Page 72 of Downpour

Ray rolled his eyes when I walked over to the parallel bars and rested my arms on top of them.

“Don’t scowl. You’re the one who invited me up here.”

“And I’m regretting it,” he said. “You and Callie can’t gang up on me.”

I snickered and chewed on my lip. “Is that what we’re doing?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Put that look away, Sunnyside. You’re distracting me.”

“What look?”

He stopped in his tracks, and his gaze dropped to my mouth. One hand left the bar and cupped my jaw. “The look that’s been on your face since the other night.”

“Well damn. If I had known all it took to get you motivated was a pretty girl, I would have rush-ordered some cardboard cut-outs,” Callie teased from across the room.

Ray flipped her off and went back to holding the bar

“You look good today,” I said.

Ray smirked.

“I meant your gait.”

He just shook his head and kept walking.

I lingered around the different areas of the office while Callie worked her magic. Ray was always exhausted after PT, and I could see why. She didn’t take it easy on him, and she didn’t coddle him.

He looked happy today. There was a fire in his eyes where I had only seen embers before.

I hung out in Ray’s wheelchair while Callie helped him step up onto a balance ball. From the way she carefully explained how she wanted him to try the exercise, it seemed like it was his first time.

The half-ball was positioned between the parallel bars. He held on to them as Callie kneeled beside him, talking about themuscles in his knee and ankle. My heart raced as she scooted away and told him to give it a try.

Ray’s eyes were laser-focused on the ball.

“Stop pushing on your arms,” she said. “Use the bars for balance, but don’t bear your weight on them.”

“Easier said than done.”

Ray lifted his right foot off the ground and leaned forward to step on the balance ball. His knee buckled, and he fell forward.

I let out a squeak and covered my mouth with my hands.

He tried to grab onto the bars, but his left hand slipped. Ray fell and swung around, gripping the bar with one hand as he swore loudly enough to silence the whole room.

My heart was in my throat. I could see the pain written all over his face. I wanted to rush over and wrap my arms around him.

Callie didn’t touch him. She knelt down and exchanged a few quiet words. Ray’s right hand turned white as he squeezed the bar and pulled himself back up.

Ray was going to be angry that I came to the appointment with him. I could feel it in the energy that radiated from him.

But instead of calling it quits, Callie made him do it again.

His arms strained as he held a bit more of his weight this time. Carefully, he lifted his foot and placed it on top of the balance ball.

I was mesmerized by his arms. By the ink that wrapped around thick straps of muscle. By the way his shoulders flexed and rippled.

I had woken up in those arms. I had laid against that chest. I had been cradled by those muscles.

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