“I understand.”
He gives me a smile. “I’m sure you do. That’s one of the reasons I’m happy you’re taking him on as a patient. I have the utmost faith in you.”
“Thanks for that. When do I get started?” Accepting my fate doesn’t mean I’m not going to rip Sherwood a new one when I see him next. Of course, part of me is leaping with joy that I’ll be able to see him again. Touch him. Scrub the knots out of his body. My mind drifts to thoughts completely inappropriate for a physical therapist, and I drag them back. Dr. Richards is talking. Answering my question, even. It would probably be a good idea for me to listen.
“Playoffs are coming up,” he says, “and your job is basically to get him prepared for that. He’s got a couple of nagging injuries, I’ve been told, that haven’t been giving him too much trouble, but they want to be sure it’s not going to be an issue going into the home stretch on the season. So I’d like you to get started right away. This afternoon if possible.”
Great. I’m only going to have a couple of hours to get ready. I need mental preparation more than anything else, and that’s always the hardest.
“I know you’ll do great,” he says then, and I realize he’s taking my near-silence as a sign I’m doubting myself. “I have every confidence in you.”
“Thank you, Dr. Richards. I appreciate your trust in me.”
He smiles. “It’s well deserved, I assure you. Just remember—make him happy.”
Austin’s “happy ending” comment floats through my head, and I grit my teeth again. There’s no way in hell I’m making Austin Sherwood as happy as he apparently wants to be. Fortunately, I know that’s not part of my job. Keeping him under control is part of my job, though, and that could prove a challenge if I’m reading him right. “I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will.”
I’m on the way home when my cellphone rings. I don’t recognize the number, but I have a good idea who it is.
Three guesses. First two don’t count.
Sure enough, it’s Austin Sherwood
“Hey, Doc!” he says cheerfully. “Richards says everything’s cool and I should call you. So I’m calling you.”
“Who’s speaking?” I say coolly. I know, of course, but he didn’t introduce himself and why should he just assume I’ll know it’s him? He needs to be taken down a peg or two. Or, you know, nine thousand and twelve.
“You are,” he answers.
I want to smack him through the phone. The deadly pheromones he exudes in close quarters seem to be weakened when they have to bounce through a series of cell towers. Good to know.
The smartass comment is followed by a swear-to-God giggle. “It’s Austin. Austin Sherwood.”
“Good morning, Mr. Sherwood. It’s good to hear from you.” My voice is cucumber-cool. “How may I help you?”
There’s a short silence, then he says, “Okay, if that’s the way you want to play it.” The mischievous tone has leached out of his voice, and now he just sounds smugly collected. “I was told by Dr. Richards that I should call you to make an appointment for our first physical therapy session. Would today at two work for you?” A pause. “Ma’am?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes. Two would be fine. Shall I expect you at my office or at the team facility?”
“Team facility,” he answers, which surprises me not at all.
Personally, I’d like to meet on more neutral territory, but that’s fine. I can handle him wherever.
Okay, “handle him” might not have been the best way to characterize that. The palms of my hands start to tingle a little. They want to handle him, all right. In all kinds of ways that could get me fucking fired. “Fine. I’ll meet you at two.”
“See you th—”
I hang up before he can finish his sentence.
The team’s practice facility includes several rooms where the PTs can work with the players, as well as workout areas, a track, and everything else a football team needs to stay in shape between games and during the off-season. I expect to find Austin waiting for me in one of the treatment rooms, because that would be the most logical place. So of course he’s not in any of them.
I consider calling him, but that’ll give the bastard an advantage. I’d rather find him and surprise him. So I go looking.
Heading into the locker room, I hear the sounds of someone getting dressed and follow it. Sure enough, there he is, standing in front of a locker. He looks like I caught him halfway through getting dressed. Or—I correct myself as he shucks his shirt over his head—getting undressed.
By all appearances, he hasn’t heard me yet, has no idea I’m in the room. He rolls his T-shirt up into a loose ball and tosses it into the locker, then scrubs a hand through his hair. I watch the muscles in his back flex, go taut, and release as he moves his arms. Hair half-straightened, he rotates his shoulders backward and forward, swinging back and forth a few times at the waist, loosening things up. His gray sweatpants barely cling to the rise of his buttocks, exposing the white elastic band of the briefs he wears under them.
Damn.
My breath catches. I can’t help it. He must have heard my unfortunate little gasp, because he turns around. In the front, the sweats expose the V of his hips and a dark trail of hair running straight down from his navel. I jerk my attention to his face and see the biggest damn shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.
The sight of him makes the ball of heat in my chest blaze. I put my hands on my hips. “What are you playing at?”
“Don’t know what you mean.”
I don’t know what he’s up to, but it can’t be anything good. “Where the hell do you get off on calling my boss?”
He smirks. “I thought we’d make a good team.”
“Cut the shit.”
The locker room echoes with his laughter. “Do you treat all patients like this, or do I get the special treatment?” His eyes wink with mischief as he takes a couple steps forward, invading my space.
My face heats up as he stares at me through his lashes. I open my mouth angrily, but then I think of Dr. Richards and my chest tightens. “Fine. I apologize,” I say through my teeth.
He makes a frustrated sound. “We were having so much fun when you were treating me like a jerk. It’s okay if I get the special treatment—I know I’m special.”
“Is that what the teachers at school told you when they gave you gold stars for attendance?”
Too far.
My skin burns as I watch Austin’s bemused expression. I’ve been dying to have a go at one of them ever since my ex nearly ruined my career. I trusted him and he screwed me. Big time. All I have left is this ball of hatred for anything and anyone that reminds me of him.
Calm the fuck down.
“I’m starting to think you have a thing for me, Doc. What’s with all the personal attacks?”
Calming down is fucking impossible when I can feel the heat of his skin emanating from his body.
“Tell me why you did it, or your personal physical therapist will be one of the creepy men in my office.” Instantly, I think of Roger and the sullen look he gave me.
Austin doesn’t look particularly worried. “That’s an empty threat.”
“Tell me why.”
“Take a wild guess.”
“Because I’m a woman?” I fume.
“No, because I’m the Champ, and I get whoever I want as my PT. You’re easy on the eyes. Forgive me if I prefer a chick touching my naked body rather than some dude. What’s the big deal?”
The big deal, you idiot, is that I’m trying to be taken seriously in this industry.
I take a deep breath. “Look, I’m—I’m sorry. Really.”
“Do you have a problem with me?”
“No. You remind me of someone.”
His lips stagger into a smile. “An ex. I remind you of your ex.”
Shut the hell up. “Sherwood.”
“Oh, we’re back to last names again? Okay then. Just admit it, Doc. I remind you o
f him and it’s making you all hot and bothered.”
“I have a master’s degree,” I say through my teeth. “I’m not a doctor.”
Austin blows past my pathetic attempt to change the subject. “I don’t want to remind you of him,” he says in a gritty voice that I don’t trust at all. “But I won’t deny that seeing you all worked up like this is sexy as fuck.”
When he says the word fuck, I feel a tingle between my legs. He backs away, still wearing a look of extreme smugness.
“You’re being extremely inappropriate.”
“Just like when you slut-shamed me yesterday.”
Oh my God, not this again. “Getting mad at a man for popping a boner in the middle of a therapy session is not slut-shaming.”
He smiles, winking at me. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Doc.”
Sweet Jesus, let me slap him just once. “I’m done talking about this. Let’s go find a place where we’ve got some room. I’m going to need to do some observations.”
He’s got my hackles up already, and I know that’s what he’s after. I keep my growing irritation to myself. He gives me a second to rise to his bait, and when I don’t, he takes a step away from the locker. “Follow me.”
His sweats seem to be clinging to his hipbones by their fingernails as he leads the way down the hallway. I clutch my iPad, forcing myself to concentrate on something other than the movement of his hips and the fact that I can almost but not quite see the flat spot at the base of his spine. I’m still burning with unpleasant memories and his gritty voice, which seems to echo through my body and settle between my legs. He called me sexy as fuck.
The door he opens a few yards down the hallway leads to a big room where there are mats, foam rollers, medicine balls, a weight bench, a rack of hand weights, and several different types and sizes of balance balls. That should just about cover it.
I’m glad to see the equipment, because it gives me things to look at that aren’t Austin’s ass.
I tap my iPad to bring up the information Dr. Richards forwarded to me about Austin’s current areas for improvement. “This says you’ve got some stiffness in your shoulder and maybe a hip issue? Can you describe the hip issue for me?”
I look up at him, meeting his eyes directly. It seems like a good strategy at first until I realize I’m going to have to look at other parts of him to do my job.
“It’s right in the joint.” His hand shifts, and I look down to see him pressing the edge of his hand right into the crease of his groin. “Right in here.” The movement draws the knit of his sweats taut across the bulk of his package.
Well. At least it’s not a boner. Not yet, anyway.
“There are a couple of issues that could lead to pain in that area,” I say calmly. “I’ll have to do some diagnosis before we can figure out which one it is. Let’s start by looking at your gait. Walk away from me, then back.”
He only has to do it once before I realize I can’t see a damn thing about his gait while he’s wearing those baggy sweats. I take a deep breath, steeling myself. “You’re going to have to do it without your pants.”
He spins on me, eyebrows rising nearly to his hairline. “What?”
“I can’t see how your weight’s shifting. Your sweats are too baggy. Do you have some shorts or something you can change into?”
“No.” His face is deadpan, as is his tone. Did he know this was going to happen? Did he wear those damn tighty whities on purpose?
“Fine.” It’s not the best situation, but at least he’ll be covered up. “Take the sweats off.”
Grinning, he shrugs and loosens the drawstring on the sweats. They fall almost immediately to his ankles, and he steps out of them.
Well, shit. I knew he was wearing briefs, but actually seeing them is a whole different ball of wax. They’re about a size too small, for one thing, and they hug his ass the way I’d like my hands to. He walks away from me, and then turns around.
They’re a little too small in the front, too. I force myself to watch the way his weight moves from foot to foot instead of noticing how the fly gaps open and I can see dark shadows that are probably part of his dick. My brain starts throwing weird flashbacks at me—the way a man smells if you have your face between his thighs, the texture of his cock when you stroke across it with your tongue.
Oh, God. Stop. Just stop.
“Does it hurt more or less after your workout?”
There you go, Chloe. Focus on the job.
“It depends.” He reaches down and rubs at the joint again, and when he does, the fly of his underwear gaps open even more. “Sometimes less, sometimes more.”
He’s looking right at me, like he’s daring me to say something about his dick. I meet the challenge squarely, not letting my eyes shift from his, even though my heart’s beating triple time and the insides of my thighs are trembling.
“I might need to refer you to one of the team doctors to look into things in more detail. Go ahead and put your sweats back on.”
“You sure about that, Doc?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” My voice almost grates, but not quite. “Get your pants back on, and we’ll take a look at that shoulder.”
He shrugs. “Have it your way. Kinda thought you were enjoying the view.”
Of course part of me was totally enjoying the view. The stupid part. The part that lives in my lizard brain and my stupid ovaries. Another very primal part just wants to throw a weight at his head. Why the hell is he giving me such a hard time?
I stand very still and wait, teeth grinding, while he puts his pants back on.
It’s going to be a long couple of hours.
“Trust me, baby. I’ll be fine.”
The ghost of my ex’s voice drifts into my thoughts and bitterness curls my tongue. He was just like Austin, really. It’s as though Austin was planted in my life as an exaggerated version of my ex to test me. He’s a bit taller than Mason.
My ex.
I used to feel so lucky. He was this unbelievable athlete, worshipped by men everywhere we went. It was intimidating just to be around him. I met him at one of his team’s afterparties. I was the blushing girl who could barely string a sentence around him. There were gorgeous women shamelessly hitting on him, but he saw me through the crowd of exotic brunettes and made a beeline for me. I’m not a supermodel, but he made me feel beautiful.
It’s easy to compare Austin’s crooked smile with Mason’s. Damn that piece of shit. If only he had just cheated on me.
A drawling voice interrupts my thoughts. “Well. If it isn’t Ms. Hotshot Star of the Office.”
I look up into a man’s scowling, round face as he leans over my cubicle with a coffee cup in his hand. My mood darkens as I recognize Roger. He’s the type of guy who wears a fedora when he goes out. Roger is a red-pill swallowing, sexist, man-child. Ever since I turned him down, he’s been acting like an ass. Openly hostile doesn’t exactly describe our relationship, but it’s pretty damn close.
Butthurt asshole.
I knew this shit would happen. I play dumb, knowing it’ll annoy him. “I’m sorry?”
His beady, mean eyes bulge at me. “You know what I mean. Working with the Champ.”
One of the other guys emerges as well, carrying paperwork to hand over to the receptionist. “Yeah,” he says. “Congrats on that, by the way.”
“Thanks, Brendan.”
Roger doesn’t appear to be in any kind of congratulatory mood. His eyes narrow slightly. “Like we all don’t know exactly why he asked for you.”
Don’t fucking go there.
He can’t call me out without looking like a complete prick. “And why would that be?”
He shakes his head, like I’m too stupid to figure out that the only possible reason a man might request me to be his physical therapist is because he wants to sleep with me. I’m not going to rise to his bait, though, even though I know what he’s thinking. I’ve let one man get way too far under my skin already today—I’m not going to
let another one do it, too.
“Never mind,” he says with an exasperated sigh.
“No, please. I’d love to hear what you have to say.”
“Forget it,” he glowers.
“Because if you were implying that I’m only getting a client based on my gender and not because I am just as capable as any man in this office, that could be grounds for creating a hostile workplace.”
His cheeks slowly burn bright red. “I didn’t mean to be rude,” he says, emphasizing every syllable.
“It’s funny how accidental rudeness seems to happen so often with you.”
Captain Butthurt glowers at me, his sullen mouth closed as he tries to think of a comeback in his pea-sized brain.
“How did the therapy session go?”
Brendan gives him a serious side-eye, but he doesn’t say anything. Fair enough—Roger didn’t say anything explicitly offensive. He’s just walking hard on that line.
“It went fine.” He’s about as annoying as you.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What is there to say? He’s a dumb jock just like all the rest of them, except with a slightly bigger mouth.” Bigger other things, too. Nobody needs to know Sherwood has almost shown me his dick twice now.
Roger appears pleased by my assessment. “Maybe you should spend time with more intelligent men.”
So less time with you? Got it.
It’s not the first time he’s not so subtly tried to ask me out. I barely restrain an eye roll. It’ll be a very, very cold day in hell before I go out with Roger.
Like, degrees-Kelvin cold. Like, absolute zero cold.
I stand up, choosing to ignore that comment completely as Brendan gives me a sympathetic look. I brush past Roger into the hallway toward Dr. Richards’ office. I have far more important things to manage than Roger’s bullshit.
Dr. Richards says “Come in” almost before I finish knocking. He smiles up at me from behind the desk, and I stalk the couple of steps across the office to the chair and take a seat.
Hot as Sin (Contemporary Romance Box Set) Page 3
