Page 22 of The Doctor

KADE

GrabbingRaine’s bag out of her car, I place my hand on her lower back and usher her inside through the garage.

“Feel free to make yourself at home. If there’s anything you want in the fridge, help yourself.”

“I doubt I’ll be doing too much eating,” she mumbles as she takes in her surroundings.

“Did you not get a good look when you were here before?”

Raine’s cheeks pink up, and she rolls her lips before she clamps down on them for a moment. “Not really. It was dark when we got here and then in the morning, I kind of freaked out.”

I lean against the counter and cross my foot over my other ankle. “What were you freaking out about?”

She lets out a sigh and looks up at the ceiling for a moment before she looks back at me. “I’m going to sound crazy, but when I walked out of the bedroom and saw your living room, my mind went to you having a girlfriend or a wife. Looking at everything else flew out the window, and then I bolted.”

My brows pull together as anger surges through me. The thought that Raine assumed I had cheated on someone with her makes my blood boil. “Why did my living room make you think I had a significant other?”

“This place doesn’t look like a single man lives here,” Raine makes a circle with her arms out as if that’s supposed to tell me anything.

“I never claimed to decorate it, but I can assure you it’s only me who lives here.”

Raine puts her hands on her hips. “Did some girlfriend decorate it?”

Is she jealous at the thought of me having a girlfriend?

“There’s no girlfriend. In fact, it was my brother who decorated it. He’s an interior designer.”

“Oh,” she purses her lips.

I bite down on my bottom lip to keep my smirk at bay. “Yes, oh. I’ll tell you right now, I am not a cheater, Raine. It’s not my style. If I don’t want to be with a woman, I will end the relationship before I seek solace in someone else.”

“Seek solace,” she says under her breath before she shakes her head and tries to pick up her bag from the floor, but I don’t let her. Instead, I snatch it up and start walking.

I don’t look back as I walk through the house and to the guest bedroom right beside my bedroom. “Why don’t I show you to your room? I know you’re tired.”

Stopping outside her room, Raine places her hand on her stomach, and her face goes pale. “You know, I think the medicine is working, so I should be fine to go home.”

My jaw flexes at her lie. I push into the room and place her bag on the queen-size bed. “Let’s make a deal, okay? I won’t lie to you, and you don’t lie to me. It will make our situation go much smoother.”

“I’m not—”

“Don’t lie,” I interrupt her. “I can see that you don’t feel good, and all I want to do is help, so please let me help you. I promise you I’m a competent doctor.”

“I never said you weren’t, but I feel like everything I say to you only makes you mad when all I’m doing is saying how I feel—or felt as the case may be.” She looks to the bed covered with a light green comforter. “If I’m worried about how you feel, I’m not going to be comfortable here. That’s why I think I should go home.”

She has a point. I shouldn’t let what she says get under my skin, but there’s something about Raine that makes everything she does or says sink in deep. I’ve never felt this way around a woman before. I need to remember she’s young, scared, and not feeling well. I shouldn’t take how she makes me feel out on her. I need to take my own advice and try to make our situation as easy as possible. Whether we like it or not, we’re going to be in each other’s lives from now on.

“No, you shouldn’t. Lie down and rest,” I step back out of the room and grip the door handle. “I’m going to make us something for dinner that should be easy on your stomach.” Closing the bedroom door, I step away with a heavy sigh.

How am I going to make this work with her? Every time I look at Raine, all I see is the beautiful woman I brought home. The urge to fuck her against the wall or down on the ground consumes me, and the only way to fight my desire is to get angry by remembering how I felt waking up alone that morning.

It probably wasn’t the wisest decision to bring her here, but my need to care for her overrode all reason.

Needing a shower to wash off my day and my frustration, I strip out of my clothes and step inside my shower before I turn on the water as hot as I can stand it.

Resting my forearms and forehead on the tile wall, I let the heat of the water slowly start to unwind my tense muscles. Flashes of Raine in my bed with ice cream on her body run rampant behind my closed eyes. My cock hardens and throbs between my legs. It almost feels wrong to think of Raine as the sexy wildcat when I know she’s in the other room tired and fighting nausea.

Still, I need to take care of myself. Otherwise, I’ll be a walking hard-on and probably run her off.

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