Page 7 of Doctor Bossy

“Drink,” he said.

I wasn’t too much a fan of coffee, but I figured that this one was light enough for me to choke down. Surprisingly though, when I drank it, I found it suitably sweet with none of the bitterness that I associated with the drink. I felt a strong, soothing warmth run down my body.

“This is really good,” I mumbled as I sniffled.

“Arnold has a gift,” Griffin said. “If he didn’t work for me, he would have been the best barrister in the city.”

“He should,” I concurred. “He could still open up a place.”

“Yes, but his hip hurts him,” Griffin said, taking a sip of his black coffee. “So, are you ready to talk about it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to talk about it.”

Griffin nodded as if he understood. “For what it’s worth, whatever he did, it’s not your fault.”

“Oh, I know that,” I told him, anger driving to the forefront once more. “I didn’t force him to put his penis in another woman. He did that because he’s a selfish cheating bastard who can’t think of anyone but himself.”

“Ah.” Griffin took another sip.

“Yes. Trust me, I’m not heartbroken.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but the effect was ruined by my sniffle. “I’m fucking mad as hell. Because not only did he cheat on me, he had the guts to ruin my career as well. Leaking my nudes, dude? That’s tacky as hell.”

Griffin froze in the act of drinking, his eyes going absolutely arctic. “He did what?”

I flinched a little at the growl that came out of him. It was completely unexpected since he’d been talking in a conversational tone up until that point. But his whole demeanor changed in an instant.

I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone that disbelievingly furious in my life. His heavy light-colored brows were furrowed over his eyes, and his expression was as stark and severe as I had ever seen it. It made him look like a wolf, furious in the light of the moon.

It was sexy as hell too.

“He leaked private pictures of you.” It wasn’t a question but a statement seeking confirmation.

I swallowed. I hadn’t meant to reveal that much, but now it was out. “Well, I’m not exactly sure if it was him. I don’t have any proof…except he was the only one I sent them to.” I had no idea why I was defending James at this point, except maybe because his father’s sheer fury was vindicating.

“Fuck,” Griffin swore. His eyes slid shut, and he rubbed his forehead. “Where the fuck did I go wrong with that boy?”

“I’m sure it’s not your fault,” I said. “I think some kids just never go through any adversity in life and, in turn, never learn to be decent human beings.”

“He lost his mother when he was very young.”

“Oh, of course,” I amended, feeling a little embarrassed at the fact that I had forgotten about that. “I didn’t mean to suggest that…I mean…”

“What James did was very wrong,” he said, and I could sense the sincerity in his eyes. “I’m so sorry about that, Becca. You have no idea.”

His words almost restarted the waterworks again. The fact that someone understood the utter betrayal I felt, that someone was on my side…

I could feel the urge to cry again at the back of my eyes, so I searched for something else to distract myself. And then something happened.

I noticed there was a spot of coffee on his lip, the brow dot resting on the shiny pink surface that was slightly plumper than the top lip. I watched it for some time, and just like that, I became entranced by his lower lip. It was so soft and succulent looking. I had never seen a man with lips like that before, especially a man who appeared so masculine. I wanted to touch them, to see if there were as soft as I thought.

If only to wipe the drop of liquid from them.

Yes, I could do that, I thought as I got to my feet.

His face seemed impossibly close now despite our height difference. The initial thought was to only touch his lips, but somewhere on the path to action, that changed. I wanted to do something more. It felt like nothing at all to stand on my tiptoes, lean forward, touch my mouth with his, and stick out my tongue to lick the spot.

There was a faint voice at the back of my brain screaming out why I shouldn’t be doing this, but the voice was drowned out by the sheer force of desire that slammed into me.

Damn, his lips were somehow soft and hard at the same time.

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