I didn’t answer him. I remained standing there with my teeth clenched, with the words I really wanted to say tucked tightly beneath my tongue.

“Dr. Madison?” He stepped closer to me, closing the gap between us. “I said, are we clear?”

“Crystal clear, Dr. Ashton.” I forced a smile. “I understand you completely.”

“Good.” He looked me up and down and then he headed toward the door. “Oh and by the way,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Everything you’re probably feeling right now is more than justified. It’s exactly how I felt when you stood me up, JERSEYGIRL7.”

My jaw immediately dropped to the floor.

“Too bad I didn’t get to test how wide your mouth could open the night we were supposed to meet,” he said, looking far more upset than he was minutes ago. “If your shocked expression is any indication, your mouth is quite impressive.”

THE DOCTOR

New York, New York

Garrett

I took sixteen flights of steps to my floor early the next morning, needing to clear my mind and find a way to apologize to Natalie. Well, I was only going to ‘somewhat’ apologize for everything I’d said to her yesterday. I was still going to make her do more paperwork than was necessary because she needed to be punished in some type of way for ruining our perfectly good online friendship. But I wasn’t going to prevent her from sitting in on sessions with me.

She was more than right about needing to get as much practice as possible and I wasn’t going to hold her back. That, and she was actually quite impressive when it came to analyzing the sessions afterwards. I found her insight and intellect quite refreshing.

“Good morning, Dr. Ashton!” Emily greeted me as I emerged from the stairwell.

“Good morning, Emily. Anything I need to know before I lock myself in my office?”

“Your three o’clock canceled, so I moved up your five o’clock session to four. Dr. Laurel just signed a new book deal, so be sure to tell her congratulations. Dr. Anderson just found out his wife is pregnant, so same thing. And I’ll need you to sign off on those lab results you sent for when they arrive around noon today.”

“Thank you very much, Emily.”

“My pleasure.”

I walked to my office and unlocked the door. Then I hit the lights and blinked several times to make sure that what I was seeing in this moment was real.

Natalie was sitting at my desk. In my chair. With my Twizzlers.

She was leaning back with her red heels perfectly perched atop a stack of books, and it looked as if she’d rearranged everything in my office to how it was when she first started here. Looking even sexier than she did yesterday, her lips were coated in a bright pink and she was raising her eyebrow — looking at me as if she were waiting for me to say something.

I didn’t.

I hit the lights and walked out of my office altogether, knowing I had to be imagining this shit.

I had better be imagining this shit ...

I’d fantasized about her wrapping her tempting mouth around my cock while she sat at my desk mere hours ago, so I figured this was just a vivid, real-world projection of that. Besides, what reason would she have to be at work four hours early?

I returned to my office, hitting the lights once more, but Natalie was still there — looking as bold and brazen as ever.

“May I help you with something, Dr. Ashton?” she said. “Is there a problem?”

“You know damn well there’s a problem.” I set my briefcase on the floor. “But you know what?”

“What?” She crossed her arms.

“I’m not going to reprimand you for sitting at my custom-made desk that I paid a fortune for, nor am I going to reprimand you for rearranging my office without my permission.”

“Sitting down and moving office furniture around isn’t a crime, Dr. Ashton.”

I rolled my eyes, sticking to the subject at hand. “I’m going to hit these lights again, and then I’m going to go for a fifteen-minute walk. Fifteen. Minutes. The second I get back, I’m going to turn on the lights once more, and you know what will happen then? You won’t be sitting at my desk. You won’t be smirking at me, and you also won’t have a stolen Twizzler dangling out of your goddamn mouth.”

I looked over at her desk and saw that she’d returned two vases of Twizzlers to her desk.

“Speaking of Twizzlers,” I said. “Those vases don’t belong to you anymore. They’re only for people who show up when they’re supposed to.”

She didn’t say anything, she just glared at me and took another bite of one.

“Fifteen minutes, Natalie,” I said, hitting the lights. “Or else.”

THE RESIDENT

New York, New York

Natalie

Dr. Ashton walked into his office fifteen minutes later, stopping dead in his tracks once his eyes met mine.

“You’re still in my goddamn chair,” he said.

“I am.” I crossed my arms. “I’ll happily get out of it when you apologize for your rude and unprofessional behavior yesterday.”

“If you have to beg someone to apologize, then the person probably isn’t sorry.”

“I have a feeling you are.”

“I’m not.” He picked up his briefcase and set it on his desk, right next to where my feet were propped on top of the books.

He muttered a few words to himself and I was pretty sure I heard him say, “I wish I would’ve made you come on my mouth that night ...” but I wasn’t sure.