Avery experienced a lot of feelings during her therapy sessions with clients: pride, sympathy, joy...but never this mixture of irritation and interest. How did he get under her skin with such little effort? A few words and she was tripping over her own feet.
His very presence seemed to inject her with pheromones that clouded her mind and drew her thoughts where they shouldn’t go in a professional setting. Especially when her work required her to have her hands all over him.
Then there was the return of the awkwardness. She’d stopped dating because of it. Better to avoid it than to wonder if she had a medical condition—one that caused shaking, clumsiness and unintelligent muttering—all with a single look from any eligible, attractive man. The sight of a handsome man shot her adrenaline up, and if he spoke to her, she immediately became all thumbs. Her considerable intelligence didn’t help at all. And her fellow citizens’ determination to marry her off meant she’d had a wealth of humiliating experiences.
Dropping things, stumbling into door frames, bumping into all manner of furniture, and—her favorite—jerking her fork so that food ended up in all kinds of crazy places. One time, she’d actually flicked pasta onto her date’s eyebrow. She couldn’t remember that incident without cringing. So Mark escorted her to many functions, which gave her a reprieve from the matchmaking mamas.
The only time it didn’t happen was when she put on her scrubs and became her professional self—comfortable in her knowledge and authority.
Until Luke. And he knew it, too.
Luke—with his sexy stare and flirty ways—jump-started the phenomenon quicker than any guy ever had. Which was why she approached him for this second session with her professional facade firmly in place. And it would stay that way. “I’ve worked up a comprehensive plan for you,” she said, “now that I’ve had a chance to evaluate you firsthand—”
“Firsthand evaluation?” he asked, bending to catch her gaze. “How did I miss that? Can I have a do-over?” His wiggling brows didn’t help her nerves. She gripped his chart hard before it could get loose.
“Behave,” she said in her sternest voice.
“Oh, honey, I don’t know how,” he said with a wicked grin that sent shivers racing over her.
How could he derail her so easily, so completely? She dared not speak for a moment, afraid she’d get out no more than a croak as her throat tried to close. That would be humiliating.
Finally, she cleared the constriction. “Look, in this clinic, I’m the boss. This is my career.” She adopted a stern look, despite the amusement on his face. “Here, I’m not your friend, family, or—” She almost said girlfriend. Where the heck had that come from? “So stop playing and get busy.”
He didn’t respond right away, which surprised her. Luke always seemed quick on the draw. But she could feel him watching her. Probably preparing for battle.
Lord, have mercy. His teasing made her want to combust from the inside out. Her cheeks burned in a flash fire she couldn’t control. She hadn’t felt like this since, well, since Luke had jokingly teased her in high school. Good or bad, she wasn’t sure. The mixture of irritation and utter fascination with someone who could dive right into the good parts of life while she was left hugging the walls in fear confused her.
“You know what I mean,” she finally said, swallowing her emotions down. “We can be friends elsewhere—”
“We can?”
“—but here, business only.” Maybe the less she spoke the better. He seemed intent on twisting her words for his own amusement.
“So out there you’re fair game?” he asked with a quirk of his brow. Smart-ass.
“Down to work. Now,” she said, holding out the folder, open to the plan she’d worked up for him.
“Can I just say one thing before the friendship blackout starts?” he asked.
Knowing anything she said would just encourage him, she simply watched him without responding.
“Look, I wasn’t kidding about dinner,” he said, bending a little to look her in the eyes.
Startled, she met his gaze without hesitation, getting a spark of deep connection before turning away. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, hoping to shoo the subject away like an unwelcome bug.
“Look, you said you wanted to have some fun, an adventure—”
“Actually, Cindy said that.”
“And I can help.”
She remembered his whispered words from the other day. There was no doubt in her mind that any adventure would be incredible with Luke along for the ride. “What are you talking about?”
“Hey, every day is an adventure for me. And I don’t need to climb the side of a mountain for a thrill. I’d go so far as to bet that there are some pretty interesting adventures right here close to home that you haven’t even thought about.”
“And you plan to show them to me?”
He straightened a little. “Why not?”
She couldn’t raise her voice above a whisper. “Why are you doing this?”
“In my book, I owe you. I acted like a jerk...before...but I’ve always seen you as a friend. Besides, this sounds a whole lot more interesting than what I had planned—jaunts over here for my therapist to torture me, and... Nope, that’s about it for the next few months.” His smile was hopeful. “Let me do this for you.”
“I don’t know...”
“Scared?”
Heck, yes. “Maybe.”
His teasing smirk said he knew he would win. “That’s okay. It’s all part of the fun.”
Suddenly it was all too much—the teasing, the attraction, the nerves. She desperately needed to shift gears. Holding up her hands, she said, “Look, today, we’re talking about you. Not me.”
“Um, not so far.”
“Stop playing and pay attention.” Her schoolmarm demands only made him smile wider, but this time he actually cooperated. Miracle of miracles.
That grin said he wasn’t finished with her yet, sparking anticipation low in her core, but he finally reached his hand out for the chart.
With relief, she let him read because she didn’t have any starch left for her voice.
“This plan is mapped out for ten months.”
His unexpected dark tone warned her she might need starch for her backbone, too. “Yes. This is a reasonable prognosis to have you completely healed, strengthened and back on the racing circuit for the season after next.”
“That’s too long.”
She frowned. “But your other therapist projected that from the time of his initial evaluation it could be a year or more before your body is strong enough to return without a risk of further injury. I have to agree.”
Luke was shaking his head before she was even half-finished. “Not an option.”
She could totally sympathize as the last of the teasing disappeared from his eyes, replaced by frustration. “Our bodies don’t always agree to the timelines we want,” she reminded him, her voice going soft with sympathy.
“This one damn well better.” There was no room for anything but determination in Luke’s voice. “I will be back on the racing circuit this next season. No later.”
Avery knew when pushing would gain her ground, and this definitely wasn’t the time. So she let his remark go. She’d found when men got something in their heads, especially something