Lion grabbed his crutches from the corner and we made our way toward the doors. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready for some lunch. Wanna join me?”
“I’m hungry,” Daniel said. “Can we go with him, Mom?”
Lion’s adorable grin was back. Not the sexy-as-sin grin. “There’s a great sandwich shop two blocks from here, and there’s a park around the corner. It has a pretty sweet playground.”
Daniel gasped, “It’s got a playground?!”
“And a climbing wall.”
“Mom! Please? Can we?”
I looked at Lion. Was this a mistake? Was I breaking a rule? I wasn’t sure. But I knew one thing, lunch wasn’t sexual misconduct. It was just lunch.
“Okay. What can it hurt?”
“Cool. I just need to change real quick and we can head out.”
Chapter 10
BRIGID
Lion wore a plain white T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. He had his knee brace on again. Every inch of him was deeply tanned and muscled. I’d never seen a man look so incredibly handsome in such a simple outfit. I did my best to ignore it while we bought sandwiches, but I may have peeked once or twice.
At the park, the sun was high in the blue sky. A dozen or more kids were playing tag on the colorful playground equipment, running, climbing, jumping, and hollering with happy abandon. Lion, Daniel, and I sat at a cement picnic table eating submarine sandwiches while watching.
Daniel wolfed his down. “I’m finished, Mom. Can I go play now?”
“Okay, but drink the rest of your water first.”
He gulped the entire bottle in two seconds and slammed it down on the table with a satisfied Ahh!
“You sure powered through that,” Lion said with approval.
“Yup,” Daniel smiled, obviously enjoying the praise. “Now can I go, Mom?”
“Yes.”
He climbed out of the picnic table bench and scampered straight to the playground.
“Cute kid.”
“Thanks,” I grinned. “I like him.”
“Me too. Reminds me of his mom.”
“Oh? How?” Daniel didn’t have my red hair and green eyes. He had Donald’s blond hair and blue eyes.
“Strong and smart. He picked up things today quicker than a lot of kids. He’s got a talent for it.”
“He probably got that from his father.”
“You sure?”
“I’m not very coordinated.”
“Aren’t you a surgeon? That takes coordination.”
“That’s different. It’s not a sport. I was never the girl on the track team or the volleyball team.”
“Then how do you know you’re not good at sports?”
“Because I was always picked last in grade school.”
“So?”
“Can we change the subject?” Grade school was not my favorite time in life. I was too serious for the other kids and didn’t have a lot of friends. It happened when you were obsessed with being a doctor at age six and always had your nose in a book.
“Sure,” he smiled. He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully for a while. We both watched Daniel climbing on the playground equipment with the other kids. It looked like he had joined a game of tag and was having fun.
“That’s strange,” I said thoughtfully.
“What?”
“Daniel usually plays by himself. Part of being an only child, I guess.”
“Maybe he’s in the mood after working with the other kids at the dojo. He was loving the leapfrog drills.”
I smirked. “We already signed up for a month. You don’t have to sell me on it.”
“Just pointing out the obvious.” That adorable grin of his warmed my heart like it did every time I saw it.
“What do you want from me, Lion Maxwell?”
His eyes darkened. “Everything.”
That voice. It was dangerous and intoxicating and I wanted to hear it every day for the rest of my life. With all the things I now knew about Lion, my opinion of him had changed drastically. But the reality of how we’d met hadn’t.
“You’re still my patient.” Saying it pained me. I was having so much fun with him, I wished this was a real lunch date. Not a platonic lunch with a friend or whatever we were.
“Seriously, Irish. What is up with you and rules?”
“You mean, why do I want to keep my job? Oh, let’s see. I have a mountain of debt. I have a son. I spent literally half my life becoming a doctor and maybe I don’t want to throw away all that hard work.”
“I can honestly say I’m worth it.”
I shook my head, exasperated. “How old are you? Five? The world does not revolve around your giant ego, although it is large enough to attract its own moon. I’m surprised you don’t have one or two moons orbiting around your head right now. Oh, wait! There’s one!” I pointed over his ear. “I can even see tiny moon men waving at me!” I did a little wave with my fingers. “Hey, guys!”
He chuckled. “There you go again, Einstein.”
“Me Einstein? You were karate Einstein today at the school.”
“And you loved it.”
“I don’t love anything about you.” I busied myself with my lunch and popped a potato chip into my mouth.
He stared at me while I chewed.
“What?”
“If we weren’t in the middle of this park, I’d climb over this picnic table and kiss you until you came.”
I gulped and swallowed and tried not to cough. My throat was suddenly dry. I took a sip from my water bottle. “Nobody has an orgasm from kissing.”
“You haven’t kissed me.”
Was that true? Was it even anatomically possible? I’d have to consult the research. Maybe it was. More importantly, what was I doing? Officially, there was no exact rule that said how much time needed to pass before you could safely date a discharged patient, but six months was considered a bare minimum. With Lion, it hadn’t even been six weeks. I wasn’t going to say any of this to Lion because I didn’t want him getting any ideas. He was already finding ways to break the rules. Me having lunch with him was at the very least highly suspicious. If one of my bosses or a hospital administrator saw us together, I’m sure I’d get chewed out about it.
I sighed. “Lion, we can’t do this.”
“Do what? We’re just having lunch.”
“Just? Talking about kissing orgasms is just lunch?”
“It’s just talk.”
“Talk leads to other things.”
“Is that a promise?”
“No! It’s not. Are you always this irritating?”
“You love it. But I like to think of it as persistent.”
“A, we already established I don’t love anything about you. B, being persistent and being a pest are very closely related.”
“Being persistent is how I give you more orgasms than you can handle. You wouldn’t want a lazy lover, would you? A one pump wonder who won’t go down on you before sticking it in? No, you want persistence. Trust me.”
“Why are we even talking about this?” And why was the idea of him lavishing my lady parts with his mouth so appealing? Perhaps because no one had ever lavished me. Sure, Donald had given me oral sex many times in the early years, but he was never passionate about it. He tried, but he wasn’t very good. Not every man was a Don Juan or Casanova. That was probably part of the reason our sex life had dried up long before the divorce. If not for my own fingers, I think my tunnel of love might have dried up and been sealed off and condemned by the city. Thank goodness for sex toys. They kept my river flowing.
“We’re talking about this because I want to fuck you, Brigid.”
My eyes popped. I looked around at the people in the park. Luckily everyone was too far away to overhear any of this. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“Have you ever given a blowjob?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Yes or no?”
&n
bsp; “Does it matter?”
“To me it does.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know where your mouth has been.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Then why did you ask me if I kissed my mother with my mouth?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
I thought for a second. “Because we’re talking about where your mouth has been. Not mine.”
“Let’s talk about where your mouth has been.”
“No.”
“Have you ever sucked cock, Brigid?”
“Will you stop asking?”
“If you answer my question I will.”
“Fine. Yes. I have.”
“Did you like it?”
“I thought you said you’d stop asking.”
“It’s a different question.”
“Which I’m not going to answer.” How had he gotten me thinking so much about blowjobs? And not the ones I gave Donald, but the ones I was imagining giving Lion. What would it be like to have his huge cock in my mouth? To feel him throbbing and pulsing as his hot cum shot against the back of my throat?
“You liked it,” Lion chuckled.
“How do you know?” I growled.
“Because you’re blushing as red as your hair.” He picked up his sandwich. “Which do you think is bigger, this sub sandwich, or my dick?”
“You’re the one who’s about to take a bite out of it, so you tell me.”
He laughed and took a bite and chewed. With his mouth full of food, he grinned and said, “My dick. Definitely my dick.”
I had to laugh.
“You wanna bite?”
“What, of your sandwich?”
“No, Einstein. My dick.”
I laughed again.
No man had ever talked to me like this. This bold, this brazen, this sexual. Donald was not at all cocky. Or funny. Our sex life had been exciting in the beginning because he was the first man I’d gone all the way with. But sex with him wasn’t this… charged. Or fun. Nothing naughty or remotely dangerous. Donald was a very conservative and shy lover. Maybe a better word was boring. Bland. But with Lion, his sexuality was in your face and over the top and always on display. From the moment he thrust his erection in my face at the hospital, Lion was strutting his stuff and swinging his dick every chance he got. Was I curious about what it would be like to sleep with a man as bold and cocky (literally) as him? A better word would be dying to find out.
“What’s on your mind, Einstein?”
“My exit strategy,” I giggled.
“Your what?”
“I was thinking about how I can get Daniel and sneak out of here without you following me.” It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but it was what I should do.
“I don’t need to follow you. I’ll see you at Daniel’s next class.”
“Maybe I’ll have his father drive him next time. And every other time.”
“We both know you don’t want that. You want to see me again as bad as I want to see you.”
He was right. With Lion, I felt young and alive and desirable. And for once, like I could have a life beyond work and trying to draw my depressed son out of his permanent post-divorce funk. Lion was good for Daniel. It was obvious. But none of that changed the fact that Lion was still my patient. Time to do the responsible thing. Rules could be ridiculous, but they were still rules.
“Lion, you seem like a really great guy. But I have to be honest with you, I think we’re better off as friends.”
“Friends with benefits?”
“No benefits. Take it or leave it.”
“I plan on taking you every way I can think of.”
“Must you always go there?” And why did I want him to keep going there?
“Are you kidding? I live there.”
“You’re the horniest man I’ve ever met.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is. You never stop.”
“When I’m eating your pussy and you’ve come three times all over my face and I just won’t fucking stop, are you going to complain then? Are you going to say, ‘Lion, I won’t accept four orgasms. Three is my limit. Four is just too many.’ Is that what you’ll tell me?”
“I…” I stared at him. “Do you not realize I’m a mother? How is this talk appropriate? And at a park, no less.”
He shrugged. “So you’re a mom.”
“That’s right. I’m a mom.”
“And how many kids do you have? I mean, other than Daniel?”
“What’s your point?”
“How many kids?”
“Just Daniel. But that doesn’t make me any less of a mother,” I said defensively. It was my residual guilt over never having enough time for my son.
“I wasn’t saying it did. Here’s my point. Think about all the people you know who have two or more kids. Do you think Mom and Dad stopped fucking after one kid? No. They kept on fucking.”
“Do you have to put it like that?”
“Fine. They made love. They had sex. But they probably fucked a hell of a lot if they were really into each other.”
“Okay, I get it.”
“The question is, are you getting any?”
None whatsoever. “That’s none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
“Ahem. Just. Friends.”
“Friends can talk about sex. It doesn’t mean we’re fucking.”
If he said fucking one more time I was going to… I didn’t want to think about it. “What was your point again?”
“Parents keep fucking after their first kid.”
“Well, of course. Because they want more kids.”
He looked at me thoughtfully. “Your ex-husband never really fucked you, did he?”
I was afraid to answer because I was afraid he was right. Maybe that was why I had always been denying Donald sex. Maybe it was never good. Ever. That was pathetic. Did I not know what good sex was? Perhaps not.
“Anyway. Parents keep on fucking because they’re still hot for each other and they want more kids. Just because you have Daniel doesn’t mean you can’t do lots more fucking.” His eyes flashed. “And love every dripping wet second of it.”
Was it suddenly really hot out here? We were sitting in the shade. So why did I want to squirm on the picnic table bench like it was on fire? It felt like I was melting into it. Or I was more turned on than I ever had been.
“Brigid, you don’t have to stop being a woman because you’re a mom.”
I hadn’t had time for either in years. I sighed audibly and folded my arms in my lap, staring off into the distance. My eyes burned. I didn’t want to start crying, so I turned away.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No. It’s just… never mind.” I hated talking about this. But the last thing I wanted to do was tell Lion to stay out of my life because he wouldn’t stop flirting with me. “Look. Lion. We can be friends. That’s it. Anything else is off the table. We are just friends. Please respect that.”
“Works for me. What do we do next? As friends?”
“If you mean right now, I was planning on spending the day with Daniel. If I don’t get called into work, that is.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“I meant alone. Just him and me.”
“Why? When you can have twice as much fun with me tagging along. I’m betting cash money Daniel won’t mind.”
I hated that he was right.
No, I loved that he was right.
But that didn’t make it a good idea. More time with Lion would likely lead to more problems for me.
“Can we take a rain check?”
“It never rains in LA, so no.”
I frowned at him.
“I’m kidding. You can say no.”
“What did you have in mind?”
He smiled. “I’m glad you asked.”
Chapter 11
BR
IGID
“You do realize, I’m the on call physician today. If the hospital pages me, we’ll have to leave.”
Lion smiled at me, “And?”
“And, I don’t want you wasting your money.”
“Anything that involves you and your son is not a waste of my money.”
How did he manage to say the perfect thing every time?
“Okay. Let’s do it. But I warned you.”
Lion smiled and turned to the woman in the ticket booth. “Three, please.”
“How old is your son?” the woman asked Lion.
He winked at me. “How old is our son, Brigid?”
He was perfect. Simply perfect.
“He’s not my dad,” Daniel laughed. But he said it like he might actually like the idea. “He’s my sensei.”
Lion grinned at me like a proud papa. “You hear that?”
“Yes.” I grinned and leaned into the ticket window and said to the woman, “He’s ten.”
She pressed buttons on the touch screen. “That’ll be $332.97 for three one day general admission passes.”
I winced and looked at Lion. “When did Universal Studios get so expensive?”
“When was the last time you were here?”
“It’s been a while.” Daniel had been as recently as a year ago. I hadn’t gone with him. Donald and Grandma Linda took him. I was too busy working. As always. The one good thing about being a doctor was that I could afford tickets. I pulled my wallet out of my purse. “This is too much for you to pay. I’ll pay for me and Daniel.”
“Put your money away, Irish. I told you I’d cover it.”
“Why did you call my mom Irish?” Daniel asked.
“Because she makes me feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.”
Daniel frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“You will when you’re older.” Lion looked at me while he said it. His eyes shone with satisfaction.
I knew it. This “just friends” thing was going to be nearly impossible to pull off. I gave myself a 50/50 chance. Not good odds.
We walked through the park gates and stood just inside the park entrance by the big Universal Studios wireframe globe.
“Lion, are you going to be okay on crutches all day? They probably have wheelchairs for this kind of thing.”
Broken Lion Page 8
