Page 151 of Wicked Fantasies

This is wrong. He’s so far out of your league I’m not sure you can consider yourselves inhabitants of the same planet. He’s a patient.

The last thought jarred her enough that she pushed away abruptly.

“Shit,” Ethan muttered when she struggled out of his embrace. “I was wondering when that head of yours was going to get in the way.”

“What?” she asked.

“You think too much,” he replied.

“That’s not true. I just don’t think it’s professional for me to be kissing you in the clinic.”

He grinned. “But it would be okay if you kissed me outside? The door’s right there. Let’s go.”

“It’s not professional, period. I shouldn’t have— It was wrong of me to?—”

“Kiss me?” he supplied, and she could see he was enjoying her predicament far too much.

“Yes,” she hissed.

“Did that overactive brain of yours happen to notice that I was kissing you back?”

Oh, her brain noticed—it just didn’t want her to be happy. Meanwhile, every other major organ and nerve in her body was singing—big time. Her nipples were cutting through the satin material of her bra, her stomach was still doing happy flip-flops and she was noticing regions south of her waist reappearing after deserting her years ago.

She shrugged. Seemed like the easiest thing to do.

“Why wasn’t my name on your list?” he asked.

She burst into laughter.

“I’m serious,” he persisted when she continued to chuckle.

“You sound as if you’re hurt by the omission,” she said. “Is this some male ego switch I’ve triggered? I would think you’d be relieved. You don’t have to worry about some sex-starved divorcee setting her sights on you. Trying to lure you into her lair.” She raised her hands in a claw-like fashion and made a scary face.

He didn’t smile at her joke, so she lowered her hands and shook her head. “I like you, Ethan. You’ve become a good friend these past couple of months and I wouldn’t dream of annoying you like that.”

“Annoying me? You think I’m not attracted to you? Sexually?” he asked, setting off her laughter again.

“Oh damn, now thatisfunny,” she said between giggles. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to say it. You’re hot, Ethan. Super hot. And about a decade younger than me.”

“I thought that was the point of this challenge of yours,” he argued.

“Well, let’s just say there’re younger men and then there’re younger men. In the world of women like me, you fall into the untouchable category.”

He nodded, but she could see he didn’t like her answer. “I didn’t see that ‘untouchable’ thing holding you back a few minutes ago.”

She sobered up at his scowling face. “As I said, I shouldn’t have done that.”

He was silent for several uncomfortable moments and she wished she could read his mind. “I’ve screwed up everything tonight, Ethan,” she added, desperate to fill the void. “Can we just start this whole PT session over? I’ll even let you sneak in and scare me again.”

His face cleared suddenly and his cocky grin returned. She took a deep breath of relief—until his next words knocked it out of her again.

“Put my name on your list,” he demanded. “Thetopof your list. And then mark out every name under it. You’re going to follow through on that dare…with me.”

Chapter Two

Rachel stared at the ceiling in her bedroom the next morning, trying to wrap her head around Ethan’s proposition. After his insistence that his name be added to her list—he’d waited until she’d picked up the pen and actually wrote it on the damn thing—they continued with their usual physical therapy routine as if nothing unusual had occurred. As he was leaving the clinic last night, he’d given her a quick peck on the cheek and told her he would be in touch. What the hell did that mean? In touch when? And what would he be touching?

She groaned as the same nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach returned. She’d tossed and turned all night with an ache that wouldn’t go away until she’d dug out the vibrator Monica had sent all the cougar ladies for Christmas. Rachel had treated the gift as a joke, throwing the thing in her nightstand and never touching it again…until last night.

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