too-casual attitude going. “Pleased as hell to know you’ll be my guide today.”
I didn’t know what to say. Ryan, thankfully, cleared his throat and spoke up. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Before I had a chance to respond, Ryan turned his attention to his tablet and called out another name.
“Ready to do this?” Patrick asked, his eyebrows flicked up expectantly.
I was furious. So furious, in fact, that it took all the restraint I had to not chew him out right there in the middle of the waiting room. “Come with me.”
“You got it.”
I grabbed his hand and led him through the waiting room door. A few other doctors were in the halls, but I was so mad I couldn’t even say hello to them. We reached one of the exam rooms, and I pulled him inside, shutting the door behind us.
“We startin’ the tour here?” he asked, looking around the small room. “I mean, sure. Guess it’s got to start somewhere.”
I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep, slow breath. When I was calmer, I spoke. “What…the fuck was that?” I jutted my thumb in the direction of the waiting room, my words carrying tightly controlled anger.
“Huh?” he asked. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I hissed. “Patrick, you kissed me in front of my patients and one of my colleagues. What were you thinking?”
He shrugged, clearly not bothered in the slightest. If anything, he seemed confused. “I was thinking you’d enjoy it. I mean, we’re seeing each other, yes?”
Now I was the one who was confused. I sat back on the examination table, trying to wrap my head around what was happening. “You think we’re dating? You can’t be serious. Patrick, I haven’t responded to any of your calls or texts since Sunday.”
Another shrug. “That’s fine. You need some time, then take some time. But we’ve already seen one another naked and been on two dates, so that’s more than enough to say we’re dating, don’t you think?”
“But two dates is only two dates. And sleeping together…that only has as much seriousness as you decide it does.”
“Let me ask you this – when’s the last time you’ve been on more than one date with a man over the last few years? Not countin’ your ex.”
I opened my mouth, ready to give a confident and clear answer. But try as I might, I couldn’t think of a single guy I’d been on more than one date with. And I didn’t even want to think about how long it had been since I’d slept with one.
“It’s been a while. But that doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter? You met a man and you go further with him than you have in years, and you think that’s nothing?”
I stood up, crossing my arms over my chest and shifting my weigh from one foot to the other. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, he had a point. “I just got caught up.”
He grinned as if that were the exact answer he’d been wanting to hear. “That’s what happens in the best romances – you just get caught up in it. Listen, love, if you don’t want to consider us as an item, that’s fine. But you and I both know there’s something happenin’ between us. And if you want to take your time gettin’ used to, that’s fine with me. I’m a very patient man.”
I narrowed my eyes and grit my teeth. He was so confident, so sure of himself, that it pushed me to the edge of total frustration. And more than that, he was right.
I stepped forward, sticking my finger out at him. “Listen, Patrick. If you think you’re going to—”
But he didn’t give me a chance to finish; he leaned forward and kissed the end of my finger, waggling his eyebrows as it did it. The sensation of his lips on my skin made me weak in the knees instantly. More than that, it made me wet. There I was, right in the middle of a tiny examination room, turned on more than I could stand. What the hell was happening to me?
At that moment, I wasn’t sure I could say no to him. However, instead of trying to fuck me right there in the examination room, he stood up, dusted his hands, and gestured toward the door.
“Alright, let’s see about that tour, yeah?” Without waiting for me, he opened the exam room door and strolled out.
Once more, Patrick had left me aroused