Page 8 of Doctor Bossy

I nipped at the lower lip, sucked it into my mouth, and then heard a gravelly groan. It was like rocks, and it sent a shiver down my body. God, I had never heard anyone sound like that before, and it was the hottest thing. I came closer to press my body against his and do more, but suddenly, two big hands wrapped around my arms like a vice and held me there.

“What are you doing?” came a deep voice, and that was when sanity returned.

I leaned back to look at him with dawning horror.

His expression was dark, anger glinting in his eyes.

Anger and perhaps something else.

And then it hit me.

Oh shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

What the hell had I just done?

“I…” I shook my head, unable to believe myself. “I didn’t….”

But he shook his head, stopping my words in my mouth and dropping us into dreaded silence.

“I’ll leave,” I continued after a beat, wanting the floor to open up and swallow me. “I need to leave.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” His words were a clear order. “Not in your current state.”

I swallowed.

“You’ll sleep here,” he said. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

4

GRIFFIN

Icould hear her hesitation at the kitchen door the next morning.

While she wasn’t making a whole lot of noise, I could still discern her presence behind me—my senses heightened from my time in the army. I could feel her subtle toe taps on the floor, her fingers clutching the doorknob as she pondered on whether to come into the kitchen.

I didn’t let her know that she had already been caught. Instead, I continued to toss my eggs in the pan. I wasn’t much of a cook, but I had given Arnold the day off to take care of some personal issues, so I was forced to take care of my meals myself. I figured eggs were about as basic as you could get and wouldn’t make one sick after a hangover.

I waited a few more seconds before it was clear that she would not be coming inside without further prompting. I was sure she was about to start banging her head against the wall when I said, “Are you going to stand there all morning, or are you going to come in?”

There was a quiet squeak of shock, much like a mouse, which was surprising because it completely went against my perception of her. Despite her size, Becca never struck me to be the mousy sort. She was too vibrant, too animated, and it showed in simple things like the confident way she walked and the way she looked one right in the eye upon the first meeting.

She was like a ball of vitality that was difficult to be contained.

There was no doubt that meekness was unusual to her. I couldn’t help but smirk as I walked to the sliding door separating the kitchen from the parlor and pulled it open completely.

She was wide-eyed, standing at the door as she looked up at me.

“Come in,” I repeated before turning and heading back into the kitchen. I heard her hesitant footsteps behind me, and I gestured to one of the dining chairs. “Sit. The eggs will be ready soon.”

“Thank you.” Once again, her voice was quiet. I said nothing, continuing to cook, but I could hear her fidgeting behind me. One foot tapped restlessly against the rung of the stool, and her fingers drummed on the table increasingly rapidly as time went by. Her restless energy was bouncing around the whole room, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she spontaneously combusted in the next few minutes if she didn’t say what she had to say.

“Spit it out,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted like the words were torn out of her. “For the way that I acted yesterday—slamming on your gate, yelling like a crazy person, and also…you know…the kiss—”

“It’s fine,” I said, not wanting her to mention the cursed kiss that remained in my mind for longer than it should have. It should have been thrown out or shelved as just a ridiculous situation, something to laugh at later or only remembered with mild annoyance. Instead, I’d thought about it as I lay in bed that night.

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