Page 66 of Born to Make You Smile

I teasingly pushed his arm. “But what about work? And the girls, don’t they have school?”

“Always a worrier.” He planted a kiss on my cheek. “We only had two patients, so Tina rescheduled, and I spoke to my sister. They’ll drive back tonight and take the girls to school in the morning.”

“Sounds like you covered all the bases.” I nodded, still hesitant.

He frowned. “Be honest. Is this all right with you?”

Part of me loved the idea of spending more time here in Ottawa and staying the night together. The other part felt tense. Would it be too much? I was already starting to fall for this wonderful, forbidden man. All this quality time together would surely complicate things and make it that much more difficult for us to return to normalcy when we got home. I still wasn’t sure how our dynamic would work. My stomach tumbled like a runaway dryer when I thought about it. I looked into his stunning emerald eyes and his smiling handsome face.

“It sounds wonderful,” I said with a smile.

My stomach squirmed, deciding that I would figure it out later. I was sick of being responsible. Sick of always doing the logical thing. I was tired of being alone. Tired of worrying about money and my life. I just wanted to lose myself in him and forget everything back home. The house, the repairs, the debt. Right now, it didn’t matter.

We sat through several very informative yet boring presentations. Sitting so close to him and being aware of his body and movements had me buzzing like a live wire. Gavin kept trying to make me laugh. He started pointing out strange shapes in the carpet—a turnip! No wait, definitely a caribou.

“Look at this dentist,” Gavin said, gesturing to the program. “Dr. Newman. I suppose Dr. Oldman has since retired.”

I shook my head with a chuckle of pity.So bad.

“And this one. Dr. Cocksworth. I don’t need to make a joke about him.”

I flashed him a quizzical expression. “That can’t be his real name.”

I peered at the program, and a squeal almost escaped when I sawDr. William Cocksworthwas, in fact, a real dentist’s name. “We have to stay to see his presentation!”

At one point, we almost lost composure when Dr. Cocksworth saidoral carefor what seemed like the fiftieth time.

We were like two immature teenagers in a sex-ed class. The harder we tried not to laugh, the more difficult it was to hold it in.

“Grace, pay attention,” Gavin whispered right against my ear. “This is no laughing matter. Dr. Cocksworth is trying to share his oral expertise.”

“Stop, stop,” I begged, my stomach twisting. “I’m going to have to leave.”

A woman in front of us turned with a harsh stare, and we got the hint and settled after that.

Following the lectures, we continued to walk around, and I couldn’t resist not being able to touch him any longer. I reached out and grabbed his hand, but he swiftly pulled away.

The rejection stung like a slap in the face.

“Grace,” he said, leaning close. “I know quite a few people here, so I’d rather keep things private. I don’t want them getting the wrong idea.”

“Yes,” I said with a curt nod. “Good call. I wasn’t thinking.”

While I understood his concerns, something about it all filled me with a wave of discomfort. As if he wanted to hide me. Keep me his dirty little secret.

Would it be like this forever? Us sneaking around for sex and then acting natural in public? For some reason, I worried that he’d never risk his reputation to be with me.

I couldn’t shake the negative thoughts from cycling.

Maybe this is a mistake.

Maybe this will backfire.

Maybe I'll lose everything.

***

We were naked on his bed, kissing, touching, exploring. Taking our time.

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