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The automatic doors slid open, and Seb walked in to find the serenity was carried into the building. A soothing water feature was to his left and the far wall was covered in greenery. He approached the front desk which was wrapped with reclaimed wood and a woman with more salt than pepper in her curly hair smiled up at him brightly.
“Hi, Sebastian Savage. I’m here to see Dr. Lee.”
“Well, hello Sebastian Savage. I’m Marlene.” She chirped cheerily as she typed on her computer and then handed Seb a visitor’s pass. “You’re going to want to go straight through those doors, make the first right, then the second left and it’s last door on the right.”
Seb nodded and waited for the doors to buzz so he could go through them. He made his way down the long hall until he came to the first right. His back locked up as he made the second left. He closed his eyes and winced in pain as he rounded the corner and was stopped dead in his tracks when he collided with someone.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that someone turned out to be a woman, a very attractive woman who gasped loudly as she looked up at him. Seb was momentarily struck speechless when he looked down into her blue-green gaze. He’d never seen that exact shade of eye color before. The outer rim was a deep blue, but inside of that was a light green with flecks of gold floating in them. He was momentarily mesmerized by her stare. That moment was quickly burst when he felt the moisture covering in his midsection. He looked down and saw that the crotch of his jeans were soaked, and Pretty Eyes was holding an empty paper cup.
She must have noticed the same thing because she gasped again before grabbing a white hand towel that was sitting on a housekeeping cart in the hallway. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed as she lowered down on a bench against the wall and began pressing the cloth to his pants. After two dabs he gripped her wrist to stop her from continuing. He knew that she was just trying to dry him off, but behind his zipper, his body had other ideas. If she kept doing what she was doing his pants were going to be wet from the inside out. He was getting harder by the second.
When his fingers wrapped around her delicate wrist, he felt a surge of electricity shoot up his arm. She must have felt the same thing because she sucked in a startled breath and looked up at him. As her chin lifted, silky strands of her long honey-blonde hair grazed his forearm. The sensation caused goosebumps to lift on his bare skin.
He blinked at the overwhelming urge to run his fingers through her lustrous locks. His eyes opened just in time to see the moment it dawned on her why he’d grabbed her wrist. The two stared at each other for several seconds before they both burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
The bubbling sound of her laughter was a soothing melody that drove away the dark cloud that had been his constant companion since the accident giving way to a feeling of warmth and joy. Feeling lighter than he had for months, Seb tugged on her wrist helping her stand. When she was on her feet, she handed him the towel.
It was then that he realized her pretty face and silky hair were just the icing on the cake of her beauty. Her petite frame held dangerous curves that had beads of sweat breaking out at the base of Seb’s neck.
“I’m so sorry!” she apologized again. “It’s just water, not that that makes it better—”
“It’s fine,” he assured her.
Her eyes dropped down to the wet spot on his jeans and widened. “It’s not. I wasn’t paying attention and I just…I wish there was something I could do…”
Seb’s first instinct was to say that there was, she could let him take her out to dinner. But that sounded slimy and even if it wasn’t, he was in no position to be flirting with anyone. The accident hadn’t just fucked up his body, it had also fucked up his head. So instead of trying to secure a date with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, he just reiterated, “It’s okay.”
Her gaze locked with his and for the first time in his life, he wondered if he was experiencing déjà vu. The connection he felt pass between them was one he’d never experienced before.
Just like the jolt of electricity, he wondered if she felt the same thing because her head tilted to the side as she asked, “Have I seen you here before?”
Seb shook his head. “No.”
“Oh, okay…I just…you look familiar.”
In certain circles, Seb was recognized. He was fairly well-known in the tattoo world. But this gorgeous beauty had no visible ink on her body, so he doubted that she knew him from his work. He’d been a judge on a popular competition tattoo show, but again he didn’t think that was why she was feeling the way she was. Because he knew for a fact, he’d never laid eyes on this woman before, yet heknewher.
He was so lost in the encounter that he didn’t pay any attention to the sound of a man saying something behind him. The voice sounded miles away from them. It wasn’t until the woman in front of him blinked and broke their eye contact that he became fully aware of his surroundings again.
Seb was still trying to get his bearings when the woman stepped back away from him and he saw the color drain from her face. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a man who looked to be in his fifties or maybe sixties staring at the two of them.
His first thought was that it must be her husband. He was definitely older than her, but he had movie-star good looks. Seb should know, he’d spent the past five years living amongst the stars.
Instead of acknowledging the man, the gorgeous light-eyed stranger cleared her throat and apologized to Seb once more as she grabbed her bag from the bench and quickly rushed down the hallway toward the front of the building.
Seb’s first instinct was to go after her to make sure that she was okay. He started to follow her when the man stepped in front of him, blocking his way.
“Hi, I’m Michael Dawes. How do you know my daughter?”
“Your daughter?” Relief washed over Seb that Pretty Eyes’ relationship with this man wasn’t romantic. But it was quickly replaced with protectiveness as to why she’d reacted the way she had to him if he was her father.
“Yes, my daughter,” the man confirmed.
“Mr. Savage, there you are.” Marlene said as she rounded the corner. “Darla buzzed saying you hadn’t made it to your appointment. I was just coming to check and see if you got lost. This place can be a little bit of a maze. Here, follow me.”
He gave the man one more look, hoping to convey the protectiveness he felt before continuing down the hallway with Marlene.
As Seb walked beside Marlene who was chatting about the weather, Seb couldn’t shake the same feeling that he’d had when he woke up in the hospital after his car crash of a significant shift in his world. Both collisions had affected him on a cellular level in different ways. The car crash had left his body and spirit damaged; the beautiful stranger crash had given him his first glimmer of hope that there was a light at the end of his tunnel of darkness.
