“Someone can’t keep things professional, hmm?”
“It’s been a while.” Good, Thatch, that really sounds professional, that you hadn’t had sex in a while, and you suddenly got a boner the size of Texas when you touched a woman’s boobs—at your workplace.
Good thing Austin had never been a real patient.
My ass would have been fired so fast.
“So.” I stepped away from her; it was uncomfortable as hell trying to move in my black slacks. “The next appointment is a pre-op appointment. Our finance people talk to our patients about options, and once you pay the deposit, we schedule the surgery.”
“Wow.” Her eyes darted from my cock back up to me. “That’s really fast.”
“Yeah.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How many times? Be honest.”
“How many times, what?”
“How many times have you jacked off to a patient?”
The question cooled my lust immediately as I locked eyes with her and said, “Zero. I don’t count this time, since I was caught quite literally with my pants almost down.”
Her expression couldn’t be any more stunned. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Seriously,” I grumbled, and my body finally went back to normal, though it screamed at me to stop being an idiot and just screw her into next week.
“So, right now, had I not walked in . . .”
“Can we just drop it? Please?” I sat in my chair.
She leaned over my desk. “What happens when I leave?”
“Nothing.” Liar.
“Uh-huh.” She plopped on a chair across from me and then very slowly leaned over so I could see her cleavage through the V of her shirt, and just like that, my body was back on board. She continued to lean forward, until I was worried her breasts were in danger of spilling out of her top, and then she stood, grabbed her purse, and started walking toward the door. “Do you need me for anything else?”
Well, if that wasn’t a loaded question.
“Actually”—I glanced at my computer to keep myself from staring at her breasts—“I have one augmentation this afternoon. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to talk to the patient and see if she’d be willing to let you scrub in.”
Austin’s face lit up. “Seriously?”
“Of course. She’s really sweet, and now that her husband has passed, she’s been hell-bent on starting over—she has an incredible attitude and is probably one of only a few patients I’ve worked on who would probably vote to stay awake so she could watch her own surgery.”
Austin made a face and paled. “I think that would be traumatic.”
“She used to be a nurse,” I said, then added, “She finds the human body fascinating.”
“I just bet she does,” Austin said in a huff.
Frowning, I stood and checked my watch. “Why don’t you go grab some lunch and meet me back here at three. I’ll double-check to see if she’s comfortable with you standing in. If she says no, I’ll text you.”
“I’m a bit shocked.” Austin tilted her head, pressing her lips together like she was trying to keep herself from smiling.
“About?”
“You still have my number.”
Sighing, I tucked my hair behind my ears and shrugged. “We broke up. That doesn’t mean I’m going to completely cut you from my life.”
“Huh.” She grabbed her purse from the chair and didn’t say anything else. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
What the hell did that “huh” mean?
And why did I care?
Mia was at my door again, ready to knock, when Austin walked out and waved good-bye.
“Dr. Holloway, your next appointment is in exam room three.”
“Right.” I had a job to do. And now that Austin was gone, hopefully I would be less distracted and horny and able to get through the rest of the afternoon without wanting to blow my head off.
“I’ll be right in,” I mumbled, glancing back at my computer.
The computer that still held the screen saver of me and Austin at dinner.
The dinner when I had asked her to move in with me.
She was wearing a red dress.
It was one of the best nights of my life—when I decided to take a leap, and she leaped with me.
It didn’t last long.
Not with the Ghost of Christmas Past staying in my same building—not with his inability to keep his head out of my life, or his demands to himself.
Sometimes I hated my own family.
And the fact that when I needed my father the most, he was drunk.
And when I wanted him to stay the hell away from my personal life, he refused to leave—and ruined the best thing I’d ever had.
Chapter Fifteen
AUSTIN
I’d never seen a surgery before—and I refused to count that one time in sixth grade when we were forced to watch a knee scope and I almost puked.
I had only been twelve!
I was an adult now.
I could totally handle watching someone get cut up.
Shivering, I downed the rest of my fruit smoothie and walked toward the elevators. I really shouldn’t have worn such high heels, my feet were starting to burn where my skin rubbed the soft leather, I knew I was going to get blisters when I put the suckers on, but I wanted to be tall—I hated how big Thatch was in the first place because he’d always made me feel small, safe. And I was a tall girl, all legs.
So high heels were my armor.
And I needed armor around him.
Since the armor around my heart had a tendency to just fall to the ground whenever he smiled at me. Ugh.
Why was it so hard for me to get the hint?
He didn’t want me.
Though he did seem to be having trouble giving his body that memo if what I walked in on was any indication. It had looked like he was literally seconds away from pleasing himself by the potted plant. Then again, I wasn’t vain enough to assume he was even thinking about me.
With my luck, he was envisioning Nancy’s fake pout.
Or another girl’s boobs.
Ugh, everywhere I looked, I saw perfection in that stupid office building.
I thought I was over my body-image insecurities that had been triggered by my ex from high school—until I started dating a plastic surgeon and was actually exposed to a small dose of what he did on a daily basis. While I was dating Thatch, I hadn’t given my flaws a ton of thought, or maybe I just pushed all of those dangerous thoughts away. And now? Now it was all I could think about.
Maybe I was being judgmental, but why not go into emergency medicine? Why encourage people to spend thousands of dollars on fixing flaws? On gaining perfection at the expense of their health?
“Austin.” Mia winked at me. “Dr. Holloway’s in his office, waiting.”
“Thanks.” Heat rushed into my cheeks.
She had knowing eyes, that office assistant.
My heels screamed in outrage by the time I walked to Thatch’s office. The door was open, and he was pulling his blond hair back into the hottest, messiest man bun I’d ever seen in my entire life.
It was impossible not to physically react to how beautiful the man was. I sucked in a breath and pressed a hand to my chest while I waited for my heartbeat to slow back to its normal rhythm.
Thatch in jeans. Hot.
Thatch naked. Hot.