by Chloe Maddox
“It was supposed to be,” I said, miserably. “And I had it under control in the ER, but his heart started flatlining, and I tried to save him…I really did, but he was in so much pain, and his owner insisted that he shouldn’t suffer.”
Sean gathered me in his arms and began to rub my back. “Shhh, it’s okay.”
“I couldn’t do it, Sean. I couldn’t put him to sleep, so another doctor was asked to come in and do it. I couldn’t even do this one thing that I was trained to do.”
“It doesn’t mean you didn’t do your job. You did everything you could to save Zeus,” Sean reasoned. “I’m sure they know that.”
I shuddered as a sob tore its way through me. “You don’t know that. You should’ve seen his face, Sean. God, those eyes, it was like he was begging me to save him or end it, and I couldn’t do either.”
“Shhhh,” Sean cooed as he hoisted me onto his lap and pressed me to his chest. “Hush now. It’s okay.”
I grabbed a fistful of his shirt as the tears ran in a steady stream down my face, and my entire body convulsed with suppressed emotion. Once I was done, I lay limp and exhausted against his chest.
“I’m sorry about your shirt,” I mumbled, my voice strained because of all the crying.
“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “I’ve got plenty of others.”
The sound of a kettle whistling made him look up. He gently folded the blanket around me and leapt to the kitchen. A minute later, he made me wrap my hand around a steaming mug of hot tea.
“You made me tea,” I said, stunned.
“My mom always said that there was very little that tea couldn’t solve,” he said as he plopped onto the couch and placed my legs atop his. He began to massage the soles of my feet, pausing every so often to squeeze my shoulders.
I found the gesture oddly soothing as my nerves began to settle, and my heart slowed down once more.
“Sorry to barge in like this,” I said, quietly. “It’s just that Jessica is away for two days on some kind of business trip, and I couldn’t bear to go home to a quiet apartment. Not tonight.”
“I get it.”
“I’m breaking a rule, aren’t I?” I asked, my eyes trained on the mug.
“Rule?” he echoed.
“Showing up like this. I think you said we need to avoid anything that makes us bond or connect in a way that could hurt us later.”
He stayed quiet as he watched me, a confused expression on his features.
“This would be breaking that rule, I guess.” I gestured between us, nervously wondering if he was going to kick me out now.
I mean, I couldn’t exactly blame him if he did.
We barely knew each other, and he made it clear from the start there were certain guidelines we needed to follow if we were going to get…involved.
I had gone and broken that rule within a day of agreeing not to.
“It does,” he said, finally.
“Oh,” I gave a start as my fists tightened around the mug. “I guess I should go then.”
Sean reached out to place his hands atop mine. “You didn’t let me finish. Yes, it does break that rule, and I’m normally very adept at keeping those rules in place, but there’s something about you…”
He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Something about you makes me not care about following the rules anymore.”
I gave him a small smile. “That’s a good thing, right?”
“I hope so,” he offered. “You know that I meant what I said earlier about Zeus.”
I dragged in a ragged breath. “I know. It’s just that I’ve never had to witness a dog dying before, and I’ve never been asked to put an animal to sleep.”
Chapter 5
“It’s part of the reason why I hesitated to become a vet in the first place. I knew that someday I’d have to make that decision, and I wasn’t sure I could ever do it,” I added, in a quieter voice.
Sean kept rubbing my feet, his expression thoughtful. “I think that’s why it’s so hard for you right now. You thought you were in the clear.”
“I guess so,” I said, dazedly. I was still unable to get the image out of my head. Zeus lying inert on that table, his dark eyes watchful and trusting. Begging me for something I couldn’t give.
Sean began to run his fingers over my legs, lightly pressing and squeezing. “It’s okay, Isabel. You just have a big heart, that’s all.”
I groaned as I stared down at my mug. “I’m a wuss.”
Sean choked back a laugh. “You’re not a wuss. Saving lives every day, that’s brave, and anybody who tells you otherwise is a dumbass who doesn’t know what they’re saying.”
I dragged my gaze away from the mug, and they settled on his face. His expression was open and earnest, and I smiled faintly. “That’s interesting advice. Do you follow it too?”
Sean grinned. “Oh, yeah I’ve been called wuss and many other things for choosing to be a chef, and not a more ‘manly’ profession.”
“Stupid patriarchy,” I grumbled.
“Indeed,” Sean agreed, lightheartedly. “In any case, I’m providing people with one of the basic pleasures of life, and I’m good at it, so really those people are just unhappy with their jobs.”
I tilted my head to the side. “I never thought of it that way.”
Sean’s hands skimmed my shoulder. “It’s a different perspective, right?”
I nodded. “Right.”
Sean withdrew his hands, stood up and dusted his hands. He held out his hands, and I stared at them questioningly. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
In horror, I realized that I had forgotten I had dried blood all over me, crusted around my collar, and on my hands. I just sat there talking to him, and I had completely forgotten.
“Your blanket, and mug,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, quit apologizing. The stuff is dry anyway, so you didn’t get anything dirty, and even if you had, so what?” He gave me a stern look as he wrapped his hand around mine and yanked me up.
I stumbled forward, colliding with his chest, so my arms immediately went up around his back to steady myself.
I couldn’t help but notice that his naked chest was pressed to mine, and his temperature was running rather hot as I felt his heart beat a steady rhythm. The faint smell of sweat and soap intermingled and pervaded my nostrils, causing me to inhale deeply.
Damn.
He smelled good, and it was making me think of things that I shouldn’t be thinking of right now. Especially not given the conditions I arrived here under. I still had dried blood on me, and I’d just gone through something terrible.
Yet, here I was thinking about how I wanted to run my fingers all over him, kissing, sucking and biting every inch of skin available, and how I wanted him to do the same.
Sheesh.
I wasn’t some hormone crazed teenager.
I was a grown ass woman.
Sean shifted, so that his arms were around me, and he made a low noise in the back of his throat that sounded a lot like a purr.
After standing like that for a while, Sean pulled back and looked at me. He pressed his lips to mine for a deep kiss, but before I could do anything further, he pulled away and scooped me up bridal style.
I shrieked as I nearly fell, but then settled against his chest. It actually felt oddly familiar to be cradled in his arms like that, almost like I’d been here before.
I banished that thought before it could take root and cause me problems and just focused on watching his face as he carried me across the hallway. He had an angular face, all smooth with a strong jaw and defined cheekbones.
Sean was definitely built like a model, but he also looked like one too.
He didn’t appear to have a bad side.
Once we reached what I assumed was the bathroom, he used one leg to kick the door open, and he gently set me down on top of the toilet seat. He quickly set to work switching on the water and making sure it was warm.
&nb
sp; “I can do that,” I offered as I made to get up.
Sean silenced me with a look as he nodded to himself in satisfaction.
“Strip,” he commanded as he crossed his arms over his chest.
My eyebrow climbed to my hairline. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I said strip, so that you can get in the shower,” he repeated, slowly.
I swallowed as I got up and awkwardly began to strip, aware that he was keeping his gaze solely on me, as if nothing else existed at that point.
He hungrily drank me in but made no move when I kicked away my last article of clothing. He simply held out his hand and helped me step into the shower stall.
“Turn around,” he said, softly. “I want to clean you up.”
With my heart thundering in my chest, and my curiosity piqued, I did as I was told, and I heard him lather up the soap and reach for a loofa. I nearly jumped in surprise as it connected with my sensitive skin.
I craned my neck to look at him, and Sean was currently balancing himself on his knees, his bottom lip drawn between his teeth as he gently ran the loofa across the back of my thighs.
Once he was done there, he ran it over my ankles then slowly stood up and began to clean up my back pausing at my shoulders. He used the edge of his wrists to knead the flesh, trying to make me less tense.
It worked like a charm.
I melted beneath his touch, a sigh of contentment escaping my lips as I braced my hands against the cool wet tiles. I could feel him pause as he focused on my hips. He took his sweet time cleaning it up, and something told me it wasn’t just to make it clean.
Not that I minded.
Slowly, he spun me around, so that I was facing him. Immediately, I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling unnerved at the mere prospect of facing him when I was stark naked, and he was in his sweatpants.
He gave me an encouraging smile as he slowly untangled my hands and placed them firmly at my sides. “Don’t do that. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You’re beautiful.”
I flushed all the way down to the tips of my toes. “Thank you.”
“I love the color of your hair,” Sean said, quietly as he caught a loose strand and curled it between his thumb and forefinger.
“I hated it when I was growing up,” I confessed. “It drew unwanted attention.”
“It is quite a striking color,” Sean pointed out. “I like it because I think it reflects the fiery personality you have, and not the other way around.”
I giggled nervously. “Maybe.”
“Open your arms,” Sean said. I wanted to argue, it was on the tip of my tongue, but something about the tone of his voice, and the way he was looking at me made me stop. He really was just doing this for my benefit despite the obvious bulge in his sweatpants.
Gingerly, I lifted up my arms and held them there as if I was some kind of sacrificial lamb being offered at the altar. He took his time scrubbing both my arms thoroughly so that not a single shred of evidence remained of the night I’d just had.
Finding it hard to lean precariously close to the edge as he was, Sean stepped into the shower with me, and let the water cascade over him, drenching his sweatpants in the process.
“You’re going to get wet,” I chastised. “I can finish up by myself, it’s okay.”
“No, I want to do this for you,” he said, softly, his tone brokering no argument.
I hesitated before my head bobbed up and down, and I watched him carefully, the concentrated look on his face with his brows slightly furrowed, and the way his mouth was pressed into a thin line.
I reached out and pressed my fingers to the side of his mouth, and he grinned in response. “Are you trying to distract me?”
“No, it’s just that you look so serious, and I wanted to ease away some of that tension,” I responded, sheepishly.
It sounded rather childish now that I said it out loud.
“There will be plenty of time for that later,” Sean promised as he gave me a look that held a world of promises.
Sean dropped to his knees and sat up on his hind legs as he slowly washed my legs with the same thoroughness till he finally reached my stomach. He stood back up and flicked his hair to the side to get rid of some of the water.
His caramel brown hair gleamed in the water, and I ached to run my fingers through it, but I didn’t want to break whatever spell we were under.
He paused when he reached my chest, and his eyes searched my face for something. When I didn’t protest, and instead stepped closer pressing the upper half of our bodies closer together, he continued.
The problem was that when he was finished, my breasts were as hard as rocks, and there was no way to change that. His lips twitched in amusement as our gazes collided, and we stood like that for what felt like eternity.
We both reached for each other at the same time, our lips colliding as the sound of our loud breathing filled the bathroom. He pitched himself forward, so that we tumbled backwards, and my back hit the wall with a thud.
That was definitely going to hurt in the morning.
But right now, I didn’t care. I threaded my hands and grabbed a fistful of his hair, marveling at the smooth texture that brushed against my fingertips. I hooked one leg around his leg as he pressed himself against me.
His erection was rubbing up against me in the best possible way. The only way to make it better was if he were to take off the sweatpants. I brushed my lips against as his as my hands struggled to find a way between us.
They went to the drawstrings on his sweatpants, and I was about to pull them down, but Sean’s grip stopped me. He lifted my hands up and over my head, keeping them in a vice like grip as he grinded against me.
I wrenched my lips away, panting as the water poured down my back. “Sean.”
He was peppering my neck with kisses. “Yes?”
“Please,” I begged.
“Please what?’
“I want you.” The sound of my load moan filled the air as he twirled his tongue around my nipple before bestowing the same attention on the other one.
Sean acted like he hadn’t heard me as he continued to tease me.
“I can tell,” Sean murmured. He suddenly stopped, and a low whimper escaped my lips as Sean chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you, but we need to get out of the shower first.”
He reached behind me to the shelves and took out a huge plush robe which he promptly placed around me then tied the sash. I settled into the robe, loving how soft it felt. I stepped forward, but Sean stopped me by placing his hands underneath me and carrying me again.
“Why are you doing that? I can walk myself,” I protested.
“Because I want to,” he said, simply.
He kicked the door open to his bedroom which was done in dark neutral colors, wooden floors, and a big plush bed in the middle. The bed looked big enough to comfortably fit three people, and it looked comfy to sink in and never want to get up.
“I love your bed,” I said, in awe.
He smirked. “Oh, really?”
“Not like that,” I flushed. “I just meant that it’s big and comfy.”
Sean chuckled, a deep rumble that made his chest vibrate. “I know, I was just teasing you. It’s one of the few luxuries I allow myself.”
I pretended to think about this for a moment. “Hmm, yeah, now that I think about it. Sleep is an important part of life, so why not do it in style?”
“A girl after my own heart. I knew I liked you for a reason,” Sean said as he gently deposited me onto the bed.
I coughed to hide my embarrassment as I picked a loose strand of thread and yanked on it. I stared at if for a bit as I let my thoughts drift, enjoying the sensation of a hot shower.
Sean shoved his head into a closet and rummaged around muttering underneath his breath, and I watched him in amusement. It was a good chance for me to check him out without being caught in the act.
His sweatpants were still drenched and hanging low on h
is lips, but now they clung to his every curve showing off muscular legs, and his firm ass. It really was quite a sight, and I found myself wondering what it would feel like to place my hands on it.
I wouldn’t consider myself an overtly sexual person, but he was bringing out a wanton side of me that I never knew existed.
A side I was thoroughly enjoying I might add.
“Aha,” he yelled triumphantly as he remerged. Sean smirked when he caught me staring at him, and he stopped and did a little jiggle for my benefit.
I never knew that I could blush this hard in the span of a few minutes, but I found myself covering my mouth and laughing so hard that tears started streaming down my face.
“Shall I make the show longer?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
I waved his comment away as I gazed at his hand expectantly. He held a pair of basketball shorts, and a top that looked a little too big to fit me but would have to do the trick.
“I was looking for something that would feel more comfortable, but this is all I could find,” he said, apologetically.
“It’s perfect,” I said, appreciatively as I took them from him.
“I got you your bag from downstairs in case you needed anything.” He gestured to the foot of the bed where sure enough my backpack lay waiting for me.
“You really do think of everything.”
“I try. I’ll let you change, and I’ll do the same myself.”
He slipped off his sweatpants, chucked them in the hamper and strode towards his closet. He took out a pair of dry and clean shorts and headed to the bathroom. He gave me a quick wink as he shut the door behind him.
Quickly, I slipped into the shorts and slipped on the t-shirt which came down to my knees. It was practically covering my shorts, so that they were rendered ineffective, but they would have to do. I tightened the drawstrings just as Sean emerged from the bathroom in his own pair shorts, and a wife beater on top.
“You clean up good.” Sean whistled appreciatively.
“So do you.”
I tucked my hair behind my ear as a minute of silence stretched between us.
“Do you feel like eating? I could whip us up something to eat.”