Broken Lion (9 page)

“Are you planning on signing him up?” He looked hopeful.

“If Daniel likes it, his father and I agreed we would.”

Suddenly, Lion sagged and looked slightly sheepish. “I owe you an apology, don’t I?”

“Why?” I could think of a hundred reasons why he did, but I honestly couldn’t think of a good one.

“You’re married.” He said it with regret.

“Divorced.”

His eyes brightened and that adorable grin of his was back. “Really?”

“Don’t get any ideas. Doctor, patient. Patient, doctor.” I pointed back and forth between the two of us.

He chuckled. “Right, right. Rules.”

“You remember!”

“Course I do. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

“Remember what I said about rules?”

He smirked. “Sometimes they’re ridiculous.”

“I’m impressed.”

“I’m always impressive.”

“That ego of yours is really ballooning out of control. If I had a pin handy, I’d pop it.” I pretended to poke the side of his head. “Pop!”

“More like ka-boom.”

I giggled. “Are you making fun of your giant ego?”

“Yeah. I never take myself too seriously. You on the other hand…”

“I’m not too serious!”

“Keep on telling yourself that, Einstein.”

“Einstein wasn’t serious. He was famous for his sense of humor, I’ll have you know.”

“See what I mean? You sound like a librarian.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I’ll say.” His eyes wandered all over my body. “You look hot in those yoga pants and that hoodie.”

His penetrating gaze made me feel naked. “Would you stop? People are watching!” I looked at the parents by the windows, but they were chatting amongst themselves or checking their cell phones. Lion and I stood near the dojo’s office, out of earshot and in semi-privacy.

“What can I say, Brigid? I like what I see. A whole hell of a lot.”

I whispered, “Stop staring at me you dirty pervert!”

“You like it dirty. Don’t deny it.” He said it quietly, but that voice of his was still
that voice…

“I do not!” I was getting turned on in a karate dojo for kids and I felt guilty about it. Was this in any way appropriate? Probably not.

Lion checked to make sure no one was listening, then muttered, “Your denial is code for you love it. For all I know, you work as a dominatrix when you’re not at the hospital. Probably got a whole closet of tight black leather outfits and whips at home.”

“I do not! I’m a soccer mom when I’m not at work. A plain old soccer mom.”

“It’s a cover. Admit it. You’re hard core dirty behind closed doors.”

“How can you say that?” Yes, I was enjoying this. But I wasn’t a dominatrix nor had I ever considered being one.

“Because a woman as controlling as you likes to crack the whip in the bedroom as much as she does at work.”

My face burned beet red. “I don’t even own a whip.”

“But you like to tell a man what to do. Tell him what you want. Am I right?”

I wasn’t denying it. But my red face was admitting it like crazy. Why were we talking about my sex life or lack thereof? I needed to hide.

“Thing is, you probably don’t even know what you want because you don’t know what you’ve been missing.”

“Oh? What’s that, Mr. Know It All?”

“You want someone to take control of you.”

“No I don’t.” I was about to tell him he could take control of me whenever he wanted.

“You want to know what it would be like to have a man like me pin you down and fuck you senseless. The kind of senseless where you forget everything except how hard you’re coming all over my face while I eat you alive.”

“I don’t want that.” My denial was pathetic at best.

“Sure you don’t.” His eyes drilled into me. “You’re probably dripping into your thong right now.”

“I’m not wearing a thong.” I wasn’t. Soccer Mom Surgeons like me wore granny panties. It was the rules. But I was starting to drip.

He grinned lustily. “Mmm. Not wearing anything, Irish? I like the sound of that.”

I had completely forgotten where I was. But I was seriously considering dropping my yoga pants and spreading my legs to see if he could live up to his exaggerated claims. In fact, the office next to us had a large desk. If he were to suddenly pick me up, take me into the office, swipe everything off the top of said desk, sit me down on it and go to town, I would probably let him.

One of the parents sitting in the chairs by the front windows coughed, breaking the moment.

“We should…” I muttered, unable to finish my sentence.

Lion’s eyes searched mine. “Yeah we should.” He was obviously thinking about that desk too.

“Mom!” Daniel ran out of the back in a white karate uniform with a white belt tied around his waist. He looked incredibly cute and was the perfect distraction. “Check it out, Mom! I’m a white belt!”

“You are!” Trying to switch gears, I took a deep breath. Was there a ladies room around here somewhere? I needed a wipe down.

“Sensei, when do we learn how to break a board?”

Lion chuckled and patted Daniel’s shoulder, “We’ll work up to it. You ready to learn some jiu-jitsu?”

“Yeah!”

“Then line up with the other kids and we’ll get this party started.”

Daniel ran onto the blue mats and lined up with the other children who ranged in age from about six to twelve.

Lion flashed me the sexiest grin in history. “We can fuck after class.”

“What did you just say?”

“I said we can talk after class. About signing Daniel up.”

“Oh. Right.” I needed a cold shower. Or an orgasm. Since neither was an option I sat down with the other parents to watch class.

For the next hour, Lion wrangled the kids with the help of Robert and Melanie. It was obvious from the start that Lion had worked with children before. Even on crutches, he was a pro at wrangling them and keeping them semi-focused. He also looked ridiculously sweet working with them. Whether on his crutches or in his wheelchair (he switched between both), he instructed them on how to punch and kick and block while Robert and Melanie demonstrated. During group drills, he went from child to child, always encouraging them, always making them laugh, all while correcting them gently and teaching them. The kids loved him.

More importantly, Daniel was having more fun than I’d seen him have since the divorce. All because of Lion Maxwell. The man was melting my heart and he wasn’t even trying.

That was when I knew I was in serious trouble.

Why did there have to be a stupid rule about doctors not dating their patients?

When class was over, Daniel ran up to me. “Mom! That was
so
awesome! I can’t wait to do it again!” He threw his arms around me. “Thank you so much for taking me today! I love you, Mom!”

To my astonishment, Daniel was once again the happy kid I remembered, the one who had disappeared into hiding when things between Donald and me had soured. Gone was the perpetual dark cloud that had been hanging over my son’s head for too many years.

I hugged my son back as hard as I could.

I was going to cry in front of everybody.

And it was all Lion’s fault.

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>

It took an hour for Lion and his staff to sign up the interested families after the free class was over. Daniel insisted we wait around until I signed him up. I didn’t mind waiting. I was reluctant to leave. As long as Lion was here, I wanted to be here. There was nothing unethical about me being here. It was for my son. And I intended to enjoy every moment of it.

When Lion finished with the last of the other parents, he came over to me and Daniel and smiled. “I take it you’re signing Daniel up.”

Daniel looked at me hopefully.

I rubbed his shoulder. “Of course we are.”

“Then step into my office.” Lion pointed the way and Daniel ran ahead.

Daniel was already sitting in one of the chairs facing the desk, practically bouncing out of it with excitement. I sat next to him and did my best not to remember what I had imagined Lion and I doing on this desk. I might think about it later when I was alone, but not right now.

Lion walked us through the options and suggested I sign Daniel up for a month to month plan, which I did, and paid with a credit card. Lion swiped my card through a machine beside his computer and handed it to me with the receipt for me to sign.

He grinned. “I guess this means I’ll be seeing a lot more of you, Brigid. You too, Dan the Man.”

Daniel was smiling and kicking his legs up and down in his chair.

My heart swelled. “Looks like it.”

Lion finished stapling all the receipts together and handed everything to me.

Robert, the young instructor, stuck his head in the office.

“Everything is cleaned up, Sensei. I’m gonna take off.”

“Sounds great, Rob. I’ll lock up on my way out.”

I watched Robert and Melanie walk out the front doors together. They were laughing at something I couldn’t hear and smiling at each other. Were they an item? They sure seemed like it.

Lion caught me watching. He muttered, “Young love,” and winked at me.

I felt a sudden rush but pushed it away. “Thank you again, Lion. I think Daniel is really going to love karate class.”

He grinned, “It’s technically a modified form of jiu-jitsu, but we do include aspects of Shorinji kenpo and traditional Shotokan karate in our curriculum.”

“Who’s the librarian now,” I smirked.

He chuckled. “When it comes to martial arts, yeah, I’m kind of a librarian about it.”

Daniel said, “I wanna be a karate librarian!”

“Don’t worry, Dan the Man, if you stick with it, you will.” Lion stood up. “Well, that’s about it.”

I stood too. I was reluctant to leave.

Daniel hopped out of his chair and ran to the front doors.

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!”