Page 23 of Unhinged

“My offer still stands.” She threw a curious look his way, and he lightly squeezed her waist. “If you want to talk, I’m all ears.”

Hannah’s mouth turned down in a sad frown, her chest deflating and shoulders curling inward in defeat. “One of my patients. I couldn’t… It wasn’t enough.” A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. “She just… gave up.”

Now it all made sense. When she said the woman was gone, Hannah had meant that the patient was dead—she’d taken her life. Sympathy gripped him as he regarded the woman in his lap.

“I keep replaying our last conversation over and over in my head.” A second tear joined the first, and he brushed them away as she continued. “Why didn’t I see it coming? Did I say something that caused her to…?”

“Absolutely not.” His voice was harsher than he’d intended, and she recoiled. He skimmed his hand up her back in a soothing motion. “It’s hard to understand a person’s choices. It’s like the old adage about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. You may never know what happened. Some people can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Giving up is so much easier than fighting. Trust me, Doc, I’ve seen it firsthand.”

She nodded and swallowed hard. Clearly, the woman’s death had affected Hannah deeply. It was clear now why she was always so restrained. If she allowed her emotions free rein, they would slowly destroy her. Instead, she kept them under lock and key, refusing to acknowledge them.

He studied her. They’d gotten off on the wrong foot, but now that he’d seen the woman underneath the icy façade, he wanted to get to know her better. He wanted to peel back the layers and find out who she really was.

“How many of them just… give up?”

Sadness seeped into her beautiful features. “It doesn’t happen often, thank God. But you spend all this time getting to know someone, and they become important to you, you know? It’s like losing a friend, except worse. Rachel depended on me to help her and… I let her down.”

Fresh tears sprang to her eyes, and he mentally swore as he framed her face with one hand. “I’m sorry you’re hurting. It’s never easy to lose someone.”

He brushed his thumb lightly over her cheek, unable to break the connection between them just yet. His gaze dropped to her lips, and he curled his fingers into the soft flesh of her waist. Her lips parted slightly as she closed the distance between them, and his heart sped up. God, he wanted to kiss her. He dipped his head, lips mere millimeters from hers⁠—

Shocked by what he was about to do, he jerked back.

Her wide, horrified eyes met his, and she reared back as if he’d slapped her. “Oh, God! I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have—I didn’t mean⁠—”

“Doc—”

He reached for her, but she pushed off the couch and staggered awkwardly to her feet. “Just pretend that didn’t happen. It’s been a bad day—well, a bad couple of weeks, really, and⁠—”

“Hannah.” He followed and settled his hands on her hips, drawing her to a halt and cutting off her nervous rambling. It was the first time he’d called her by name, but it felt right as it rolled off his tongue. Her gaze remained glued to the floor, and he could practically feel the heat of embarrassment radiating from her body. “Look at me.”

Reluctantly, her eyes slowly traveled up the length of his body until they met his.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Her teeth cut self-consciously into her lower lip, and he pressed his fingertips into her lower back, gently easing her forward. “Come here.”

Her feet shuffled closer until she was only inches from him, and he cupped her face in his hands. “There’s nothing I want more than to kiss you right now. It’s all I’ve thought about since the moment I saw you.”

He hesitated for a long moment, acutely aware of her wide gaze locked on his. Disappointment lanced through him even as he said the words. “But I can’t.”

Her cheeks flamed, and her gaze filled with humiliation before it slid toward her toes. Using his thumb, he gently pressed up on the underside of her jaw, bringing her focus back to him. He wanted to make sure she understood; he wanted her to hear every single word he said. “I won’t do that while you’re upset. You’re hurting right now, and I don’t want to be a regret tomorrow morning.”

He stroked his thumb over the curve of her cheek. “Let me take you home. I’ll walk you to your door like a gentleman and leave you my number. If you’re still interested tomorrow, you can give me a call. Deal?”

She gave the barest of nods and moved to stand beside her desk. He regarded her for a moment before striding toward the door. He could feel her gaze on his back as he bent to pick up the discarded files.

“Oh!” She let out a soft exclamation, then rushed over to collect the forgotten papers. “You don’t have to do that.”

He studied her, his gaze traveling from the tips of her toes all the way up to her beautiful eyes. The mixed expression of mortification and discomfort clouding her face was too much. He cupped her chin, forcing her to make eye contact. Uncertainty swirled in the stormy gray depths, and she shifted anxiously from foot to foot.

“Do I make you nervous?”

Her teeth caught her bottom lip, and he felt her swallow hard. “No.”

Liar.

He studied her for several moments, debating what to say. He wanted to comfort her and yet… she was a client. Nothing more.

He tried to remind himself of that fact as she gave him a tight smile. “Well then, I suppose I should thank you. If you’ll excuse me, I need to head home now. I have an early day tomorrow.”