I tried again, but my shoulder flagged halfway through the motion. My arm trembled, but she didn’t let me quit. Her hands adjusted my elbow and upper arm, and even though it was all clinical, I couldn’t stop noticing how they pressed just enough to make my shoulder move the way it should.
Two more was all I could manage before letting the band snap back. “I— can’t—”
“Can,” she corrected, thumb against a tight knot along my shoulder blade. Her hands stayed there while I forced another inch, then another, my body arguing with me the whole time.
Every adjustment from her hands reminded me how much I’d lost these past few months, and how much I had to earn back. Which made me the dumb jock who thought I could make it for the tail end of Round 3.
“You just have to be patient with yourself,” she murmured, as if reading my mind.
If I had breath in my lungs I would’ve laughed. Patience wasn’t gonna get me back on the ice.
“We have three weeks,” I said through clenched teeth, pulling the band back with her help. “I don’t have time to waste on being patient.”
“Why not? You seem to find a considerable chunk in your day to waste on being a stubborn idiot…” she deadpanned, catching my eye in our reflection. “Might as well swap that out for doing something useful.”
“Your bedside manner astounds me.”
Her fingers gave an involuntary twitch on my shoulder, that one eyebrow quirking. “What do you know about what I’m like next to a bed, or in it, for that matter?”
My mind derailed from the spasm in my arm, and rushed to the place where that look landed. A whole other kind of heat. Not my finest moment in terms of restraint and control.
She didn’t look surprised in the slightest. More amused, than anything. “I had no idea you liked rehab this much.”
“Go ahead, Hopper. Make fun of the invalid in his most vulnerable state.”
Our eyes met and the moment stilled, tension rippling between us. The faint exhale of her breath on my sweaty chest lit a spark that lingered on the border of deciding to stay put or bending down to kiss her.
Reese made the decision for me and cleared her throat, backing up. “Let’s get back to your core.”
I released the band with a snap, which sent it shooting across the room. “I’ve had enough for today.”
“You don’t get to say when it’s enough,” she said, rolling the hot pink exercise ball to the middle of the room. “You were the onewho demanded three weeks instead of the eight I had planned, so quit whining and get on the damn ball.”
“Is it wrong that I’m even more turned on right now?” I flashed her a wink as I assumed the obligatory ‘Superman’ stance on the ball.
“Relax your shoulders. Arms close to your ears. Body weight on your feet. That’s it.”
Her hand was on my lower back, the other gently supporting my right arm as she guided me through a careful set of raises. Each pressure point was like a bonfire on my skin, licking at the low pulse of arousal in my pants.
“Your restraint is impressive.”
She brushed a runaway drop of sweat from my temple, and leaned down. Her breath was warm against my ear, voice low and sensual when she said, “Core tight. Head down.”
My posture broke with the laugh that shook through me. “I deserved that.”
“Yeah, you did.” She gave a light chuckle. “But keep this up, and I may be willing to let my restraint slip a little when you’re finished.”
The heated gleam in her eyes shot through me, and I launched into manic lifts and dips in double-time that sent me rolling all the way off the ball. Reese laughed so hard, she collapsed on the floor next to me.
“How’d I do?” I panted.
She looked at me, the flush from her neck rising into her cheeks. “Okay, you win. We’ll call it a day.”
I leaned in, my hand coming up to grip the back of her neck. But she pulled away for every inch I closed until I finally gave up the chase.
“Cool down first,” she said, her tone taking on that strict school teacher edge. I groaned, but she was already on her feet and patting the exam table. “Up you get, Bouchard. And don’t make me say it again.”
“This is diabolical,” I grumbled, but expressly did as I was told. She’d made it clear the only way to get what I wanted was to give her exactly what she wanted.
