AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay. Then I guess I’ll leave you alone.” He hadn’t answered her question about Corky, but she’d already decided to leave him the puppy. He’d been away three nights, and he missed their dog when he was away. Besides, maybe Corky could do a better job of cheering him up, since she was failing so spectacularly.
“You’re going to leave? I’m hurt.”
She crossed her arms. “I thought hockey players were supposed to be tough guys.”
“I’m just saying, that’s not much of a bedside manner, Doc. You’d leave a man to suffer?”
She wasn’t sure how to respond because while his words felt like a joke, his tone was gruff and even a little bit hostile.
She raised one eyebrow. “Aren’t you a ray of fucking sunshine tonight?”
For the first time, her words seemed to penetrate, cutting through his dark mood, provoking what she suspected would be a real smile if his lip wasn’t hurt.
“I’m sorry. I’m a sore loser. You know that.”
She did, and while she appreciated his apology, there was a tiny part inside of her that was disappointed to hear that was the reason for his grumpiness. She’d kind of hoped his moodiness had been driven by jealousy over Doug.
She needed to stop thinking that way.
He wasn’t interested in her. He’d said so the morning after he’d blown her head off her shoulders with those two orgasms.
What had he called it?
A one-time deal.
Something he’d clearly meant because they’d gone back to the exact same friendship they’d enjoyed for three years. He hadn’t flirted, hadn’t touched her, hadn’t given her any indication that he wanted anything more from her than they already shared.
She was the one who was letting her thoughts run rampant.
“Apology accepted,” she said, walking over to him. “I’ll leave you Corky. Cuddling her always makes you feel better.”
He hmphed again, proving he still wasn’t over his snit. Dropping down on the side of the bed, he glanced at her. “You’re really going to leave me alone when I’m in pain?”
She laughed. “You have a cut lip and a black eye. I gave you ice. What else do you expect me to do?”
He pointed to his cheek, just below the ever-darkening bruise. “Kiss it and make it feel better.”
Erika snorted. “I attended medical school for four years, and I’m in the fourth year of my residency. Trust me when I say nowhere in any of my medical books was a kiss the recommended treatment.”
He didn’t respond, just continued to point to his bruise.
“Fine. You big baby,” she muttered, bending down to kiss his sore cheek.
Smirking, he tugged off his T-shirt, twisting so she could see the substantial bruise on his shoulder. He really had gone to war.
Rather than call him to task for fighting, she offered his shoulder the same “healing” kiss.
Blake, the shameless man, was now smiling, despite the pain it was probably causing him. She understood why when he pointed to his lip.
She tilted her head. “Seriously?”
“I seem to recall helping you out a few weeks ago when you were having a bad night.”
It was the first time Blake had mentioned the masturbation lesson since the morning after.
“You did,” she said quietly, the devil on her shoulder telling her to give him the kiss he was asking for, while the angel warned her she was flirting with disaster.
Her angel usually won the arguments, so she couldn’t explain why she was bending forward once again.
