I had about a three second window of opportunity before he placed his hand over my mouth again.
And then I wouldn’t have this chance again. I moved my hips ever so slightly, and the man twitched against me. Suddenly, he spun me around, so that I was facing him, wide eyed and innocent.
“I knew you’d come around,” he whispered in what he thought was a sexy tone. I swallowed back the urge to spit in his face and gave a small smile instead.
His grip relaxed even further, and before he knew what I was up to, I brought my legs up and slammed them down hard on his foot. He grunted in surprise and that gave me the space I needed to push him backwards then swiftly knee him in the balls.
He half fell to the ground as he clutched his balls and whimpered in pain. I watched in grim satisfaction before I spun on my heel. I was about to march inside when he caught me around the ankle.
I began to frantically claw at his arm till he released, and I went bursting through the door, a wild look on my face. Customers were milling about and chatting easily, but Ruth caught me from across the bar.
Her eyes widened into two twin pools of surprise before a grim look replaced her expression, and she marched forward. She tugged me forward gently. “What happened?”
“One of those college students attacked me outside,” I kept my voice low, but I didn’t want to cause a scene. I could already tell we were drawing a few curious gazes though, so I tugged on Ruth’s arm and led her backwards.
On the way there, we ran into Alex who had an easygoing smile on his face till he caught sight of the bruise around my neck. I’m sure it was large and angry right now, and who knew what else was a telltale sign.
The easy expression on his face was gone just as quickly as it came. In its place was a look of pure hard nerves that I was sure often helped him in court.
I could hear the sound of the doors bursting open, and I couldn’t help the flinch that tore through me as Ruth angled herself, so that she was between me and the door.
I turned around, so that Alex, Ruth and I were all facing the man whose face was contorted in rage and pain as his eyes wildly danced around the room. Once they landed on me, he pushed his way through the crowd till he stood in front of us, snarling and yapping like a rabid animal.
“I want to speak to the manager,” he snapped.
“What’s this about?” Ruth asked without breaking a sweat.
“I don’t think you’re the manager, so I want him now before I cause a scene.” He gritted his teeth as his gaze regarded me coldly.
I drew myself to my full height and stared back, my expression just as tough. That took him by surprise a little bit.
“The manager isn’t here today, and I’m in charge, so I’ll ask again. What’s this about?” Ruth’s voice was no longer pleasant. Now, it took another quality altogether, and it was dripping with ice and venom.
I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that.
“Your waitress just attacked me.” He jabbed his thumb in my general direction.
“You attacked me. I was just defending myself,” I said, calmly in spite of the inner turmoil.
“Stop lying you little bitch. You know you wanted it. You’ve been coming onto me all night, so I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it won’t work on me,” he spat out.
No sooner were the words out of his lips than Alex shoved him backwards. Not expecting this, the man tipped backwards, but managed to right himself at the last second.
“What the hell, man? My quarrel isn’t with you.”
“It’s obvious that she didn’t want you. You’ve got claw marks on your arm, and she’s got bruises all over her neck,” Alex said matter-of-factly as he placed himself between us and my attacker.
“And you think you’re the expert?”
“It only takes a person with eyes to see. You are aware that you are violating her civil rights which could result in a lawsuit that I don’t think you can afford. Also, first degree aggravated assault doesn’t look good on a CV.”
The man blinked and made a face. Come to think of it, that was a weird thing to say.
Was he stating facts or defending me because it looked like he was straddling the line and unable to pick a side. However, that was a hell of a defense.
The man looked slightly scared at the jargon that was used, but he quickly recovered his composure as he shoved his hands in his pockets, and gave Alex a smile.
“Oh, I get it. You want to tap that.” Recognition dawned on the man’s face, an arrogant smile flitted across his features.
“Excuse me?” Alex’s straightened his back, and his voice sounded annoyed.
“It’s cool, man. If you were here first, I can respect dibs.” The man held up his hands in a gesture of peace and solidarity. “This one probably likes it rough, so maybe when you’re done I can—”
He didn’t have the chance to finish that thought because Alex’s hands were around his neck in an instant. They were wrapped tightly in a chokehold, and the man was sputtering and coughing as he tried to move Alex’s arms.
Unfortunately for him, Alex was not only stronger, but also smarter, so he knew how to use his weight and strength to his advantage.
“Don’t ever talk that way again,” Alex threatened as he dropped the man to the floor, and the man scrambled backwards like a wounded animal. His dark eyes were large and dilated, and he had a stunned look on his face.
As if he couldn’t quite believe that he was betrayed by his own kind.
Finally, his lips curled back into a sneer as he spit on the floor next to him. “Whatever. She probably wasn’t going to be that good anyway.”
I placed my hand on Alex’s shoulder to calm him down because I knew that the man was trying to taunt him now. It wouldn’t be good for Alex’s case if he attacked a man even if the pig deserved it.
Also, I was sure lawyers were held to a higher standard, so I doubted he’d be able to talk his way out of this one. And I had a feeling he was able to do that a lot.
The slight shift in his breathing told me he was reacting to my touch which was good. I leaned in and whispered. “Just ignore him. He’s trying to bait you.”
Alex gave a small imperceptible nod as he gave the man one last withering look.
“That’s right. Walk away, you little pussy.”
Before I could think it through, I pushed Alex aside, and I was up in the man’s face. He only had a second to register that it was me who came not Alex before I yanked my hand back and let it fly forward.
There was the sound of a sick crunch, and I cursed as I pulled my hand away and cradled it in my other hand. The man’s head was thrown to the side, and blood was pouring out of his mouth.
Mr. Rothman came out at that moment, his expression weary but stern. “Everybody get back to work now.”
It was as if somebody hit the play button. In slow motion, everybody began to get back to what they were doing before the fight broke out except for Ruth, Alex, the man on the floor and I.
Blood was still dripping on the floor even though the man had his hands held over his nose, and his eyes squeezed shut. Mr. Rothman calmly instructed one of the waitresses to get him a hot towel for his nose, and he handed it to him.
“My name is John Roberts. Are you the manager here?” John asked as he tilted his head back in an effort to stop the bleeding. His voice came out sounding muffled and strained, but I didn’t feel any kind of guilt.
Nor regret.
Aside from the slight throbbing in my hand, there was nothing to indicate that I was the one to do this. Mildly, I wondered if I should be alarmed by the blood because I didn’t think I’d punched him that hard, but Ruth shot me a look that told me to stay quiet.
So I did.
I kept my mouth shut though I had a few choice words for this John Roberts.
“Yes, I am,” Mr. Rothman responded, casually as if they were having a conversation over a plate of food.
“I want to a file a complaint.”
“The only person who should be filing a complaint here is Ms. Stevens.” Mr. Rothman gestured in my direction. “She has that right, not you.”
“Excuse me?” John glared while holding up the towel which only made him look comical.
“You heard me. I know what happened here. Don’t take me for a fool, Mr. Roberts. I should call the police right now because you attacked one of my employees, and I heard the way you were trying to taunt Mr. Coldwell.”
“But I, but she and he—” He sputtered as his face turned red in shame.
“If I were you, I would pay the check, grab my buddies and get out of here. You’re not welcome here,” Mr. Rothman’s voice rang out clearly and authoritatively.
There was no room for argument.
His friends had been watching the confrontation quietly, neither of them lifting a finger to help him. No doubt they realized that he’d gotten himself in trouble, and they didn’t have to go down with him.
Hastily, they began to shuffle up out of their seats, and with their heads down, they hurriedly paid the check.
“We’ll go,” One of them assured us as he began to pull John backwards vehemently. John stared at us as we stood there, an oddly mismatched group before he narrowed his eyes into slits and stormed out.
I hadn’t realized that I was holding my breath till it came out in a whoosh, and I sagged in relief against Ruth. “Thank God he left.”
“I know, darlin’.” Ruth began to pat my hair and rub her hands over my back in an effort to soothe me. “It’s okay.”
“Are you alright, Sandy?” Mr. Rothman asked, the concern shining in his dark eyes.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“I can see you handled yourself quite well,” Mr. Rothman said, admiringly. “You definitely didn’t need us supporting you.”
“It helped anyways,” I assured him, warmly as I gave him a small smile.
“We can still file a complaint.” Mr. Rothman suggest. “You’re well within your right to do that.”
“I never got his name, so there’s no point. If he comes back, we will.”
Mr. Rothman nodded and strolled back to his office, the obvious tension in his shoulders fading away.
“Thank you for stopping me from doing something stupid,” Alex said, quietly as he eyed me seriously. “If I had gotten a hold of him a second time, I don’t think I would’ve just settled for dropping him to the ground like a doll.”
“I could tell. It’s okay.”
Ruth gave my shoulder one last comforting squeeze before she angled herself backwards. “I should get back to it, and you need to go to the doctor. If you wait for a bit, I can try to take you.”
In response, my hand began to throb, and I winced. “No, it’s okay. I’ll just sleep it off.”
“That looks swollen, honey. You definitely need to take a look at it,” Ruth advised.
“Your car doesn’t work that well, Ru. I’d rather you use it to get yourself home. I can take a bus or something,” I argued.
“I’ll take her,” Alex offered, interrupting the argument. Two sets of eyes turned to him, one of them grateful, and the other weary.
“Or I could at least take the bus with you if you don’t feel comfortable being alone in a car with me after what just transpired.”
I stared and shook my head. “No, it’s okay, I guess, but don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“Not at the present, no,” Alex responded, an amused smile hovering on the edge of his lips. “Let me just grab my jacket.”
“Mr. Coldwell,” Mr. Garcia called out from his booth, an odd look on his face.
Alex stiffened as he slowly turned around, his jaw taut. “Yes?”
Mr. Garcia gestured to the seat in front of him. “Come and sit down. Let’s talk shop.”
Ruth and I shared an incredulous look, but for his part, Alex didn’t look fazed at all. I was pretty sure he’d just landed a major client, and instead of looking elated, he looked quietly confident and poised.
As if he expected that to happen.
No one could’ve predicted that though.
Unless…
An easy thought began to gnaw at the pit of my stomach. What if only tried to help me to impress Mr. Garcia? To show him that he was a human being who could help the less fortunate?
It wasn’t too much of a stretch, was it?
I didn’t want to think that of him especially when he’d just helped save my life, but I couldn’t help the negative thoughts that kept pestering me.
I watched his retreating back and wondered about the true nature of Alex Coldwell.
***
“Hang on, I can open the door for you,” Alex offered as he hastily slipped off his seatbelt.
“I can do it myself,” I snapped, a little sharply as I used my other hand to open the door. It was slightly more difficult given that it was my right hand that was injured, but I managed.
Once we walked into the hospital, I signed in and waited for them to call my name. I fidgeted uneasily on the uncomfortable plastic waiting chairs as Alex aimlessly flipped through the magazine next to me.
He bounced his legs up and down nervously as he kept checking his watch every few seconds. When I finally grew fed up, I shot him a withering look. “Could you possibly stop doing that? I said you can leave if you want to. I can take the bus home.”
“No, I can wait,” he said, distractedly.
“Then stop fidgeting,” I ordered, testily as I began to feel a headache pounding at the base of my skull. I could already tell it was going to be one those headaches that stayed for a while.
Just what I needed.
“That was a hell of a punch. Where did you learn to punch like that?” Alex asked as he began to pop the muscles in his neck by craning his neck left then right.
“When you grow up in a neighborhood like mine, you learn to defend yourself early on,” I explained without looking at him as I tried to ignore the growing pain in my hand,
I seriously hoped I hadn’t done a lot of damage to it because I liked being able to depend on myself, and this was going to be hard if I was one hand short.
“An important survival skill,” Alex commented.
“Yes,” I said, shortly. “Look, seriously. I think you should just go.”
“Why do you keep asking me to go?” he asked, annoyance leaking into his tone. “I’m here aren’t I?”
“I know that what you did was to prove to Mr. Garcia that you aren’t a bad person,” I countered. “So, there’s no need to pretend anymore. He isn’t here anymore, so there’s no need to impress him. He’ll probably hire you anyway.”
Alex sighed deeply. “I’ll admit it started out like that, but—”
“But what? You saw the error of your ways? You repented and saw the light?’ I asked, sarcastically as I crossed my arms over my chest, careful not to aggravate my swollen hand.
“No, it wasn’t quite that dramatic. I just realized that I genuinely didn’t want him to say those things about you, and I thought I could help,” Alex argued.
“Well, I genuinely don’t like being used as a means to an end.”
“I already said I was sorry.”
“Actually, you didn’t.”
“Well, I am okay. Just please forget about it, okay?” Alex, pleaded.
“We’ll see.” I turned my head and picked up the first thing next to me, swiftly ending the conversation. Unfortunately for me, it was a magazine about couples, and how to make a relationship work.
Not exactly the best reading material given the current situation, but it was what it was.
“Ms. Stevens? Ms. Sandra Stevens?” A voice called out. I stood up, abruptly and so did Alex after a momentary pause. “The doctor is ready for you now. Down the hall and to your right.”
I nodded in thanks and strode down the corridor past nurses and other patients with Alex following closely behind. He didn’t say anything, but I could feel the weight of his gaze on me.
I finally turned right, and ran smack dab into my doctor who immediately righted me. I stared up into a pair of wide and warm green eyes, and muscular arms that helped me regain my balance.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized, profusely.
“That’s alright. We all have clumsy movements.” He waved my protest away as he held the door open for both Alex and I.
I hopped onto the examination table and listlessly let my eyes wander over the surroundings. It was a quaint office with nude painted walls, some comfy looking chairs for the guests, and posters from the golden era of Hollywood hanging sporadically on the walls.
My favorite had to be the one of breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The doctor buttoned up his coat, and I took a quick peek at his name tag which read Sam Lowe. He was jotted something down on his keyboard when he finally looked up at me and smiled.
“So, what seems to be the problem today, Ms. Stevens?”
“Well, Doctor, you see, I punched a guy in the face because he was being a jackass,” I said, honestly.
The doctor choked back a laugh as he snorted. He took one look at my face, and the smile wavered for a second before it blossomed into a full out grin.
“Seriously?”
He sounded impressed, and in awe.
“Seriously,” I boasted, feeling a little proud of myself. I mean, it wasn’t rocket science or anything, but today I wasn’t the damsel in distress.
That was worth something.
“Well, I must say I’m quite impressed,” Sam complimented as he began to examine my finger, giving me a few basic instructions like to tighten my grip then release and turn it around a couple of times.
He picked up his keyboard and drew his bottom lip between his teeth as he wrote something down. Alex was quiet through all of this, an inscrutable expression on his face.
Sam gave him a puzzled look before he turned his attention back to me. “The good news is, it isn’t broken.”
“What’s the bad news?” I asked, grimly.
“It’s a hairline fracture. It’s a small crack or a severe bruise in the bone. In this case, it’s your wrist. I don’t how on Earth you punched him that hard, but yeah, it did leave a mark.”
“How do I take care of it?” I asked, brusquely.
“Just take it easy for a few weeks. I’m going to prescribe some pain meds, and I’ll wrap it up for you right now,” Sam informed me.
“Thanks doc,” I said, warmly. “I can’t use my hand regularly, right?”
Sam shook his head as he opened and closed some cupboards. He emerged a few seconds later with the necessary equipment in order to take care of it. “It’s better not to because if you sprain it too much, it’ll become worse.”
I sighed. “Okay, looks like I have no choice.”
“Well, you don’t have to sound so grim about it. It’ll be right as rain in two weeks,” Sam said, cheerfully.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that, doc. I’m a waitress. It’ll be hard to manage without both hands,” I mumbled as I tried to keep myself completely still.
It was hard not to fidget in a doctor’s office.
At least for me.
I could be perfectly content sitting still and not doing anything, but then suddenly once the doctor told me not to do something, that becomes the only thing I want to do.
It was maddeningly infuriating and wildly laughable at the same time.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sam offered sympathetically. “I’m just going to file these papers with the nurse, and I’ll be right back.”
He gave me a quick smile before he opened the door, and it closed with a quiet click behind him. I began to swing my legs back and forth like a child as I whistled under my breath.
“I’m sorry.” Alex breathed, speaking the first words he’d said since we walked into the doctor’s office. After our rather abrupt conversation, I was convinced he was sulking, and thus left him to his own advices.
It wasn’t my fault he had a fragile ego.
“What for?” I asked as I swung my neck around to look at him, confusion written all over my face.
“This.” He gestured between the two of us and especially at my hand.
“It’s not like you were being a provocative asshole who kept trying to goad me.” I shrugged as I gave him an awkward smile.
Okay, I wasn’t sure where the change of heart was coming from, and I didn’t know how to react to it.
“Yes, but if I had just calmed down initially, he wouldn’t have felt the need to goad either of us, and you wouldn’t have had to punch him,” Alex reasoned. “Thank you for doing that for me.”
I raised an eyebrow and snorted. “I didn’t do that for you. I did it for me.”
Alex smirked. “There’s no need for us to lie to each other, Sandra. You can admit it.”
“There’s nothing to admit,” I insisted.
“Alright,” he acquiesced, far too easily as his smirk grew larger, and his eyes sparkled mischievously.
“Stop that,” I warned as I waggled a finger at him.
“Stop what?” he asked, innocently as he spread his arms out in a gesture of peace and solidarity.
“Stop acting like you believe me when you clearly don’t.” I scowled, darkly. “As you said, there’s no need to lie to each other.”
A brief laugh escaped Alex’s lips. “Yes, but I believe that you believe yourself, and isn’t that the most important thing?”
“That sounds patronizing,” I countered.
“There’s no winning with you, is there?” Alex threw his hands up in the air in surrender and gave me an exasperated look.
“No, I’m not like that,” I said, defensively.
“Do I have to be an ‘Oh shucks’ doctor to please you?” he said, sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and ran his hands through his hair.
“Excuse me? Do you have to be a what now?” My eyebrows climbed to my hairline.
I was seriously confused.
What the hell was he blathering on about?
Dr. Sam had been nothing but nice and accommodating, so why he was choosing to make fun of him?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was jealous, but the mere notion of the idea was preposterous. One, because he had nothing to be jealous of. Sam was attractive, but he didn’t hold a candle to Alex. Two because I wasn’t drawn to Sam the same way I was drawn to Alex although they were both ridiculously attractive.
And third, and probably the most important reason is because we weren’t dating. We’d only had two conversations, one of which he spent ogling my ass. How did that mean he was entitled to his feelings?
“Never mind,” he grumbled.
“No, go ahead and say it,” I dared him as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Make fun of the doctor who’s done nothing but try to do his job and be helpful because of something that escalated since you couldn’t keep your temper in check.”
Alex’s eyes darkened. “I couldn’t keep my temper in check? You’re the one who went outside alone.”
“I wasn’t aware that was grounds for molestation now,” I countered, hotly as my voice rose slightly in pitch. I drew in a ragged breath and told myself to calm down before we attracted unwanted attention which was the last thing either of us seemed to want.
“It’s not, but honestly when you do something as stupid as go out by yourself when you saw how that bunch was acting—”
“Are you calling me stupid now?” I interrupted as I bristled with barely concealed rage. How dare he?!
He had no right whatsoever to call me that.
I wasn’t going to live my life in fear because men couldn’t grasp the basic concept of the word ‘no’.
“I didn’t call you stupid. I said your actions are stupid,” he corrected, his voice condescending.
“Oh, you mean like picking a man up by the scruff of his neck and dropping him to the ground when he was threatening to sue?”
“That was done in the heat of the moment,” Alex argued, his face turning slightly red with embarrassment.
I had him there.
He knew he was acting unprofessionally, and he didn’t want to be called out on it.
Well, tough.
Because with the way I was feeling, I was going for blood.
“That doesn’t make it any less stupid,” I half whispered, half yelled as I kept my eye on the door, hoping that Dr. Sam didn’t just walk in all of a sudden and witness this.
Whatever this was.
I wasn’t even sure why we were arguing.
Emotions were clearly running high, and we’d both said and done stupid things. What was the point of pointing fingers when it would neither change the outcome, nor make either of us feel better?
If anything, it was going to make things worse.
Alex had taken a step forward at that point, and he was only centimeters away as his chest rose and fell unevenly. My own breathing came out in short hollow gasps due to the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Suddenly, a whiff of his cologne hit my nostrils, the crisp spicy smell of him, and I felt my heart skip a beat.
Damn it, Sandy. Get it together.
You aren’t going to come undone and go weak in the knees when the man was acting a prehistoric Neanderthal.
“You didn’t have to punch him,” Alex pointed out, stubbornly, refusing to let the argument go.
I groaned as I placed my head in my good hand and began massaging my temples. “Okay, we both clearly need to take a beat because we’re snapping at each other when there’s no reason to be. Neither of us stand to gain anything by doing this.”
I was staring at a spot on the floor as I tried to get my wits about me. I heard Alex shudder as he took a deep breath and released it. His entire body sagged under the weight, and relief began to course through me.
If he calmed down, there was a higher chance that I was going to calm down too because he was the one who’d started it, and my response was a knee jerk reaction.
It was a bad impulse, but he was able to get under my skin entirely too quickly for a man I’d just met.
I didn’t like that one bit.
That feeling that someone might challenge the tightly exercised control I kept.
It was unnerving to say the least.
And I didn’t plan on letting it continue.
“You’re right,” Alex admitted, quietly as he ran his hands through his hair. I peeked up at him through my fingers, and I lifted my head up to look at him.
“It’s been a long night. We’re both on edge understandably.”
“You have right to be. I, on the other hand, am completely out of line, and for that I am sorry,” he apologized, his expression boring into mine. “I couldn’t not help though.”
“I’m not some helpless damsel in distress, Alex. I can handle myself,” I reminded him, gently.
The vulnerable expression on his face was making me uncomfortable.
“Yeah, you’ve more than proved that. Especially with that punch.” Alex smiled. “That’s the only good part about not being able to beat the shit out of him.”
“How are you a lawyer again?” I asked, playfully. “Aren’t you supposed to be in complete control when it comes to things like this otherwise you lose it in court, and you might get disbarred?”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “I see someone knows their law jargon.”
“Nah, I just watch a lot of crime shows. CSI, Suits, and more recently How to get away with murder.”
“No, maybe, and arguably the best one on that list. Out of all of them, the most compelling though also the least accurate is the last one. It’s an addiction though,” Alex confessed. “Though you can’t tell anyone that I’m a Shonda Rhimes fan. They would never let me live it down.”
“There goes my letter to the association. Dear members of the committee, it is in your best interest to know that one Alex Coldwell secretly lives in Shondaland,” I began as he pretended to squirm, and he ducked his head.
I liked this side of Alex.
It pained me to admit it because he was probably not this nice in real life. I probably wouldn’t even have liked him if I’d met him under a different set of circumstances, but here we were.
“I’ll have to play dumb then. It’s my word against yours,” Alex joked, a smile playing on the edge of his lips.
“I’m a common everyday person. I’m far more relatable than the attractive hotshot lawyer with far too much charisma to be honest,” I blurted out.
My eyes widened in surprise as I realized what I said. The words were out of my mouth before I’d even realized it.
Alex’s face broke out into a sexy grin as he crossed his arms over his chest, drawing attention to his muscles in the process. “So, you think I’m hot, huh?”
“I said attractive, not hot,” I corrected as my face burned red with shame.
Yeah, now I suddenly wanted the doctor to come back.
What was taking him so bloody long?
It wasn’t like he was waiting for paint to dry. I wanted to get out of her as fast as I could and never look at Alex Coldwell again for the remainder of my days. Well, maybe not look was an exaggeration. I wasn’t going to deny myself that simply pleasure.
I could refrain from talking to him though.
Checking out his ass and his pecs didn’t require me to open my mouth and say anything.
That was a definite perk which was fine by me. Then I can avoid the verbal diarrhea that just transpired.
“You say potato, I say potato,” he said, highlighting the difference between the American and British pronunciations.
“No, it’s not even close,” I hissed as I felt the blush creep up my neck as my eyes snapped to meet his. My own hazel eyes were wide and embarrassed whereas his baby blue ones were confident and curious.
“It’s what I heard,” Alex intoned.
“Then you have selective hearing,” I muttered as my eyes stayed glued on his. For some reason, I was unable to break our gaze, and I knew I needed to do especially when he took a step closer, and we were suddenly chest to chest.
So close, I could see the hair on his forearms, and every individual fleck of color in his eyes.
I gulped visibly as I told myself to lean backwards. My traitorous body wasn’t responding though. It just stayed rooted to the spot, determined to soak up as much of this as possible before I dragged it back.
“That’s okay. I can live with that,” Alex murmured, softly as his hands dropped to his side. One hand slowly rose up to cup my face, and he brushed the pad of his thumb ever so softly against my skin.
My body’s reaction to his was not normal. I leaned forward and melted into his touch.
“What are you doing?” I mouthed.
“I just wanted to touch you,” he whispered, softly as his thumb continued to skim over my features. “Sandra I—”
The door swung open, and I hastily jumped back as if we’d been caught doing something we shouldn’t do.
Which wasn’t true.
We were both consenting adults, and there was nothing wrong with touching.
My body hummed with suppressed energy, the current of his touch swarming through me as Dr. Sam looked up from his clipboard and smiled.
“Alrighty, sorry that took a while, but you are ready to go as soon as I hand over those prescriptions.”
He jotted down the information and ripped the paper from the clipboard. I hopped off the chair and held out my hand.
“Thank you, Doc,” I said, gratefully.
“You’re most welcome. You’ll need to come back in two weeks, so I can make sure everything is okay, but yeah, you’re free to go.” He stepped aside and held the door wide open.
I nodded and passed through it. On his way out, Alex and Sam shared a look that I couldn’t quite decipher.