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Rowan twisted her head to the other side and her shoulders tensed.
“Can I help you?” Cammie asked in a sharp tone I’d never heard her use before.
“I’m here to see Cal,” Avery said, waving her fingers at me.
“He’s with a patient,” Cammie said. “I’m happy to schedule you an appointment.”
“Oh no,” Avery said, loudly. “This is personal. I’m certain he won’t mind the interruption.”
Adam’s door opened all the way, and he hurried across the room to stand at the end of Rowan’s table.
“This is entirely unprofessional,” he said loud enough for Cammie and Avery to hear.
Rowan sat up and glared at him. “I agree. You’re interrupting my session.”
Adam blanched but quickly recovered. “Dr. Cardoso, kindly escort that young lady out,” he said, pointing to Avery. “I’ll take over here.”
Rowan didn’t look too pleased but flopped back on the table with a huff. I hurried to the reception area where Cammie was already holding open the glass door.
Avery smiled but didn’t move until I walked out ahead of her.
“What the hell, Ave,” I said as soon as we were beyond sight of the glass door. “When I said you knew where to find me, I meant my house. Not here.”
Avery shrugged and tucked her elbows into her sides, which pushed her breasts up more. “I wasn’t sure we could control ourselves somewhere private.”
I decided telling her I’d rather take a cheese grater to my dick than sleep with her again wouldn’t help the situation. “I would have met you at Church or Karma. Anywhere but here.”
She stuck out her full bottom lip. “I thought you’d be happy to see me. You spend so much time working with saggy old people, I thought you’d like the change in scenery.”
“You being here is unprofessional. I’m already on thin ice with my boss, Ave.”
“Was that Rowan Stevens in there?” Avery asked. “I heard she was back in town after her husband left her. How embarrassing.”
“That’s enough, Avery,” I snapped.
She pressed her lips in a grim line. “So, it’s true.” She shook her head. “When someone told me they saw the two of you together at Church, I laughed.”
“Leave Rowan out of this,” I hissed. I knew I was making it worse by continuing to protect her, but I couldn’t help myself.
Moisture pooled in Avery’s eyes and her shoulders slumped. “I didn’t think you’d move on so quickly,” she said with a shaky voice.
Fuck. She was still hurt. As angry as I was at Avery, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and the pain I’d caused. “Let’s grab a drink at Church, tonight,” I said, softly. “Talk things through.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “Sure, baby.”
I shook my head. “Talk, Ave. About why you’re ruining my career.”
She gripped my arm and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I’ll see you at Church at seven. Don’t be late.” She placed a kiss on my cheek and walked away, swinging her hips.
Before, my eyes would have been glued to the hypnotic swish. Now, her little show just looked overly dramatic, like everything with Avery. But beneath all the flash, I knew there was a person so deeply insecure, she needed everyone’s eyes on her to feel good about herself.
Cammie glared at me when I returned to the office, which set off alarm bells. I hurried to the center of the room where Adam had Rowan alternating knee-to-chest stretches with lower back rotational stretches.
“Thank you, Dr. Cohen. I can take it from here.”
Adam kept his eyes focused on Rowan, watching her movements. “You’ve made a lot of progress with her,” he said, then frowned when Rowan grimaced.
I knew Adam was testing her range of motion but seeing Rowan in pain grated my already frayed nerves. “That’s enough,” I said, my voice stern.
