The rest of the weekend was uneventful, and I spent most of it watching Twilight Zone reruns while pigging out on caramel popcorn. Claire, one of my best friends from college and a stress/anger management therapist in the clinic, always joked about my inability to get fat no matter how much I ate. I’d always been slim, which was incredible since I enjoyed a good junk food binge now and then.

All I’d been able to think about was Daniel, and this troubled me a lot. I kept replaying our dinner in the restaurant—grateful to my Tinder date for not appearing at all—thinking about his sexy smile and penetrating eyes... Why did he have to look so good? I was impatient to see him again, constantly thinking about the next time our eyes met.

I couldn’t stop thinking about him, which was totally unprofessional. Since he was a client of mine, I knew he couldn’t be in a faithful relationship at this time. And even if he recovered from his addiction, he may not want to be monogamous.

I was looking for love, and anything less than that would be a waste of my time.

I needed a real partner—I needed someone who would be loyal to me, someone who could commit. Daniel Chisolm was a playboy, and it didn’t seem likely he would change anytime soon. He was the type of man who would burn the sheets with you without even taking your number after everything was said and done. More done than said, but anyway, the point was the same.

I really knew how to pick ‘em.

For today’s session, I dressed better than usual, but I refused to admit to myself I did that because of a certain dark-eyed man, who seemed to be an extremely complex puzzle. I curled my long black hair and emphasized my hazel eyes with a slightly darker shade of eyeshadow, which I completed with a black suit that was professional and sexy at the same time.

Once more, I was the first to arrive for the group session, but I was surprised when I saw Daniel enter the room only a couple of minutes after me. As if following a command, my pulse sped up, my body hyperaware of his presence.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted me, checking me out, his eyes flashing with approval and lust.

I swallowed hard, hot under his gaze. “Good afternoon, Daniel. You came earlier today.”

“I like coming early. It’s a highly valuable trait in my field.”

“I agree. I always appreciate people who are on time and determined to make things work.”

“Just like you,” he said, complimenting me, as my stomach fluttered in response.

“And you.”

His smile was highly sexy, and I barely managed to tear my gaze from it. “We’re similar in so many ways, Marissa. I think we can have a really good client-therapist relationship.”

I offered him coffee which he accepted, before we took our seats next to each other. I sipped my coffee, welcoming the warm, rich taste. “Is this your first time seeing a therapist for your issue?”

“Yep. I was getting more stressed and easily agitated lately, and it was starting to affect my work. That’s when I realized I needed help.”

“I’m glad that you decided to give it a shot. The first step toward recovery is admitting that you have a problem, but the second one—and more important, in my opinion—is working on solving it. You’re here now, so I think that you’re on the right path.”

His smile matched mine, and he was about to say something, but one of the clients entered the room, breaking our bubble, and our conversation ceased.

Soon after, everyone came, and we started a new session. I was glad to witness the improvement of a few clients. However, that couldn’t be said for Mr. R, a man in his fifties, who was my old client, but he’d quit his therapy several times so far.

Whenever he made even the slightest progress, he would relapse, and the main problem was that he didn’t actually believe he could recover. His wife was the one who pushed him to continue his therapy, but the man himself wasn’t that responsive. He remained silent most of the time, and when I prompted him to share his recent experiences, he barely said more than a couple of words.

Another unresponsive client was Grace, who had recently divorced her fourth husband after he found her in a threesome with his two best friends. She finally reached for help, but her improvement was rather slow. I noticed the way she looked at Daniel, non-stop ogling him, and something that could only be described as jealousy filled my insides.

This was bad. This was unprofessional. Daniel was just a client, and he had the right to do whatever he wanted in his free time. The irony was in the fact that Grace had the freedom to have sex with him if she wanted, which couldn’t be said for me. Daniel was untouchable for me, and that very fact increased my anxiety.

I was more than aware of his nearness next to me, my heart accelerating each time he slightly inclined toward me and I caught a whiff of his cologne. I couldn’t determine if he paid any attention to Grace, but even if he didn’t, I was sure that she would try to get a minute of his time after the session was over.

Twenty minutes later, my suspicions were confirmed when she stood up and approached Daniel. Planning to eavesdrop on them, I went over to the filing cabinet. I took some documents and fumbled with them, pretending I wasn’t paying attention to them.

“Hello. I’m Grace.”

“Hello, Grace. I’m Daniel.”

“It’s good to see you again. Honestly, I thought you’d definitely quit, but you proved me wrong.” I cringed. These words were definitely not something Daniel would appreciate. Daniel’s lack of response proved this. One of my personal rules was—never peg another client as a coward—which Grace had just broken.

“I always love seeing new faces,” she continued, not missing a beat.

I bet you do. I clenched my jaw, fighting against my unjustified feelings. I hadn’t realized I was holding one document so hard that I was crushing it.

“I was wondering if you’d like to grab a coffee with me sometime?” she asked him, cutting to the chase. “I like making new friends.”

I held my breath as I waited for his answer, having no clue what it would be.

“Actually, I’m pretty busy these days. Sorry.”

Oh. Did he reject her? A huge smile spread across my face, misplaced relief filling me. I shouldn’t feel this way, but I couldn’t help it. I wished I could turn around and see her reaction.

She was silent, probably taken aback by his unexpected answer, but then she cleared her throat. “Well, then. That’s fine. Don’t overexert yourself, okay?” Her giggles sounded forced, grating on my ears. Well, that was embarrassing, but I had to give it to her. She quickly recovered from his rejection. “See you around.”

“See you,” he said, disinterested. I let out the breath I’d been holding, forcing myself to stop grinning like crazy.

“Bye, Marissa.”

I looked over my shoulder and met her dejected glance. “Bye, Grace. Have a great rest of your week!” She nodded and left the room.

Daniel and I were now completely alone, which created some unexpected tension in the air. I couldn’t move from my spot, still pretending I was reading the document in my hand carefully. I felt him approaching, which created goosebumps on my skin, and I didn’t dare move.

“You were listening, right?” he whispered directly into my ear, and I gasped, hot all over.

I spun around. “Daniel.” He was directly in front of me, only mere inches separating our bodies, and I was met with darkened eyes that made me forget all my rational thoughts...

“I’m not interested in other addicts. That would only make my situation even more awkward.”

I didn’t know why he felt the need to explain himself to me, but I had to admit I was beyond curious to know about it.

“You don’t have to justify yourself to me, Daniel. I wouldn’t judge you if you decided to go for coffee with her.” Liar. I just hoped my face didn’t show my true feelings.

“But you wouldn’t like it either,” he said so silently that I thought I’d heard him wrong.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, fearing we’d entered forbidden territory.

“Excuse me?” I had to push him away. I had to stop this before I did something I would regret.

He didn’t respond to me or move, still cornering me against the cabinet, and I never wanted to touch him more than I wanted now. My fingers itched to slide over his chiseled jaw and soft lips, and I was seconds away from doing just that. His eyes fell on my lips. Was he going to kiss me? Somehow I knew that if he did that, I wouldn’t even stop him.

However, he didn’t kiss me. He stepped away, to my disappointment, breaking the tension that held us together. His face was unreadable as he studied me, and I looked sideways.

I should get a grip. I was his therapist, and we were close to breaching that invisible line that separated us. I had to resume my position and remind myself that nothing of this nature should happen again.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but he didn’t look sorry at all. “Forget what I’ve said just now.”

I made sure my smile was professional and unwavering. “It’s already forgotten.”

I went to where I’d left my bag on the other side of the room in order to put some distance between us. “Thank you for coming today, Daniel. I hope that today’s session was helpful.” My voice was unusually raspy, and I was sure he noticed that as well.

“No need to thank me. It’s good that I came. Actually, I felt better today than the previous time.”

“That’s great. I’m sure that the next time it’ll be even better.”

“I think so too. So I’ll keep coming. Also, I’d like to schedule our first one-on-one session. I thought about it, and it would be a good idea to try it out.”

“Excellent. Let me look for the available spot in my schedule.” I took my agenda from my bag and checked my availability. “You’re lucky. I have one tomorrow at 4 pm.”

“Then tomorrow at 4 pm it is.”

I put his name on my schedule before I headed out. He fell in step with me on our way out of the room. “Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?”

I stopped, confounded with his invitation. This was definitely something I hadn’t expected. “Didn’t you tell Grace that you were busy?” I asked jokingly, wanting nothing more than to have another dinner with him.

He raised one eyebrow. “You know why I said that.”

“I know.” I sighed, forcing myself to take a step away from him so I wouldn’t lose control and kiss him right then and there. “I’m sorry, Daniel, but we can’t. If I accepted to go to dinner with you now that you’re my client, that would go against our professional relationship, and that’s not okay.”

“It’s just a dinner, Marissa. I won’t hit on you if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I looked away, uncomfortable talking about this. This was exactly what I was thinking, but I didn’t want to say it out loud and make our professional relationship more awkward than it already was.

“Either way, Daniel, we can’t see each other out of the office. It goes against the rules.”

He nodded, giving up on trying to persuade me. “Okay. I understand. See you tomorrow then.” He threw me one of his charming smiles and walked away, giving me a perfect view of his sexy ass.

I sighed, disappointed that I couldn’t pursue anything further with him. Why did everything have to be so complicated?