Page 12 of Possessive Doctor

“If you had a boyfriend out there, why didn’t he come looking for you? Your accident made front page news. Why didn’t he call the hospital looking for you? If this guy does exist and he didn’t even bother to try and find you, he doesn’t deserve you. I would have traveled to the ends of the earth to find you. I would have never stopped looking. Is this what all of this is about? Are you hoping there’s some guy waiting for you out there?”

“No! I just thought that maybe I should go to my house just to see if anything jogs my memory. What do you think? Do you think it might help?”

I think about it and realize that if she wanted to leave, she could’ve left already. But she’s still here. She’s still talking to me, not carving her name on my face, and even asking my opinion on something important. Relief wracks me in waves. “If you think you’re up to it, I’ll take you. We can go tomorrow if you want to. Or…are you angry with me and planning to go alone?”

A tiny smile appears on her lips. “I should be angry. I should feel like an absolute fool…but, right now, you’re the only person I know. You’re the only one who can help me. If you’re still willing to take care of me even though I’m a complete stranger, well, I think—for now at least—I need you.”

“That’s all I want to do, princess. I want to help you. I can sleep on the couch if it makes you more comfortable. If you recall, that was my plan from the beginning.”

“How about we eat in the living room and you tell me all about yourself? I’d like to get to know you better.”

“Anything you want. Can I help you to the sofa?”

She nods, and I sweep her in my arms. She’s so light, so delicate. There’s no way I’m sending her off to fend for herself. No, now that the truth has come out, I can work on proving what I knew all along—she’s mine. No one else’s. If I have to spend the rest of my life convincing her, then that’s what I’ll do.

I set her down on the sofa and return to the kitchen to get the take-out I brought home for us.

“I hope you’re not a vegetarian because I brought steak.”

“If I was, I don’t remember, so I guess I’m not anymore,” she laughs and I breathe a sigh of relief. My coming clean could have gone so much worse. At least, she’s still smiling.

“So, tell me about yourself, Doctor Andrew Adams.”

“There isn’t much to tell, I suppose. I work a lot. I go to the gym. On the off chance that I get a weekend to myself, I like to go hiking. I suppose you could say that I’m married to my job,” I shrug. I mean, at least that’s what I did before her.

“How old are you?” she asks and looks back down at her food.

“I’m thirty-nine. Do you even know how old you are?”

“Yes, even if I didn’t before, my birthday was on my driver’s license. I’m twenty-one.”

“I knew that, little girl. It was in your file.”

“What about girlfriends? Did you kick some hot nurse out of bed so you could give me a place to recover?”

“I did not. There’s no one. There has never been.”

“Why not?” she asks.

“I told you, I’m married to my job and I don’t cheat,” I wink at her.

“What about family? Where did you grow up?”

“Whoa, slow down there. This isn’t very fair. I can’t ask you anything.”

“Come on, family? Hometown?”

“I grew up in the mountains upstate. I have a sister and a mother. My father died last year.”

“I’m sorry.”

I take her hands and force her to look into my eyes, “I’m sorry, too. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Her smile disappears, and she bursts into tears, burying her face in my chest. I hold her while she mourns her parents for the first time. The parents she doesn’t even remember.

It takes a few minutes before her tears subside and I look into her bright blue eyes. Her gaze drops down to my mouth, and she licks her lips. I cradle her face, and she leans into my touch. My thumb grazes her bottom lip. She darts out her tongue to lick it before taking it in her mouth and sucking lightly.

Jesus, this girl.

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