Wondering if he’d walked into a bad movie, he watched Thomas walk away, a spring in his step, the anger still swirling around inside him, making him want to punch something. Instead, he grabbed his stuff, hating the fact that for now, Thomas had the advantage. He would have to behave himself around Maddie until he could find a solution.
Telling himself it wouldn’t be that hard, he headed for home, only realizing a few minutes later that he’d tricked her into going to the swimming pool the next day. Letting out a groan, he decided it was his punishment for being a loser all those years ago. Watching Maddie in a bathing suit and not being able to touch her would be sheer torture. Then it occurred to him that there were still worse ways to spend a few hours. He could still look even if he couldn’t touch, and he’d survive.
***Maddie***
After finding a locker, Maddie stripped off her sweats and tee-shirt, shivering in the cold air, dug out her towel, then turned to look in the mirror, her stomach full of butterflies. She’d never been the kind of woman to spend hours looking at herself. Since having Justin, she spent even less time worrying about her appearance. But she was suddenly nervous about letting Walker see her in a bathing suit.
It wasn’t that she was worried he was going to think she was fat; she was just as trim as she’d been before having a baby. It was the stretch marks that worried her. She’d chosen her least revealing suit, but she could still see them poking out on her hips and wondered if Walker would notice or if she was worrying about nothing. Looking over her shoulder at the clock, she realized it didn’t matter, it was time to meet him and as much as she’d rather skip the whole thing, it was important for his recovery.
Slipping on a terry cloth coverup, she wrapped her towel around her hips, covering most of her legs, then headed for the pool, her heart fluttering with anticipation. Walker was waiting for her by the lap pool, wearing just his swimming trunks, a towel thrown over his shoulder, and she had to take a deep breath to fight back the wave of desire that erupted inside her. When he smiled at her, it was all she could do not to walk over to him, grab him and kiss him like she’d been dreaming about doing since he’d walked back into her life.
Gasping at the train of her thoughts, she put a smile on her face and ignored the wave of warmth that spread through her, hoping that he couldn’t see her reaction. “Hey, ready to swim?” he asked, throwing his towel down on a bench. “Do we just do laps or what?”
“You can swim or just walk in the water, it’s up to you,” she said, holding her breath, knowing a teasing comment was coming. “It all depends on what you feel like you can handle. Maybe start small and work your way up once we see how it goes.”
“Okay, that sounds good. I think I’ll start with walking,” Walker said. “You don’t have to babysit me, feel free to do your own thing. I don’t want to hold you back.”
“Oh, well…I’m supposed to be here helping you,” she said, a bit surprised by the brush off, but she had told him to knock off the flirting. “I’ll just stick with you for a while and make sure you’re doing okay, then I guess I do have some studying to do.”
“Have it your way,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
Telling herself that she should be relieved, she unwrapped the towel, then took a deep breath and removed the cover-up, then waited for a comment from Walker. When there was only silence, she looked up to find that he wasn’t even looking at her, in fact, he was staring at another woman on the other side of the pool as she climbed out of the water.
“Are we going to stand here all day or get in the water?” she finally asked, putting her hands on her hips. “You can stare at that woman in the water just as well as out of it, in fact, you can keep yourself entertained by looking at all of them while you’re in the water.”
He finally turned and looked over at her; a funny look appeared on his face, then he grimaced as if in pain and quickly looked away again. “We’d better get in the water,” he said, walking away from her. “I have other things to do today.”
Stung by his reaction, she felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she forced them back, reminding herself this was what she’d asked for; she just didn’t expect him to be so brutal about it. Knowing there was nothing she could do that wouldn’t exposeher feelings for him, she followed him into the water, then fell in step next to him, only breaking the silence between them to give him a few tips to make the workout better.
After half an hour of Walker’s cold silence, she’d had enough, but knew she couldn’t say anything. “I think we’ve done enough in the water for the first day, you should get the brace back on your knee,” she said. “Let’s try some stretching now. I know you think yoga is lame, but it really can help.”
“Yeah, I did a little research, it doesn’t look so bad,” he said, heading for the steps. “I booked a spot in a class they have upstairs, it starts in fifteen minutes.”
She froze for a second, then started following him, her anger rising with each step she took, fed up with Walker and his mood swings. “I thought you wanted my help,” she said, grabbing her towel and starting to dry off. “You made a big deal about me being the only one to help you, now you’re acting like I have a disease. What the hell, Walker? Was that all just a ploy to get me into bed, and now that you know that can’t happen, you’re…”
“That is not what’s going on,” he interrupted, a pained look on his face. “We have to keep this professional, that’s all I’m trying to do.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to act like a big jerk,” she said. “I can’t take this; all this hot and cold, I’m already confused about my feelings for you, this is making it even worse. I think you should…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Walker grabbed her, pulled him to her, then slammed his mouth down on hers in a kiss that left little doubt in her mind about what he wanted. When he let her go, she could only stare at him, her chest heaving, desire thundering through her, the blanket of warmth settling over her, and she forced herself to take a step away from him.
“I was trying to avoid doing that,” Walker said, his eyes locked on hers. “You should probably take another step away from me unless you want me to do it again.”
She didn’t move, couldn’t force her legs to obey the command her brain was sending them. “I can’t,” she said. “I want you to kiss me again.”
Walker groaned, “Maddie, this is going to ruin your career. I made a huge mistake. I didn’t think this through,” he said. “Thomas cornered me after practice yesterday. He made a bunch of threats, said he would report us if we stepped over the line, and he even made it sound like he had people watching us. That’s why I’ve been acting like this. The last thing I want to do is derail your career. I was just trying to protect you from the mistake I made. This thing with Thomas isn’t even about you, it’s me he’s after, that’s why I tried to warn you before.”
It took her a few seconds to process what Walker said, then it all made sense, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still mad. In fact, she was angrier than she’d been in a long time. “Did it ever occur to you to talk to me about this?” she asked, barely keeping her voice level. “I don’t suppose it ever popped into your mind that this is my life and maybe I should know what’s going on? Instead of playing this little game, you could have treated me like the capable adult that I am. I don’t need you to protect me, and certainly not without my knowledge.”
Her anger had been spent and she fell silent, still glaring up at Walker, slightly out of breath from her outburst. “Maddie, you are the worst physical therapist I’ve ever had, and I’m firing you right now,” Walker said, taking a step closer to her. “Do I need to put that in writing?”
“What?” she asked, not sure she heard him right, but reading the desire in his eyes correctly. “Walker…”
“You’re fired, we’re no longer professionally linked,” Walker said, pulling her into his arms. “So, it’s perfectly acceptable for me to do this….”
Her brain told her to run, but her body had a completely different idea. When he wrapped his arms around her, she didn’t resist; she simply wound her arms around his neck. He pulled her up against his body, lowered his mouth to hers, and it felt like the three years they’d been separated had never happened as the passion between them burst to life. When they finally broke apart, chests heaving, desire making the air around them snap with energy, she backed away from him, then turned and ran for the locker room.
CHAPTER 10
