Page 21 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

Eventually I let my grip on his shirt loosen. I needed to say something before he started questioning me. So I gave him the only excuse I had. “It hurts.” But I wasn’t talking about my ankle. My heart hurt. It physically ached in each beat.

He slowly pulled back. “Let me take you to the doctor.”

I was relieved he didn’t press the issue. “Actually, there’s a walk-in clinic on Wesserton Street. I tried to make an appointment with my usual doctor, but he couldn’t fit me in until tomorrow. And I…”

“Let’s get you to the car.” He slid his arm behind my back.

“Could you grab my purse?” I gestured to the kitchen table. I had been ready to go for awhile.

He walked over and put it over his shoulder.

I was pretty sure that he did it so that I’d smile again. But he probably didn’t expect me to start laughing.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me,” he said. The smile on his face said otherwise.

“I didn’t say you had to wear it.”

He ignored me and slipped his hand back around my waist. I leaned against his strong body all the way to the car.

Chapter 12

“Adeline Bell?” the nurse called.

I grimaced. I had awkwardly positioned the forms they had me fill out so that Ben wouldn’t be able to see them. For some reason, I didn’t want him to know my last name. If he really wanted to, he could look me up without it. He knew my address. He knew what I looked like. But my last name was the icing on the cake. The worst part was that he could find out that I was Mrs. Bell. I needed to tell him. I knew it. But I couldn’t make myself say the words out loud. I’m married. It should have been easy. For me, though, the words were vile. And wrong. Just plain wrong. They summarized a story that desperately needed details.

I went to stand and Ben’s arm immediately wrapped around me.

“You can stay here,” I said.

“You can barely walk.”

God, he has a point. But he couldn’t come back there with me. I swatted his hand away. “And maybe you forgot, but I told you I didn’t need your help.” Today had been different between us. I hadn’t lashed out at all. There was a calmness. And I had just broken it.

“This weekend, I thought maybe I just exaggerated your behavior. But alas,” he dipped his mouth to my ear, “you are exactly as I remembered.”

I ignored everything but the fact that he was thinking about me over the weekend. Instead of doing normal 23 year old things, he was daydreaming about me. I shook my head. He hadn’t said daydreaming. Had he? “I was just trying to leave an impression.”

“You, Addy, are unforgettable.”

He was trying to make me swoon. But him escorting me back there wasn’t an option. I wasn’t even planning on talking to the doctor about my ankle. I had more pressing matters.

“Adeline Bell?” the nurse said again, irritation dripping from her voice.

“Right here,” I said and pushed Ben away.

He forced his hand back around my waist. “We’re coming,” Ben said.

“Would you sit back down?”

But he was already guiding me toward the nurse.

“Stop it,” I hissed.

He ignored me.

“Right this way,” the nurse said and turned around without questioning who the man was next to me. She was supposed to make him sit back down. What happened to patient confidentiality? What kind of clinic was this?

I looked up at Ben and he was smirking. Not smiling. It was definitely a smirk. Cocky bastard. He was clearly used to getting what he wanted. My indignation evaporated when I started to wonder if he wanted me. If he did, I wasn’t sure I was strong-willed enough to put up much of a fight. Because I desperately wanted him.

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