The board approved the lease for the space downtown, which sent me into a flurry of activity where everything moved at the speed of light. While I was busy setting up a help hotline and securing volunteers to man it twenty-four hours a day, my team was in search of donations and benefactors, and Dr. Wright was in the throes of interviews. The number of candidates had grown exponentially since it had become a paid position instead of volunteer. My phone rang, and Dax grabbed it off the counter. "Hello?" he answered with it on speaker."Hey, Dax, it's Shelly. I've narrowed the applicant pool down to three general practitioners and two psychiatrists. Can you get with Cam and find out when the board wants to interview?""Yeah, I'll talk to her and have her send out an email to find out what date works best for everyone. Do you want to do group interviews?""I think that would be best and would require the fewest number of meetings for the candidates. They're all currently working
We agreed collectively we would rather dedicate an entire Saturday to interviews than stretch it out over several days. This would make for a really long day, but hopefully, at the end of it, we would choose our first two employees and have a date set to open. We settled into our newly established boardroom in an upstairs office, and Shelly introduced us to each candidate. The discussion flowed easily between the group and each prospect. None of our interactions seemed like interviews-just great conversations with new friends. The most important questions I posed to each candidate related to their interest in working with Healing Wings-their motivation and their commitment to this facility. No matter whom we chose, Shelly had picked perfect physicians. There was little time for us to discuss the previous candidate before the next came in. I didn't know who each board member's pick was for the general practitioner position, but the deal was sealed with the psychiatrist when I pose
My opportunity never presented itself. I think Piper knew I planned to interrogate her, so she came down with a migraine and sent Moby by himself. As much as I loved him, I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to grill him for answers, and no matter how many times I gave Dax the look to get him to ask, he just smirked and shook his head. I was like a kid waiting on Christmas morning for the go-ahead to open presents-I couldn't sit still and had to restrain myself from interrogating Moby. I figured the best thing I could do was remove the temptation, but since I couldn't ask Moby to leave, I kissed Dax on the cheek, hugged his brother goodnight, and set off to take a bath.Piper hadn't made an appearance today at the center, and when I texted to check on her, she legitimately had a migraine and had been in bed since late yesterday afternoon. I told her I wasn't going to push the issue now, but when she was feeling better, I needed the lowdown on Moby. She assured me she'd give me i
I had preconceived notions about what Healing Wings would be once we opened the doors; it was nothing like the reality of what hit. I expected people to slowly drift in and have plenty of time to work with each person and cultivate our programs. I never anticipated the barrage of calls from physicians and psychiatrists all over the county the day we opened trying to place patients. The phones rang off the hook, and we all answered calls trying to work in appointments, but sadly, we still had people on a wait list. It appalled me that this need existed and no one knew. This should've been something our community met with arms wide open, but the people we saw and talked to daily were hurt and scared. They were afraid to tell anyone their secrets, and many had lived with the shame and guilt they felt for years. We offered anonymity; we didn't request social security numbers, and giving us contact information was optional. We issued all patients an identification number for our staff to
"Cameron, wake up!" His voice had that commanding tone, but I couldn't quite reach it. The nightmare that trapped me wouldn't let me escape. He shook my shoulders, but I couldn't retreat from the hell that trapped me.Then there was light-blinding in its brightness. "Cameron." Silence. "Cameron." I squinted to evade the glare seeping in through the cracks between my lids. As I adjusted to the room, chills took over, causing me to shiver before it dawned on me that I was covered in sweat. My clothes stuck to every inch of my body they touched, and my hair matted to the sides of my face. I searched frantically until I found his face and then his eyes to ground me. The erratic beat of my heart slowed with each moment that passed, staring into those sage-green orbs searching my face. When his hand touched my cheek, I leaned into it and scowled. "Nightmare," I confirmed."You haven't had one in a long time, but, sweetheart, this was by far the worst. I've been trying to w
We arrived safely home roughly fifteen minutes later. Making our way to the front door, he called over his shoulder, "Cameron, go upstairs, take off your clothes, and wait for me on the bed facing the door.""K," I called back."Try again, kitten." His stern voice startled me just before it dawned on me-he didn't just want me waiting on the bed, he wanted me to submit on the bed. "Yes, Sir," I corrected myself. While Dax and I knew each other intimately, he was very reserved in our playtime. Many of our physical connections were still rather vanilla in nature and had been non-existent since the nightmares returned. He held me all night, but we'd both been so tired there was no hanky-panky. I loved when he gave me the opportunity to serve him this way. Even if he thought I wasn't ready for a full-blown Dom/sub relationship, I wanted him to know I would work to get there as long as he worked with me. I wanted it to happen faster than he did, but it was important that I embraced wh
One week from today, the trial would start. I'd had a hard time focusing and an even harder time not allowing myself to worry. Shelly had hovered-likely at Dax's insistence. I appreciated the way she got me to talk without asking me to do so directly, and having her around was reassuring. She wasn't my mama, but she came in a close second.Most everyone was out to lunch when the front door opened. The staff used the back entrance, so I knew it was someone who needed attention. I hopped up from my desk and excused myself from story time with Shelly to go see who it was. When I entered the front room, I was paralyzed. Josh Fost stood in the doorway with a tool bag in his hand. There were no words-fear and panic set in simultaneously, drowning out reality. I stepped away from his forward motion and ran into the wall, my hands splayed against it for support as the images from the assault flooded my memory. I glared at him intensely as he proceeded toward me, and I screamed, "No, pleas
Dax handled me with care when we finally arrived home. He allowed me to sit in silence, mulling over the events of today and what I faced next week. His patience never ceased to amaze me, and the fact he didn't feel the need to fill the silence only offered me peace. Physically, he was distant, which drove me insane. I wanted the familiarity of his touch, not sexually, but as a reminder of his protection. I went to the family room when we got home while he stayed in the kitchen to start dinner. Sitting on the couch, I grabbed my journal from the coffee table and started scribbling like a mad woman. Anything that came to mind landed on those pages-most of which didn't make sense, but it was now the way I processed. Mr. Whiskers and Sassy hopped up beside me and made themselves comfortable in the fold of my knees. Even the cats anticipated this being a long night.When my hand refused to write anything else, I closed the journal and pushed twenty pounds of fur from my legs. I stoppe