Don’t read my admission with foggy glasses, though. I know Hugo is anything but perfect. But for years, he has been my drug of choice. And just like every addictive drug, he’s been the cause of life-altering highs and devastating lows in my life. But like all things in life, I greedily accept the good and wade my way through the bad. It is the sacrifice every woman makes for the man sheloves.
I rub my throbbing temples before stretching my arms above my head. After an exhausting day, I’m dying for a long, hot shower and a nice glass of wine. I place my phone on my Ikea desk and crank my head to the side when a knock sounds on myofficedoor.
“Come in,” I say, my high tone, exposing my interest. It is a little after six PM on Friday night, so my office doors are officially closed for theweekend.
My excitement dampens when Belinda glides through the door with a imploring look on her face. “I know we are closed, but we’ve just had an emergency case come in. Do you think you could squeeze them in?” Her nose screws up as she stares at me withpleadingeyes.
Even though I'm beyond exhausted, and I’ve reached my quota of peering into smelly mouths for one day, it would be injudicious of me to turn down a prospective new client. Strength and growth only come through continued effort andstruggle.
I raise my eyes to Belinda. “Sure, just give me five minutes so I can advise Mrs. Mable I’m going to be late collecting Joel, then send them into the exam room,” Iinstruct.
A large smile carves on Belinda’s mouth before she nods her head and exits my office, closing the door behind her. I leave a quick message on Mrs. Mable’s home phone when my call is sent to voicemail. I’m not shocked by her failure to answer. She can barely hear Joel’s earth shattering screams, let alone a telephoneringing.
I'm scrubbing my hands in the sink of the washroom when the exam room door attached to my officecreaksopen.
“Hi, I’m just washing up. Please take a seat in the dental chair, and I’ll be right with you,” I call out, snagging a paper towel from the dispenser mounted on myright.
After thoroughly drying my hands, I crumble up the paper towel and throw it into the bin before walking out of the washroom. The ghastly dentist smell I’ve always hated hits my senses when I pace into the sterilized treatment area at the side of my office. The space is deadly quiet; only the noise of gloves being removed from a cardboard box isheard.
After tying a face-mask around my head and putting on my gloves, I amble further into the room. My breath hitches halfway between my lungs and my throat when I discover who is sprawled on the dental chair. I cough and wheeze, struggling to breathe through the saliva now sitting in my lungs instead of mythroat.
The panty-melting smile on Hugo’s face sags when he hears my breathlesscoughingfit.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice revealing his genuineconcern.
Through watering eyes, I nod my head. I try to speak, but the shock of seeing him sitting inmydental chair is too great for me to harness. My mouth can barely move, let alone relinquish words. Hugohatesdentists. Not a small dislike, he openly admits that he hates,HATES, them. Even putting aside the shock of his sudden arrival in my office, I only dropped him at the airport yesterday afternoon. And although I wished for him to return soon, I never fathomed it would be the verynextday.
Rolling my shoulders, I level out my erratic breathing and try to portray that I am a responsible, career-oriented twenty-nine-year-old woman, not the teenage, braces-mouthed girl Hugo’s presence always incites. Although my posture is alluding to professionalism, my shaking steps and quickening pulse thrumming in my neck is giving away mydeceit.
“What has brought you to my practice today?” I ask, finalizing the last three pacesbetweenus.
I manage to catch my eye-roll halfway over the dimness displaced in my words. Anyone would swear I’m performing dental work on Beyoncé for how much my voice isjuddering.
“I have a toothache on my lower left molar,” Hugo mumbles, his words low andcroaky.
And just like that, professional obligation to my patient overtakes mynerves.
The butterflies impinging my stomach settle when I notice a beading of sweat glistening Hugo’s forehead. He appears even more rattled than me. After switching on the dental operatory light above my head, I take a seat on my swivel chair and roll in close to Hugo’s side. He remains as quiet as a church mouse as I adjust the height of the dental chair. The corner of his lips tug into a seductive grin when I clamp a drool cloth around his neck and hand him a pair of protective glasses. His cheeky smile is wiped straight off his face when I gather a dental mirror and probe from the sterilized stainless tray atmyside.
“Open up,” I instruct when I spot his clamped-shutmouth.
Through quivering lips, he does as instructed. Leaning over, I glance into his wide-opened mouth. My lips purse. For someone wholovessweets andhatesdentists, Hugo’s teeth are beautiful.He must be a regularflosser.
After a deep exploration of his mouth, I fail to locate anything that would cause him any concern. There are no cavities or shadows that allude to an internal problem; his mouth is clear of any signs of an abscess, and his gums appear healthy.Perhaps it’s a sinus issue?More times than not, some dental pain is associated with severe sinusinfections.
“I can’t see anything pointing to a reason why you are experiencing pain. Can you explain what the pain feels like?” I ask, mumbling through myface-mask.
Placing my probing tools back onto the tray, I yank down my mask. “Sometimes sinus infections cancause--”
My words stop, halted by a delicious pair of cinnamon-flavored lips. After licking the seam of my O-formed lips, Hugo’s tongue dips into my mouth to explore every inch with more vigor than my cavity search of his mouth undertook. His tongue dances with mine in a toe-curling kiss that renders me breathless. He kisses the living bloody hell out of me, bestowing me with a kiss that makes every other kiss I’ve experienced pale in comparison. He holds nothing back, and neither do I. I’ve wanted this, and so much more the past week. But no matter how many corny one liners, seductive poses, or inappropriate teases I did, nothing could deter Hugo from his resolve to give me time to process my failed relationship withMarvin.
In all honesty, at the start, I was confused about my ease on leaving a relationship without feeling a morsel of remorse. But after spending thirty minutes having a deep and meaningful in my car with Mrs. Marshall, any doubts festering my mind vanished. The facts were as clear as the sun shining in the sky. I never loved Marvin. I’ve always loved Hugo – even after years of absence and more tears than I can count. A minute, an hour, or a week of deliberation will never change that fact. Hugo is my one and onlytruelove.
When Hugo pulls his sinful lips away from mine, my head is dizzy, stuck in a crazy blur of lust and devotion. His eyes dart between mine before his kiss-swollen lips curve high in the corners. He runs his index finger over my tingling mouth before he stands from the dental chair and paces to the middle of the room. I watch him, more stunned than ever, shocked he can function so normally after a mind-hazing kiss. I can barely breathe, letalonewalk.
“You coming?” he asks, grasping the handle of the door separating my office from thetreatmentarea.
Nodding my head, I slip off the stool and pace towards him. The shake of my knees increases with every stride I take, as does the grin on Hugo’s face. Once I'm standing in front of him, he runs the back of his fingers down my cheeks before swinging open the door. My heart leaps out of my chest and tears prick my eyes when the splendor of the scene unfolds before me. Joel is standing in the doorway, swamped by a large bunch of red long- stemmed roses in his hands. His usually unmanageable hair has been wrangled into glossy curls, and he is wearing a pair of dark blue trousers and a buttoned-up shirt. He looks adorably cute and grownup all at the same time. The rest of my office has vase upon vase of long-stemmed roses in every color you could imagine. Pink, blue, yellow, white. It is like a rainbow of color, and it smells divine, overpowering the ghastly dentist smellIhate.
