But I knew that just beneath the surface practically a wild animal prowled. There was a reason his uncle was forcing him to do this. Something had to set him off. We walked down the stairs, him carrying my suitcases and I had a lamp and a small box in my hands when finally I asked the question. “So what did you do that pissed your uncle off enough that he's making you get married?”
He turned and looked at me. “I already told you. I stole a yacht from one of the investors, which was a bold move. And now one I'm paying for.”
“Yes. That's what you said. But I don't think that that would be it. I don't think that's what set him off. There had to be something else like maybe this wasn't your first indiscretion?”
I'd only known him for a day, and I could tell that his bad boy attitude had probably gotten him in a lot more trouble than he was telling me.
“Fine,” he said loading the last suitcase into the truck. “That's not my first issue. I have some issues I got back from the war. That's actually not my first rodeo with a boat either. I need to stay the hell out of the water. He pulled up his shirt to reveal his washboard abs and I practically felt my pussy warm even in the summer heat. He had that effect on me.
But then he pointed to something I hadn't noticed before. A scar. It was large, but I hadn't noticed it before because I've been so focused on the rest of his delicious body. But now that I saw it I realized that had to come from a pretty serious injury. “What happened?”
He let his shirt go loose. “Like I said, I have an issue with boats. When I got back from overseas I got a little too wasted one night and then fell off the yacht. Some metal went right through me, I was alone. So I had to handle it myself.
“You stitched it up yourself?”
“Yeah. Being a doctor has its benefits. Like knowing exactly how anatomy works.” He said as he took his finger along the skin beneath my chin. “I know exactly how to treat a body. How to get everything it needs. Don’t you agree?”
My knees trembled beneath me and my pussy ached with desire. He leaned in and laid a kiss on my lips.
“Convincing my uncle I'm obsessed with you is going to be easy.”
He walked away leaving me breathless and I quickly followed him to get in the other side of the moving truck. Once he started up and I felt the rumble underneath my body. I realized that I was so hot and bothered I couldn't wait to get back to his apartment. I wanted to see just how well he knew a woman's body. Sure the sex last night had been hot, but now that I was getting to know Cole, I thought just maybe I could fall for him.
“So my uncle will want to meet you,” he said as he drove back to his penthouse apartment. “We’re going to have to make this believable, he's a businessman. He can smell a lie a mile away.”
“So how do we convince him?” I couldn't disappoint him. I realized I was desperate to make this ridiculous arrangement work, and not just because I needed the money. It was because I wanted to make Cole happy.
“I'll set up with him. I'm sure he'll want to take you out to dinner or the both of us, see us in action together as a couple. Can you handle that?” He said as he slid his hands across the seat and placed it on my thigh. I was wearing shorts and with our bare skin touching, I would've said anything to me, trust me. To get back to the apartment back into his bed.
“Sure. I can play a part. You just have to tell me what his strengths and weaknesses are. So I know what to look for. If you say that he's good at catching a lie, I’ll make sure a lie is believable.” Out of the corner of my eye I could see him smiling at me. I knew he was right, it wouldn’t be hard to keep up our ruse. Not with how easily we were falling for one another. And it had only been a day. Where would we be when the four months was over?
I wasn't sure.
But I was dying to find out.
Ten
Cole
“Morning, I’m Dr. Cole Brennan, I believe I’m assigned to the first floor?” I winked at the receptionist for good measure. Maybe she could show me where the coffee was later.
“Hi there, you’re reporting to the attending, Dr. Mallory. He’s about my height, with dark hair, actually, why don’t I just take you down there?” She offered, her sparkling green eyes looking up at me from behind the desk.
“That would be great.”
As we passed rooms, she poked her head into one and gave greetings to parents and kids.
“First day?” she asked.
“Yeah, is it obvious?”
“Well you just looked at the kid in the wheelchair like something was wrong with him, so yeah, that’s obvious. You have to look at them like they’re normal, like nothing is wrong. Because for some of these kids, this is their whole life. So this is normal. Their normal.”
That hit me right in the gut. Even if I wasn’t really a kid person, I would definitely do my best. And when I was done here I would make sure we made a large donation to the hospital.
No kid should have to live here. No kid should feel like being sick is normal.
She walked me down the hallway until finally, we hit another reception desk.
“Is Dr. Mallory with a patient, Ashley?” She asked the receptionist.
“No, he is sitting in the break room. Kind of quiet here this morning, you must be the new doc on staff. I'm Ashley. I work the day shift.”
I waved at the petite blonde behind the desk but noticed that I wasn't even that interested. That didn't really make much sense except of course I could only think of Addison. I was really going soft.
The original receptionist pointed me in the direction of the break room. “Follow the smell of the coffee. And good luck.”
I nodded to her and walked down the hallway a few more doors before saw one that was open. A few doctors were sitting in on brightly colored couches drinking coffee and a couple were looking at magazines.
“Dr. Mallory?” I asked addressing a man with dark brown hair like the receptionist had said.
“Oh hey there, you must be Dr. Brennan. It's nice to meet you. Under interesting circumstances, no?” He stood up and walked out to the hallway as I followed him.
“I'm sorry, I don't think I understand.”
“Your uncle is on the board. Easy to get a job when you have connections.”
“Yeah I guess you could say that, but I'm on loan so…”
Dr. Mallory stopped in front of me and spun around facing me. “You and I both know you're not on loan from anywhere. But I'm the only one in this whole damn hospital that knows that so I'll keep my mouth shut, mostly because these kids deserve good doctors. Are you a good doctor?”
I shrugged. If he already knew the truth about me there was no point lying. “I've no idea to be totally honest. I did medic training in the Army and then they paid for me to go to school but I have no hands-on experience, especially with kids. I mean besides my residency and that was in a veteran’s hospital. No kids there.”
He rolled his eyes. “I had a feeling that was going to be the case, but I was hoping I was wrong.” He pulled a tablet off the wall next to the reception desk and gave it to me quickly using his finger to drag across charts.
“See this turquoise color? That's all of your charts. It's a pretty quiet morning in here so I think you only have about three kids right now. Appointments for the day I mean. You'll get the occasional walk-in but really we mostly deal with kids that have already been patients here in the past. The walk-ins come from other hospitals that can't set a bone or don’t have an MRI machine that small enough for little humans. The work is steady and you won't deal with anything too serious on this floor.”
“Sounds good, where do I start?”
Dr. Mallory smiled at me. “Well good, the military gave you something besides your medical background.”
“What's that?”
“A can-do attitude. I appreciate that. It means you get the job done, and I don't have to follow you around. I really don't have time to babysit you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to be babysat, I
'm a grown man. Point me in the direction of my first patient and I'll get to work.”
He pointed me toward a room labeled AB one and I walked in to see a young girl sitting on the table with what mostly look like a scraped knee. I scanned through her chart as I introduced myself to her mother and realized why she was there. Previously she had some blood clotting issues, so a scraped knee for her meant a hospital visit. That sucked.
“I'm Dr. Brennan, but you can just call me Cole, what do we have here?”
Her mother introduced her as Olivia. “I know it's probably nothing, but she's had so many problems in the past, and I just felt like we needed to come in.”
I waved her concerns away. “Don't worry about it. Let's see that knee, Olivia. What were you doing anyway? Trying to partake in some type of rodeo?”
That elicited a small smile from the girl. “I'm not a cowgirl. I was just playing on the monkey bars and I fell. It's very simple doctor.”
She was sassy, and I appreciated it. “Monkey bars huh? How many did you get to?”
“Only three. Then I lost my grip, I fell in the mulch.”
I heard her mother sigh behind me. “I told you not to go on the monkey bars, they're dangerous.”
Olivia now sighed, matching her mother's tone almost perfectly. “And I told you I was careful. It was an accident Mom.”
I took a look at her chart again, someone had already come in and done some blood work on her and it seemed that her iron levels were normal. The blood had mostly dried on her knees and she looked pretty good overall.
“I like to do a full examination just to be safe, but I think she's fine. I'm going to send in a nurse to put a gown on her and we’ll get started.”
The mother nodded and she helped Olivia hop off the table. I walked out and closed the door behind me putting in my tablet that I needed a nurse's assistant. Someone arrived only a moment later and went in with a gown that had teddy bears on it. All the bright colors and sounds and kids were going to take some getting used to.
As I continued to look over her chart my cell phone started buzzing in my pocket. I figured I had a couple minutes to answer quickly when I realized it was my uncle calling. And he wanted exactly what I was expecting.
“So when do I get to meet this girl? How is the first day of work going?”
“Can’t you even say hello? The girl is great. And you can set up some fancy dinner for whenever you want. And so far the hospital’s not that bad. I do appreciate however that I'm not cleaning bedpans. Instead, I'm just fixing up a scraped knee.”
“I didn't want it to be a full prison sentence. You already did something similar to that in the past few days.”
“You're so charming when you're angry, do you know that?”
“I'm going to ignore that last comment. How about dinner at Poplopos, tomorrow?”
I nodded. “I'll make it work.” The nurse opened up the door again and I knew it was time to go.
“I've got your back to work. See you tomorrow.”
I ended the call and walked back into tend to Olivia's knee. Tomorrow, the ruse would begin.
Eleven
Addison
I looked around the fancy restaurant I was sitting in, still surprised because I got to visit such a place. It was still a lot to take in. The whole restaurant screamed money, and the customers wore clothes that were more costly than the monthly rent for my apartment. I’d never thought I would be the one to visit this kind of place—furnished with the most expensive things and materials. The gold crystal chandeliers were really sparkling, making me gape at them in awe, and there was even a live band that played classical music.
I’d also never thought I would be dressed in a really nice, satin dress with my straight hair and full makeup. I was in the middle of dinner with Cole and his uncle. I took a sip of my wine and brought my attention back to him. He was talking about something, and I tried to focus on him, but it was difficult since Cole was sitting next to me, and his nearness was making me tense.
Cole was wearing an expensive suit that made him even more attractive—if that was possible. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his expensive cologne was stirring everything inside me. From the moment I saw him I just wanted to jump on him and kiss the hell out of him.
I suddenly giggled, and both Cole and his uncle looked at me like I was weird, which was probably true. Here I was—supposed to enjoy this dinner and give my best to leave a good impression on Cole’s uncle—but I was acting like I was addicted to sex.
Addison, get a hold of yourself. Cole put his arm right next to mine on the table, and I felt hot and unable to breathe evenly. He was too near and I just wanted this dinner to end so I could get to kiss him again. I clenched my thighs together and reminded myself again to be a good girl.
“So Addison, tell me what you do for work? Typically Cole brings around models and call girls. But you’re different, I can see that.”
I pushed my glasses up on my nose. “Yes well I worked in coding, but with Cole and I getting more serious I thought it would be good to take some time off.”
“So you’ve asked her then?” Cole’s uncle countered, his eyes boring into Cole so hard I thought he might explode.
“Asked me what?”
“Not yet uncle, I’m waiting for the right moment.”
I pretended to be giddy but Cole and I had already decided we’d go ring shopping tomorrow, and then choose a wedding planner. I was still terrified of telling my family, but we had to get through this dinner first.
“What type of coding did you do?”
“Security mostly, but I’m a stronger hacker than a coder. You know people say these days it’s better to have a good hacker on payroll than a paid assassin.” I laughed at my joke, but the men didn’t respond. Too dark Addison.
“And your work Cole? Going well?”
“Yes uncle, things are fine, though a kid bit me today.”
I laughed. “You didn’t tell me that!”
“Yeah the little bugger had swallowed a penny, I thought it might still be in his mouth. It wasn’t. But my finger was. Lucky me.”
Cole’s uncle and I laughed. This dinner was going better than anticipated. But I think that had something to do with the heat between Cole and me. It was undeniable.
Every time he looked at me or smiled, my heart accelerated, and all I could think about were those heated moments we’d shared together. Heated? No, it was more like the best sex of my life—the most amazing, explosive sex and I couldn’t get enough. Now that I knew how good Cole was in bed, and that made me just more desperate to sleep with him again.
Our hands brushed in one moment, and I stilled, my mouth becoming dry as he slid his hand over mine slowly. He did it so his uncle wouldn’t notice anything, but this slight touch was enough to make me restless.
He cocked his head to the side and smirked at me. “Hot much?” he whispered to me, sending shivers down my spine.
Why did he look like he wasn’t bothered at all? I was going all crazy for him here, but he seemed completely unfazed.
I licked my lip and bit into it, looking at him seductively while his uncle turned his attention elsewhere. “Burning, actually,” I whispered into his ear. “I’m imagining myself all over you.”
I noticed with pleasure how rigid his body became, and his dark eyes filled with lust almost instantly.
“You’re testing my patience,” he muttered not-to-gently.
“Well isn’t that a change of pace for, I’m sure,” I continued provoking him and I brushed my hand over my chest to bring his attention to the girls. It worked—his eyes zeroed in on my boobs and for a moment I thought he was going to lose it and do something to me right here.
“You’re playing with fire, Addison.”
“Same to you.” I winked. I loved teasing him like this.
We were near the end of dinner when Cole placed his hand on my thigh, completely surprising me. I gasped and almost let my fork slip out of my hand.<
br />
“Are you alright, Addison?” his uncle asked me, and I was only able to nod, blushing furiously as Cole’s hand crept under my dress. He frowned, looking worried for me. “You seem a bit flushed.”
If he only knew. Cole reached my panties and slid his fingers over the front, making my clit throb. “I’m alright. It’s just getting a bit hot in here...” I fanned myself with my hand.
He frowned further. “Hm, maybe their air conditioner isn’t working. I could say something to the manager.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I said with a reserved smile.
He had no clue. I was a second away from moaning when Cole rubbed my clit, and I had to press my palm against my mouth to stop myself from doing it. Cole leaned so close to me, and I could hear his heavy breathing. His uncle focused on his plate and continued eating, while Cole sped up his movements under the table. I was burning now, completely wet. I couldn’t believe he was doing this to me—right in the middle of this restaurant! His uncle was sitting just across from us and I was letting Cole do this...
“You’re already so wet,” Cole whispered and my pussy throbbed again. I wanted to come so badly, right here and right now. “This is just a preview of what is yet to come.” He winked and removed his hand.
My jaw dropped and I looked at him in disbelief. He looked smug, like he was doing this just to torture me, and now I was so turned on that I started counting minutes until the end of this dinner.
My pussy was throbbing, and I tried calming myself down, but it was pointless. I needed Cole badly, and I couldn’t wait to have him—no matter what.
Twelve
Cole
She was so damn hot. She was provoking me during the whole dinner, and it was driving me nuts. She was too near, her sexy dress was too revealing and literally killing me, and her perfume gave me a hard-on from the first moment I smelled it.
I couldn’t focus on anything else but her, painfully aware of her arm near mine or her delicate, smooth skin whenever we touched. Her beautiful green eyes were seductive, looking at me like she wanted to fuck me right there, and I could barely restrain myself.
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