Six Weeks of Seduction by Ellis O. Day
CHAPTER 79: NICK
Nick was done with all of them. His friends sucked. He drove, not going anywhere specific, but his subconscious had a different idea. He pulled into the parking lot of Dr. Smileworth’s office. He stared at the building. He should leave, but he got out of the car and went inside. She was with a patient so he waited, and waited. Patrick, Ethan and Annie were wrong. He was the one in the right about this.
The doctor came out. “Is Sarah okay?”
“Yeah.” He stood. “I know you’re busy but I was wondering if you had a moment.”
The doctor looked at her watch and then at him. “I suppose my husband won’t mind waiting a few minutes for dinner.”
“I’m sorry. Never mind.” He hadn’t realized it was so late.
“Nonsense. We’ve been married forty years. He’s used to this.” She waved him into her office. “Give me a moment to call him.” She turned to her secretary. “You can go, dear.”
“Are you sure?” The secretary eyed him suspiciously.
He must look like hell if the woman was scared to leave the doctor alone with him. Usually, women flirted with him, not stared at him like he had a disease.
“Yes, dear.” The doctor put the phone to her ear and Nick went into the office and sat on the big comfy chair next to the couch.
The doctor came in a few minutes later. “Did Sarah finally ask you to come here?”
“No. We fought and…I left.”
“Oh.” Dr. Smileworth sat down on the chair by a small desk.
There was no visible change in her face but he knew she was disappointed. “I…I can’t handle her not trusting me.”
“That’s understandable.”
He blinked. He hadn’t expected that. “It is? My friends think I’m being an ass. They said I should be patient.”
“That doesn’t come easily for you, does it?”
“No.” How the fuck did she know?
“It wouldn’t for a man like you.”
“What the hell? I’m so tired of everyone judging me. You don’t even know me.”
“Everyone?”
“My friends.”
“They know you.”
“Yes and no. They know who I was at the Club…um…when we used to go out.”
“I know all about La Petite Mort Club.”
“You do?” An image of this elderly lady wearing black leather and carrying a whip flashed in his head.
“Sarah told me about how you met.”
“Oh.” He wanted to shake his head and erase the image like an Etch-A-Sketch.
“Is it only your friends who judge you?”
“No. Sarah does too.” That bothered him the most. She should know him, see the real him, not the playboy but the man.
“I see.”
“I don’t think it’s going to work out for us.” He wanted it to but he couldn’t keep doing this.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He’d expected her to try and convince him to give it another chance.
“Sarah is an exceptional woman but she does have trust issues,” said Dr. Smileworth.
“She has good reason.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t make them easier to deal with on a daily basis.”
“No. It doesn’t.” This was exactly what he wanted to hear—confirmation, validation of how he’d acted and how he was feeling—but it wasn’t making him happy, only more depressed.
“It’s good you realized it isn’t going to work.”
“It is?” Now, he was confused.
“Of course.”
“Look doctor, I kind of expected you to talk me into trying again.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know.” Because he was good for Sarah. Because they belonged together.
“Sarah needs a man who has patience. One who understands that she isn’t a toy or a car that can be magically fixed. It takes time. There will be good days and bad.” The doctor took a deep breath. “Mostly, Sarah needs a person she can depend on to be there always and when that happens, she’ll learn to trust again.”
“No one can promise forever. No one can say that they’ll always be there for someone else. Things change. People change.”
“I think you have your answer.”
“What do you mean? That didn’t answer anything.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
“Yes.” He was wary. He didn’t trust abrupt changes of topic.
“If you were to get a call that one of them was in the hospital, what would you do?”
“I’d go there.”
“What if you were out of the country on business, a very important business trip? One that could make or break your company.”
“I don’t give a shit. I’d leave. I’d fly home on the first plane and be there for them.”
“Even if it ruined your business?”
“I can start another one.”
“That sounds like always to me.”
It was like a slap in the face.
She stood. “I need to go home to my husband. Goodnight Nick.”
