Page 3 of Consorting with Romance

He was clearly startled that I’d read his mind, and his blush deepened. I wouldn’t have thought that possible. This was definitelysomething I needed to address. The poor thing seemed almost terrified.

“You ok?” I offered the gentlest smile I could.“You sure you’re interested in a job with me? We’re just standing here talking and you’re pretty red.”

Somehow, he managed to blush even more,and he stammered a bit with his reply.

“It’s j-just a new environment. Naked people all over hospitals. I’ll adjust quickly.”

I nodded as I led the way back to the waiting area. I was pleased with that response as well. He was obviously trying his best despite appearingnervous enough it seemed like he wanted to simply turn and run out the door.

“One last thing. While my clientele is pretty upscale, and my rates high enough to weed out most trouble, this profession isn’t without its risks. I’ve been lucky throughout my career, and I’ve only had someone get violent once. He was a small enough guy I could handle him on my own. However, there are things I simply don’t do, and on occasion people believe they can convince me to make exceptions when they get here even though my rules and limitations are made clear before their first appointments. They can get a bit worked up when their requests are once again denied, and violenceisn’t unheard of. There is an emergency button beside the bed and if I ever press it, you’d need to either to come in and physically assist me or if that makes you uncomfortable, place a call to the authorities.”

His expression shifted several times as I spoke and the color of his eyes seemed to darken as he worked his way through surprise to concern to determination, which somehow pleased me deeply.

“Of course.” He nodded. “Hell, I didn’t even think about that. Of course, I’d help.”

I smiled gently. “That’s about it then. Realistically, it’s reasonable that you’ll have perhaps thirtyminutes of downtime between clients, longer for couples’ sessions during which you could study. As long as everything I need completed gets taken care of, I have no issue with that.”

His face lit up with obvious relief, his eyes glowing as his smile spread across his face.

“Does this still sound like a job you’d be interested in?”

He seemed both surprised and thankful I was offering him the position.

“It’s actually really perfect for me, I think.”

A small dimple appeared on his left cheek as his nervous smile grew. That was new. Why hadn’t I noticed that before?

I didn’t understand the way I seemed to be reacting to him. I have plenty of attractive clients, but I couldn’t recall a time when simply seeing one of them smile brought me the same level of enjoyment.

“Do you have plans for the next few hours?”

Confused and surprised by the question, heshook his head cautiously. “Not really.”

“In that case, would you be willing to stay and do a trial run?I have a client coming in about thirty minutes and we could both see if it feels like a good fit. If so, the job is yours. No pressure of course, we can always arrange for you to do a trial at another time.”

He grinned yet again. “That sounds great!”

His joy was contagious, and I couldn't help but smile in return.“Perfect. Would you like some water or tea or anything while we go over the computer system a bit?”

“No, thank you.”

Lord he was polite.

I gestured to the computer and crouched down at his side as he settledintothe office chair. Almost instantly he looked down at me and furrowed his brow; moving to stand.

I laughed. “Nope, this will be your desk, not mine. Besides,” I grinned, “have to keep limber.”

He blushed once again butsettled back into the chair. We went through the scheduling and payment systems quickly. He had been telling the truth during the start of our interview. He was smart and very capable.He followed my instructions easily, and quickly began to jump ahead once he had a feel for the software.

As I knelt at his side, I was close enough that the warmth radiating from his leg kept distracting me, as did the way the fabric of his pants stretched and clung to what appeared to be a very muscular thigh. The subtle scent of citrus seemed to rise from his skin each time his arm moved next to my shoulder. Fifteen minutes later he understood the basics of the programs I used, and I didn’t think I could handle his proximity any longer. I groaned asI stoodand laughed a bit.

“Getting old.”I grimaced. “I’m going to go get ready, youdo your thing. This client is a long time regular. Really nice guy. He’s been happily partnered for about tenyears, but there are some things she doesn’t like that he enjoys, so their arrangement is he sees me every other week. Offer him water and collect his payment;he knows the drill. Oh, and don’t be surprised when his partner shows up toward the end of the appointment. She’ll just have a seat and wait.”

I patted his shoulder.“You got this?”

He grinned up at me,“Yep, good to go.”

Lord. Why was his smile so attractive? Why had I touched his shoulder? While I was in no position to reconsider offering him the job, it’s not like there were piles of qualified candidates breaking down my door, I was beginning to wonder how smart it was to have someone I found so attractive sitting in my office all day.

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