Page 3 of So Lethal

“You too.”

Faith left the room and pulled out her phone to call David and let her know she was on her way home. As she did, a high-pitched whine filled her ears. She winced and lifted her hands to her ears, shaking her head and trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. It sounded like the buzz of a power line and drowned out all other sound.

“Miss Bold? Miss Bold?”

The voice seemed to come from far away. Faith looked around and spotted the receptionist looking at her with concern. She shook her head, and the whine slowly subsided.

“Do you want me to call someone?” the receptionist asked.

“What?”

“I asked if you were all right, and you shook your head. Do you need me to call someone?”

“Oh. Oh no, I’m fine. Sorry. Just had a ringing in my ears for a moment.”

“Oh, you should get that checked out,” the receptionist offered helpfully. “My cousin got tinnitus, and he ended up going completely deaf.”

Thanks for that, Faith thought drily. Out loud, she said, “Ah. Well, I’ll make sure to look into it.”

She left the office and called David. The two of them had lived together for the past several months, and Faith was finally getting used to sharing her space with another person. It helped that she was in love with this other person, and it really helped that he looked very good naked.

She wondered what Dr. Keraya would have to say if she knew that Faith was about to go home and jump her boyfriend’s bones to distract herself from the session and the brand-new worry of tinnitus. Probably something about hiding behind temporary endorphins instead of confronting the core of the issue.

Well, whatever. What was the point of living with a man if she couldn’t treat herself to a few endorphins every now and then?

David answered with his typical cheery demeanor. “Hey hot stuff. How was the session?”

“Wonderful. Dr. Keraya said I should come home and tear your clothes off as soon as possible.”

“Ooh. I think I like her.”

Faith smiled. “Yeah, I figured you’d approve of that.”

“Well, I was going to start dinner, but if you’re fine with takeout, I’ll just get a head start on the clothing removal so we can get down to your prescribed treatment.”

“I’m very much in favor of that.”

“Well, hurry home then. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

She hung up and sighed contentedly. Sure she was shamelessly using David to avoid confronting her emotions, but hey, he was getting something pretty good out of it too.

And anyway, Faith had a whole week to complete her homework. She would be fine taking one night off to do something fun.

CHAPTER TWO

Faith sat next to David on the couch. Their clothes remained off, but both wore bathrobes—not matching ones, thankfully—and enough skin remained exposed to give Faith a healthy boost of oxytocin even though sexy time was done for the evening.

The remains of their dinner sat on the coffee table, and Turk—Faith’s K9—eyed the leftovers longingly. Faith smiled at her dog. If David wasn’t here to scold her, she might have relented and given him some orange chicken, but David was a vet, and not only a vet but Turk’s vet. She had been scolded enough for one day, so Turk would have to content himself with healthy dog food.

After several minutes, Turk gave up begging. He sighed and trotted dejectedly to his bowl.

“Oh, quit whining,” Faith called after him. “You’re eating marinated steak and whole grain rice. It’s a lot healthier than what I’m eating.”

Turk cast her a look reminding her that healthy and flavorful rarely went hand in hand. He started into his meal with reasonable excitement, though, so maybe his healthy food wasn’t so terrible after all.

“I hope you enjoyed your takeout,” David told her. “You bribed me with your body tonight, but tomorrow, we’re having a healthy meal that I will cook myself.”

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