Elle set her bowl aside and let out a breath, dismissing the thought. Her mom hated driving at night. She wouldn’t go through that much trouble to see her. It was probably some issue at the hospital. Late-night knocks weren’t all that uncommon since she lived on the grounds of The Grove’s sprawling campus. Maybe they needed extra help. She pushed herself off the couch and headed to the door.
When she swung it open and found Lane lounging in the doorway with that smug look of his, it took her a second to process his presence and what it meant. But when she did, her anger shot straight to the surface. “What the hell are you doing here?”
His brow lifted. “I believe the agreement was I’d be doing you.”
The words raised all her hackles—and she had a lot of those. “That’s not how it works.” She braced her hand on the door, ready to shut it. “You can’t just show up. You’re supposed to call first.”
“Never agreed to that.” He ducked under her arm and stepped past her without invitation, his fresh-laundry scent drifting in with the night air. “I had a late session, thought I’d stop by.”
“A session,” she said after quickly peering outside to make sure no one was nearby to see Lane coming in. She shut the door behind her. “Meaning you slept with someone else and wanted round two?”
He tilted his head, his gaze traveling over her so-not-for-public-viewing outfit of plaid PJ pants and an old T-shirt from a pharmaceutical company. “You know I can’t discuss clients.”
She crossed her arms. “Right. Of course. Well, how about we don’t discuss a thing at all? You can leave.”
“You don’t want me to leave,” he said, as casual as you please. “You just hate getting caught off guard.”
“No. I was going to cancel our agreement anyway. And even if I wasn’t, I would now because if you think I’m going to take sloppy seconds when you haven’t even showered off the last woman, you can go to hell.”
He grabbed her melting ice cream off the sofa table, took a big bite, and smiled a lazy smile. “Take off your clothes, Elle.”
She scoffed. “You’re delusional.”
He took another bite and watched her, those green eyes daring her as he licked chocolate syrup off the back of the spoon. “Well, we could watch a movie instead. You’ve paid for my time.”
“You have even less of a chance of that. Keep the money. I don’t care. Just leave.”
He set the bowl aside and strolled closer, his movements calm, but his gaze not leaving hers. She took a step back, hitting the sliver of wall separating her entryway from her living room.
He braced a hand above her shoulder on the wall. “You got your feelings hurt because I didn’t call on your timeline. No need to shut the whole thing down over that.”
“There are no feelings about this. Don’t give yourself that much credit.”
“So self-centered. It’s all about you, huh? Did the busy doctor ever consider that maybe I have a lot going on, too? I have clients. I’m in school.” He leaned close to her ear. “That doesn’t mean I forgot. That doesn’t mean that this morning when I woke up hard and hot from a dream, that I didn’t stroke my cock thinking about what I wanted to do to you when I got the chance.”
The heat in her body spiked at that image, but she fought to hold onto the threads of her irritation. “You should go home and do that again. That’s all you’re going to get.”
His lips brushed her ear, sending shivers down her neck. “Take off your clothes and show me that you’re not wet, then.”
Her jaw clenched. She was not going to give him the satisfaction. She was not going to let him win. Or see that she was more than a little turned on with him this close, with her mind painting pictures of his hand pumping his cock, of him spread out naked on his bed and coming with her name on his lips. “No.”
“No isn’t the magic word. Take off your clothes or safe word.”
She closed her eyes, her heart pounding hard. So much of her wanted to comply, wanted to just give in and feel good and not think. She could let him touch her. They could have a hot night, scratch each other’s itch, not sleep alone tonight. But the fantasy wasn’t enough to eclipse the reality. She had rules. Standards. Promises she’d made to herself.
He didn’t get to do this to her. He didn’t get to come in and take what he wanted, when he wanted. He didn’t get to do this after he’d had sex with someone else tonight.
Even so, the word didn’t want to come out, the sound stuck in her throat, but she forced it. “Birthday.”
The word was whispered but powerful—a whoosh of air that snuffed the flame burning in the space between them, a chilly breeze replacing it.
Lane instantly pushed away from the wall, giving her all the space she could need. His expression was unreadable but all traces of smugness were gone. He gave a brief nod. “Okay then. I’ll leave. Good night, Elle.”
She blinked, the simple declaration catching her off guard. “That’s it?”
“Yes. That’s it. That’s how it works. The safe word isn’t a game. It’s a promise and a parachute cord. If you’re not ready for this, I’m not going to try to persuade you.”
He said everything so matter-of-fact that it startled her out of her anger for a moment. “Oh.”