Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
“Is this going to hurt?”
I shake my head. “It’ll be a pinch for the numbing, and then you won’t feel a thing.”
“I’m right here, love,” I hear her mom say, but Maggie’s eyes are on me and I’m ensnared in them. They remind me so much of Promise Pond in June and July. So blue, but also green and sparkly. She may have been the one who got knocked in the head, but I feel like I have a concussion.
Once induced by Maggie Welch.
I swallow hard as I hold up the syringe. “Take a deep breath for me and then tell me the name of your favorite book in Promise Pond Books.”
Her eyes widen in delight, but they’re sharp, watching as I move to inject her. “My favorite book is the very first book I wrote—” She winces, and I feel like absolute shit for it. My heart stops, but I continue as I fill the area with numbing solution. “A hockey memoir that is about the Nashville Assassins’ back-to-back championship seasons.”
I quickly remove the needle and look back at her in surprise. “I thought you only wrote romance.”
Her lips tip up. “Do you know my work, Dr. Aldridge?”
My cheeks heat, and I smile sheepishly, much to her delight. She grins, her eyes bright and excited as she waits for me to answer. Since I refuse to show my cards, I reach for the thread and needle. “Tell me more about this memoir.”
Maggie only needs four stitches, but I take my time and make sure each stitch is placed perfectly.
Mostly because I’m a good doctor.
But more so because I don’t ever want her to stop talking.
Even while I’m stitching her head, she is so animated. She’s a natural storyteller, and she makes me feel like I was there when the Assassins won back-to-back Cups. Mind you, I’ve never been to a hockey game, but shit, I have to go now.
With her.
Wow.
Okay.
I shake that thought free because surely her behavior is all injury-induced.
When I finish, I tell her so, and she beams up at me. Maggie cuddles Kip closer, and I’m hit with her scent. She smells of lavender, the fresh kind with notes of vanilla and some sort of spice.
Fucking addictive is what she is.
“That was easy peasy.”
“You did so well,” I say as I set down my instruments. “Best patient ever.”
Her lips curve in almost a smirk at my praise, and of course, my horny mind wonders what it’d be like to tell her how good she takes my cock between those plush lips of hers and down that slender neck. I’d hold her right below her chin, just to feel myself pumping into that naughty little mouth.
And now I’m blushing like a teenager caught watching porn.
What. Is. Wrong. With. Me?
“You’re a great doctor, Dr. Aldridge.”
Yeah, Aldridge, you’re a fucking doctor. Act like it.
But apparently, I’m ignoring my inner self.
“Dermot,” I correct as I look over at her from where I’m taking off my gloves. “You can call me Dermot.”
That smirk of hers is dangerous. Not only does it take up her whole face, but her cheeks shine pink and her eyes are playful. When she smiles… Fuck, I only want to make her smile.
For me.
She’s just so beautiful.
“Dermot.”
The way she says my name should absolutely be illegal. She enunciates each syllable and holds my gaze while she does it. Her voice is low, not a whisper, but still, it feels as if she’s saying it just for me. It doesn’t matter that my dog is up under her chin or that her mom and Tenille are in the room. No. Her lips moving, the sounds leaving her mouth as her tongue hits the back of her teeth…all it does is make me wonder what she’d sound like screaming my name, crying it, whispering it, and moaning it.
Yup. I’m fucked.
five
. . .
Maggie
“Girl.”
“I know,” I squeal.
“He is, like, next-level hot.”
“I know!” I giggle, kicking my feet, nearly knocking the phone off the couch. “I would have said it was the head injury, but I mean, he was doing that thing where a guy’s eyes fall to your lips.”
“Oh my God, yes! Did you bite your bottom lip?”
“Hell yes, I did!”
“Yes, girl. What did he do?”
“He blushed.” I giggle again, wiggling like a loon. “He listened so intently and was so careful. If I had known all I had to do to get his attention was get knocked out by a cock, I would have done that sooner.”
“And you thought the cock failed you.”
“I did! But, Willa,” I gush, “he talked to me more today than he ever has, and I swear he was flirting with me.”
Willa snorts, and I can just imagine her rolling her eyes. “Of course he was. You’re single and hot. Not a washed-up mom like me.”
I sigh deeply at the pain in her words. I know she meant it offhandedly, but my sister hasn’t had the best luck lately. “Do we need a pep talk?”