Billionaire's Pleasure-Chapter 136: Effort
Claire’s POV
I made a concerted effort to focus on my work and the patients I was seeing for the first time. Since Brad had left me with a mess in my office, I had been putting forth an incredible amount of effort. After putting in so much effort to achieve this goal, I finally gave in and carried his file home with me in my briefcase to check it out. While I was sipping my wine, I found it impressive that he had served in the military. As I sat on my couch with my feet tucked under me, I grumbled to myself because it brought up thoughts of my dad and the adult that my brother would have been.
While snacking on popcorn and sipping wine, I read about the outstanding career that Brad had in the special forces. Among his many accolades, he was the recipient of two purple hearts, two bronze stars with the valor device, and other awards. In spite of the fact that Brad took very good care of his body, I had the impression that he was far younger than his stated age of 32.
In spite of the fact that I was concentrating on the task at hand and was squeezing my lips together, I could still feel his muscles beneath my hands. I kept thinking about the man as I read on about him, and soon I got to the part where it described what had happened to him at that location. Brad was one of the lucky ones who managed to evade capture during the ambush that resulted in the deaths of his friend and several other guys.
During their search for a missing soldier, they were taken by surprise when they came across a group of people who had the intention of killing them. These folks were out to get them.
It seems to have happened quickly and in a forceful manner. According to the legend, all of the Seals managed to find some sort of cover, but not before several of them had been hit by lightning and murdered. After effectively exchanging fire, they had made their escape, but my attention was called to an important part of the report.
Brad had recounted the events exactly, as she had understood them, and he had acted solely to defend his soldiers and himself. Despite the fact that this victim passed dead at a later date, another individual has claimed that they were the ones who started the shooting and were responsible for all of the deaths.
Brad was allowed to shoot anyone within reason in order to save his own life, but this man swore that he was the one who killed one of his own and started the ensuing fire. Would Brad, despite all of his honors, let himself get out of hand to the point where he killed another Seal? Before he took on the difficult challenge of becoming a Seal, he had already shown that he was capable of meeting all of the prerequisites for joining the Navy and completing them successfully. I was able to observe firsthand how challenging that situation was for both my father and my brother, and I could see the strain it had on them in the expressions on their faces. Despite everything, they both gave off an air of pride, and I could tell that Brade did as well. He took a lot of pleasure in his work and enjoyed doing it, and he appeared to want all of that to come back to him.
It was up to me to decide whether or not he would be able to go back to work. I sat back in my comfy chair, rested my head on the armrest, and closed my eyes as I contemplated the possibility that he was either insane or simply upset about the loss of a loved one. If I couldn’t convince the man to stop talking about his sexual experiences, how was I ever going to find out?
My private and professional lives became entangled in an unpleasant haze, and I found myself wishing that he were somebody else. As soon as I realized that I wanted to specialize in the treatment of PTSD in combat veterans, I distanced myself from men who fit that description. I never dated military men because of my job and the fact that members of my family were taken from me while they were serving their country. When I saw my mother, her sad eyes were a continual reminder of how much I loathed the concept of putting my own heart in danger in that way. I tried to avoid her as much as possible to avoid being confronted with that idea. I took an oath to abstain from life, suffering, and good fortune up until this point in time.
Brad had been on my thoughts nonstop ever since that evening we spent together at the pub. In the past, I’d had a few one-night stands, but none of them were quite like the one I had with him. I knew for sure that the fact that I was only able to visit him once a week was not helping the situation at all. It’s possible that if I hadn’t seen him again, he would have remained one of the most alluring images in my head forever. I would have kept living my life, discovered a nice man who was not in the military, and been married to him. That night spent with Brad was unlike any other experience I’ve ever had, but that wasn’t always the case. It’s possible that I’ve already forgotten all about him.
On that particular day, he was still standing opposite me, making an effort to deviate the discourse away from his anguish. His words were seductive and drew me in, but it was his eyes that had the most sway over me. I dreaded the possibility of coming into him again and having to contend with the unyielding nature of his words. I needed to take things with Brad a step further, but he, like many other guys, was averse to acknowledging his feelings. I needed to push him. When I entered this field, I knew I would have to deal with it, but interacting with him made it feel like an even greater challenge. Internally, Brad was suffering from pain. When he grabbed me so violently that night while I was riding my bike, I had a gut feeling about it, but it didn’t matter to me at the time. Even though I used to work in the service industry, I am now his counselor, and the direction of his life is in my hands. It was a horrible experience all around.
I needed to devise a plan to get him to speak to me in an open and forthright manner during our upcoming session. If I appeared to be carrying a potato sack around, maybe Brad would leave me alone. I grimaced sarcastically because I was well aware that this was not the situation. He was a man of strong will who had already won my favor in the past and was getting very close to doing so once more. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
I didn’t know what to do, so I laid his paperwork down on the coffee table and took one last, leisurely sip of wine before closing my eyes. I was at a loss for what to do. I was in so much trouble, and I was afraid that if I gave in to him, I would give up the years of effort that I had put into realizing my dream of becoming a therapist for troubled military personnel, which was a dream I had had ever since I had lost my father. This dream had been with me ever since I had lost my father. In addition to regaining my composure, I did not consider sexual activity to be one of my top concerns.
