Page 26 of Physical Therapy

His chin drops, attention fixed to my hands as I undo the last two buttons. The heavy fabric falls to the side revealing my true motive.

“Fuck, Edith.”

Pure silk and lace. This blood red set cost me a packet. I bought it three years ago for a guy who I thought may have appreciated it, yet the relationship ended the week after my Victoria’s Secret purchase was relegated to the top shelf of my wardrobe.

Although Boe doesn’t need to know that. As far as he’s aware, I bought it just for him.

Maybe I did?

“You need to work up an appetite first, baby?”

I nod, letting the coat drop from my shoulders. It pools around my heeled feet, leaving me on full display. He fingers the ruby pendant that hangs at the top of my cleavage, his fingers dancing up my throat towards the matching earrings.

“I damn well said it, didn’t I? I knew there was a passionate creature underneath all those sensible suits and skirts.”

My palms trace a path over his pecs toward his shoulders. I squeeze his traps, massaging the firm muscles before resting my hands there. “Very intuitive of you, wasn’t it?”

He expels a loaded breath and then knocks my hands away in the process of stripping his T-shirt over his head. I lean back, hands braced on the counter, and watch as he sheds the cotton and throws it to the side.

Mama’s hungry now.

“You said you couldn’t blur the lines, Edith.” Hands to my hips, he hoists me onto the counter. “Does this mean I need a new therapist?”

I wrap my legs around him, pressing my throbbing core against his hard stomach. “Can you keep a secret?” He grins. “Because I can.”

“That’s quite the risk,” he mutters. “For both of us.”

“It is.” I could lose my license. He could go to jail.

“What other surprises do you have, huh?” Boe leans forward, hands atop mine on the counter, and kisses my neck. “Tell me about you, Doctor. What makes you who you are?”

His warm touch explores my bare back, his kisses a brand against my flesh as he works his way up my throat to my jaw. I’m rendered speechless, barely able to make sense of what the hell I want to do next, let alone coherent enough to hold a conversation.

“Come on, Doc.” He places a chaste kiss to my lips. “Play fair. Answer the question.”

“You’re distracting me,” I complain.

His smile is infectious. “Now you know how hard it is for me every time we’re in the same damn room.”

Touché.

He groans into my mouth, pulling me tighter against him as I hold his face in my hands and kiss him like I should have last time I was here. I’ve had a week to think it over. A week to play out the fantasy in my mind of how things could have gone, had I trusted my gut and just gone with it.

I bolted, allowing fear to win when my doubts and worries overwhelmed me. Had I taken the advice I dish out to my patients day in and day out, then I would have tossed those fears aside and chosen to live in the moment.

Aware of the present.

Conscious of the unbelievably sexy man that was mine to have.

Boe abides when I shove at the waist of his sweatpants, pulling his hands from my body long enough to guide the clothing over his hips. I complete the job, hooking my toes into the crotch of the pants and shoving them to his knees.

No boxers—save me.

The distance between us is unbearable when he steps away to shuck them properly, however, the relief when his body encases mine once more is worth the sacrifice. Arms around his shoulders and legs around his waist, I cling to Boe as he lifts me from the counter. I barely pay any mind to where he takes us, delirious in his kisses as he dots them against my nose and mouth. There’s such a soft and caring side to this arrogant and defensive man.

A side I hope to bring to the surface for all to see.

Light dims, the walls closing in. We pass what I’m sure was the bathroom and hook a left into a pitch-black space. Boe’s hand leaves my ass to slap against the wall twice before soft light illuminates what is clearly his bedroom. I turn in his hold, drinking in the detail as quickly as I can before he steals my focus once more.

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