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After sitting down to a meal that Brad promises I won’t forget, I can’t help agreeing, but not because of the food. Sitting at the table with Beth right next to me is like a gift. Her leg under the table rests against mine a couple of times, which she’s quick to move away once she realizes, shooting me little apologetic glances. Shy and even embarrassed, she’d be a fool to deny it if she doesn’t feel what I do when her body’s near mine.
Brad wants to talk shop about what I’m gonna do now that I’m home and with no research to… well… No research to research, I guess. I’m more interested in sitting here and seeing Beth's interest in maybe more than just using me as a leg rest. Having been away so long, the entire dinner conversation is drawn out of me by Brad and even Lucy. She’s almost her usual self, but there’s a look in her eyes I’ve never seen before, or maybe it’s because she’s just grown up so fast. She’s already a young woman in the half year I’ve been gone.
Beth’s quiet, though, and I try to include her in everything I say. Every time I open my mouth, I look at her, trying to make the most of this time. I hope it just looks like I’m having dinner with friends and my daughter, but inside, I feel like a king courting his should-be, will-be queen. My head’s almost dizzy with how alive, happy, and yeah, maybe even the twenty years younger Beth makes me feel. On a couple of occasions, the pair of us ask Brad to turn the A/C up because it gets so hot in here, but Brad and Lucy look at us like we’re kidding.
“We’re practically shivering over here,” Lucy says, glancing at me sidelong, and just like what happened with Brad, I see the thought play out in her mind—her best friend Beth with me. She even shakes her head slightly, dismissing the idea she thinks she just had. Really, I think anyone could pick up on the static charge of chemistry between Beth and me. I know I can, and the longer we sit so close, the more I’m convinced she’s not only feeling it but also wanting more of it, just the same as I am.
Sitting right across from her father and my daughter should be enough to make me push it to the back of my mind, but I know I can’t. I can’t, and I won’t. It might sound crazy, but this is proof right here. Sitting with Beth and feeling like I’m in a magic story book, my heart is as swollen as some other parts of me. That’s what she does to me naturally, just by being her. It’s the one thing that makes me want to make her mine from now on… for good… forever.
I couldn’t care anymore if she’s half my age or twice my age. If she was a hundred, I know I’d feel the same.She’ll be mine, I tell myself. The thought brings me more relief than anything. I already want tonight to end with me living the dream of having her forever.
Once I notice Lucy giving me stranger looks than Beth’s dad dares to, I realize I’m grinning like a madman, my napkin in my lap like a pitched awning. The ache in my jeans for Beth is almost something I’m proud of, even though I have to keep it a secret—for now, at least, especially around the others. If Beth saw? I think that would make me harder than I am now, if that’s possible. The dinner ends with Brad commenting on Beth having hardly touched her food.
“You still feeling unwell?” Brad asks, making my brow crease as I turn to face Beth.
“Are you sick?” I ask her sternly, annoyed because she didn’t mention it. I am a doctor, after all. She might need a thorough examination. So, thinking on my feet, I quickly shift my tone to concern instead of obsessiveness—the kind protector, unlike the one in my jeans that wants to punish her maybe a little first. She should’ve told me, though.
“I’m fine,” Beth squeaks, creasing her mouth and shrugging. “I felt a bit off before, but I had a little lay down while you and Lucy were—” she starts to say, but I’ve already raised my hand. I press my palm flat against her forehead, my other hand gently seizing her wrist.
“Oh, for god’s sake,” Brad guffaws, stifling his “five beers and three pounds of ribs” laugh. He thinks I’m kidding, but I’m not.
The touch of her skin on mine has both of us gripped by something that should surprise me more, but it doesn’t. She feels perfect under my touch. The smoothness and softness of her skin against my weathered-looking hands are sublime.
She’s perfect and a very obedient patient, I perceive. I feel her little sound more than I hear it, the vibration of her evident arousal humming through her body. My throbbing pulse in my ears picks up on her most important vital sign—that she’s ready. She’s ready for a real man to show her how good it feels to be a woman, and now I know for sure. Now I know I’m not imagining things. I’m already greedy to touch more of her… to taste her.
“You’re burning up, Beth,” I lie, although not entirely untrue. “Your pulse is all over the place,” I murmur, feeling my serious doctor’s face tell anyone who could even try to doubt me that it’s true.
Brad shuts his noise down, instantly concerned for Beth. Lucy groans. “Ummm, hello? I was yanking my guts up earlier, and where were you two doctors then?” she asks with a high air of disbelief.
I squeeze Beth’s tiny, plump wrist, trying not to groan myself when she plays along, fluttering her eyes and swooning a little. After it intensifies, it’s clear she’s not faking anything.
She’s not ill, not in the conventional sense. This girl needs a real man inside her… stat!
CHAPTERSEVEN
Beth
Trying to even think about food is impossible while being so close to Bowdie. My stomach feels like a butterfly park. I remember the same man bouncing me on his knee when I was just a little kid, but that was years ago. Now everything’s different. I’m different. If this feeling pouring off him is anything to go by, I know he’s gotta be feeling the same way.
I get so close to a repeat of what I had to do myself in my bedroom earlier that it almost frightens me. Almost, but right here at the dinner table with Dad and Lucy opposite? It’s surreal, but I can’t help surrendering to it. I need to let Bowdie know somehow what he’s doing to me, but I think he’s one step ahead of me. At least, I hope he is.
If all this is just part of some forbidden crush fantasy disorder, I’d better see a different kind of doctor and have my head examined. Once he touches me for real, though, once I feel his hands on me, I almost give a convincing enough performance that I really am coming down with something serious.
Lucy doesn’t buy it. Even my dad’s giving me a weird look and has to put his two cents in. “As your doctor and your father, Beth,” he drawls, shifting forward just enough to feel my head and make me go “ahhhh” before he huffs with satisfaction.
“You’re fine, Beth,” he says, almost sounding disappointed, but Bowdie isn’t so quick to let it go. He opens his mouth to say something, but Lucy cuts him off. His hands fall from me instantly, making me miss them already, even though they’re only inches away.
“Dad, you’re embarrassing yourself and me,” she says cuttingly, glancing at the half glass of wine Bowdie hasn’t touched before giving me the same look.
My dad turns his head, looking shocked she’d say something like that, and only because it’s clear he can’t see it. He can’t feel the same thing I know Bowdie and I feel. I wish Lucy would lay off her dad today of all days. If nothing else, it’s cramping my style having herandBowdie in the house right now.
“I-I’ll be fine,” I murmur, excusing myself and wobbling up the hall to the bathroom, having to sit down as soon as the door’s closed. I fight the urge to relieve myself in a way I need to right now, but I end up with my face in my hands, considering my future and the rest of this evening.
If he wants me, then he should just say so. I’m only eighteen. I don’t know how to go about any of this stuff.
I’m not sure if it’s a guy thing or because I’m only eighteen, but my dad doesn’t seem to notice the extreme effect something orsomeoneis having on me, but Lucy notices. She gave me the same look she shot her dad after scolding him for how he was acting, but her look hurt me because why wouldn’t a guy as handsome and successful be interested in me? Even if he’s not, it’s pretty bad when my best friend doesn’t even wanna entertain the idea of me being with a perfect ten of a man, let alone anyone else.
