Page 6 of Blissful Vixen

She smiled coyly as if she knew a secret that I didn’t. “What time did you want to do your stretching session?”

“Around noon, then we can get started with our day.” I winked at her, and her cheeks blushed, reddening beneath her smooth-looking skin. “Now, what does my sign have to do with anything?”

Wiping her mouth, she stood up with her coffee. I saw the mischief in her eyes as she slowly backed away.

“It means trouble.” She spun around and hurried to her room and closed the door. I could almost see the dust from how quickly she hightailed it out of there.

Trouble, eh?Well, if that’s how she wanted to play it.I’ll show her the rules.

* * *

Emberlynn came out of her room ready to call therapists and do my exercises. We accomplished both, and with her resources, we were able to find someone who could come to me tomorrow. I hadn’t realized that you could contract them out directly, not going through the organizations they worked for. That was exactly what Emberlynn had done to get someone in sooner than three months from now.

Lying on my back, staring at the ceiling, I relaxed and let the tightness in my muscles fade away, killing off the aches and pains. Tomorrow would be busy getting acclimated to the physical therapist and the mental health one. Today, I wanted to spend time getting to know Emberlynn.

“I have a few things that I want to do. Are you up for going out?” I turned in her direction and waited.

“I can. Do I need to change?” She looked down at her clothes like she was wearing the worst possible thing.

Instead, she looked good enough to eat. Her baby blue sweater exposed her shoulders fully, scooping down in the front to reveal the tops of her breasts. It hugged her curves down to her thighs, where her navy-blue leggings took over. Baby blue combat boots covered her feet and laced up to her knees.My tags would look really nice around her neck.The thought damn near made me jump out of my skin.

“Why would you? You’ve caught my attention. What else matters?”

“I wasn’t trying…”

“And still, you managed to. Says something, doesn’t it?”

Emberlynn shifted in her seat. “Hardison, I—”

“You worry too much. Let’s focus on today and make sure that you stay out of your pretty little head. Today, you’re only job is to feel. To experience. No outside concerns. Those are your parameters. Can you handle that, or is that too big a job?”

“What happens if I can’t?” Her eyes lit up when she asked. She was a brat.

“Then you’ll pay. I’m creative, and I can think of many ways to make sure that you understand the assignment. Understood?”

Emberlynn nodded, but the light never dimmed from the mischief dancing in her eyes.

“Good. I’m going to put on real clothes. I’ll be right back.” I got up, dressed, and came back a few moments later.

“How’d you do that? I wish it only took me five minutes to get ready.”

Chuckling, I grabbed the keys to my SUV and pulled on my leather jacket to keep the cold from attacking my skin. “I was in the military. You learn quickly that you don’t have time to waste on things like getting dressed. You’re more concerned with living.” I held my hand for her to rise, so we could leave.

“Let me get my clutch and jacket.” Emberlynn hurried off, and a few minutes later, she resurfaced. “I’m ready.”

That dazzling smile was all I saw as excitement filled her.

“Come on.” I held out my arm, and she wrapped hers around mine like we’d done this a million times. It felt right. Damn good, too. So, I led us to the car, where I put her inside first, closed her door, and then went to the driver’s seat.

I started the engine and pulled up the GPS map to input the address. I glanced to see Emberlynn still as excited as when we’d been inside. To help her mellow out, I turned on some music before putting the car in motion.

“I know you’re a therapist. What other things do you do?”

“You mean for fun?” She turned toward me, catching me nodding her way. “I sing in my living room while drinking wine, video chat with my best friend, and sometimes I even go outside.”

We both laughed at the last part.

“No, I… I used to go out and have crazy fun, but it stopped being me after I got married. My ex was controlling and insensitive. Every move that I made was wrong. In fact, he did everything right. Even when it made me out to be the bad person.” She paused, but I knew she wasn’t done. “I love too hard when I’m giving myself to someone. I understand that he was the wrong person to sacrifice it all for, but at the time, it seemed like I’d made the best decision by giving him my heart.” She wiped her eye and sniffed.

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