Page 10

Chapter 9

Aria

D espite how well we got on and the minuscule flirting, Tobias hasn’t been at work for two days, so I’ve had to run around with barely any breaks. I’d sent him a text last night to make sure he was okay and wasn’t sick, but all I got back was an “I’m fine”, so I’ve resorted to pretending I don’t have an assistant while running two hundred tasks at a time.

My work email has been busy. A lot of my research back home has been updated, so I’m trying to stay on top of everything.

When I told Tobias about the receptionist catching us, I didn't think it was a big thing. Could that be why he has been off? He's embarrassed people might think something is going on between us?

We were two work colleagues at the arcade. That's all.

To my surprise, two hours earlier than he was supposed to start, Tobias walks into the office in silence and drops onto the chair in front of his desk.

His jaw holds a lot of tension, his eyes burning into his laptop as he sets it down and opens it. The typing is aggressive, and he huffs, checking his phone and shoving it back into his pocket.

“Everything okay?”

He simply hums in response and keeps his focus on the screen.

Tobias is usually quiet, but there’s something else going on. His right eye keeps twitching, and he looks mad. My automatic reaction, being the sentimental person I am, is to comfort him, but that would be out of line. He’s my assistant, and I need to start seeing him that way. Even though I enjoyed myself the other night, even though I liked spending time with him, I remind myself I’m here for work.

Without meaning to, I keep looking up at him from my laptop, his glasses reflecting his screen. If I focus enough, I can make out he’s in his emails. Then, I shake my head and internally slap myself at the invasion of privacy as I get back to my own notes.

I check my notepad full of information Dr. Blythe sent me on two more patients he wants me to look into. I need to make sure my knowledge is sufficient enough to get involved, since America and Scotland are vastly different when it comes to research.

One of my main reasons for getting Ivy over here was because we have more space for research and trials in the States. Although the cost is higher, they have a lot more options for children like Ivy.

I want to ask Tobias if something is accurate, but I don’t feel like I can. His brow is furrowed, and his leg shaking the table from how much he’s bouncing his knee.

What's making things awkward is that not only has he sat in silence for the next hour, but he has been ignoring his phone. It rang four times before he turned it off and tossed it onto the table.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Why weren’t you here yesterday?” I ask. “We had quite a busy day of planning.”

His shoulder raises. “I had to take the day off.”

My head tilts with curiosity. He doesn’t seem sick. “How come?”

His eyes lift from the papers. “Since when do we ask personal questions?”

“Since you’re sitting there in silence as if someone broke your favorite toy.”

“Close,” he replies. “Coffee?”

Confused at his sudden mood swing, I frown at him and tilt my head. "Huh?"

"Do you want coffee?" he asks and laughs, his smile momentarily clouding my mind.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks."

He nods and walks out of the room. I hear him greeting someone as he closes the door before disappearing from my view.

I lean back on my chair, staring at the ceiling with heaviness behind my eyes. Coffee might help, or maybe a week-long nap–or maybe an assistant who doesn’t give me whiplash.

The blaring of my phone has me sighing as I note the caller ID.

I answer after staring for too long. He hasn’t tried to call in a while, and it could be something serious.

“Hello?”

“Don’t hang up,” Ewan says, a pleading tone in his voice. “I just need five minutes, and then I’ll leave you alone.”

“What’s wrong?”

“When do you fly back home?” he asks, machinery clanking in the background. He’s on the site he has been stuck working for over a year. “Can we talk when you do?”

The door opens, and Tobias walks in with two coffee cups just as I sigh and say, “Ewan, please don’t do this right now.”

“Just…just talk to me, Aria. You’ve completely cut me off instead of talking about this.”

My eyes close. “I don’t know what’s left to talk about. You cheated, and then you lied about it. You called me a paranoid psychopath, only to be proved wrong.”

“I cheated years ago. Years ago. I’m not that guy anymore. I only lied because I was scared you’d leave me.”

I let out a snort. “Right. It hardly matters now.”

“Can we at least talk when you get home? What are we doing about Jason?”

A knife lodges in my chest at the thought of the little boy I’ve raised since he was a few months old. “I don’t know.”

Cutting Ewan out of my life also means cutting Jason out of it. I love them both. They were my family. But his dad did me wrong, and now I’m stuck on where to stand.

Will it mess with Jason’s head if a woman who has nothing to do with him is in his life? His bio mom is absent, and he always had me. But now…now, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what is right for him.

“It might confuse him if we aren’t together anymore and I’m still in his life.”

Ewan sighs deeply. “Please, Aria. I haven’t cheated since. I haven’t done a single thing to step out of line.”

“You lied three times. I gave you three chances to own up.”

Gulping, I can tell he’s running his hand through his hair. “What about the house? The car? The caravan? Our entire lives?”

“I’ll deal with it all when I’m home.” I open an email, scanning the words. “I need to go. I’m far too busy to have this conversation.”

“You’ve been living with Gabriella since way before we split up. I know I fucked it all, but were you unhappy before? Is that why we weren't getting along? Tell me so I can fix this.”

“I’m unhappy because my boyfriend since I was a teenager cheated, lied about it, and then tried to gaslight me. There’s nothing else to discuss. We’ll figure out how to move forward without hurting Jason in the process.”

“I was eighteen, Aria.”

“I’m going now.”

“Aria,” he pleads. “Let me fix this.”

“Goodbye, Ewan.”

Once I hang up, I let out a heavy breath. I’m trying not to be heartless. I get it was years ago, and we’re totally different people now, but he lied when I asked. That hurt me the most.

A huge part of me is yelling at myself to grow up and get over it, but I need to breathe and think.

I reach for my laptop, but a voice has me pausing.

“Who is Ewan?” Tobias asks, setting coffee on my desk and standing across from me. “You look pissed.”

“Since when do we ask personal questions?” I use his words against him, proud of myself, but he doesn’t seem to like it.

He sucks on his teeth and rolls his jaw before he brings his attention back to the paperwork in front of him. His fingertips press into the pages, and I know he isn’t taking any of the words in.

Why does he look like he’s about to explode?

Closing my laptop, I watch him. “Did you see the part where we basically get pushed aside?”

He frowns and looks up. “What do you mean?”

I stand and walk to him, noticing how he straightens at my close proximity, and when my shoulder presses against his chest as I lean down to the pages, he doesn’t back up enough to break contact. I shuffle through his papers until I find the one I’m looking for and point to the paragraph.

“Right there,” I say, pausing my breathing as he leans over my shoulder to look, his hands on the table on each side of me.

He completely towers over me, enveloping me with his form. And he smells good. Really good. So good, those traitorous butterflies show their faces and make me internally shiver.

Large hands curl into fists as his knuckles rest on the table, and he reads from the paragraph. “So basically, we sit around and evaluate their notes?”

I nod, my voice shaking as I reply, “Yes.”

“Hmm. I mean, I get why. We aren’t in the care department, and we definitely aren’t nurses or doctors.” I hear the smile in voice–the one and only time he’ll ever say I’m not a doctor despite using it as a…pet name?

Oh, God. Does he have a pet name for me?

I gulp and lower my eyes to his wrist. Apart from the thick veins, he has no tattoos visible, and I trace over about ten charity bands. I pinch the bright pink one, tilting my head.

“How old is Lucy?”

“Just turned fifteen,” he replies deeply, tipping his chin so his mouth is near my ear as I trace another band. “That’s for a canine foster center. They’ve recently opened up a larger facility and lowered their euthanasia ratio.”

“That’s good.”

He hums. We stay like this, in this questionable position, as I go through each band and he explains them all. From animals to children to farms, he contributes to them all. He either helps out or donates when he can. He also helps out at food banks, which, for some reason, warms a cold part of my heart. He’s caring.

Tobias surprises me. He doesn’t look the type to be so gentle–he looks like he would beat up an old lady for staring at him too long.

“Are you done, Doctor?” he whispers in my ear.

My smile falters, my fingers lingering before I realize I’m touching his skin, tracing the veins on his forearm showing from the rolled up sleeves. I pull my hand away. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate.”

“Turn around.”

My heart rate spikes at his demand as I curl my fingers into my palm.

Wetting my lips, I glance over my shoulder to see his hooded gaze. “What?”

“Turn around,” he repeats. “Now.”

My body follows his command until I’m facing him, trapped between Tobias and the table, his arms on each side, keeping me barricaded.

Briefly, my eyes flicker to the closed door, the blinds thankfully already drawn from the important meeting earlier. I look back at him, my chest rising and falling, matching his own.

“What are you doing?”

“If I kissed you right now, would you think it was inappropriate?”

I pause, my mouth instantly watering with how serious and raw his tone is. All my issues back home vanish, and I feel the sudden urge to cross the boundary with my assistant.

“So yesterday was a date,” I say, pushing back into the table but still stuck between two immovable objects.

Tobias shrugs. “What would you say if I said yes?”

“That you tricked me,” I reply, swallowing, warmth gathering deep within me at how much I want him to kiss me. “It goes against the rules of the workplace.”

“If we get caught.” The glint in his eyes through the lens of his glasses and his teeth peeking out from his parted lips have me nearly melting, but I hold myself together and push his arm out of the way.

I go to move around him, but he captures my wrist and spins me to face him. He’s completely unfazed as his fingertips glide across my jaw,brushing his fingers into my hairline behind my ear.

“You still didn’t answer me. If I kissed you right now…” He leans down, nose nudging my own, and every rule goes out the window as I let him keep going. “Would it be…” He lowers his voice to a soft whisper against my lips. “Inappropriate?”

Yes. It would be. But after my ex on the phone, being pushed aside on Ivy’s case, and my friend vanishing to sleep with Justin, I give in to temptation.

Before he can make the final move, I close my eyes and press my mouth to his, feeling his slight intake of air as he sinks into the kiss.

A thousand voices scream at me to stop as Tobias parts my lips with his and kisses me hard, walking me back into the wall.

Air forces its way out of my lungs on a moan as his fingers wrap around my throat and tighten while he pushes his tongue against my own.

“Aria?” a voice comes from the door.

I try to shove Tobias in the chest, but he holds me in place, smiling against my lips when the handle rattles.

He locked the door.

He knew this was going to happen.

He planned it.

When I press my palm to his chest again, he steps back, both of us panting.

Tobias licks his lips, staring down at me like he wants to devour me.

The person at the door disappears, and I take it as my cue to run.

I’m out the door and into the bathroom in seconds, slamming the cubical shut and finally taking a deep breath. My lips tingle as I trace my fingertips over them, and I try not to smile and fail.

Kissing Tobias felt good–more than good. It felt forbidden, like if we got caught, everything would blow up. We would be in so much trouble if someone saw us. Why does that thought make me hot?

I cover my mouth as the bathroom door opens, heavy footsteps filling the emptiness. I know it’s him. I can feel him all over me, all around me.

My phone buzzes in my cardigan pocket, and I pull it out with a racing heart.

TobiasWork: Open the door, Doctor.

Shaking, I type back.

Me: Why?

TobiasWork: I wasn’t finished.

Two seconds pass. Five. Ten. My heart has stopped, my brain buzzing. Against my better judgment, I reach for the lock, shaking fingers sliding back the latch.

And he’s on me.

Large hands. Thick arms with wrists covered in charity bands. A shirt white as snow with not a single crease. As soon as his mouth lands on mine, I fall apart, whimpering into his mouth as our tongues move together, swallowing each other as he slams the door shut and closes us into the cubicle.

It’s so wrong yet so right. I fist his hair and knock his glasses off, hearing them clatter on the floor as his teeth graze my bottom lip.

With his hand on my throat, not squeezing but providing enough pressure to show dominance, he pushes me back enough to disconnect the kiss. "You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into."

I gasp when he reaches down and grabs between my thighs through the thin material of my skirt, his hot breath on my neck making it almost impossible to think straight.

“You like that?”

My heart hammers in my chest–or maybe it's his against my chest. I don't know anymore. He’s everywhere but nowhere, and that’s not enough. His fingers press into my skin as he draws the sensitive spot beneath my ear into his mouth, sucking.

“Answer me. Do you like it when I do this?”

I nod erratically and absently roll my hips forward, panting, needing more despite being in the hospital bathroom.

His teeth sink into my bottom lip again, and I can tell he’s losing control. Of what, I’m not sure. Why? I’m not sure either. His cock is hard, pressing into me while he’s tugging my bottom lip until it snaps back into place, making my breath hitch. I’m completely stuck in this daze that is him .

He hums. “This taste,” he says quietly as he licks his lips. “I like it.”

He adds more pressure, and I whimper as his attentive fingers press firmer against my clit despite how tight my pencil skirt is.

The bathroom door opens, and I hear two of the nurses talking. Tobias covers my mouth and nose to stop any sound as he circles his fingers, watching with a hooded gaze as my eyes slowly roll to the back of my skull. My lungs burn for air, my hips move, and I cry into his palm when his fingers speed up their circles.

“Good girl,” he breathes. “Be a good little doctor and stay quiet for me.”

The nurses do their thing as Tobias releases my mouth, allowing me to breathe for a few intakes before he’s crushing my lips to mine again.

He pulls his mouth away, snatching my jaw and pressing the back of my head to the bathroom stall. “I’m still not finished.”

Releasing me, he steps back, both of us panting, lips swollen from the fierce kiss that shouldn’t make my body ignite.

I watch him leave the stall as he picks his glasses up from the floor, cleaning them on the edge of his shirt I must’ve pulled from his pants at some point.

Tobias vanishes then, the bathroom door closing, and I allow myself to breathe, to slide down the wall of the cubicle to the floor and close my eyes.

Between my legs tingles with the sensation of his touch, the loss, the need for more. So many thoughts are running wild in my head, but all I can focus on is one.

He said he wasn’t finished yet.