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“Nothing,” she smiled, banishing the cloud and replacing it with Sunshine June. “I’ll send you a list. Can I ride with you? My car got towed.”
I gave her a suspicious squint. “Why? What did you do?”
“What didIdo?” she asked, offended. “Ididn’t do anything but have the misfortune of being a starving artist with a crappy car.”
“You chose to be a starving artist,” I pointed out. “You could have been a neurosurgeon.” She gave me a look like she might actually translate my files to pig Latin. When she tried to push away from my hold, I tightened it, pinning her length to mine. It took massive concentration on my part to keep from getting an immediate hard on. I leaned down so our lips were nearly touching. “I’m joking, Matthews. You make a perfect artist.” I kissed her softly, and then released her.
She looked surprised again, her cheeks flushed and her tongue darting out to lick where I’d kissed. “Thanks.”
Something was off with her. I wasn’t sure what—the car? Me? But something had definitely gotten under her skin. Good thing she was the world’s worst liar. I could weasel it out of her over dinner. But not before because I needed her to focus on her job.
I really didn’t want to have to yell at her before I took her out to dinner.
Fifteen
June
Ihad to tell him. I had to. I couldn’t take the guilt anymore. Not since Katherine had worded it in a way that made me sound like an absolute asshole. I hadn’t really thought aboutmyvirginity affecting someone else, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized Amos would be super angry if he knew. It hadn’t felt like a big deal at the time, but my lie had been outrageous enough that he thought I was sexually experienced… he thought I liked “dark chocolate” sex. I didn’t even know what the hell the difference was.
He had been really insistent that we be open about each other’s preferences. He had been kind and careful and had wanted to make sure that boundaries stayed in place. And I’d taken all his boundaries and thrown them around like a drunk rodeo clown with a lasso.Yeehaw! No one cares whatyouwant, Amos!
I let out a self-pitying sound and dropped my forehead on my desk. Maxine looked over as she shouldered her Hermes Kelly handbag. “You okay? You still freaked out over the old guy who yelled at you?”
“No,” I groaned, and I bounced my forehead lightly against the wrist cushion in front of my keyboard. “Something else.”
She leaned down and whispered, “Is it because you slept with Dr. Brady?”
My eyes snapped up to hers. Her fake lashes fluttered innocently. “Maxine,” I growled, “where did you hear that?”
“Kat,” she said, as if it were obvious.
My spine straightened. “Who else did she tell?”
Maxine shrugged.
“You can’t tellanyoneelse,” I insisted. “I don’t think he’s the ‘declare your relationship’ type, you know?”
She nodded seriously. “I get that. I’ve never seen him with a girlfriend.”
“Exactly,” I muttered, looking around. The lobby was empty because we’d already seen our last patient out and locked the doors. Brady was all the way down in the surgical wing performing a laminectomy, and he’d said it would take him an hour or so to finish. I wasn’t sure who I was looking around for—everyone was gone. But Isodidn’t want to add “told everyone we’re having sex” to my list of sins.
Maxine sat down again and rolled Katherine’s chair closer to mine. “Is it good? The sex?”
I sucked in my lips, looking around one more time for good measure to make sure we were alone. Dead quiet. Leaning forward, I said, “Amazing.”
She laughed and encouraged me to go on. “Like how? I’ve been dying of curiosity.”
I had no idea what the etiquette of “don’t play games with chocolate syrup and tell” were, so, haltingly, I admitted, “Well, he’s got that whole ‘I’m in charge’ kind of thing going on.”
Maxine groaned, tilting her eyes to the ceiling. “I knew it. He’s all surly and sexy.”
“Exactly,” I grinned.
Maxine held her two pointer fingers together and varied the width between them questioningly. “Bigger, smaller than other guys?”
I grimaced, lowering my voice. “I wouldn’t know.”
Her jaw hinged open. “June, no way.”
