“I knew this was a bad idea. I should have stayed home with my patients. Now we’re going to die.” The terror in her voice twisted at my heart.
Turning in my seat as best as I could with my seatbelt on, I reached across the narrow space that separated us and took her cold, trembling hand in mine, trying my best to distract her. “How long have you lived in Spain?”
One eye slowly opened to peek out at me. “For a little over a year.” Her words were rushed as she spoke.
“Have you always wanted to live in Spain?”
“No,” was her simple one-word reply. I definitely wasn’t as good at this as she was. I knew if I got Aspen to start talking, it would take her mind off of the fact that she thought we were going to crash and die.
“What made you move there then?”
“A man.” She shook her head, infinitesimally. Was that the real reason why she hadn’t wanted to leave? Was she leaving her boyfriend for the next seven months? “It wasn’t a smart move, but I was in love and thought we’d be together forever. His visa was expiring, and I thought…” She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “I thought if I moved, he’d propose.”
I felt elation followed immediately by knowing I was an asshole for feeling elated at the mention that her boyfriend was out of the picture.
“What happened?” I coaxed her.
Aspen opened her big brown eyes, only for me to find them glassy with emotion. “Everything was fine for the first three months, or so I thought. He was even more affectionate once we got to his home country. He would go out searching for a job for a few hours a day, so I would explore my new home. I was also in contact with a few people so I could start practicing.” She let out a humorless huff. “Alejandro didn’t like the fact that I got a job before him or that I hadn’t mentioned I was looking.” She looked bleakly over at me. “I wasn’t hiding the fact that I was going to work. He knew all along. He’d been with me when I’d spoken to one of my colleagues before I left, and she had a contact in Spain who was going to be retiring soon. It was pure luck. One that made my decision to go with him all the easier.”
The guy sounded like an asshole.
“What happened?” I asked quietly, hoping she would continue her story. This was the first time she’d opened up to me, and the information she was spilling wasn’t what I expected.
“He tried to act as if me having work didn’t bother him, but I saw what he was trying to hide. When we met, it didn’t bother him—or at least he was better at hiding it then.”
“I’m sure it takes a lot to get something like that by you.” She was able to read me at every turn.
“Have you heard the term ‘love is blind?’ It was definitely true in my case. He started picking fights with me about every little thing. Many men do not like it when a woman is more successful than them. At first, he said he didn’t mind, but…” She turned and looked out the window, but quickly looked back to me. The storm outside was indeed becoming a little unsettling.
“I understand.” I saw how difficult it was for her to talk about what this man had done to her and wanted to give her an out. “He started to resent you. I can promise you I would never feel that way toward my partner.”
Her eyes lit with laughter as she rolled her lips to keep from laughing. “The only way I see that happening is if you’re planning to marry a princess. You probably have more money than you know what to do with.” She giggled.
She was right about the last. “Still, I wouldn’t care if you were the main breadwinner in our home.”
“Callum,” she chastised.
I held my hands up in surrender. “I’m merely stating a fact. Take it how you will. I sense there’s more to your relationship with this asshole.”
Her lips twitched at the word asshole. “It’s a boring story that I’m sure you don’t want to hear.”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know.” Plus, it was keeping her distracted.
“I was fooling myself with our relationship. After traveling to a country where I only knew my boyfriend, I had no one else and had signed a contract for one year. But when I discovered he’d been cheating on me, I couldn’t pretend any longer. I caught him at work in the back office at a rental agency, but he didn’t see me. And by the time he came home, I’d moved out.”
There was the smart woman I was getting to know.
“Surely your year is up by now. Why did you stay?” Why had she stayed if she had no one?
“Life is an adventure, and I love my clients, so I thought, why not stay?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to inform you the storm has cleared and we’re thirty minutes out from landing.”
“You’re most definitely on an adventure now, Doc.”
As we pulled up to the marina, Aspen shifted in her seat in the back of our car and then smoothed her hands down her dark skinny jeans that hugged every sinful curve. “Is this normal?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I can assure you there isn’t this much grandeur at each stop during the season. Monaco is special for many reasons, and this is one of them. The days before the race, there are parties day and night. I don’t attend any of them, but unfortunately, I am required to attend sponsorship dinners, and tonight’s is on one of those yachts out there. Probably the largest one. It’s a big pissing contest out on the water if you hadn’t guessed.”
“Why don’t you go to the parties?” she asked quietly with her voice full of awe.
“Because I need to stay in tip-top shape, and that doesn’t include drinking, drugs, or living off of very little sleep. I eat healthy and work out five days a week in order to be the very best driver out there at each and every race.”
I swore I heard her say something along the lines of ‘it shows,’ but I wasn’t sure, so I let it go. Attraction wasn’t a problem between us–the fact that I was her patient and the half a million dollars she was being paid to be my on-site therapist for the rest of the season was.
“Why am I here?” Her big brown eyes looked at me with confusion. “I could have stayed at the hotel and unpacked.”
I didn’t have a good excuse as to why I’d asked her to come with me. Only that I didn’t want to part company with her quite yet. “You won’t find any better food than these sponsorship dinners.” I leaned close until my lips were only a couple of inches from her ear. “And it’s free. You can’t get any better than that.”
Leaning her head back on her headrest, she turned to face me. She looked worn out, and I almost felt bad for dragging her with me. “Even though I’m sure I’m going to feel out of place, thank you for inviting me. I think I’m too tired to navigate a foreign country.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be your own personal tour guide. I know all the best restaurants.”
The car came to a stop, and before the driver could open Aspen’s door, I jumped out and held my hand out to her. Slowly she extended one leg out and set her black stiletto heel on the pavement and then repeated the action with her other leg.