things you wouldn’t even notice, unless that’s what you’re looking for, and it’s exactly what I’m looking for. Her injury won’t be permanent. She will regain the full use of her hand. I swear it.”
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat, but I doubted Chris would’ve missed the crack in my voice in just those two words. “Are you this nice to everybody? Because that seems like that would be exhausting.”
“I’m not.” He laughed, and the sound was as rich and smooth as I remembered.
The man was an enigma. He looked like a cover model but had the heart of a saint. He carried himself with an air of confidence but didn’t come across as cocky, and yet, from what I’d heard about his altercation with Craig, he had that definitive protective alpha-male streak I usually didn’t have time for.
The juxtaposition between the flashes of alpha I’d seen from him myself or heard about and the gentle, supportive, easygoing guy with the great laugh was interesting to say the least. It drew me in because I’d often heard people talking about how different someone was, but I’d never actually met a person I really thought was that different.
Chris, however, definitely seemed to be.
“Hey,” he said, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Can I take you to dinner tonight? I know we had lunch planned, but I’m sure you’d rather spend the time with Adi after the session.”
Surprise rendered me incapable of doing much more than blinking in surprise. “You want to take me to dinner? Why? Is this just another thing you do to be nice when you feel sorry for your patients?”
I knew the guy had a lot of money, but taking every patient he felt sorry for out to dinner seemed to be a waste. Especially when they weren’t even paying him to begin with.
“No.” He laughed again, nudging my knee with his shoulder before standing up. “I’ve actually never taken a patient or their parent out.”
“So it’s just me then?” My heart skipped a beat, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
Chris shrugged, then nodded. “Yep. Just you. So what do you say?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” As I said the words, a wave of regret rolled over me.
Disappointment hit me right in the gut, but Chris didn’t seem too fazed. “Why not?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just have a lot of baggage. And we work together. I’m trying to save you.” It sucked that I had to say no to him, but it simply wouldn’t have been fair to say yes.
“I appreciate it, but you don’t need to save me,” he said without skipping a beat. “I’ll pick you up at seven. If you don’t have someone to watch Adi, I’ll take you both out.”
Before I could come up with a way to turn him down again, he glanced down at his watch and smiled. “Would you look at that? It’s time for us to get back to it.”
He held out a hand to help me up, turned, and strode out of his office without another word about dinner. The office door remained open behind him, and when I heard him joking with Hunter and Adi outside, I sank back into his chair and smiled at his confidence as I covered my face with my hands.
My palms were clammy, and my heart was racing. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought I was actually excited.
Chapter 13
CHRIS
“I was wondering whether you were going to text me for my address,” April said when she opened their front door.
My breath was knocked right out of my lungs when I got a good look at her. With the soft light from inside lighting her up from behind, her hair formed a fiery halo around her head. She hadn’t dressed up much, but she definitely looked good.
The black shirt she had on clung to her curves a bit more than anything else I’d seen her in, and its neckline was low enough to dip between her breasts. A handful of thin golden chains hung around her delicate neck, each with a different length. The longest one had a heart-shaped pendant that hung about halfway between her collarbone and breastbone.
Dark skinny jeans and a pair of low-slung heels completed her outfit. Her eyes had dark liner around them and maybe a touch of mascara, but other than that, her face seemed bare.
The dirty part of my mind conjured up images