The last time I saw Lorrie she was getting a kick out of passive-aggressively bothering me in my office. I don’t know how the hell she got here and I didn’t want to know. April had this look of confusion on her face and my palms started sweating.

I was baffled. Thoroughly fucking baffled.

“So Paul, why don’t you finally formally introduce me to your star student April? I’ve heard so much about her.” April shot me a look of concerned and I rubbed my hand on her leg underneath the table.

“You already know April? Well that gets rid of the awkwardness of first introductions. She’s my lady of the night. Pretty soon she’ll be operating in the hospital with me.”

“Oh wow. So that means we’ll be working together huh? I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know if Dr. Gray told you, but I’m the Med tech in his department.” There was this kind of dark ominousness to her tone. Made my skin crawl. Thankfully the catering was bringing the first meal and I figured it’d be a lot better if we all just focused on the food.

I practically shoveled food into my mouth to avoid having to say anything to Lorrie. April followed suit nodding aimlessly to Lorries probing questions.

“And April, you really do look lovely. That sapphire around your neck is probably worth a pretty penny isn’t it?” I tensed when I saw Lorrie playfully swipe her hand at April’s shoulder.

“I bought it for her. Matches her beautiful eyes. She’s the most beautiful thing in here tonight.” It was ballsy but I didn’t give a damn. I wasn’t about to let her strong arm her way into our perfect night.

“What a lucky gal she is.”

* * *

Three courses later, Lorrie stood up from the table and grabbed her purse.

“Well, I really should get going. I’d love to stay and chat more but I’m afraid Paul has got a whole line of people waiting to talk to him. I’ll catch you two later!”

After it was clear that she was long gone, April’s phony smile turned into a crippling frown. Plainly put, she looked like she wanted to punch me square in my face.

“What the fuck was that all about Paul? Do you know that woman was in your condo, with a set of your keys? She’s freaking psycho!” She gave me her best inside voice but her glaring didn’t let up. “I have a ton of questions that are gonna need answers from you, ASAP.”

“Okay okay okay, hold on for a minute.” I looked around nervously, grateful that the annoying barrage of paparazzi was thoroughly distracted by other people. “Listen April, Lorrie was Dylan’s old babysitter. She quit because the hours were too much. I thought I told you about this?”

“I don’t give a damn if you told me about this before! Why the hell is she using your name to get here?”

That was a question I really didn’t have an answer to.

“She’s crazy.”

April cut her eyes at me and sighed, “Let’s just pretend that this never happened, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

It wasn’t exactly the perfect night I was hoping for but after chopping it up a bit with a few guests April eased back into her good mood and all was temporarily well.

I guess things couldn’t always go my way.

* * *

We rode back to April’s apartment and it took everything in me not to jump on her in the back of the limo. Just getting a look at her in that gown brought my mind back to just a few hours before.

Damn, she was perfect.

I couldn’t let Lorrie’s fucking weird stunts get in the way of this.

“We’re here Dr. Gray.” The chauffeur pulled up to April’s house and I got out and opened her door.

Walking her to the front, we stopped right underneath the street light. She was glowing. I honestly didn’t want to leave her alone.

“I had an amazing time tonight Paul. I mean, regardless of whatever strange shit happened, it was still amazing.”

I moved a few strands of hair out of her eyes.

“You were the best guest I’ve ever had.”

To hell with talking.

I grabbed her by her perfect hips and gave her a deep kiss. There was really no denying where this thing was going anymore. We were way past just being student and teacher, doctor and babysitter. And it took no time.

“I know since you’re the star student and all you’ll be studying really hard for that test next week. How about you stay at my place when it’s over. For a weekend?”

“Sounds like you have yourself a deal Dr. Gray.”

The sexy look on her face when she winked was sure as hell testing my restraint. But I let her leave my grip and she walked into her building.

The ride home without April was empty and I all had was the sweet taste of her supple lips to tide me over.

When I got back to the house, another strange note was taped to my front door.

“What the hell is this? Another note?” I pulled it off the door and tried to make sense of the bizarre sentence before my eyes.

“I hope she’s worth it.”

Alright, at this point I had no fucking clue what the meaning of any of this was. And it was making me pretty pissed. I crumbled the letter and practically ripped it to shreds, shoving it in my pocket. At least Dylan was with his grandmother for a few days. With all the odd shit that was coming my way, I felt like I had to be prepared for anything.

And I didn’t want my little boy to have anything to do with that possibility.

Then the weirdest thoughts started creeping into my mind.

I started thinking of every possible person that would have it out for me. Lorrie was definitely at the top of that list.

But April?...

Nah, what the hell was I thinking?! There was no way she had it in her to do something like. My head started spinning just thinking about it.

Bed sounded like a good idea about now.

Maybe it was best I distanced myself from April. If it really was Lorrie at the heart of these notes, then I didn’t want April to be involved in any way.

I needed to protect her and Dylan.

Even if it meant never touching her skin again.