"Gladys, my favorite patient." Grateful for the distraction, he focused his attention on the older woman. He caught Luke's eye and nodded toward Paige, letting his assistant know he wanted him to work through Paige’s exercises with her.
It was much safer for Gabe to work with the seventy-two-year-old retired schoolteacher than the attractive young one who kept triggering his protective side.
"Isn'the the hottest doctor you've ever seen?" Nikki Dalton, a new patient with a hamstring injury, lay on the table beside Paige doing IT band stretches. Still a senior in high school,Nikki was skipping out of school during her dance class to do PT.
"What?" Paige turned to find Nikki leaning so far off her table she feared the girl might fall off.
"Dr. Gabe. Isn't he hot?" Nikki jerked her head toward the reception desk where Gabe spoke with a man named Ernie, who was inquiring about what Gabe charged for self-pay, since his insurance refused to pay for more PT for his Achille’s tendon problems.
"I'll say." Gladys, who sat on the table to Paige's left with ice and electric stimulation patches on her knee, fanned herself. "I'd call dibs if I was forty years younger."
Paige bit back a grin as her gaze returned to Gabe. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who thought he was good looking.
"What about you, Paige?" Nikki asked.
"What about me?"
"Are you going to speak dibs?"
"What? No way." Paige frowned as she shook her head. “I’m done with men.”
It didn’t matter that the handsome therapist, who liked quirky socks, was easy to talk to and upbeat. Or that he treated each patient like they were his favorite. Paige refused to get involved with him or any other man right now.
"But just look at all those muscles." Nikki’s voice was full of admiration. "And his eyes. Aren't they gorgeous?"
They were, but Paige didn't feel it appropriate to say so out loud. "He's our physical therapist. There shouldn't be any calling dibs."
"Pshaw." Gladys waved a hand. "Don't mind her, Nikki. I think she's still trying to find her sense of humor since her accident."
Paige scowled at Gladys. Sure, she'd been moody and out of sorts since getting her heart and body broken, but who wouldn’t be?
Before she could contemplate Gladys' words further, she overheard Ernie say, "Are you sure, Gabe? I know that's not fair to you."
"The important thing is to get you better." Gabe clapped a hand on Ernie's shoulder. "Luke will get you scheduled. I want to see you twice a week initially."
Paige wasn’t looking for more reasons to be attracted to Gabe, but she'd found one. There was nothing more admirable than a man who showed compassion to others.
But she didn't need more reasons to like him. She needed the opposite. Despite what she told Nikki, there was something about Just Gabe that made her wish she’d met him eight months ago instead of lying, cheating Phillip.
Before long, Paige had finished her exercises, and Gabe was rolling out her left quad. Thanks to Nikki, she couldn't keep her gaze off his eyes and his impossibly long lashes.
"I'd kill for your eyelashes." The words slipped out before Paige could stop them. She wished she could take them back when a series of snickers surrounded her.
Gabe jerked back with a wide-eyed look. "What?"
"Well, not literally. But you know what I mean."
"No, I don't." His expression was dead pan, but she spotted a twinkle in his eyes.
"I'd die to have lashes as thick and long as yours." She explained even though embarrassment already warmed her cheeks.
"Me too," Nikki said.
Despite Nikki chiming in, Gabe's gaze remained focused on Paige. "You came close to dying once already this year, and now you want to do it again for my eyelashes?"
"I didn't mean it literally." Paige let out an exasperated huff.
“What if I died tonight? Everyone here heard you say you'd kill for my eyelashes." He looked at Luke, Nicole, and Gladys for confirmation. When they all grinned and nodded, he went on. "You would become the number one suspect."
