Page 28 of Tame the Player

“But—”

He cuts me off again and laughs. “Cat, tell me the truth. Do you feel the attraction between us?”

The way he’s looking at me with heated curiosity, I can’t lie to him. “Yeah, I’m attracted to you, Holden. But I don’t date patients.”

“I’m your patient for one more month.”

I hate thinking of this ending, but I know it has to. He’s right; there’s only one month left of this, and then Cole and I are moving back home. Would it be so horrible to have fun while it lasts? As soon as the thought comes, I push it aside. “Holden, I have a son to think about, and I wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

He reaches for my hand and holds it between us. His thumb is wreaking havoc on my skin. “Wrong idea about what?”

For the first time in forever, I want something I can’t—I shouldn’t—want. I’m a rule follower and always have been. Me wanting Holden is not a good thing, and there’s no way I can give in to my desires. “This would be a fling. This is a temporary situation and then you’ll go back to your career and forget about me.” He starts to talk, but I hold my hand up. “No, don’t give me any promises that you can’t keep. I know what this would be, Holden, and no matter how much I want to give in, enjoy it while it lasts, I can’t let myself.”

He brings one hand up and cups my cheek. If he wasn’t touching me, this would be so much easier. His thumb brushes back and forth lightly across my cheek. “Really? You’re going to end this before it even gets started, Cat?”

When his thumb lightly strokes across my lip, I gasp because it’s so intimate. We’re looking into each other’s eyes, and it’s like I can feel his touch everywhere. My body comes alive when he looks at me like he is. I barely get the words out, and they sound hesitant and unsure. “This is a bad idea.”

It’s as if he doesn’t hear me because he leans in. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

He doesn’t hesitate. He leans in, and as soon as his lips touch mine, I know it’s no use resisting him. His lips are firm against mine, and his hand tightens at the side of my neck. His tongue slides across the seam of my lips, wanting entrance, and I let him in. The kiss goes from a simple peck to an intense ravaging of my mouth. His tongue slides along mine, and I groan as he lifts me like I weigh nothing and pulls me to his lap. I’m straddling him, and I’m flush to his body, my breasts pressed into his chest and my core lodged against his hips. A shifting of my hips has me gasping as his manhood presses against me. I gasp and pull away from him, trying to get off his lap, but he doesn’t let me. We’re both heaving, wide-eyed, staring into each other’s eyes. Shock is evident on his face, and it’s exactly how I feel.

“Holden, you have to let me up.”

He tries to calm his breath and nods his head. “I will, I’m going to let you up, but first I need to know you’re not going to walk away from me.”

“I won’t,” I promise him.

He sets me on the couch next to him and holds my hand, threading our fingers together. I try to pull myself together, but this is all too much. I’ve never wanted to do something I shouldn’t more than I do right now.

“This can’t happen.”

He barks out a laugh. “Really? Because after that, I really think this needs to happen. That kiss was everything, Cat.”

I blink up at him. I know how the kiss made me feel, and he’s right, it was everything, but there’s no way it affected him the same way. I don’t believe it. “I agree… it was good but...”

He practically spits the words out. “Good? Fuck, Cat. It was perfect. My heart is still beating so hard it’s about to come out of my chest. Feel.”

He puts my hand over his heart, and sure enough, I can feel the erratic beats under my palm. I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want this, but there’s too much at stake. “Holden…”

He knows that I’m about to tell him no, and he shakes his head. “Don’t answer me yet. Just thinkabout it. Promise me that you’ll at least think about it.”

I nod and pull my hand from his. I stand up and put some distance between us because if I don’t, I’m not going to have the strength to keep resisting him. “I should go to bed.”

He nods. “Me too.”

I almost make it out of the room when he stops me. “Dream of me, sweet Cat.”

Looking at him across the room, I can still see the desire in his eyes, and I know I have the same look in mine. “Good night, Holden.”

And then I escape… before I do something foolish and ask him to take me to his bed.

17

HOLDEN

I woke up this morning with a new determination about me. Yeah, I’m going to kick my injury’s ass, but it’s more than that. I have a whole new purpose. I’m going to put the work in and make it back to the playoffs. I need to prove to myself that I can do this and prove that I’m worthy of Cat and Cole. It was one kiss, but it’s all I needed to know that Cat is the one for me.

When I walk into the therapy room, Cat is already in here. She is adjusting and cleaning equipment and won’t look at me. I can’t help but wonder if she thought about us at all last night, but I don’t want to pounce on her first thing. I sit down on the chair and wait for her to come to me. Our eyes meet in the mirror in front of me, and I smileat her. Hell, how can I not? She’s fuckin’ beautiful, especially when she’s blushing like she is right now. “Did you sleep okay?”

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