Think Again

by Isabel Lucero

  He leaves his hands on my hips for several seconds as we continue to be transfixed by each other. The only thought in my head is kiss him, kiss him, kiss him.

  I can’t kiss him, though. If I do, it may make things weird, and he’s supposed to be here for a little while, and I don’t want that kind of awkwardness. Plus, I work with him. And, I’m married.

  “Thank you,” I say, my voice just above a whisper.

  “You’re welcome,” he responds, leaving his hands on my hips.

  “I guess we should eat?”

  Chris continues to look at me for a few more seconds before giving me one nod and backing away. “We should.”

  He lifts me into his arms without warning and carries me to the couch. After he gets me settled, and brings me more ice for my ankle, he goes into the kitchen and comes back with a couple plates of pizza and some Coke.

  The sexual tension in the room is powerful. I keep trying to look at him without getting caught, and he’s being quiet. Perhaps he’s disappointed that I didn’t initiate anything in the bathroom, but it couldn’t lead to much right now anyway.

  “I really appreciate you helping me so much,” I tell him as he sits next to me.

  He grants me a grin. “What kind of doctor would I be if I didn’t?”

  I smile at him and then we both dig into our food. I flip through the channels and end up stopping on Superbad.

  “Have you seen this?” I ask.

  “Of course. It’s funny as hell.”

  We watch the movie, stuff our faces, and I take a couple more pain pills. The awkwardness of the near kiss is gone, and we’re back to normal conversation. After he puts everything away, he comes back to the couch and takes the ice off of my ankle.

  “You don’t have to stay here all night,” I tell him.

  “I know, but I’m happy to be here to help you. I’d never forgive myself if I left you here with no help.”

  “You’re pretty nice,” I admit, blushing a little.

  “I can be,” he says with a smile. “I can also be not so nice.”

  “Really? You don’t seem to have a mean bone in your body.”

  “It’s not that I’m mean, it’s just . . . never mind.”

  He actually looks a little bothered, and I wonder what he was going to say.

  “What? Tell me.”

  “I shouldn’t.”

  I place my hand on his arm, making him look over at me. “Tell me.”

  His gaze moves to my mouth and back to my eyes. He takes a deep breath and exhales.

  “I want to kiss you, Aria. I want to touch you. I need to feel the way your body reacts to my touch and to my mouth. I need to show you how attracted I am to you. I need to know if you’re attracted to me. I don’t even care that I’m in the house you share with your husband. I don’t give him a second thought, and maybe I should, but I don’t. All I can think about is your soft skin and those pouty lips. Nothing else matters.”

  The air feels like it rushes out of my lungs, leaving me breathless. My heart does summersaults at his admission, and my stomach is full of fluttering butterflies. This man. This god of a man is attracted to me. He wants me. Me!

  Sure, I might’ve thought that maybe he was flirting with me, but the way he tells me exactly how he feels makes my heart soar. I can’t even lie either, the fact that he doesn’t give a shit about Aaron excites me.

  Taboo.

  Forbidden.

  Wrong.

  Whatever you want to call it.

  I call it something else.

  Enticing.

  Exciting.

  Alluring.

  The right words don’t find me. My mind is gone, and nothing I could say would be a good enough response to what he just said. I’m acting firmly on instinct and nothing else.

  We’re already right next to each other, so I lean even closer, lift my head a little higher, and I kiss his lips.

  He doesn’t reciprocate right away, and I can tell he’s a little surprised. Backing away just a fraction, he studies my face to see if I’m going to change my mind. When I don’t say anything, he leans in and captures my face between his hands, kissing me passionately.

  His tongue massages mine, and the hair on his face scratches my skin, but I enjoy the roughness. He sucks my tongue into his mouth for a second before placing a few kisses on my lips. I feel his hands move into my hair at the back of my neck, and then his tongue plunges deep into my mouth once again.

  The work of his lips and tongue elicit lustful moans from my mouth, spurring him on. My hands find a place on his body, and I pull his shirt, trying to get him even closer. He groans and it’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve heard. Pulling away from my mouth, he kisses my cheek and then my neck, sucking the flesh into his mouth.

  My hand runs through his hair, tugging on it just enough to get his mouth back on mine, so I can take over the kiss. Our tongues collide and twirl around each other while our hands roam each other’s body.

  Before it can go any further, our passionate moment is broken up by the sound of my garage door opening.

  My husband is home.

  “Shit!”

  “Is that?”

  “Couldn’t be anybody else. Fuck!”

  I begin panicking, running my hand over my mouth and taking note of my lack of clothes. The realization that I never put my shorts on hits me like a ton of bricks. Chris put my underwear on and I was so distracted by the thought of kissing him, and his hands on my body that I didn’t even think about the shorts.

  Chris is surprisingly unruffled. He’s not acting like a man about to be caught with someone else’s wife. I couldn’t feel any more uncomfortable and terrified. My husband is about to come face to face with Chris. A man I was just making out with on our couch.

  “What do we do? What do we say?” I question, my eyes wide with fear.

  “Ssshh,” he soothes. “Don’t worry.”

  “How can I not worry?” I ask, in complete freak out mode. My stomach twists, making me feel sick, and my heart beats rapidly in my chest.

  He gets up and adjusts himself which makes me bury my face in my hands. Good god, what did I get myself into?

  Chris strides into the kitchen, which is closer to where Aaron is about to walk in.

  “What are you doing?” I hiss.

  He doesn’t answer, but he’s back in the living room before Aaron comes inside, and he has an ice pack in his hand.

  “Oh my god,” I whisper, looking into his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

  He grins. “For what? I’m not.”

  “How are you so calm?”

  “Calm doesn’t look guilty. Relax, it’s gonna be fine.”

  Chris grabs the blanket that hangs over the back of the couch and covers my legs up. Good call.

  The door opens with a small creak right before I hear Aaron’s footsteps as he walks through the kitchen. Holy fuck. Here we go.

  “Aria?” he calls out, not yet seeing us.

  My eyes widen at Chris, not sure what to say. He nods, reassuring me it’ll be fine. Right as Aaron walks into the living room, Chris places the ice pack on my elevated ankle.

  “What the . . .” Aaron starts. “What’s going on?” he asks, looking Chris up and down and then looking at my bandaged-wrapped ankle covered in ice.

  “Hey,” I squeak, trying to sound as normal as possible. “I hurt my ankle today.”

  His brows furrow and he looks back at Chris, still trying to figure out why he’s here and who the hell he is.

  “Hey,” Chris greets, walking to Aaron and extending his hand. Kill. Me. Now. “I’m Chris Callahan. I work with Aria.”

  Aaron hesitates momentarily, sizing Chris up before taking his hand in his own. “You work together?” He sounds confused, and he looks back at me with question in his eyes.

  “Remember when I told you we had a new doctor come in?”

  His eyes widen. “You’re the doctor?”

  Chris smiles wide. “I am.”


  They stop shaking hands and Chris puts his in the pockets of his pants, looking like the epitome of devil-may-care.

  “So, what happened?” Aaron asks, moving closer to me.

  “Uhh.”

  I don’t know what to say. I can’t tell him that Chris and I were out hiking together.

  “We were working at the clinic together today, and right before we left, she slipped on some water somebody had spilled and fell on her ankle,” Chris lies flawlessly.

  “Oh,” Aaron says, still looking confused. “I’m sorry, baby,” he coos, sitting next to me and rubbing my thigh.

  Chris clenches his jaw momentarily before relaxing his face.

  “It’s fine,” I retort, wanting to disappear.

  “So, you’ve just been here helping her out?” Aaron questions, staring at Chris once again. “All day?”

  Chris forces a smile. “Not all day, no. I was just here when she needed me.”

  The double entendre is clear to me, but hopefully not to Aaron, who furrows his brows trying to figure out what that means.

  “Your friends couldn’t help you?” he bites, sounding angry.

  “My friends were at work,” I snap back.

  “It was unfortunate that you weren’t here to help her,” Chris adds. “But don’t worry, I’m professionally trained to take care of her needs.”

  Oh god.

  “Well, I’m sorry you were stuck here most of the day,” Aaron says. “I appreciate you doing your job and making sure she was okay, but I’m home now.”

  “It was no problem. It hardly felt like work, and I’m happy to help where I’m needed.”

  He throws another smile at Aaron, but it’s not a genuine one. Not at all. It wouldn’t even be considered friendly.

  Aaron clears his throat. “Yeah, well. Do you need a cab? I didn’t see a car parked out there.”

  “That would be great. Thank you. I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

  “Aaron. I’ll call them now.”

  Aaron gets up from the couch, pulling his phone from his pants, but pauses and bends down to kiss me on my lips. It’s clearly for show. Marking his territory.

  As soon as he leaves the room, heading towards the kitchen to make the call, Chris stalks towards me.

  “I don’t like that guy,” he whispers intently.

  I can’t help but grin a little. “He’s not my favorite either.”

  Chris brings his thumb to my lips and wipes Aaron’s kiss from them. I look towards the kitchen, but there’s no way Aaron can see us. He leans in and gives me one quick kiss, his tongue swiping at the seam of my lips and barely grazing my own. With another peck, he stands up and winks at me. “We’ll talk later.”

  As soon as he gets back to where he was standing, I hear Aaron walking back into the living room.

  “They should be here soon.”

  “Great,” Chris responds.

  Aaron plays the dutiful husband and sits next to me again. “Do you need anything, sweetie? Can I do anything? I feel terrible that I wasn’t here for you.”

  Sweetie? When has he ever called me sweetie? What an act. I see Chris roll his eyes and I almost laugh.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Well, I’m going to wait outside,” Chris announces. “Thanks for calling the cab, Adam. Aria, remember what I said,” he states, reminding me of the talk we’ll have later.

  “It’s Aaron,” Aaron gripes.

  “What’s that?” Chris asks, and I can tell he messed up his name on purpose.

  “My name is Aaron,” he grumbles.

  “Sorry about that, man,” Chris laughs. “Good night.”

  Chris lets himself out the front door, leaving me and Aaron alone on the couch. The same couch Chris and I were just making out on.

  As soon as Chris closes the door, Aaron is up and pacing in front of me.

  “That’s the new doctor?”

  “Yeah,” I respond, curious as to why he’s asking again.

  “I thought . . . I thought he was gonna be, I don’t know. Older. Like Scott.”

  “Well,” I say with a shrug.

  “He’s been here all day?”

  “For a little while, I guess.”

  “Jesus, Aria. You wouldn’t be okay by yourself for a while? You needed to have him here with you?”

  “I can barely fucking walk, Aaron!” I yell. “I needed help. Where were you? If you had been here, I wouldn’t have needed anyone else to help me. Not that you seem so eager to help me now.”

  “I was working. You know that.”

  “Right, you were out of town. Now, how did you get back so early if you were supposed to meet up with those people this afternoon? It would take you seven hours to get home, and considering the time, you wouldn’t have had time to meet with anybody.”

  He scoffs. “The meeting was moved up.”

  “So after arriving there really early this morning, getting almost no sleep, you have an early meeting and then leave right away? No food, no sleep, nothing?”

  “You don’t know what I had time for. I wanted to get back to be with you, and you’re here hanging out with some guy.”

  “Please,” I say, rolling my eyes.

  I want to tell him he has no room to talk. I want to tell him I know about Stephany with a y. I want to tell him I know everything, but I can’t. I’d be stuck here, helpless.

  “You’re a nurse. You can’t do this shit on your own?” he spits, gesturing to my wrapped ankle and ice pack.

  “No, I couldn’t fucking do it on my own,” I shout. “Maybe I should ask him to stay since you don’t seem to be jumping at the idea of helping your injured wife.”

  “Don’t, Aria. Just don’t,” he warns, pinning me with his hazel eyes.

  “Whatever, Aaron. Go to bed. I’ll be sleeping down here, but don’t worry, if I need anything I’ll do the shit myself.”

  “It’s not late and I’m not tired yet, so you’ll have to deal with me being down here for a while. Do you mind if I eat any of that pizza that you two shared while I was gone?” he says with malice.

  “Eat what you want, Aaron,” I respond, waving him off.

  He storms into the kitchen, slamming cabinets and muttering stuff under his breath. I roll my eyes and pull the blanket higher up, hoping I can just fall asleep and not have to deal with him for the rest of the night.

  Instead of staying in the living room, he takes his food and goes upstairs. Good. Asshole. It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep. It was a long day, and with all the hiking and hopping around the house, I’m both mentally and physically exhausted.

  I touch my lips, remembering Chris’s mouth on mine, and when I sleep, I dream of passionate kisses with sexy doctors. One in particular, and he’s wearing only a lab coat.

  Sleeping on the couch isn’t something I’d like to make a habit of doing. It wasn’t the most comfortable sleep I’ve had, especially since I was aware of my ankle the entire night, trying not to move it at all.

  I stretch my upper body and take note of my surroundings. The TV was left on, and at some point, Aaron must’ve brought down another pillow and put it under my head. When I sit up, readying myself to get off the couch, I hear Aaron moving around in the kitchen.

  A glance at the clock tells me it’s six o’clock in the morning. I wonder why he’s up so early on a Sunday.

  I push myself up, grunting in the process, and begin hopping around the furniture and towards the bathroom.

  “Aria? You up?” he asks, coming around the corner.

  “Yeah,” I respond, my voice reflecting the pain I’m in.

  “Here, let me help you,” he offers, catching me off guard.

  Aaron is dressed in his black slacks and a light blue button up with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows. His face looks haggard, letting me know he didn’t get much sleep last night.

  “Thanks,” I tell him as he wraps an arm around my waist and brings my arm around his neck, gripping my hand.

  “Maybe y
ou should get crutches.”

  “Nah,” I say through a grunt. “I can tell it’s nothing too major. I’ll be able to walk on it with little pain soon. It might just be stiff from not moving it all night.”

  “Are you going to work on Monday?” he asks as we get to the bathroom.

  “I’m gonna call Scott and fill him in. If I feel like I can’t walk well enough to be rushing around the clinic by then, I won’t go in.”

  He nods. “Good.”

  I’m sure the good comment is because I won’t see Chris.

  “I got it from here. I’ll call if I need you,” I say.

  “Okay.” He gives me a small smile before leaving.

  Once I use the bathroom and brush my teeth and hair, I hobble out, testing my foot. I barely put my toes on the ground, and try to get to my other foot as fast as possible. It’s not too bad, but I definitely need some pain pills right now.

  When I finally get into the kitchen, Aaron spots me and hurries over to help me to a chair around the dinner table.

  “Want some breakfast? I made eggs and bacon.”

  I look at him dubiously. “You made breakfast?”

  He gives me a little smile. “I do know how to cook, Aria.”

  “Yeah, but you rarely do. But yes, I’d love some. Can you also bring me some water and pain meds?”

  “Sure.”

  This Aaron is confusing me. Why is he all of a sudden so concerned with helping me after chewing my head off last night? Does he feel guilty? Whatever it is, it’s weird, and I don’t know how to take it.

  “Oh, can you bring me my phone? I think I left it on the couch. I need to call Scott.”

  He brings me a plate of food, a glass of water, and the medicine before going into the living room for the phone.

  I swallow the pills down first and then start shoveling the eggs into my mouth. Aaron stops next to me with phone in hand, a morose look painting his face. As I take it from him, he lifts one side of his mouth into a smile filled with sadness.

  “Thanks.”

  He tries to widen his smile, but it doesn’t quite work. He turns his back and continues making his coffee. I finish my breakfast before calling Scott, and when I pick up my phone, my heart almost stops.

  There on the screen lies a text from Chris. Did Aaron see it?