The Best Deception (New Edition)

by Ashley Jade

  Yeah, I should have known better than to ask that. That sure was stupid of me.

  I bit my lip, if only to keep my mouth from dropping to the floor with his statement.

  I stayed silent, I was truly at a loss for words.

  He cleared his throat, appearing to be in deep thought. “When was the last time you got fucked hard and good?”

  His green eyes pierced right through me as he waited for me to answer.

  My mouth went dry and my heart raced. My attraction to both him and his dirty mouth was going to be the end of my career if I didn’t control myself.

  This was becoming highly inappropriate now. I needed to put an end to this.

  “Jacob, stop. You know better than to ask me a question like that. I've already tip-toed the line by answering a personal question of yours."

  He looked at me curiously then. “So it's been that long, huh? It's a shame—” His voice dropped to a low rasp. “Fuck, the things I could do to you, Dr. Adams.”

  That's when I got up, walked across the room and opened the window. I needed air.

  I needed air, and I needed to stop the tingles that were starting to travel down my body. I didn't even notice that Jacob had walked up behind me.

  “Anytime you want to feel me deep inside you while I'm making you come all over my cock—you be sure to let me know,” he whispered as he pressed himself into me.

  I sucked in a breath and almost started fanning myself. Between his intoxicating scent and his words, I was quickly losing control.

  This was not supposed to be happening. I closed my eyes and willed myself to keep it together. He was the client, I was the doctor. I needed to be the one to take control.

  “Back up now, Jacob. I already told you. There will be none of that. I will see you on Monday. Your two hours are up.”

  I heard the door slam shut behind me, hard enough to make me jump.

  ***

  Jacob ended up canceling our next two sessions after that.

  Chapter 4

  I noticed that the leaves had begun to change color as I went for my early morning jog around the neighborhood. I loved my daily jogs, it was the best way to clear my head.

  And I certainly had a lot to think about this morning.

  Danny received another letter from our father. I opened it and read it, without Danny knowing.

  Apparently, he wanted him to go up to the prison for a visit.

  Little did he know, that wouldn't be happening, ever. I needed to keep Danny safe, and I would stop at nothing to do that. Including taking a trip up to the prison myself, confronting my horrible excuse for a father, and telling him to leave Danny alone. His presence wasn't needed in his life.

  I just needed to hide the last letter from Danny and make him think that our father was cutting off contact. It was my only option.

  Luckily, the fact that I only had two sessions a week with Jacob or even less now; meant that I had a lot of free time on my hands. I would be able to check the mail again before Danny ever had the chance.

  I slowed my pace down as I came up to the woods. I took a deep breath, and I slowly jogged forward.

  I passed Jamie's favorite tree, the ones with our initials, along with the words best friends forever. It wasn't long before I jogged up to the spot that I had found her on that horrible day.

  I’d hung a cross and a wreath at the spot in her memory. I came here every morning to have my daily silent chat with her. She was truly the only person I could talk to. She was still my best friend, even after all these years.

  I apologized to her every single day. It should have been me that suffered the way she did.

  It was my fault for being friends with her. It was my fault my father was such a deplorable man. It was my fault she was at my house the night she was raped and murdered.

  It was all my fault. The guilt would never go away, and I deserved to carry it in my heart for the rest of my life.

  I blew a kiss to her and told her I loved her.

  I started to make my way out of the woods. A few steps later, I saw a tall, dark figure standing there and I paused.

  “Hello!” I called out before the figure started running ahead of me. Their head was covered by the hood of their sweatshirt so I couldn't see the person's face.

  Luckily, running for the past 10 years made me a pretty fast runner myself. I charged full speed ahead after them.

  It wasn't until we were out of the woods that I had finally caught up to them and grabbed their arm.

  Then, I almost passed out.

  “Jacob?” I panted. “What the hell are you doing?”

  A cocky smile lit up his face before he answered, “I believe it's called exercising, Dr. Adams. Same as you. Or at least, it would appear so.” He raised his brows. “Unless you always make it a habit to go running around your neighborhood in a sports bra and spandex."

  Between his comment and the way his eyes appraised me from head to toe, I felt the sudden urge to cover myself up.

  I reached for the sweatshirt that was tied around my waist and quickly put it on.

  “Please, don't cover yourself on account of me. I was quite enjoying the view,” he said smugly.

  I pulled my headphones out of my ears and glared at him. “Stop being inappropriate.”

  “We aren't in a session right now, Dr. Adams. Also, I believe it was you who chased after me this time,” he said before taking a sip from his water bottle.

  “Well, you startled me. Wait—" I paused as the thought hit me. "Were you following me? Maybe our professional relationship needs to end.”

  He took a step forward and narrowed his eyes.

  I tried my hardest not to breathe in the major pheromones from him that were now starting to take over my body. It was an impossible task, the man smelled like pure heaven.

  You know, if heaven was a 6 foot 2” inch male with abs made of pure steel and a face akin to a Greek god.

  “Relax. I wasn't following you,” he said. “Trust me, I'm not that desperate for your attention. You made it very clear the other night that you would be sticking to your ethical boundaries. I live about two miles from here. In the private gated community, I'm sure you know which one I'm referring to. Usually, I go jogging at night. But I had a last minute meeting cancel, so I decided to go for a morning run. Didn't expect to see you along the way though, that's for sure—” He grinned. “Although, it now explains why you do have one fantastic ass.”

  I felt myself blush at his compliment. On the bright side, at least he finally got the hint that there would be absolutely no sex happening between us.

  Still didn’t explain why he just took off running. Why didn't he just stop and say hello to me in the woods?

  “Why did you take off running?” I held up a hand. “And please, don't give me some smart ass answer about exercising, either. I said hello to you in the woods and you took off like a bat out of hell. Why?"

  “You looked like you were having a moment. A private moment, obviously. I didn't want to bother you, and I certainly didn't want to be accused of stalking you.” His jaw ticked. “Thanks for that by the way."

  Now, I was starting to feel bad. I mean, I don't own the woods, and he was actually making an effort to be polite and respectful, for once.

  “I'm sorry. You're right. I was out of line.”

  “I'll see you on Monday, Dr. Adams,” he replied before he took off jogging.

  ***

  “Leah, have we gotten any mail recently?” Danny asked as I served us dinner.

  I shrugged, attempting to be as nonchalant as I could. “Nope. Nothing but the usual crap. Why? Are you expecting something important?”

  I hated lying to him, but it was for his own benefit.

  He looked up at me curiously. “You wouldn't be hiding Dad's letters from me, right? You have to let me make my own decisions, even if you don't agree with it. I thought I could trust you."

  Dammit, my little brother knew me too well, sometimes. I took a dee
p breath. “You can trust me. I love you. I'm not taking his letters, I promise,” I said, before shoving a forkful of meatloaf into my mouth, silently hoping it would cover up my lie.

  “I'm sorry, Leah. You were right about him after all. I don't know why I got my hopes up. I feel so stupid now.”

  Ugh, this was breaking my heart, but I knew it would be for the best. I had to protect him.

  “I'm sorry, bud. But you still have me. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”

  “I know. You're a pain in the ass, but I'm really lucky to have you. I'll even do the dishes tonight,” he said before giving me a smile and walking over to the sink.

  Chapter 5

  “Hello, Jacob. How are you?” I asked as I watched him walk into my office.

  His shirt matched the color of his eyes today, and it was all I could do to keep myself from visibly swooning.

  “I'm fine, but I had a rough day at work. How are you?” he mumbled, seemingly distracted by something on his cell phone.

  I sat up in my chair. “Is everything okay? Talk to me about it."

  He sighed before he took a seat on the couch. “One of my companies was supposed to have a merger scheduled for today. But it didn't go through. Let's just say one of my employees haven't been too loyal to Sand Corp. They're playing both sides of the fence. They purposely sabotaged it."

  Man, that has to suck. I would be pretty pissed if I was him too.

  “I'm sorry to hear that. That's pretty upsetting. What have you been doing to cope? Let's work through this.”

  “Cope?” he mocked, as his eyes flashed with rage. “I fired the bastard and damn near burned his house to the ground. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that he has two kids, and I couldn't do that to them.” His jaw worked. “However, I made damn sure that the asshole will never, and I mean never, have a job again. He can't even work at a fast food restaurant. I've ruined him, but it still doesn't feel like enough."

  Shit, that was intense.

  “I don't think that's a very healthy way of dealing with the anger you have. Ruining a person's life, even if they have done you wrong—isn't the right way of going about it. Let's work together and try and find some other coping strategies. We could try deep bre—"

  “There's only one other thing that would make me feel better,” he growled, effectively cutting me off.

  He looked me up and down, with fire in his eyes. “Unfortunately, it's also the one and only thing that I can't seem to get my hands on."

  His intense gaze was leading me to think it was me he might be referring to with that statement.

  Leah, stop that's absurd—I chided myself. He could have any other woman in the world that he wanted.

  Besides, I couldn’t cross that line with him. No matter how much I may want to.

  We sat in awkward silence for a few moments and he went back to looking at his phone, ignoring both me and the session completely.

  “You know if you want to reschedule for another day, we can. Obviously, you're a little preoccupied right now,” I said hoping he would finally stop fiddling with his phone and participate.

  He continued typing something on his phone. “I'm just lining up something for later. I need to channel my anger and passion into something else. Even though it's not the person I really want."

  Oh, god. Was he trying to make me jealous? That would be ridiculous. If anything, it made me concerned.

  If he was seeking treatment for a sex addiction the last thing he should be doing was lining up a booty call.

  Plus, as much as I hated to admit it, a very small part of me did suddenly find myself jealous.

  “Do you really think calling up one of your whores from your little harem is the healthy way of dealing with this?” I blurted out, before my hand flew over my mouth.

  I was officially the worst psychiatrist in history. Fuck, this was embarrassing.

  His green eyes shot daggers at me. That look could definitely put a person in their place, and shrink them down a few sizes; that's for sure. No wonder he was such a good businessman.

  “Not that it's any of your goddamned business—” he bit. “But no, that wasn't one of my so-called whores I was referring to. I was talking about setting up a kick-boxing session with my personal trainer."

  I bit my lip and looked down at my shoes, I'd never felt more like an asshole in my entire life. I don’t know what it is about him, or us being in the same room together that made me behave like this.

  If he wasn’t pissing me the hell off, he was making my panties wet. Inappropriate wasn’t even the word for it anymore.

  Our interactions were becoming more reminiscent of what happens when fire meets gasoline. Explosions were bound to happen, just not the good kind in our case.

  I reached for my coffee cup and took a sip, willing myself to get it together. I needed to get control over myself.

  I was tired of having to apologize to him all the time. It was obvious that I was the one being unprofessional, not him. It was abundantly clear that I couldn't handle him, his situation, or my reactions.

  Maybe it was time to end this once and for all.

  I wasn't even helping him in the first place. Of that fact, I was almost positive.

  He cleared his throat, leaned forward, and looked at me. “However, you are probably the one person who could make me feel better. You are also the one and only person I can't seem to have. Even though I'm certain—that you want me just as much as I want you. "

  I stared at him wide-eyed. I didn't know whether to start yelling or climax.

  He was right, I did want him, badly. Which only meant one thing—I needed to end this now.

  “I don't think it's a good idea to continue these sessions anymore,” I began. “It's not you. It's me. I'm sorry. You don't have to pay me for today. I'm the one who's out of line. It's all my fault. I haven't even helped you," I finished before getting up and walking over to the window.

  I was hoping he would just leave, and we could avoid any more awkwardness. Unfortunately, I felt his presence looming behind me, causing me to draw in a ragged breath.

  “Leah, what makes you think you haven't helped me?” He sighed. “Look, I haven't had sex with anyone since we started our sessions over a month ago. I haven't wanted to. You're the only one that I want."

  He moved closer and put his hands around my waist.

  I sucked in a breath and began feeling dizzy. His touch was slowly sending me over the edge.

  He spun me around and pressed me up against the window. I started breathing so hard, I probably sounded like I was having a damn asthma attack.

  His scent and the fact that his hands were on my body were overwhelming my senses. He cupped my jaw and ran his thumb along my bottom lip. I flushed and damn near gasped out loud when I felt an enormous bulge pressed against my thigh.

  Holy shit. I felt myself start to grow wet when his head dipped down to my neck.

  Leah, you need to stop this. Think about how hard you worked your ass off in school. Is it really worth all this?

  “Jacob, stop—” I gently pushed him away. “I can't. I’m canceling our sessions, my decision is final. I'm sorry. Please understand,” I said softly.

  Disappointment clouded his handsome features. “Why? Stop letting your own head get in the way of this."

  I almost felt myself cave in again when I looked at his lips. God, they were beautiful.

  Fucking perfect, just like everything else about him. What I wouldn't give to have those lips all over my body.

  The bad girl on my shoulder was telling me to shut up and jump on him, but the good girl was warning me that I was the world’s worst doctor and this was a big mistake.

  As usual, the good girl won, despite what I desperately yearned for. The traitorous bitch.

  “I'm sorry. No,” I repeated, side-stepping away from him.

  He shot me a look of annoyance, before he slammed the door and left.

  I stayed in my office for a
nother two hours after that.

  As much as my body wanted him, I knew I had made the right decision. It was the right thing to end therapy with him for good.

  When I looked out the window it was dark. I checked my watch, 9:02pm.

  Yeah, it was definitely time to go home.

  Cursing under my breath, I made my way down the creaky staircase and out to the parking lot.

  I was walking to my 5-year-old Toyota when a hand reached out and grabbed me around my throat.

  “Give me your purse now,” a deep voice whispered.

  I tried to kick my legs but it was no use. We struggled for a bit, before he finally snatched it from me.

  Dammit, I knew this was a horrible neighborhood.

  Frankly, I was surprised this sort of thing hadn't happened to me sooner. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer, hoping I still had my cell phone in my hand, when I heard another voice.

  “Give her the fucking purse back now,” Jacob’s voice sneered.

  My eyes popped open and I watched as he put his hands around my attacker's throat. The guy handed it back to me immediately as I stood there speechless.

  What the hell was he still doing here? Our last session ended hours ago.

  I watched as Jacob punched the guy in the ribs, sending him to the ground. He then kicked the guy, causing him to cry out in pain. “Don't you ever fucking touch her again, you got it?” he said, not waiting for a response before he landed another sharp kick and the guy cried out again. “Don't you dare ever look at her again."

  I was actually starting to feel bad for my attacker now. “Stop. You've made your point!” I screamed.

  Jacob didn't let up, he knelt down and landed another blow to the guys face with his fist.

  The guy’s head hit the pavement with a thud.

  This was brutal. Way too brutal for a simple mugger.

  I grabbed his arm before he could hit him again. “Please stop. Please, for me,” I pleaded, and he finally dropped his hands.

  “I don't even know where to begin, Jacob. I'm thankful, scared, and confused. What the hell was all that? Do you always let your anger get the best of you?”