Catching Luke

by Debra Elise

  “Hmm, anywhere, huh? I suppose if I said yes and ripped my shirt off right here for anyone to walk in and witness . . . well, you know. I guess I should have suspected after the elevator event.”

  “Event? Oh, Lara, it was so much more. And no, I’m not into voyeuristic sex. I like to know I’m the only one enjoying you in all your . . . glory.”

  His eyes had narrowed. His tone was serious and she shuddered at his possessiveness. She needed to change the conversation before one of her co-workers walked in. She wasn’t ready to quit yet, and being fired for propositioning a patient would not look good in the eyes of the medical board.

  “How about we table this discussion until we’re someplace more appropriate?”

  Luke held her gaze for the longest minute of her life. Then he made a show of turning that hot gaze on her body. Her now very achy and needy body. His gaze traveled ever so slowly down and back up. “You’re right. Hell, I didn’t think it was going to be so damn hard being close to you again. Not without touching you. All right, Lara. I’ll be the perfect patient. No more flirting.”

  Just flirting? That was how he flirted? She wiped her sweaty palms on her slacks and did her best to sound professional and unaffected.

  “Thank you, Luke. Now, uh, I need you to lie down. I’ll take off your brace so I can determine your level of flexibility before I design a routine for you. Today is all about seeing what you can’t do, okay?”

  “Well, I don’t have much experience with the word ‘can’t,’ but I’ll do my best.” He grinned. She could see the pain in his eyes. He’d been playing the tough, typical alpha athlete who wasn’t about to let someone know the real amount of pain he was in.

  As best she could, she turned off her personal feelings for Luke and went into therapist mode.

  The knee looked better than it had in the hospital the other day. There was still a slight chance surgery would be required, yet everyone wanted to give physical therapy a shot before putting him under. His age and profession were two big strikes against him. The other would be his willingness to do the hard work needed to rehab his knee.

  Secretly, she suspected he would do anything to get back in the game, even play injured. But she’d make it her mission to do her best at getting him to one hundred percent before the season was a complete wash for him.

  “So tell me, how long have you been doing this? You seem pretty young to me to be so sought after as a therapist,” Luke said.

  “I need you to concentrate on straightening your knee as much as you can for me, not on my level of competency. If I didn’t have the credentials, do you really think the Outlaws’ management would have asked me to work with you?” Lara didn’t know what to do with the fire he ignited and she didn’t have time to deal with his seduction attempts. She needed to get this appointment over as quickly as possible and then regroup.

  “Okay, you got me there. So how old are you anyway? Twenty-two, three? You look like you’re fresh out of college. How long does it take to become a physical therapist anyway?”

  “Gosh, you’re full of questions today. Interesting how all of a sudden you want to know about my background, especially since you’ve already been in my bed. And as flattering as it is to think I look that young, I’m going to be twenty-seven in a few months.”

  “Touché. However, maybe I want you to know there’s more to me than just baseball and the best sex you’ve ever had.”

  “How about this. If you promise to focus on the session and on what I need you to do, then you can ask me five questions when we’re done. Fair?”

  “Just five? What if that doesn’t satisfy my curiosity about you? There’s something that fascinates me where you’re concerned. Maybe it’s because I’ve never had a woman trainer or therapist before, or maybe it’s because you’re so damn hot.” He ran his hand up the back of her thigh. She held back the moan she felt emerging and sighed.

  It’s just a touch, Lara. Get a grip. But it wasn’t. It was so much more. If he couldn’t keep his hands to himself five minutes after she asked him to keep things businesslike, then there was no use pretending she could do this job. Because the truth was, she wanted his hands all over her and the sooner the better.

  Lara stepped back from the bench. She crossed her arms over her breasts and let him have it. “Luke, I’m not playing. You agreed to stop with the personal stuff. I have no qualms about kicking your ass right out of here. This is not going to work if you can’t keep your hands off me. There are plenty of other PTs in the area who could help you. I’m done here.”

  Her hands shaking, she turned around and grabbed a towel off the shelf and wiped her sweaty palms and tossed it into the bin. “I trust you know how to put the brace back on by yourself. I’ll call Kelsey and let her know this isn’t going to work.” She strode toward the door; she couldn’t stay in the same room with him. Not as much as she wanted this man.

  What he made her feel was beyond the flutterings she’d experienced with other men. With just a look, every pulse point in her body went off, her nipples hardened, and tiny throbs exploded in her core. She wasn’t sure she could do this and maintain her own strict standards of professionalism.

  Having a one-night stand was one thing. Working with the man who had rocked her world during said one night was something else entirely. She didn’t want another relationship where she came second. No, mixing business and pleasure would not work for her right now. Or anytime, for that matter.

  She swept past him, but didn’t make it. He put his arms out and wrapped them around her waist, pulling her into his body. For being injured, he moved fast. He’d managed to sit up and swing both legs on to the opposite side of the bench. He spread his legs to accommodate her in between and held her tight.

  “My career may be all about how well I play a game, and I’m paid very well for that ability. However, game playing in my personal life doesn’t happen. Ever. I’ve had my share of dead-end relationships, and the press hooks me up with every woman who has the misfortune to be seen within ten feet of me. But, I’m very choosy about who I share my time and my body with. And I’m not going to fight these feelings I have for you. So, in my not very suave way, I wanted to let you know how I feel about you, okay?

  “I can work through it if you don’t feel the same, but I’m not going to spend time with you and pretend I don’t want you. So if you need to walk away from this job, that’s fine. But I wanted you to know this isn’t some random attempt at getting in your pants—again.”

  Lara didn’t know how to respond to his declaration. Becoming involved with a patient was ethically wrong, no matter how hot he was or that they’d already slept together. After what she’d gone through with her ex, she didn’t know if she could deal with a friends-with-benefits type of relationship.

  “Luke, I appreciate your honesty. It’s refreshing and, well, I wouldn’t have expected it from you.”

  “Why not? Because you think of me as a meathead ballplayer?”

  She laughed at his description and it was then she remembered he was still holding her around the waist in between his legs. Anyone could walk in and see them and that would be the end of her job, sooner rather than later.

  She placed her hands on his shoulders to push herself back and stifled a groan. Rock-hard muscles greeted her touch. Another round of impulses traveled up her spine and back down. She was in trouble, no matter what.

  This time he let her go. She missed his warmth and almost stepped back into the V of his thighs where evidence of his feelings for her was evident.

  “Luke, this is not going to work. Now that you’ve told me about . . . these feelings, we can’t work together. I just . . . can’t, okay?”

  “Why not? I can keep my hands to myself during our sessions. No one needs to know. You didn’t have a problem sleeping with me the other night. And if—”

  “There are no ‘ifs,’ Luke. I’m sorry if my answer is not the one you wanted. If you’re going to push me on this then I’ll see to it th
at another therapist is assigned to you. We have many competent people on staff and . . .” She held up her hands at his obstinate look. He was a man used to getting his way, but in this instance, she couldn’t let him.

  “And as for the offer of . . . us, I was prepared for one night with you. Nothing more. See you around, Luke.” She walked backward a few steps. She marveled at her ability not to walk into the wall and turned and headed for the front office. It was the hardest trip down the hallway she’d ever made.

  CHAPTER 14

  What the hell just happened? Luke watched the sassy little therapist walk away from him. He’d been turned down twice. Once, as a patient and now as a man. She didn’t even try to work out the personal angle with him. That was new and pissed him off.

  Work with another PT? His head hurt from dealing with the continued changes he’d been through in the three short days since his dreams had been altered. First Manny couldn’t work with him, now Lara. What next? He’d be damned if he’d be pawned off onto someone else just because she couldn’t handle a little flirting. Well, more than flirting, although he didn’t feel out of line considering their recent past.

  Damn. He texted the driver he’d hired after the accident to let him know he was done sooner than expected. He’d call Blake from the car and see what could be done about hiring Lara on directly instead of contracting through the clinic.

  He made his way down the hallway. When he passed the front desk Lara was nowhere in sight. He thought he heard yelling coming from one of the offices in the opposite direction. The receptionist was so flustered by the commotion in back that she didn’t see him approach the foyer. His driver came inside so he pushed the raised voices out of his mind and left.

  Once he got into the back of his SUV a curtain of exhaustion came down and the thought of calling Blake became less urgent. Damn, he hated not being able to move about the world like he did before the collision. He couldn’t drive his cars or his now demolished motorcycle for who-knew-how-long, and now he had to deal with the bouts of weakness that overcame him at odd times of the day.

  He was on the brink of nodding off on the drive home when his cell buzzed. It was Blake. His manager had just received a call from the rehab clinic informing him that Luke’s therapist would now be someone named Ted and he’d see him tomorrow at nine a.m.

  Hell no. He wasn’t going to be pawned off on some second-string therapist and told Blake in no uncertain terms it wasn’t okay. If Lara couldn’t be his therapist then he wasn’t interested in using that clinic. He felt no guilt in acting like a three-year-old not getting his way, but dammit, his career was on the line and if Lara was the best they had, then that’s who he’d have.

  Twenty minutes later he received another call from Blake. Lara had now cited she wouldn’t work with him for personal reasons. The clinic couldn’t change her mind. Would he reconsider his request? No, no, he wouldn’t. Damn. He’d never met a woman who was so damn headstrong.

  His driver dropped him off and helped him to the door before he left. Prick probably had a hot date. Today was not turning out so well. He limped over to his liquor cabinet and paused. He couldn’t drink with the pain meds he’d been given. Yet another reason to be pissed off.

  Well, he wasn’t going to sit here and deal with this alone. He’d call Maverick and tell him he’d take Kelsey’s offer of dinner tonight after all. Misery loved company.

  Luke had managed to get himself showered and was pulling on a pair of sweat shorts when he heard Maverick bang on his front door. “Use your key, Mav!” Luke was getting better at using his crutches, but it still took him a while to make it to the front of the house where he found his friends carrying in takeout. Chinese, by the aroma hitting his senses, making his mouth water and stomach rumble.

  “Hey, asshole. Why were you pounding when I gave you a key?”

  “Forgot until Kelsey reminded me. Sue me. We’re feeding you. You’d think you’d be a little more grateful.”

  Luke regretted his complaint and stood still while Mav and Kelsey carried the food into the dining room and set up the table for dinner. “Thanks, you two. I appreciate this. I really do. Sorry for the attitude. Had a rough day.”

  “Yeah, so I hear,” Kelsey replied. She’d taken off her sandals and sat down and was piling his plate with egg foo yong and kung pao chicken. He tuned her out as soon as the food appeared. He couldn’t get to the table fast enough.

  “I said, I hear you had a bad day, Luke. You want to talk about it?” she asked.

  He managed to sit down and spoon a mouthful of food all in one motion without falling out of his chair or spilling his favorite dish on his shirt. Damn that’s good. “What? Sorry, Kelsey. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I smelled this food. Thanks for bringing it.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m not going to repeat myself for a third time, so I’m just going to say what I have to say and then we can enjoy dinner.”

  Kelsey wasn’t eating. Neither was Maverick. He’d already taken another three bites before it sunk in that something was going on, and he had a sinking feeling it had to do with his interaction with Lara this morning. He put his fork down and took a drink of the bottled water Maverick had tossed to him.

  “So, what’s up, Kelsey?”

  “Lara was fired today, thanks to you.” She spoke calmly, yet he heard dangerous undercurrents in her tone.

  “Whoa, hold on there. She turned down working with me. How does that get her fired? It was her choice.” Luke slammed his hand on his bad leg and winced.

  “Serves you right, jerk face.”

  “Jerk face? How am I a jerk face? I didn’t do anything that would get her fired, Kelsey. She walked out on our session and told me she would get another therapist to work with me because I made a pass at her.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Exactly, what?”

  “She told me that Blake relayed to her boss that you refused to work with any other therapist and you would only work with Lara.”

  “Yeah, so how does that make me the bad guy?”

  “It makes you the bad guy, because she refused the second time and when her boss said she had to work with you, she argued with him, cussed him out, and got herself fired. All because of you . . . you fathead.”

  “Hey, stop calling me names. Maverick, are you going to let her talk to me like that?”

  “Why not? She’s right.”

  “Wait, I thought she was planning on quitting that job anyway. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “The big deal is, no one wants to tell their potential or new boss that they were fired from their last job. This could jeopardize her dream job in Seattle, Luke. All because you’re acting like a spoiled, horny brat.”

  Luke slowly wiped his mouth. “I thought I was doing her a favor, and I’m sorry to hear she lost her job because of me. But, you two are my friends and . . .” The look on Kelsey’s face stopped him.

  She pointed her finger at him and lit into him. “You, at this moment, are not my friend. You are an employee of the organization I work for. And in my capacity I will do whatever it takes to make sure you don’t make any more dumbass decisions.”

  “Hell, Luke, didn’t you give any thought to how selfish it is to make demands on someone who has told you—to your face, I might add—that she doesn’t want to work with you?” Mav asked.

  Luke noticed Mav had started eating, while his own appetite had vanished. “I only thought she needed to cool down a bit. Maybe she’d feel differently if she knew how much I wanted her to be my therapist.”

  “Tell me something, Luke. Why is it so important that Lara is your therapist?” Kelsey asked.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and looked from her to Maverick. His best friend gave him a “don’t get me in the middle of this, you’re all on your own” shrug. Some friend.

  Luke turned his attention back to Kelsey and answered as honestly as he could. “Because I like her.”

  “Because you like her?”
Kelsey threw back at him, her voice an octave higher.

  “Well, yeah, and . . . I, well, I thought if we spent more time together she would see that I’m not such a player or a bad guy, and maybe . . .” He felt a flush travel up his neck and heat his face. Jeez, he felt like a teenager confessing his crush on a girl to his mother. He took a long drink from his water and finished his explanation before he chickened out. “I . . . ah, thought she’d be more than willing to, you know, date me.”

  Maverick began laughing and Kelsey continued to look at him like he had two heads. He felt like an idiot and wanted this conversation over. “Look, let’s just drop it, okay? I’ll call her and apologize for . . . everything. And you both can forget what I just told you.” He rose carefully from the table.

  “Sit!” Kelsey ordered.

  Damn. Now she had her mom voice in full throttle. He may have deserved some of her anger, but he wasn’t used to being reprimanded for his behavior and it stung to think she thought poorly of him.

  “Luke Garibaldi, are you telling me that all of this bravado was because you want to date Lara? As in more than ‘hey, baby, how about you and I hit the sheets’ kind of dating?”

  “Maybe. Yeah. I guess so.” He didn’t want to tell Kelsey that all he had on his mind was getting back between Lara’s thighs, so he let her think he may want more. Luke rubbed the back of his neck and eyed his plate. He couldn’t resist the food so he might as well finish his dinner while she grilled him. He picked up his fork and dug into the now cold, but still delicious egg foo yong.

  “Hmm . . . interesting.”

  Maverick jumped in at that point. He’d already finished his meal. “I could have told you that, Doll Face. Our boy Luke has had the hots for your bestie for quite a while now.”

  “Well, I knew he’d tried back at our engagement party, but I thought you’d moved on. I had no idea you were looking for something . . . more.”