The Billionaire's
Healing
By K. Matthew
Text
copyright 2012 by K. Matthew
All
rights reserved.
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part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written
permission of the author.
Garret
picked me up from work to take me to another session with Dr.
Iserman, his psychologist. The excitement of seeing him didn't wear
off on Charlise, the intern at the office, and I was more than sure
she'd try to steal him from me if given half the chance. I was
determined never to leave the two of them alone together.
Mrs.
Eddison, my boss, was still bitter that I hadn't converted Garret
into a client. I tried to reason with her that it was good enough for
people to see him leaving our office. It gave the illusion that he
was working with our PR firm.
“ Shall
we?” Garret hooked his arm into mine. The best part of my day
was when work was over and I could walk out the door with him by my
side. “How was work?” he asked when we were pulling out
of the parking lot.
“ Miserable.
Every day I go in there, I worry it will be my last,” I replied
glumly, taking a few minutes to admire the way the sun made his
blonde hair shine.
“ You
could always quit, you know?”
“ I
could. And then I'd be broke and struggling.”
He
gave me a glance as if to say I should know he would take care of me.
I didn't dare to assume though. His trust issues with women were
deeply rooted around money.
“ How
was your day?” I quickly changed the subject.
“ Boring.
I was in stuffy board meetings for most of the day.”
“ Well,
I'm sure this session won't be much more fun.”
To
be honest, I dreaded seeing Dr. Iserman when we had group therapy.
Perhaps I was afraid Garret would suddenly decide that he didn't like
me or didn't trust me. I wasn't exactly sure, but they always made me
uneasy.
“ It's
better than a board meeting, trust me,” a lighthearted laugh
escaped his lips, and I had to smile.
Dr.
Iserman met us at Garret's mansion. As always, she looked perfectly
poised and professional, with her long brown hair held up in a bun
and her square framed glasses making her look even more intelligent.
She greeted us warmly, and her and Garret exchanged some idle chit
chat before we all took our places in the living room.
“ So,
how's the relationship going?” Dr. Iserman asked.
“ It's
good,” I shrugged. Getting started was always the hard part
with these things. I never knew what to say.
“ How
are the trust issues coming along?”
“ Well,
she hasn't stabbed me in the back yet, so all seems well so far,”
Garret joked, but I didn't find it funny.
“ I
wouldn't do that,” I replied, trying not to make it sound like
I was barking at him.
“ I
know.” He smiled warmly, and then wrapped his arm around me for
a gentle squeeze.
“ And
the self-confidence issues?” she directed the question to me.
“ I'm
working on them,” I said apprehensively, feeling the tension
building as they both stared at me.
“ She
still won't let us have sex with the lights on.” Garret's
honesty was going to put me in the hot seat.
“ Do
you remember what we talked about in our sessions?” Dr.
Iserman's voice was firm, almost reprimanding.
“ Yes,”
I sighed.
She
had come up with all sorts of self-esteem building exercises for me
to do in my free time. One was to put a sign on my vanity mirror that
said, “You are beautiful,” and read it aloud every time I
was in the bathroom. Another was to make a list of everything I found
attractive about myself. The exercises were silly to me, and though I
had tried them a few times, they didn't seem to be improving
anything. The best confidence boost I got was having Garret by my
side, but even that wasn't enough to make me want to get naked for
him.
“ Don't
give up on yourself. These things take time,” she gave
encouragement. “I have an