“I certainly had fun. I don’t think I’ve had such a fun weekend in a long time.” This makes me smile to myself as I move another piece forward.
“And while this weekend was fun, and I like spending time with you, there’s something that I have to say.”
He moves one of his pieces before looking over at me, hands resting in his lap. “You can say anything to me, Hanna. I’ll always listen to anything you want to say. I like listening to you talk.”
While my heart melts at his words, I worry what I have to say next is going to crush him.
“I don’t think we can keep seeing each other like we have been,” I say, sliding a piece across the board closer into his territory. He looks up at me and his face falls. “It’s just, it’sreallynot professional of me to be dating my client and I like you a lot but I just, I can’t do it.”
His eyes fall to the gameboard for a beat as he sucks on his cheek.
“I can understand that and respect what you want. I thought, I don’t know, I thought after Friday and Saturday, we had moved past that, I guess not. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable—” He’s avoiding my gaze as he speaks. My face screws up at his words in confusion.
“What? No. I’m saying I can’t be your therapist anymore if we’re going to date,” I explain as clearly as I can.
The look on his face changes instantly.
“So you’re saying youwantto date me?”
A smile slowly grows on my lips. I nod. “I’m saying I’m breaking up with you as your therapist. Effective immediately.”
“Effective immediately? Which means, effective immediately, you’re no longer my therapist?”
“That is correct,” I respond with a solid nod. A devilish smirk spreads across his face and it sets the butterflies off in my stomach into a frenzied flight.
“I never really wanted to go to therapy anyway,” he hurries out.
With one solid swipe, he knocks the checkerboard and pieces off the coffee table between us and reaches for me. Leaning over the table, he brings his face close enough to mine where he can wrap his fingers around my throat and kisses me deeply. Sitting on the floor, he has to brace his other hand on the table so he doesn’t fall over completely. The kiss is hard, but soft at the same time and reminds me of the ones we shared just a few days ago. A fire that had been nothing more than a dull flame inside of me ignites. Holding his hand where it is around my throat, I push against him and stand, never breaking my contact with him. It’s as if my body is answering the call of his as I step up onto the coffee table instead of walking around it. Towering over him, he tips his head back and frames my face with his hands, continuing to kiss me. When I go to take a step down he doesn’t let me, instead opting to grab me under my butt and lift me from the table. I wrap my legs around his strong middle and hold on tight as he lowers us down onto the couch, with me now sitting in his lap.
“God, I could kiss you for the rest of forever,” he murmurs against my lips.
“How about we just focus on right now?” I reply with a giggle.
He pulls away and gives me a content look. His eyes have a sense of peace to them I haven’t seen before. The rich brown color of his irises have a tranquil haze to them that makes it impossible for me to not smile back at him. Running a hand through his hair like I’ve been aching to do for weeks now, I find it’s just as soft as I imagined it would be. He closes his eyes at my touch and almost seems to breathe the moment in. When he opens his eyes, he pulls my hand to his lips and kisses the palm of it.
“What do you want to do tonight?” he asks. His hands rest on the tops of my thighs and the way his thumbs are moving back and forth is doing something dangerous to my insides.
Unable to hold myself back, I bring my hands to the sides of his face and kiss him again. I love the way he tips his head back to reach me when I push up on my knees and bring my lips to his. A piece of hair slips from behind my ear when I pull away and he quickly reaches to tuck back into its rightful place.
“We could try checkers again sincesomeonethrew our game on the floor. You didn’t have to do that, ya know?” I tease, leaning away. My legs are under me and I’m sitting on my knees so it’s more like I’m hovering over his lap.
“No, I’m pretty sure I had to do that.” He shakes his head at me and smirks. “Needed to feel your lips on mine more than I needed air, doc.”
His hands are back on my thighs as I rest my hands on his shoulders. We hold one another’s gaze for a beat before he looks at his lap and then back at me with pinched eyebrows. “Is there a reason you’re not sitting all the way down right now? While I’ve thought about doing some veryinappropriate things with you in my free time, Iama gentleman and control myself, you know.”
“Miles!” I gasp and playfully smack him on the arm. “I just didn’t want to crush you, is all.”
“Doc, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard you say. You will never ‘crush me’ and honestly, I’d die a happy man if you did. Nowsit.” He pushes me down with his hands until I’m flush against his lap and my thighs sigh a breath of relief. While he said he is a gentleman and can control himself, I still feel a distinct firmness beneath his joggers. “Much better.”
I shake my head at him and roll my eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”
He leans in and kisses me again, quickly making me forget about my fear of crushing him. “How about you let me cook you dinner?”
“You wanna cook me dinner? Isn’t it usually the woman’s job to do that?”
“That’s a pretty sexist thing to say, doc. I thought you were more progressive than that.” He speaks into my neck, pressing kisses along the soft spots of skin.
“I am, I am,” I urge, trying to fight the need to moan.
