My Favorite Distraction (Distraction series) Read online

  “That is very sweet of you to share your dog, but I am OK. I am not scared of you, and if I was, I wouldn’t be here.” This whole damsel in distress thing, he was painting in his head, was not working for me.

  “I would hate to scare you so much that you would have to use your gun.” His words dripped with sarcasm, and he gave me a cheesy grin.

  “Funny, I would hate to use it too.” I stuck out my tongue, and he laughed.

  “I am going to take a shower, and I will be down the hall if you need anything. Feel free to make yourself at home if you get hungry or thirsty. I have the alarm set, so you’re safe. You also have a lock on the door.” He pointed to the lock. “I know how much you feel protected with these.”

  “Ha ha, I will lock it, thank you very much.”

  I climbed onto the bed eyes wide open. “What the heck?”

  * * * *

  I finally fell asleep, which was a slight miracle, but a welcome one. When I woke up I was in a panic trying to place the events of last night. I carefully made my way to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. Then I left the room and quietly tipped toed down the hall. I looked in all the rooms and came to a door that was slightly open. I placed my flat palm on the door and pushed it open. Bo looked up at me from his bed on the floor. I silently walked over to pet him. I stood back up and noticed the clock said it was 5:20. I glanced over at the man on the bed. He slept very peacefully, like a little boy, the covers pulled up to his waist and his T-shirt lifted just a little, exposing his belly button. He was a beautiful man, and I wanted to crawl under the covers and be with him, touch him, smell him, and lick him. That thought startled me, so I turned around and quietly retreated.

  Bo followed me as I went back to the room I slept in. I put on my workout shorts and a sports bra and threw a sweat shirt on over it. I sat on the floor next to Bo and tied my tennis shoes. “Want to go for a walk?” I asked him.

  Bo got up, excited, and raced down the stairs. I was right behind. I stopped in the kitchen to look for paper and wrote a quick note. Bo ran to the front door and looked back at me. I remembered as I reached for the doorknob that Jason had set the alarm on the house. I figured I would take a short jog and be back before he woke up, but now I wasn’t sure what to do.

  I looked at Bo. “I guess we can’t, buddy. I think we have to stay here and look out the window for squirrels and deer.” Bo’s ears perked up. “Do you like squirrels, Bo?”

  Bo took off in a run, his paws creating scratching sounds on the hardwood. I followed him through the kitchen and to a door I thought might lead to the garage. He went through a dog door. I looked at the door. It was small, almost too small for him, but I quickly was on my hands and knees, making my way through the door and then the next until we were outside.

  I took a deep breath and looked down at Bo. “Are you ready, boy?” I started to jog, and Bo was right in front of me. He led me to a path though some trees—they looked like fruit trees—and then around a lake. I trusted Bo knew the way and got nervous only when he stopped and raised his ears. He looked past me the way we had come, and I felt like he was going to take off without me, but he didn’t. He did this a couple of times, and then we finished our jog right in front of the house. We walked around the side by the garage, both trying to catch our breath. I squeezed again through the dog doors and ended up inside the house, right next to the kitchen. I stood up and stretched, still breathing heavily.

  “Good morning.”

  I was alarmed at the sound of Jason’s voice. I looked up and smiled, feeling foolish for using the doggy doors. He was mad, his arms crossed on his chest. His eyes were tense, and his jaw was clenched.

  “I left a note,” I said, pointing to the fridge. I felt like I was a child, defending myself. I hated that feeling.

  He looked at the fridge. “I didn’t see any note. Why didn’t you wake me?” He closed his eyes and whispered something to himself.

  “I didn’t want to wake you. You looked very peaceful. Besides, Bo was a great tour guide.” I reached down and scratched Bo behind his ears. Bo looked up at Jason and immediately put his ears back and lay down on his front paws. I looked back to Jason. “It’s not his fault.”

  Jason walked toward me, and I stepped back without thinking.

  “I don’t want you to touch me when you’re angry. I am not her. My intent was not to make you angry.” He stopped inches from me. I didn’t look at him. I turned my head away. “I am sorry if you were worried about me. I really didn’t want to wake you. Please forgive me. I will be sure to wake you next time.” With that, I stepped around him and headed for the stairs. He followed me.

  “I know you aren’t her,” he said. “You are nothing like her. Stop comparing yourself. I can’t hide my reaction. I was upset because I thought you’d left without a word.”

  I stopped on the stairs to look at him.

  “I have always been one way. I can’t help thinking you’re doing things to get me to react. I know your thoughts are innocent, and I am trying hard to control my urges to discipline you. I don’t want to be that person anymore. If you want to know, with her, I would get really mad and mean. She liked that and did things on purpose just to show the control she had over me.” He sounded wounded, like he was defeated.

  “I am not running, well I guess technically I was running, but not away. I don’t know you, Jason, at all, but you don’t scare me. I think maybe you worry me when you say words like ‘discipline.’ I don’t want to upset you, and you seem so uptight sometimes.” I shrugged. “Maybe you need a fix?” I felt my eyes widen, surprised by my own words, but that didn’t stop me from continuing. “You know…scratch an itch. Maybe you need to find someone and, I don’t know, make friends.”

  He was laughing at this, hard. I clearly didn’t see anything funny, but it was nice to see him laugh. When I finished, he was silent and smiling, and I turned and ran up the stairs.

  * * * *

  Jason must have slipped in the bathroom while I was taking a shower because there were two fluffy towels right outside the shower door when I finished. I thought about the small thoughtful thing the whole time I got ready. The small things for me, showed more about who Jason was. I was on his mind the entire morning and the towels proved it. He liked me. My smile grew in the mirror as I thought it.

  I quietly entered the kitchen. Jason was over the stove, cooking. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, green today. Personally, the green was my favorite; he probably knew that. The man was everything and psychic. It was a little unnerving. He spoke as I was thinking, confirming his psychic tendencies.

  “Are you going to stare in the doorway, or would you rather sit and stare?” He nodded toward the stools at the counter.

  I slowly walked to the counter and took a seat. My face flushed from embarrassment. He had two bowls of cut-up fruit already on the counter, and I took one and began eating. It had raspberries, bananas, pineapples, strawberries, and blueberries with a little yogurt on the bottom.

  “This is so good, I think I’m in heaven.” I was humming uncontrollably, as I ate.

  Jason turned and lifted two more plates, filled with scrambled eggs and an English muffin.

  “You can definitely read my mind. It’s scary. This is my favorite breakfast.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I wish I read minds.” He grinned at the thought. “I am so glad you like it.”

  I tamed my humming a little as I shoved food in. “It’s pretty good. I mean, I bet it won’t be this good next time.”

  He laughed. “You’re on. It’s a bet.”

  We ate in silence for a while, his thigh touching mine. When I finished, I hopped off the bar stool and walked over to the sink to clean the dishes. He watched me again, and I noticed he closed his eyes and whispered something.

  “Why are you doing that?” I asked.

  He looked at me, perplexed with my question. “What am I doing?”

  “You bow your head and whisper?”

  H
e smiled at me, a very sweet innocent smile. “You noticed that?”

  “You do it quite often, actually, and I am curious.”

  “I am praying, and sometimes, like now, I take a mental picture with my prayer, a happy-place picture.”

  I was smiling now. “You like it when I do dishes?” My smile was more suggestive than I wanted it to be.

  “I like you in my kitchen, comfortable enough to do dishes. It is my new happy place.”

  I knew I was blushing again, and my stomach was doing crazy things. “You are very sweet, do you know that? Is this how you score?”

  He chuckled, his emerald eyes gleaming. “I have actually never had to resort to charm. Usually my looks get me everywhere.”

  “Oh really? Well, let me say, as a fallback plan, it’s brilliant.”

  “Yeah, is it working?” He smiled, and I took his plate and turned around.

  I was beginning to feel nervous. I had never flirted with someone like this before. He had to know I had no experience in what he enjoyed most. I was the opposite of him in this area. If he was a recovering sex addict, I was an innocent school girl. Ultimately, we were at two different sexual skill levels playing on the same field, eventually he’d get bored and want to play someone more advanced. I turned back around after closing the dishwasher.

  “Why didn’t you talk to me all those months? Was it the bet?” He fell silent, so I continued. “I am still confused about why I am here?”

  He was serious again. “I noticed you before, and you blew me off. I was curious. I guess that’s how it started. After I found out you bought my coffee, I was on a mission to thank you. You turned a really bad day into a great one. I never talked to you because I didn’t want to frighten you away. I watched people talk to you and scare you away. You were a rabbit, this beautiful, kind, black-haired rabbit with bright blue eyes. I was trying to control the predator in me, the one that wants to eat the rabbit.”

  I crinkled my nose at his comment, and wanting to clarify I asked. “So you don’t want me for sex?”

  He spit out the water he was drinking and stood up right away. “Are you ready? I will drop you at work.” I went to the front door and picked up my bags. He looked at me and motioned to them. “You could leave that here. We could get them after work.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. I should have my own car. I don’t need a chauffeur. I am very safe, Jason. I have been alone for months.”

  He was quiet and whispering again. “All right, let’s go.”

  We loaded up, Bo included, and began to drive away from his house.

  “It is so pretty in the light—the yard, the lake. Your home is beautiful.” I kept looking out the window. I saw squirrels and smiled. I would have to point them out to Bo, sometime, if I ever came back.

  “I really like it myself. I need to find time and furnish it.”

  I glanced at him while he talked and drove. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the stick shift. He oozed masculinity with his strong and confident stature.

  “Are you tired?” I asked, knowing he had slept less than me and probably more restlessly.

  “No, how did you sleep?” He shifted a little to look at me.

  “I slept good. I woke up a little panicked because I forgot where I was, but during the night, I slept well.”

  “I’m glad. Maybe we could do it again?”

  I smiled, and he winked at me. I blushed and turned away knowing the chances of my staying with him again were slim to none. I was quiet before he started talking again.

  “So why dental, why hygiene?” When the words left his lips, I felt my face beam.

  “When I went to live with my grandfather, he took me everywhere with him. I think he felt the need to protect me. He never asked any questions; he was just always there. Anyway, he went to church a lot. He was religious, but never pushed me toward it. He wanted me to find my own way to one day be at peace like he was. He told me that service to others was the key to happiness and forgiveness. He said giving yourself, time and heart, is the key to a happy soul. I took this information very seriously and would volunteer for everything. My grandfather could hardly keep up. He finally found a trusted friend to keep me busy. His friend was a dentist. I worked for him through my last year in high school, then college, and fell in love with it. Now I work for his brother, and I still love it.”

  He was pulling into my work parking lot, and it was too soon.

  “So do you want to go in and sweep the place to make sure I’ll be safe?” I mocked his protectiveness.

  His eyes lit up. “Yeah, that would be great!” He moved to unbuckle his seat belt and get out of the Jeep.

  “No, I was kidding.” I grabbed his hand to pull him back in. “It was a joke. This place is very safe. I love everyone who works here. They’re very friendly. Believe me, I am safe.”

  He sighed and pulled his door shut.

  “Besides, I always have a gun at arm’s reach if I need it.” I patted my purse.

  “Now I hope you kidding.”

  I leaned over the seat and grabbed my bags, and he stopped me.

  “Leave it. I will pick you up after work and take you home.” The pleading look in his eyes made me drop the bags.

  “OK, I will text you later.”

  He nodded as I exited the Jeep and let myself into the office.

  * * * *

  I slipped into my maroon work scrubs and put my hair up in a clean ponytail. My cell phone buzzed again in my purse so I answered it. I already knew it was Heather. There had been texts from her and missed phone calls.

  “Hey, Heather, I can’t talk for long, but I am at work and still alive.” She was quiet. I could tell she was upset.

  “You left without a note. I was worried.”

  “I am sorry. Jason came and got me last night after I fell asleep, it kind of happened fast. He texted me asking me to go home with him, I think he was a little freaked with the lying we did last night. He said he couldn’t sleep. He wanted to straighten things out between us. I hate that you worried.”

  “I thought maybe you went to his house. Then I saw your car out front and thought something happened. I have been waiting at the coffeehouse for you since six forty-five. I am sorry about last night.”

  “He just dropped me off at work. You and I are good, Heather. I know you’re worried, but don’t be. I hate it when you’re worried about me. I should have called sooner.”

  We got off the phone after that. I was feeling so out of sorts with my emotions. I wanted to defend this man I had been talking to for only a day.

  Before work I was reminded that today was an easy day. We just recently started half day Fridays, so I would be done at 1:00 p.m. I sent a quick text to Jason.

  Katarina: Hey, J I get off earlier than expected today. My friend will drop me off where you work if that’s ok? I could bring lunch?

  Jason: Yes that will work lunch sounds great. Don’t think I don’t notice that you are calling me a letter.

  Katarina: It’s my favorite letter in the alphabet. I think it matches you perfectly. I have to work now no more flirting.

  Jason: R U flirting? I hardly think telling me your favorite anything is flirting.

  Katarina: I just mean you have all of my favorite parts. You might as well have my favorite letter to go with.

  Jason: I like to know you like my ‘parts.’ I didn’t think you noticed.

  Katarina: Seriously, no more ‘parts’ talk. I have to go…send me your work address and I will bring lunch.

  I was blushing and smiling. I was actually saying things again that I didn’t mean to say. I shoved the phone in my bag and went to work.

  Chapter 5

  Dr. Riggs

  My morning went by fast. The office manager told me my last patient had canceled. Normally I would just leave, but I kept busy cleaning and putting things away. My boss called me to room four, and I went quickly. I liked my job and respected my boss. When he needed me, I litera
lly dropped everything.

  He walked out into the hall and met me with a chart in his hand. “Will you give the man in room four a prophy?” He didn’t look up, just made a move to go around me. He was deep in thought.

  I shrugged. “Absolutely, I would love to.” I would rather spend my time cleaning teeth than moving around to stay busy.

  I walked into the room right away and washed my hands. I glanced at the patient, already reclined. He looked like a businessman dressed in a nice suit. I couldn’t tell if he was sleeping because his eyes were covered in protective sunglasses. I sat down and moved quietly by his side. I didn’t mind a sleeping patient, just needed an open mouth and a willing body. I lightly touched his chin, and he opened. He looked like he had fallen into a grinder. His teeth were broken in the front, his lip fat, and cut on the left side. I moved quickly, cleaning fast and efficiently, trying not to touch the sore-looking parts of his mouth. He moved his hand, and I watched it come up to grab mine.

  “That’s not a good idea, sir. These are very sharp, and I could hurt you.”

  He took off the safety glasses so I could see his eyes. My eyes took a second to adjust to his face. What the hell, it was Jared. His left eye was filled with blood, almost closed because of the swelling.

  “What are you doing here?” I tried to act professional, but felt my hand start to shake. I began looking around the office for someone. Fridays were slow, and I knew everyone was up front.

  “I want to apologize,” he said.

  I watched my hand go back into his mouth, trying hard not to shake. I reached my pinkie out to fulcrum, but couldn’t stop the shaking.

  “I am not going to harm you, Katarina. I have looked for you for a long time. After I did what I did and you kept silent, I just wanted to say I am sorry, and thank you.”

  I grabbed for my handpiece to polish. I wanted to be finished.

  “What does your family think of your…job?” I felt anger rise inside me. He was pushing his luck.