Cheater (Curious Liaisons 1)

“Yes, exactly what I was thinking,” Avery said dryly. “How responsible of you, Lucas.”

I glared at her over the top of my mom’s head and mouthed a curse.

Avery carried on cheerfully until we entered the exam room and she spotted the table she had to sit on.

It had metal stirrups.

I coughed out a laugh. “I’ll just be outside.”

Mom grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. “Just where do you think you’re going?”

I gave her a helpless look. “Mom, she needs privacy. I’ll wait outside the door while the nurse and doctor . . . examine Avery.”

“I completely agree.” Mom nodded and crossed her arms. “So if you need me, I’ll be reading that new book about the naughty duke on my Kindle. In the waiting room. You two have fun!”

She was gone before I could argue.

Leaving both Avery and me staring at the table in horror.

“We could pay him off.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“And when I say ‘we,’ I mean you. You can pay off the doctor, tell him not to make me take off all my clothes and get on the death contraption.”

“Avery, I—”

“They make me spread my legs, Lucas!” she wailed. “And this thing”—she made an alligator motion with her arms—“clamps together and gets shoved up into . . . Well . . .” Her cheeks turned pink. “You know where, and then it does THIS!” Her arms slowly opened. “WIDE!”

I was a sick man.

Because the image wasn’t at all horrifying.

In fact, I had half a mind to ask if I could watch.

What the hell was wrong with me?

“Lucas!” she hissed. “Pay attention.” She snapped her fingers in front of my face. “I’ll be completely exposed!”

I tugged the collar of my shirt and nodded. “Avery, relax, it’s going to be over with before you know it.”

She hung her head and made a little whimper, then said, “Okay, well, I need to put on the gown of death, so you—you can go.”

I sighed. “I’ll turn around while you change, and at least wait until the doctor and his nurse get in here, okay?”

Avery’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t believe you got us into this predicament.”

Sadly, I had to turn around, and I nearly passed out when I heard the sound of a zipper lowering. I clenched my hands. “How do you figure? You’re the one who got drunk and then lied to Erin the next day, not me.”

“You were right. You should have left me to die on the street corner, Lucas.”

“Believe me, I would have, but you said you frowned upon prostitution, and I guarantee leaving you on a street corner would have been a very quick way to put you on the exact career path that working for me is keeping you from.”

The sound of paper rustling had me too curious to resist peeking over my shoulder. Avery was already up on the exam table, her knees exposed and her small body completely swallowed up in an ugly pink hospital gown.

“Don’t . . .” she said through clenched teeth, looking down at the pink fabric, “. . . laugh.”

I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Wasn’t even tempted to look beneath the paper sheet.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’d like to think we’re beyond the lying.”

I bit down on my lip to keep from smiling.

“Fine.” She looked heavenward. “You can laugh for three seconds, then you have to stop and tell me how sexy my legs look.”

I laughed and then reached for her knee, which was warm, like the rest of her skin. My fingers bristled at the innocent touch, greedy for more. We locked eyes. “Your legs look sexy.”

Her lips parted.

My fingers slid up her gown.

After a couple of soft knocks, the door opened before Avery could answer. “Avery Black?” One of the most attractive men I’d ever seen, damn it, walked in, clipboard in hand, plastic smile on his face. He had bleached-blond hair and dimples, and he was built like a tank. Oh, hell no.

His nurse followed and stood politely in the corner. I could feel the heat of her gaze on me, but my focus was entirely on Avery and her reaction to Dr. McDreamy.

“That’s me!” Avery practically leaped off the table in an attempt to shake the doctor’s hand.

The bastard grinned and touched her shoulder. If that wasn’t a malpractice suit, I wasn’t sure what was.

I moved quickly to intercept the hand that was already nearing hers. “Lucas Thorn.”

He shook my hand, his eyebrows knitting together. “Oh, hi.”

Damn it, he wasn’t gay.

I was really banking on him being gay; at least then I could divert his attention away from Avery.

No chance in hell was he getting anywhere near the lower part of her body . . . Shit, was it hot in here?

“Do those windows open?” I pointed to a window and started rolling my sleeves up like I was going to be elbows deep between Avery’s thighs, a mental picture that would land me in hell.

“No.” The doctor laughed. “We’re on the sixteenth floor, and people tend to jump.”

“Hah-hah,” I nodded. “What about pushing someone off? That happen often, Doctor?”

“Dr. Dupper.” He grinned and turned to Avery. “But you can call me Dustin.”

“Wow, Dustin”—I made sure to say his name loudly—“aren’t you a bit young to be a doctor?”

His face hardened. “I’m thirty-three. I’ve been out of residency two and a half years. So, no. Would you like to see my degree from Yale School of Medicine?”

Of course he’d gone to Yale.

“No,” I said through clenched teeth. Who would name their kid Dustin Dupper? “No, I’m sure you’re more than qualified.” It hurt like hell to keep a smile on my face while he eyed me up and down before he finally turned his attention back to Avery.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”

Avery gulped. “Yeah.” She peered around Dustin. “Lucas, you should wait outside.”

“No!” I barked, then cleared my throat. “I mean, what kind of fiancé would I be if I bailed during the hard times, right, pumpkin face?”

“But, cupcake . . .” Now her teeth clenched, and she subjected me to a hard stare. “You said that—”

“I love you.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, making every logical bone in my body panic while my heart continued to steadily beat against my chest. It was an odd feeling. My brain wanted me to run, but my heart was . . . content.

The feeling didn’t last long.

Because the minute I released those three words, Avery hung her head, and every ounce of teasing left her body. Like I’d just zapped her of all the happy hormones she had floating around and told her I was going to kill her favorite pet.

“Avery?” Dustin asked. “Is everything okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, let’s just get this over with, okay?”

The doctor grinned, then eyed his clipboard. “Fantastic. Now, it says here that you’re currently sexually active.”

“The hell she is!” I yelled.

Both turned to me.

“Oh.” I decided to backpedal before I made more of an ass out of myself. “Sorry—I mean, yes, with me, her fiancé.”

“Do you mind?” Dustin barked out.

I held my hands up.

“Are you currently on any sort of birth control?”

Avery shook her head and whispered a no.

“Do you want to be?”

Wasn’t that kind of personal?

“Yes,” she answered thoughtfully. “I think it’s time.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Was I sweating? “Avery Bug, maybe you’re, I mean, we’re rushing into this . . .”

“Safe sex?” The doctor gave me a confused look. “She’s rushing into safe sex with her fiancé?”

I was shaking with the urge to strangle him. “No, you’re right, ignore me.”

Avery rolled her eyes at me while

he checked something off his list.

There were about a million questions he went on to ask her, and I had to sit and listen to her answer every single one.

Chapter Twenty-Two

AVERY

One of the most common questions when you’re in a new group of people or introducing yourself at school—heck, it’s the favorite question that gets asked at parties—is, “What’s your most embarrassing moment?”

People confide in one another, laugh, create an emotional bond over their sad, unfortunate situations, and move on.

Before today, I would have said my most embarrassing moment was when I accidentally flashed the entire senior class at high school graduation because I’d tucked my miniskirt into my thong. Luckily, there was a nice wind that day, which clued me in when I was halfway up the stairs, ready to receive my diploma, that I had a cheek exposed.

It could have been worse.

That moment made a killing my freshman year at college. People laughed, guys hit on me and asked if I still had the skirt—so really it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Until today, I’d never truly understood the word “embarrassment,” its definition, its meaning, and everything else attached to it.

Until Lucas Thorn.

Until his mother.

Until now.