Page 72 of Dr. Attending

“Come here, princess,” I say, gesturing for her to join me.

She looks at me like I have two heads. “Now?”

“Not to have sex,” I chuckle, realizing that I should have clarified. “I just want to hold you while I give you the answer to your question.”

“Fine.” She huffs as she moves to stand from her chair. “But if you’re about to tell me that you haven’t fucked me because you have syphilis or something, just know that I will make sure you never fuck anything ever again.”

I smile and shake my head as she walks over.

“You don’t have anything to worry about. I got tested when I came back to Atlanta . . . and well, you know everything that’s happened since.”

She brings up a good point, though—we should have had that conversation before we did anything together. Our hookups have been the most reckless thing I’ve done since having my son, and they’re just another reason why I need to maintain this boundary between us. Not because I don’t trust her, but because I don’t trust myself with her.

Caroline pauses in front of me and leans against the lip of my desk, crossing her arms over her chest. “You don’t either . . . have anything to worry about with me.”

“Good to know,” I respond, unable to hold back the amusement in my tone.

There are a million things I have to worry about when it comes to Caroline Winters, and none of them are related to sexually transmitted diseases. “You going to come sit on my lap? Or am I going to have to make you?”

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I remember that I don’t need to ask because I already know her preference.

Worth and I were texting about his quiz since it’s in beta testing, and he wanted to know how we liked it. I told him it was great, but it would be cool if he could compare two users, kind of like a dating profile for kink. He was so excited about the idea that he didn’t suspect my ulterior motive—getting her results.

“You—” Caroline parts her lips, but I don’t wait for her to complete her thought before I lunge forward.

I wrap one arm around her waist and another behind her knees, falling back into my chair as I cradle her to my chest.

“Wes,” she chides as she adjusts herself on my thigh. “You didn’t even let me finish.”

I almost say something incredibly inappropriate, but I hold myself back. I want to make sure we have this conversation first.

“Oops.” I shrug, forcing myself to change the subject away from her finishing. “So . . . you want to know why I haven’t tried to have sex with you?”

Caroline hums in affirmation, wrapping her arm around me affectionately. “Kind of. Especially now that I’ve ruled out two of the possible reasons.”

I squeeze her leg right above her knee. “This isn’t a test question, princess. But if it was, the fact that I’m not tempted, or that I’m hiding something from you, would definitely be the wrong answers.”

Caroline rolls her eyes but shifts slightly closer to me, her fingers toying with the back of my neck.

“I mean, I figured,” she says, thinning her lips to fight the grin threatening to break through. “But I had to use the process of elimination. You know, just in case.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

My voice sounds light, but the rest of my body feels heavier than ever as a surge of emotion runs through me. I know I need to explain the entire situation for everything to make sense, but I also know that it’s going to hurt like hell when I do.

Caroline must sense my hesitation because her thumb starts drawing circles along my spine, silently calming me while she waits for me to start.

“So when Carter was born,” I say once I swallow down my guilt. “It was obviously traumatic . . . I felt more helpless than I ever had in my life. And when I finally had a moment to process everything, I knew I couldn’t handle going through something like that again. So I promised myself that I would only risk it for one person. The right person.”

I let out a humorless laugh and glance down at my hand wrapped possessively around her thigh, taking a moment to ground myself in her touch before I continue.

“It sounds ridiculous to say out loud because I’m fully aware that there are other ways to prevent pregnancy. But the only method that’s one hundred percent effective is abstinence, so that’s what I chose.”

Caroline shifts in my lap, her brows furrowing slightly, but she doesn’t say anything. Her thumb never stops moving on my neck, though, like she’s telling me that she’s still here with me.

“Listen.”

I meet her gaze because I’m about to drop a bomb that I know she’s not prepared for, but I can’t stop myself from lighting the fuse.

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