Huffing, she joined me, and we walked up the garden path as the front door opened. Dr. Paul Andrews appeared in the doorway with his usual emotionless look on his face. I’d been coming to see him for the past several years; he wasn’t Legion, but his silence was easily bought. The perfect man for the job.
“Mr. Rivers, good to see you,”Paul said, offering his hand as usual.
“You too. This is Kiera Carter,”I replied, shaking his hand before nodding to my reluctant guest.
“Pleasure. Shall we?”
He indicated for us to follow, and I guided Kiera along the hallway I’d walked manytimes, leading to the examination room at the rear of the property. Her eyes darted around, taking in her surroundings, her arm tense in my hand. I knew she was desperate to ask why we were here, but she kept her question to herself.
She’d find out soon enough.
Reaching the examination room, I closed the door behind us and released Kiera.
“Well, Ms. Carter. I have a few questions before we make a start,”Paul said, sitting at hisdesk, and hitting buttons on his computer keyboard.
“Start what?”Kiera asked, the color draining from her face.
“The examination,”Paul replied nonchalantly.“It won’t take long. I’lljustneed to take a bit of blood and do a vaginal swab, but it doesn’t hurt. Once we’ve done withthat, we can discuss birth control.”
I kept my gaze fixed on her, watching for the moment she realized why I’d brought her tothe doctor. Her gaze darted between Paul and me before her jaw dropped open.“You…you want to test me for STDs?”
I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my lips at her outrage, my earlier furyforgotten.“Yep. Or have you forgotten where we recently became reacquainted?”
“I remember perfectly well, thank you,”she hissed, folding her arms across her chest.“But I assure you, the test isn’t necessary. The only person I’ve been with for the last six years is Alec, and he always wears a condom.”
“More lies?”I asked, raising a brow.
“Believe what you want. It’s the truth. Besides, what about you? How do I know you’reclean, or haveyouforgotten where we met?”
“Care to share, Doc?”I grinned at Paul, who was watching the two of us with a confused expression etched into his face.
“Um… Mr. Rivers submits to a test once a month. In the five years he’s been coming tosee me, he’s never tested positive for any sexually transmitted diseases.”
“Clean as a whistle,”I beamed.“Plus, I never go in without a condom, either.”
Yet, the reason we were here was so I could break my own damn rule.
The two of us entered into a competition to see who could glare harder at the other, onlyto be interrupted by Paul clearing his throat.“Um… Ms. Carter, I need you to consent.”
“She consents,”I replied on her behalf, not taking my gaze from her, and silently offeringher to challenge me.
Her shoulders eventually slumped.“Fine,”she gritted out through clenched teeth, turningto face Paul.“I consent. But we don’t need to discuss birth control. I have a coil fitted.”
“You expect me to believethat?”I gripped her chin, tugging it so she looked back at me.“You have a coil fitted, yet your fiancé always wears a condom? Why?”
She pulled her face away.“Yes. And the why is none of your business.”
More secrets I’d get to the bottom of one way or another.
Smirking, I rammed my hands into my pockets to stop myself from wrapping them around her throat and squeezing until she spilledallher secrets.“You can checkthat, right, Doc? When you do the internal exam?”
“Yes, of course.”
A flash of panic lit up Kiera’s eyes, telling me what I already knew. She was full of shit.
“Excellent,”I replied, rubbing my hands together.“Wellthen, I’ve got a call to make. I’llwait outside.”
The last thing I saw before I stepped out of the office and closed the door was Kiera’sfurious face. She was cute when she was pissed. I had a feeling I’d be seeing a lot more of her anger for what I had planned.
