I take a deep breath and I see the tears gathering in her eyes.
“Val, babe. I’m so, so sorry that I hooked up with Emma. You have to believe me that it was before I’d ever met you, and it didn’t mean anything to me. You can call me an asshole for not calling her back. You can call me an asshole for not calling lots of girls back. But you have to believe me when I say that you’re different. If I’d known then that it would cause this between us, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near her. I know - ” my voice cracks, “I know what that feels like and I never, ever, ever want to make you feel that way.”
The tears are overflowing down her cheeks and she brings her hand up to wipe them away. She takes a sip of her tea and all I want to do is gather her in my arms and hold her close. There’s still a distance between us, and she’s holding her mug almost defensively. She stares at me and I speak again, more quietly this time.
“I won’t lie to you, I used to like going out and picking up women but since you walked into my office that Saturday morning I haven’t even wanted to, not even a little bit. You’ve shown me there can be more. I want you. Only you.”
“Oh, Clay, just be quiet,” she says, putting her mug down on the coffee table. She flies over to me and our lips collide, her arms are around my neck. My hands search for the ties of her robe and untie it, reaching inside to feel her skin in my arms. She’s naked underneath, still damp from her shower. I pull her nearer to me, wrapping my arms around her and holding her tight.
I bring my lips to her neck, breathing in deeply to smell her fresh, clean skin. This is where she belongs: in my arms. I tilt her chin up with my fingers and place my lips over hers again, kissing her more slowly. I want to taste her, smell her, feel her next to me. I don’t want to miss a single second of this. I never want to let her go.
39
Valerie
Being in Clay’s arms feels like coming home. He’s got them wrapped around me tightly and I wrap mine around him. I don’t want to let go, not now, not ever. His lips taste so sweet, and his body feels strong and safe.
His hands reach down and grab my ass, pulling me up so that I’m straddling him. My robe has fallen open and I’m completely naked on top of him. He slides it over my shoulders and then slips his hands down my chest to grab my tits. I close my eyes and enjoy the strong, soft touch of his hands all over me.
My heart flutters every time he touches me. I feel like my chest is going to explode, my heart is overflowing. He wants me. And only me. I open my eyes and look at him and at his dark eyes as they stare back at me. There’s a softness in them that I haven’t seen before.
Emma was right. The way he looks at me, it has to be real. I can’t believe it wouldn’t be. I can feel the emotion emanating from me as we look at each other, drink each other in.
I stand up and take his hand in mine, leading him to my bedroom. I turn around and slip my hands under his shirt, helping him slide it overhead. I take a second to run my fingers all over his chiseled chest, his abs, back up around his neck. He leans down and kisses me softly, and then harder. His hand is on the small of my back and I feel myself melting into him.
My hands search for his fly, trying to unbutton him as our lips are locked together. His hands reach down to help me and then we’re both naked. He pushes me backwards onto the bed and I feel the weight of his body on top of me. It feels so, so good to be here with him.
He glances over to the side and back at me, grinning.
“I see you went with Girl’s Best Friend,” he says. “A personal favorite of mine.”
I look over and feel my cheeks burn when I see my prescription vibrator, proudly on display on my bedside table. Exactly where I put it right after I threw it against the wall the first day I got it.
He grins and leans over to grab it. He turns it on and then slides over beside me, onto his side. Our legs are intertwined and he uses his leg to spread mine open. He brings the vibrator down to my mound and around my lips, teasing me. The vibrations are strong, and I lean back into the bed until I get used to them. His lips find my breasts and he starts sucking on my nipples. The vibrator moves closer to my slit.
Every flick of his tongue over my rock hard nipples sends a direct shock to my center. I never knew they could be so sensitive. He shifts his weight and moves to the other one, and then finally the vibrator moves up to my bud. He circles my clit with it and turns the vibrations on higher.
The electric warmth inside me starts growing quickly. I’ve never experienced anything like this and before I know it my orgasm surprises me and explodes from my center outwards. My limbs contract and my back arches and I hear Clay moaning with me. Shockwaves of pleasure course through my entire body as he plays with my clit and gently bites my nipple.
Finally my body relaxes and he moves the vibrator away from my ultra-sensitive bud. I open my eyes and look at him in shock.
“I’ll go grab a condom, I need to be inside you,” he says as he shifts his weight toward the side of the bed.
“Are you… Have you been tested? Do you need a condom? I’m on the pill.” I’m surprising myself saying that. He looks at me with his dark eyes wide open.
“Yeah.” he pants. “Are you sure?”
In response I put my arms around him and wrap my legs around him. He shifts his weight on top of me and I can feel his hard cock pressed against my hipbone. The bare, hot skin of it burns against me and I can feel myself getting wetter. He takes his cock in his hand and places it against my opening.
“You want it?” he breathes. His eyes are on fire, and he teases my opening with the head of his cock. My breath catches in my throat.
“Yes,” I pant. “Yes, I want it.”
My pussy is tight and wet from my orgasm. He starts pushing himself into me and my mouth falls open. I feel myself stretch to accommodate his cock and I moan as he pushes it deeper and deeper inside me. It feels so good to be filled with him, to feel his skin against mine. I never thought it would make such a difference. I can feel him. His thrusts are long and deep, and I can feel every ridge, every vein of his cock rubbing against my walls. It’s incredible.
Clay’s eyes are closed and his mouth is open in a small ‘o’ as he enters me. He exhales slowly when his balls press up against me and I shift my hips to let him get a tiny bit deeper.
His long, slow thrusts travel straight through me and I feel myself contract around him. His weight is on me and I can feel his breath on my shoulder as he grunts with every hard thrust. My entire body is screaming and I erupt into another unexpected orgasm.
The tightening and contracting of my walls around his cock make him even harder. He groans and thrusts harder, faster. With nothing separating us, I can feel the exact moment that he fills me with his pleasure.
I can’t stop panting, it feels so good to have him inside me like this. I can feel every movement, every feeling, everything. Clay lies against me and our sweaty skin sticks together.
He rolls over beside me and onto his back, extending an arm for my head to rest on his shoulder. We stay like that for a few moments, saying nothing to each other. I can feel every breath and every heartbeat of his, and I’m sure he can feel mine. I don’t want to move.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” he says.
“Neither was I, but I liked it.”
He turns his head and wraps his other arm around me, kissing me once again. It feels good to be next to him. My heart twinges when I think of his plans to move to Seattle, and I know that we can’t keep avoiding the topic. But for now, I’m exhausted. From the emotion to the sex, I can’t think of a single thing more. I just rest in his arms.
40
Clay
I wake up and realize I’ve fallen asleep after that incredible orgasm. Val is sleeping next to me and has the most peaceful look on her face. Her arm is flung across my chest and I run my fingertips along the length of it. She shivers and her eyes blink open slowly.
“What time is it?” she asks sleepily. I turn my he
ad to look at the bedside clock.
“It’s 6:30pm,” I respond.
“I’m starving.” Her voice is muffled into my shoulder
“What else is new,” I say, laughing. “You’re always hungry.”
She groans in response.
“So am I. We should get up.”
I follow her to the bathroom and we jump in the shower together. I grab a loofah and soap it up before turning to Val. I start with her back and shoulders, moving down over her perfect ass. The suds cover her body and I turn her around. I scrub her collarbone down to her chest, circling her breasts and massaging them as I move over her stomach. I move the loofah over her mound, washing between her legs and then lean down to wash the rest of her. She places a foot on the edge of the tub and I soap it up. I love the way she giggles when it tickles her.
“You’re doing that on purpose,” she chides.
“What, this?” I say, running the loofah over the arch of her foot again. She laughs and puts her foot back down before holding out her hand for the loofah.
“Your turn to be tortured,” she grins, glancing at my feet. It feels so good, so intimate to be in the shower here with her. She runs her hands over me, making sure to wash my body from head to toe. It’s almost like a new beginning, like this morning only brought us closer. If I thought we were connected before, this afternoon has shown me what true intimacy feels like.
When we’re clean we both rinse off again and step out of the shower. The steam fills the bathroom and the mirror is completely fogged up. Val hands me a towel and I dry myself.
Something so simple as showering together has never made me feel as good. I watch her dry off and flip her hair into a towel with a twist. She opens the door and a rush of cold air comes through, making me wrap the towel around my waist and inhale sharply. Val looks back at me and grins.
I like being around her, being close enough to touch, being comfortable enough with each other to wash together. I didn’t think I wanted it until I almost lost it.
We get dressed quietly, sneaking glances at each other. When she walks by with those tight jeans on, I can’t resist smacking her ass. She giggles playfully.
“Now, now, Clay. None of that. It’s food time.”
We head out together into the fresh evening air. It’s nice to get out and walk together. I like having her beside me when we walk down the street. I feel proud to be the man next to her. I see how all the guys check her out and then glance at me and it makes my chest swell up with pride to be the one she’s next to. I grab her hand in mind and it fits perfectly as we stroll around the corner to the local pasta place.
“Another gem,” Val says proudly when we get there. “Doesn’t look like much but they make all their own pasta fresh in-house and have the best meatballs you’ll ever taste.”
“I think I have the best meatballs you’ll ever taste, but we can leave that open to discussion,” I respond. She laughs and nudges me in the ribs with her elbow. I’ll say anything to make her laugh and see how it brightens her whole face. I love when she finds something really funny and her whole body shakes with laughter in the most infectious way possible. It’s cute and sexy and endearing at the same time. I smile and open the door to the restaurant for her.
“What a gentleman,” she says. “Didn’t think you had it in you.”
We sit down at the table and I’m finding it hard to focus on the menu. I keep thinking about the way it felt to be inside her, to feel the real her like that. The raw her. She catches me staring at her and sticks her tongue out at me. The waiter reappears and Val orders first.
“I’ll have the spaghetti and meatballs. Can you make it extra saucy please?”
I almost choke on my water and she glances over at me with laughter in her eyes. How is she keeping a straight face?
The waiter doesn’t even blink, “Certainly, miss. And for you, sir?”
“I’ll have the same,” I squeak out. The waiter walks away and Val breaks into that silent, shaking laughter that I love so much. Her shoulders are moving up and down and her hand is covering her mouth. The way her face scrunches is the most ridiculous and most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Just when we’ve recovered from our laughter, I hear a familiar voice behind me. My heart drops when I hear the overly sultry, honey-sweet voice that reeled me in so many years ago. From start to finish, today has been a disaster.
“Well, if it isn’t Clay O’Neill,” the voice says, seemingly amused. “Is it Doctor Clay O’Neill by now? And you have a new plaything. How cute.” Val stiffens at the words and frowns, glancing from me to the woman standing behind me.
I turn around and see her. She looks just like she did eight years ago: curvy and gorgeous with sex dripping out of every pore. The only difference is that this time it doesn’t turn me on. If anything, it turns me off completely. When she smiles at me, my blood runs cold. She’s tall with jet black hair. It’s perfectly straight and falls to her waist. Her features are sharp. She’s beautiful, but looking at her, I feel nothing but disgust. Any desire I had for her disappeared many years ago.
She does nothing for me except fill me with dread. Val is looking at her and then me, waiting for an explanation.
“Caroline. This is Val and she’s not my plaything.” It’s a strain to get the words out through my teeth.
Caroline extends a long hand and I see the vermillion polish on the end of her fingers, each nail sharpened to a point. Claws.
Seems appropriate.
Val reaches up and shakes her hand gently and I resist the impulse to shudder when the two of them touch.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Val says politely. I can’t help but feel like her voice is a breath of fresh air after the honeyed, sticky sweetness of Caroline’s drawl.
“So, what stories has Clay here been telling you? I’m sure he’s mentioned me,” she says with a sly smile playing over her lips, tilting her head ever so slightly. She looks at me and raises a thin eyebrow.
“No, actually, he hasn’t. How do you guys know each other?”
“Oh, you know,” Caroline responds casually, waving her claws in the air by her head. She uses her hand to move her long hair behind her shoulder. “We dated for a few years, back when he was a stripper.”
Val’s eyes widen and she looks at me in shock. I glance at Caroline and open my mouth to tell her to be quiet. She continues before I can jump in.
“What, he didn’t tell you?” Caroline pretends to laugh. “Yeah, he didn’t tell me either. Then I found out he had girls all over him. It’s what broke us up. He just couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”
Val’s jaw is hanging open and she closes it, only to let it fall open again. Her eyes are burning through me, I can see the betrayal in them.
“Val…” I start. “Don’t listen to her. It’s not true.”
Caroline shifts her hips and places a hand on my shoulder. I flinch away.
“Why shouldn’t she listen, Clay. You afraid she’ll find out what kind of guy you really are?”
“Get the fuck out of here, Caroline,” I spit. I can feel Val flinch from across the table and I close my eyes for a second.
Caroline laughs an emotionless laugh and then waves at us both before cat-walking out of the restaurant.
41
Valerie
I watch as that woman tosses a grenade at our table and then casually struts out the door as the explosion detonates. My mind is moving at a hundred miles an hour. Stripper? Couldn’t keep his hands to himself? I look across the table at the man on the other side and realize I know absolutely nothing about him.
For the second time today I feel like an absolute fool. I’ve let myself be carried away by my own emotion and I’ve put myself in this position. Here I am, completely infatuated with a man who has not only evidently slept with half of New York City, but who just tells me what I want to hear to get between my legs.
Hot pangs of jealousy shoot through me. My cheeks are burning and my heart f
eels completely hollow. How could I do this to myself? I knew this morning, after I learned he’d slept with my best friend that I should just forget about him. I should have just listened to myself. Emma was probably just feeling sorry for me and telling me to talk to him to make me feel better. She probably didn’t mean for me to go and have sex with him an hour after she left.
I should never have wasted my time with him, and I definitely should have walked away when I had the chance. Who do I think I am, having a fling with a hot doctor? Of course he’s running around with every girl he can. I can’t believe I let him in when he showed up at my door this afternoon. My cheeks burn when I think about our sex this afternoon, about the intimacy of the shower.
I’m an idiot.
Clay is saying something, but I don’t hear him. I’m trembling. I’m staring at the tablecloth and the woman’s words are playing on repeat in my head. They were together. They broke up because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He was saying it’s not true but of course he would say that. We’ve just spent the past couple weeks spending every possible moment together and he somehow forgot to mention he used to be a stripper?
I don’t exactly have a problem with it, a part of me might even be turned on by the thought. But as I look at him across the table from me, I can’t help but feel like I’ve been lied to. I’m not sure why, and I’m not sure about what, but I feel like he hasn’t been honest with me. I don’t know anything about him and I’ve opened up to him completely.
“Val, I can explain. She was lying.”
“Did you used to be a stripper?”
He pauses, his eyes burning into me. He opens his mouth and answers slowly. “Yes, it’s what put me through medical school.”
“And when we were talking about our pasts, you didn’t think that was worth mentioning?”
Doctor's Orders (Complete Series) Page 14