Page 44 of Love is Fake

“Dr- Harris.” I say the name like a challenge and watch with no small amount of satisfaction as Lennox’s expression turns furious right before he explodes.

“Myfucking surgeon, that’s who you’re going out with?” He looks at me in shock. “When?”

“When what?” I shout right back at him, because loud appears to be the only volume level he understands.

Lennox advances on me like a lion stalking his prey but I stand my ground. “When did he fucking ask you out?”

“Last night,” I admit, managing to keep the trembling out of my voice as he gets dangerously close.

“Last night,” he repeats, his voice dropping. “Last night when you were with me. Last night when I was kissing the fucking color out of your lips. Last night when you were grinding on me like….”

“Last night when I was your fake plus one,” I cut in. “Last night when you made it very clear that I was a business arrangement and definitely not a date. So what the hell has you all bent out of shape now?”

I stare at him. Really, stare at him. The anger I see boiling in his eyes is… God, it’s infuriating. And I know. I know that it may be a little bad form to go out with someone the day after kissing someone else, but when Jack messaged me, it seemed a good antidote to the Lennox problem. A friendly face, someone easy to talk to, no expectations and no complications. I didn’t do it to piss Lennox off. I did it because…because I needed to get Lennox out of my damn head.

“You haven’t asked why I was coming to find you,” Lennox notes, leaning casually against the door I need to get through. His tone now, is different. It’s as if someone reached into him and flicked a switch, disconnecting all the wires that were firing within him. To be honest, it makes me a little dizzy – the way he can go from high to low in a frickin millisecond.

“That’s because you were too busy being an ass,” I smile at him, saccharine sweet.

“Cute,” he snarks right back. “I wanted to let you know you don’t have to worry about Roger anymore. He’s done.”

“What do you mean…done?” I ask, fearful of what Lennox might have done giving the murderous look in his eyes last night.

“I mean he’s out of a job,” Lennox clarifies. “I told my sponsor I wouldn’t work with them if they didn’t step up and get rid of a guy they must have known was a complete fucking pervert. So, they let him go. And I’m going to make damn sure everyone in the industry knows exactly why.”

“That’s…that’s…” I’m overwhelmed that Lennox would have gone to bat for me like that and I feel a swell of pride in him for being the kind of man who would do that. It’s a whole different ballgame he played than the one in high school where he wasn’t loud enough or active enough in dispelling his ex-girlfriend’s insults. “Thank you,” I finish and it’s not lost on me just how inadequate my gratitude feels.

“Did you think I would just let it slide?” Lennox’s eyes flash with remembered anger. “I wouldn’t let a guy treatanywoman like that, least of all you.”

When the last word falls he stands up straight and takes a step towards me, locking me in his gaze. I feel pulled towards him even as my rational brain knows I shouldn’t. But before we can get closer than comfort allows, I hear a car pull up outside and I thank the good Lord my date’s a punctual man because this is getting worse by the second.

“That’s Jack,” I tell Lennox, stepping around him to get to the door.

“You shouldn’t go out with him,” he growls, wrapping a hand around my arm, stopping me.

“Oh yeah, and why’s that?” I ask, whirling on. “Since when do you get to decide what I should and shouldn’t do? You’re my client, Lennox, not my damn keeper!”

“Is that all I am, your client?” His dark eyes flash and then he’s coming closer and closer until his lips are pressed against mine and oxygen becomes of short supply. I’d call it a kiss, butit’s more of an owning, a possessing than it is anything else. It’s a claiming and it’s so damn hot it makes everything inside of me clench with need. Without even realizing it, I’ve curled my fingers into the front of his shirt, bringing him closer to me, but it’s still not enough. Lennox makes a growly sound deep in his throat, his hands squeezing my hips and I want more, so much more.

But you can’t have it with him, Izzy.

A thread of logic manages to make its way through the haze of lust I’m feeling, reminding me that this isn’t right. I shouldn’t be in a lip-lock with this man, no matter how damn good it feels.

It takes all the willpower I can summon to break the kiss, pushing myself away from him. He keeps hold of my waist for a split-second before letting his arms drop to his sides. I ignore the warm imprint I still feel as if his hands were still on me.

“You don’t get to just do that.” I glower at him, my lips still vibrating from the power of his kiss.

I’m cheered to see the way his chest heaves as if he’s just run a marathon, like he’s just as affected by the kiss as I am.

“You should stay. You know you want to.”

What I want right now is to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his face but that would require getting closer to him than is safe at the moment because as much as I’m pissed beyond belief, all my body seems to want to do is jump him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You might be out with him, but you’ll be thinking about me. I’ve made sure of it.”

I shake my head at the ego of the man. I’m grateful for what Lennox did; getting rid of Roger the Pervert and making sure he doesn’t treat other women the way he did me, but that doesn’t cancel out how he’s acting right now.

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