Page 20 of Wild Card

“What kind of mishap leaves welts and scars on your skin?” All light-heartedness is gone as she shuts down.

“Willow—” I stop, not sure exactly what to say.

“Forget I asked. It’s not in your file so it’s obviously irrelevant to your rehab treatment plan. Which makes it none of my business.”

“Willow—”

She cuts me off. “I’ll let Koch know about our session. You did well. He’ll return on Wednesday.”

It’s clear I’ve been dismissed when she wheels the cart away without another word.

My phone dings and I hold in my groan when I check the message.

Ford

You almost fucking done?

I glance around for Willow, not finding her, Bex, or Lucas anywhere.

Ford is waiting with a scowl when I hit the waiting room.

“Took you for fucking ever,” he grouses.

“No one asked you to come supervise.”

“Try and tell Rowan that.”

“Get your woman under control.”

He balks as if I’ve hit him, his facial expression going hard. “You fucking high?”

It was a dick thing to say. Even if it’s partially true. She may be overbearing, but her heart is in the right place.

“What crawled up your ass?”

I ignore him, heading for the door.

“Oh, shit. Is that the woman from the bar?”

I twist to see Willow talking to the receptionist. Her eyes meet before her attention goes back to the papers in her hand. Even in the brief second, I caught the flicker of heat between us.

“Yeah, it’s her.”

“Tell me you at least got her name this time.” Ford’s tone is laced with amusement.

“Yeah, I got her name.”

“Makes sense now. Your grumpy ass got shot down, again.”

Goddammit, the last thing I need is to take his shit. I should learn to keep my mouth shut.

He has no idea I had her name within an hour of her leaving Tom’s. DMV record was easy but I was sitting on the information. The woman obviously had hang-ups about my job.

It was one fucking kiss.

But it wasn’t. It was the way I was drawn to her at first glance.

The way she felt in my arms.

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