Page 20 of Ride With Me

“I’m taking you to my guest room.” His bottom lip curls and he reaches under the kitchen island. My mouth falls open when he pushes on the countertop of the island and it slides forward. Enjoying my shell-shocked reaction a little too much, he opens a small door that acts as part of the bottom of the island and walks down a flight of creaky stairs. “Come on,” he says, looking back at me, pausing halfway when he notices I haven’t moved yet.

“Why are you showing me the room I’ll be sleeping in when it’s not even afternoon yet.”

He chuckles. It’s both pleasant and unsettling. I can’t explain it. Nothing makes sense with this man and I’m more curious than I am afraid. He could be planning to chop me up into tiny pieces, and here I am working hard to stop myself from running ahead of him to see where he’s taking me.

“I’m glad you know the difference between day and night but I’m not taking you down here to sleep. Not yet. In order to make sure you’re completely healthy, I have to do a full exam first.”

“Like I would get during a physical?”

“Precisely.” His smile is so clinical now and so is the way he reaches his hand out to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”

“Okay.” My stomach can’t decide if it wants to lurch or do a dance as I allow him to lead me to a dark basement. It mirrors the living room, almost, with the same couches and TV, just missing the windows and connecting kitchen. Two doors line the back wall, three feet apart.

“This way, Mr…”

“Banks.” I make up a last name on the fly.

His eyes flicker. “We’ll be doing the exam in this room, Mr. Banks.” Twisting the knob, he pushes the door open and guides me inside first. My heart thuds when he closes the door and points toward an exam table. The room is very sterile looking, with a set of cabinets sitting in the corner.

“You want me on the table?”

Smiling, he tilts his head. “For this part, yes.”

Keeping my eyes on him, I climb onto the table and as I’m about to lie back, he shakes his head. “I want you sitting, for now. I’m going to start by getting your blood pressure and temperature.”

“Okay.” I clench my teeth, wiggling my ass against the noisy paper bunching up underneath me.

Pulling a key from his pocket, he opens one of the cabinets and walks toward me with a blood-pressure cuff and stethoscope. He was serious about giving me a physical. We really are going to play doctor for a whole week. Why does he need to pretend when he does this for a living? Doesn’t he get enough of a fix at work?

His eyes hold onto mine as he strokes the pulse point inside my wrist. “Your pulse is strong.” Gaze moving to his watch, his lips twitch. When he looks at me again, he slides his fingers up my arm, tracing over one of my veins. His eyes light up like sparkling glass as he strokes up and down. “Healthy veins too.”

“Is this something surgeons do? Give…exams?” I suck in a breath when he rolls up the rest of my sleeve, touching more of me but also not enough.

“Not exactly, which is why I now work in the ER.” He slides the cuff up my arm and tightens it once it’s in the right place. “I’m much happier there.”

His face grows serious again when he places the ear tips in his ear and warms up the chest piece with his breath. Warm, and not as soft as his fingers, the metal glides up my arm, stopping once it’s halfway under the cuff. We’re both quiet as he takes my blood pressure and temperature. At the sound of a loud beep, he removes the bulb from my mouth. His eyes squint and he frowns, holding the thermometer closer to the light. “Not getting a proper reading. We’ll have to try again in a little while.”

“What does it say?”

“It’s a little lower than normal and I think it’s because we were out in the cold too long. Like I said, we’ll take it again later.”

After sanitizing everything with wipes, he puts it all back in the cabinet, shoves something in his pocket, and returns with a tongue depressor and small flashlight.

“I’m going to check your tongue and ears next. Can you stick your tongue out for me please? Say ahhh.” I do as he says and he presses down on my tongue, shining a light in my mouth. I gag a little and he pulls away, tossing the depressor in the trash while pocketing the flashlight. “You’re doing really well. We’ll be finished for the day in no time if you keep this up.”

My heart flutters at the proud look in his eyes. There’s a desire hidden there too, that nearly takes my breath away. A want I’m eager to fill without knowing what it is because it’s me he chose to get it from. It’s me he wants to take care of. It’s me who feels like his favorite patient right now.

What the hell is happening to me? Does this man have me under some spell, or is it because for the first time, I’m gettingeverything from him I said I’d never let myself need from another person?

Removing a tool from his jacket, he checks my ears and then nose. Then with a half-smile, he walks back to the cabinet and hands me a paper gown. “Change into this and I’ll be back in five to finish the exam.”

My stomach swirls as I clutch the gown, and he helps me down from the table. “What are we doing next?”

“Finishing the physical. Nothing can go unchecked if we want to do this the right way, can it?”

“I… guess not.” I twist at the gown, tearing off a corner of the sleeve.

“I’d hate to miss anything and then regret it later. When was the last time you’ve been to see a doctor?”

---