Page 36 of Professional Consult

I feel my cheeks tint pink. “Is that what you think I am?”

“Are you saying you’re not?”

“Perhaps I am, but it’s only because there’s so few of us.”

“If I had to choose between you and Josh, it’d be you.”

I feel suddenly hollow, though it’s not an unfamiliar feeling to me. I’ve known this loneliness for so long. I’ve lived with it. Heck, I fed it with my boorishness. I guess every failed relationship was just another notch on the bedpost, and I was tired of disappointment.

So I stopped trying. No, that’s not right. I didn’t just stop trying. I actively avoided anything that could bring me happiness.

I pull into my parking spot and enter the precinct with Lexi in tow. I cast Josh a glare, letting him know he’s not welcome a minute longer than what is absolutely necessary, and take my seat.

Lexi pulls up a chair beside my desk.

Of course she does.

Inwardly, I sigh.

It’s not that she’s unpleasant to be around. I more than enjoyed waking up to her cooking breakfast in an oversized tee-shirt yesterday, but the problem is, I’d rather wake up to her in much less than that.

She tucks strands of golden blonde hair behind her ear as she jackknifes her leg under her rear. How does she manage to make a shapeless flannel look so appealing? Those buttons would be too easy to pop, and what she’s hiding underneath is guaranteed to make my day more interesting.

But this isn’t about what I want to do to her. It’s about why she’s here.

“Have you ever shot a gun before?”

She nods curtly. “Several times.”

My dick hardens at the thought of Lexi shooting a gun and I say a silent prayer of thanks that I’m sitting behind a desk.

“And what makes you think it will help you with acting?”

“Maybe I can do it more forcefully.”

How about you force yourself onto my lap? Maybe let me wear the handcuffs for a change.

I clear the thickness from my throat. “Like, apply more pressure to the trigger?”

“No…maybe I can be put through exercises. You can throw up some targets and I can run like they do in action movies and shoot at them.”

“That is not where I saw our training going.”

She regards me thoughtfully. “Maybe some role-playing exercises.”

“I’ve been role-playing with you in my head all night long.”

Lexi blinks her long lashes at me. “Excuse me?”

It’s then that I realize that my inner monologue didn’t stay so inner.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Shit…I did not—”

“You totally did.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“What, did you role-play kicking me out of your house?”