Page 62 of Dr. Attending

And while it doesn’t bother me, I still want her to hear it. I want her to know she’s important to me.

Caroline’s stormy-blue eyes flash with frustration as silence settles between us.

I hold her gaze as her teeth clamp down on the soft pillow of her lower lip, and it gives me a surprising amount of enjoymentto see her flustered like this. If I had to guess, she wanted me to respond differently and isn’t quite sure how to move forward.

Less than thirty seconds later, she breaks our standoff and spins on her heel to walk toward the edge of my bed, making a show of dramatically looking around the room like we haven’t been in here for the past five minutes.

“So . . . this is where the magic happens.”

The obvious question in her statement makes me bark out a laugh. “Actually, no magic has happened in here.”

I lean against the wooden mantle to anchor myself so that I don’t follow her.

Caroline drags her fingertips over my dark-gray duvet cover before she turns her attention to me. “None?”

She searches my face like she’s trying to uncover a lie, and while her disbelief stings a little, I understand—that’s who I used to be. That’s who she used to know.

“None,” I confirm with a single shake of my head. “I mean, unless you count solo sessions. But even those have been few and far between the past year.”

Caroline purses her full lips like she’s considering my statement. “Interesting.”

“My lack of sex is interesting to you?”

I start to roll my sleeves up my arm to give myself something to do with my hands.

If I had to think about it, the last time I had sex was in Chicago over a year ago. I met a couple of ER nurses at the hospital who were a good time, but as soon as I got the call from Carter’s mom that she was pregnant and I was about to become a father, everything changed.

Since then, getting myself—or anyone else—off has been pretty much the last thing on my mind until . . . well, until Caroline. It’s like she’s reawakened this side of myself that I had forgotten about. This side of myself that I missed.

“So the hot tub . . .”

I chuckle as I shove my hands into my pockets. “The first time in a while. Why do you think I almost came in my pants?”

Caroline’s lips twist into a sheepish smile. “I kind of wish you had. That would’ve been hot.”

She sinks onto my bed, crossing her long legs seductively, like she knows exactly what she does to me.

I swallow harshly because it’s taking a conscious effort to remove my mind from the gutter. To stop thinking about the times I’ve jerked off in the past month to the memory of her coming on my tongue, or the idea that she might let me do it again.

“Well, sorry to disappoint, princess.”

Caroline’s gaze drops to the bulge that’s definitely visible through my shorts. “I feel like we should fix that.”

My heart slows because I’m positive that I heard her wrong. “You want me to . . . come in my pants?”

I’m pretty sure most women would be turned off by the idea of a man prematurely ejaculating during a hookup. But if that’s what she’s into, I’m totally down to make it happen. Maybe I was wrong about some of her kinks, and she’s super into humiliation. I could see it, given the bossy little attitude she likes to give me.

Caroline’s tongue runs over her upper lip as her eyes drag back to mine. “In your pants. In my mouth. I don’t care where you do it. I just want you to come for me, Wes.”

Fuck.

How the hell am I supposed to say no to a request like that?

When I told her that she was welcome to come over tonight, I honestly didn’t consider this as a possibility. Of course I hoped that she would give me another shot eventually, but I figured it would be a while. My first priority above anything else was making sure that she knew she could trust me. That I’vechanged. That I wanted her in my life in whatever capacity she was willing to have me.

But now my cock is thickening at an uncomfortable rate, and I don’t know what to do. “That’s not why—”

“I know,” Caroline replies, interrupting me mid-thought. “I know that’s not why you left the porch light on.”

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