Chapter 14
Mason
There was nothing weird at all about my patient coming in for her routine checkup. Nothing. Well, there was the minor fact that I had fucked her the other day, but I was okay with it. I could be professional. I only worried she would be a little freaked out and weird around me. The way she had practically run out of my apartment told me she was going to be uncomfortable. I had to do my best to be professional and normal.
“Your ten o’clock is here and waiting,” Junie said, walking past me.
“Great. Thanks.”
I took a deep breath, straightened my tie, and headed toward the room she was waiting in. I tapped on the door twice, announcing my presence, and then strolled in. Another nurse was checking her vitals and preparing to draw blood.
“Hi,” I greeted Lara.
She looked up at me and smiled. “Good morning,” she said, all business.
I guessed I had my answer. She wasn’t uncomfortable in the least. I quickly figured out she was going with the “it never happened” approach.
“How’ve you been feeling?” I asked in a clinical voice. “Any side effects from the hormones?”
“Nope. I feel great. I’m ready to do this. When can we try?”
“We’ll have your blood and urine test results back today. If the levels are where we want them, we can try as soon as tomorrow.”
She beamed. “Great!”
We discussed the procedure and what she could expect. I knew we had previously covered it all, but I wanted to make sure she understood everything. It had already been decided I would not do the clinical insemination. I had excused myself from that part of her treatment. It was best we didn’t cross that line.
The nurse collected the vials of blood and left the room.
“Are we done?” Lara asked.
I nodded. “Yes. Someone will call you later today with the results. If it’s a go, they’ll get you set up with an appointment.”
She stood up, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the room. I sat on my stool for a few seconds and realized I had just let her walk out the door.
I jumped up and followed her down the carpeted hall. Once I reached her, I placed a hand on the small of her back and steered her into a waiting lounge.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I wanted to talk to you,” I said in a low voice. “Can I see you later?”
She glared at me. “Do you push all of your patients into empty rooms to talk to them and ask to see them?”
“Uh, no.”
“Then don’t do it with me.”
“Lara,” I started.
She pushed me back and stepped out of the room. “Dr. Chambers, I am a patient, nothing more. Please do try to remember that for our future visits.”
She walked away, leaving me staring at her like a fool. I had expected her to be awkward, not aloof. I didn’t think I had ever felt so used in my life.
“She must be a whole lot more than just a patient,” Junie said, coming into the room.
“What?”
“You’re not fooling anybody. I can see by the way you look at her that she is someone special.”
“No. I mean, I went to school with her, but nothing more than that.”
Junie gave me a knowing smile. “I don’t think I have ever seen you act like that with any other patient. She’s special. Admit it.”
I sighed and lifted a shoulder. “She’s someone I used to know. That’s it,” I said, trying to hide the defeat in my voice.
Lara’s brush-off had stung a bit. I had thought we could maybe work through things and explore a relationship. I knew she still felt something for me. Her body told a different story than her mouth.
“I think you should try a little harder to hold on to that one. It’s pretty clear you feel very strongly for her. She is a beautiful woman. You could do worse,” she said with a wink before leaving the room. “Your next patient is waiting,” she called out.
I shook off Lara’s rejection and focused on my work. I managed to make it through most of the day without thinking too much about the way she had brushed me off. I didn’t know that I had ever been so coldly dumped before. I didn’t like it.
When the last patient was gone for the day, I shut my office door and called Lara.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Lara, can we please talk?”
She sighed on the other end of the line. “What’s up? Is this about my test results?”
“No. I haven’t looked, and I’m not going to. This isn’t a call about your health. This is about you and me.”
“Mason, there isn’t a you and me. I didn’t seek you out to start up a relationship. I had no idea you worked at the clinic when I made my appointment.”
“I don’t work at the clinic, Lara,” I said with more force than I should have. “I own the damn thing.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that. Congratulations.”
“Not what I called for, Lara. I want to take you out for dinner.”
“No.”
“Lara.”
“No. I’m not interested in dating. I’m interested in having a baby. That’s it. I’m freshly divorced after a marriage that left me miserable. I am not ready to date or even think about another relationship,” she said, slightly exasperated.
“How do you know you aren’t interested if you haven’t tried? We had a great time together. You have to admit that.”
“Mason, I’m not interested in dating or a relationship. Maybe in the future, but right now my sole focus is having a baby.”
“You know that happens naturally, too. I could give you a baby,” I volunteered, slightly joking.
She got the joke and laughed. “Thanks, but I’ll stick with the other option.”
“Fine. You have my number. If you change your mind, give me a call.”
“Bye, Mason.”
I put the phone down and fought back the urge to scream at the ceiling. The woman was driving me crazy. Why in the hell was she playing so hard to get? It couldn’t be because of what had happened all those years before. We had talked about that. We’d worked through it, and I thought she understood why I did what I did.
I abruptly stood, sending my chair flying into the wall. I needed to get to the gym. The pool that was. I wasn’t big on the weights and all that. I enjoyed swimming. I liked the way it made me feel, like I was weightless and had no worries.
I made it to the gym in record time and had my trunks on within about thirty minutes. I dove in and began to do laps in the pool. It felt refreshing. With each stroke, I felt as if I were pushing away from Lara. She was getting further and further from my mind.
After punishing myself for almost an hour, I was weak and exhausted and yet somehow relaxed. Lara dissing me didn’t seem nearly as important now. I climbed out of the pool and grabbed a towel.
“After that kind of workout, how are you possibly going to make me scream tonight?” Sally said, stepping in front of me.
I bit back a groan of frustration. “Sally, what brings you here?”
She had a coy smile. “You.”
“What? How’d you know I was here?”
She tittered. It was meant to be sexy, but it was like a cheese grater on my nerves. “You always come here after work. After you turned me down the other night, I wasn’t going to let you fuck me again. I think I may have changed my mind after seeing you in that pool.”
Her fingers reached out and traced a bead of water down my chest. I took a small step back, breaking contact. “Sally, I’m sorry. I was really tired. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“Oh, I got over it real quick. Not with another man, mind you. I had to pull out Fred. Fred always satisfies me, but not as good as you can. I want you to fuck me from behind just like you like. I’ll wear that little leather number that always gets you worked up. You can spank me if you want,” she whispered.
I waited for my dick to grow hard. It didn’t happen. Sally’s words were doing nothing for me. I didn’t want to spank her or fuck her sideways or any other way. I only wanted one woman.
“Sally, I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” I said as gently as I could.
Her eyes narrowed and her lip curled. “I don’t think so, Mason.” Her demeanor changed in an instant, and she went back to tantric seductress mode. “I like the chase. Are you going to make me work for it? I can be very persuasive. Why don’t we go into the locker room and I’ll show you how much I want you?”
I felt bad, but I couldn’t sleep with her anymore. We had enjoyed a casual relationship for several months, but it had run its course.
“Sally, I can’t. We agreed this was a casual thing. No strings. I don’t want to hurt you, but this isn’t something I want to pursue.”
I turned around to grab my shoes and leave. I didn’t want her to make a scene, and I could tell by the way she looked that we were on the verge. Sally was a loud woman. It was one of the things I had enjoyed about her when we were in bed together. Saying she was a screamer was an understatement. The woman could give any seasoned porn star a run for their money.
“I knew it!” She seethed.
I felt her hand on my back and spun around. “Sally, I’m sorry, but—”
She was shaking her head. “Who is she?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know what she was asking.
“Don’t play dumb. You have scratches on your back. You fucked the shit out of some whore. She scored your back. I can see it!” she screeched.
“Sally, relax. We aren’t together. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. You used me!” she said a little too loudly.
The other people in the pool area were looking at us. I wasn’t going to stand there and let her air out all our dirty laundry.
“I’m going to go. I’m sorry,” I said again, hoping it would sink in and she would calm down.
Her eyes dropped closed, barely slits, as she stared me down, making me nervous. “You don’t get to toss me to the side. I’m not done with you.”
I had a horrible feeling I had stepped into a fatal attraction situation. I needed to extricate myself from the encounter as soon as possible. If dead rabbits showed up on my doorstep, I was moving. Her reaction was surprising. I knew she slept with other men. I wasn’t the only one in her life. I was one of many, and I’d never had any notion we were an exclusive item.
“I’m leaving, Sally. I’m sorry. Good bye,” I said and walked around her, heading straight for my car. I didn’t care that I was wearing wet swim trunks or still holding the gym’s towel. I had to get the hell away from that woman before she did something truly crazy.
I could feel her eyes on me as I walked out. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to run to my car. The woman was nuts. How in the hell had I not seen that? She could never find out about Lara. I had a feeling she would go after her if she knew Lara was the reason I didn’t want sex with her anymore.