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“How am I going to pay for anything? I don’t have a job.”
“I have a few good jobs so you don’t need to have even one. I understand how it could be uncomfortable not to have your own money though. If you want your old job back, I could probably convince them to take you back after a leave of absence for health reasons. I’m very persuasive.”
Well that was true. But she didn’t actually want to go back, if she was being honest.
“I didn’t like that job much anyway.”
“Then we’ll figure out something you do like after you’re feeling better. So there’s your apartment and your job taken care of. What else have you got for me?”
This was the yucky part. The part that could have him showing her out to her car and wishing her the best of luck, but he just didn’t feel the same way. It made the yummy breakfast he’d cooked for her churn in her stomach.
“I appreciate so much everything you’ve done for me.”
“It’s been my genuine pleasure.”
“You’ve been so nice, and kind, and thoughtful, and caring.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. That was my goal. I like helping people.”
Cricket felt like she was shrinking. Like she was closing in on herself. Doctor Pierce was trying to make it better, but he was really making it worse.
“That’s the thing, though,” she said softly, and pulled her hand away from his, missing his touch the instant their skin lost contact. “I think you’re this way with everyone and…I don’t feel about everyone how I feel about you.”
“Can you be more specific?”
She could be, but this shriveling, concentrated feeling might destroy her. Well, if she imploded on his couch, that would be his own fault.
“I…I don’t like you in a friend way. I have romantic and, um, sexy thoughts and feelings about you. It’s fine if you don’t feel the same way about me, but I don’t think I could stay here if you didn’t. It would be too hard.”
Because this was the worst timeline, Cricket yawned which turned into a sniffle. What she really wanted to do was curl up into a ball. Which would be great, because then he could just roll her out to the garage like some sort of mortified armadillo.
There was that finger he’d curled into a crescent again, though, tilting her chin so she had to look at him. That move ought to be illegal. Or at least come with a warning label. It did something to her erogenous zones that wasn’t fair, and more dangerously, turned her heart into a squishy ball of vulnerability.
“Cricket.” The way he looked at her was so intense and steady, and he was unbearably handsome. If he was going to say he liked her, but only as another human being on this planet, she was going to regret telling him her real name so hard. “Did you know I’ve had a thing for you since the first day I saw you?”
Wait, what? She’d been so busy preparing for bad news that she hadn’t expected good news. It took her a few seconds to process.
“Um, no. Definitely did not know that.”
“Well it’s true.”
She had to re-orient her understanding of the world to make room for this new information. Doctor Pierce had been crushing on her this whole time?
He was back to holding her hands and his touch seemed to warm not just her palms and fingers, but her whole body. Or maybe that was the way he waslookingat her. All heated and maybe even possessive.
“Why didn’t you ask me out?” she demanded, ignoring for the moment that it wasn’t like she’d asked him out either.
“You’ve always seemed guarded and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. So I never crossed over the line of some harmless flirting. I also have to tell you I have some predilections I’ve learned I can’t live without. Maybe it makes me a coward, but I didn’t want to lose the fantasies I’ve had about you to knowing those things aren’t for you. But now I feel like it’s worth the risk.”
“Because you’re not going to run into me at work anymore?”
“That doesn’t hurt,” he admitted. “But mostly because being this close to you and spending this time with you has made me want you worse than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder but I’ve got to say your presence has made me fall harder for you than I could’ve imagined, and faster too.”
“That doesn’t sound like something a coward would say,” she told him. “Could you tell me what these ‘predilections’ are so I can get my heart broken and move on already?”
Because what were the odds that his kinks would line up with hers and they would be on the same page? She’d thought Mitch would be a good fit for her and then he’d left and she still wasn’t sure why since he’d simply stopped talking to her.
“I really hope that doesn’t happen,” Owen said, lacing their fingers together. “You won’t be the only one with a broken heart. I also want to make it clear that even if we don’t end up being a good match for that kind of relationship, I’m still going to help you get through this testing and diagnosis and starting your treatment, and figuring out your next steps for housing and a job. The only reason I’ll take no for an answer is that you’re freaked out by what I tell you and don’t want to see me anymore.”
