Page 73 of Wild Desire

I eased her to the floor and grabbed the body wash, soaping up her body. I avoided her sensitive areas. She was probably sore from the sex, and I didn't want to hurt her.

She washed her hair, and I helped her rinse out the suds. She stepped out, and then I washed quickly. By the time I made it to the kitchen, she was cooking eggs, just how I liked them, and dropping them on avocado toast.

"Breakfast of champions," I murmured as I kissed her bare shoulder.

She grinned at me. "I wondered if you liked this."

"Eat it every morning at home."

Her smile faltered.

Why had I said that? This was my home. Not some hotel where I raced or trained surrounded by strangers. But the moment was gone, and she'd turned back to the stove.

"We have a doctor's appointment this morning, and then your therapy appointment. I was hoping to run some errands."

"Sounds good to me." I never wanted to interfere with her businesses.

Noelle turned on some music for background noise. "What are you hoping Dr. Sterling will say to you today?"

"That I'm cleared to go back to full training, but I don't think that's going to happen today. I'm still getting twinges in my knee when I'm working out. I think it will be another week or two before he gives the all clear."

"I didn't realize it would be so soon."

"They gave me an estimate for recovery after my surgery, so this is right on track."

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "That's great. I bet you're excited."

Normally, I would have said that I was anxious to be cleared even sooner, but I couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for the moment.

Her brow furrowed. "You're not?"

"I never want to see those crutches again," I said, even as my chest tightened.

Noelle got up to clear our dishes. "I bet."

A few minutes later, we were in Noelle's car, driving to the doctor's office. She dropped me off out front, and I went inside with a wave.

When the nurse called my name, I followed her to an exam room.

Dr. Sterling knocked, then entered the room. "How are you?"

His family lived outside of town and were districted to a different school, so we hadn't run in the same circles. But I'dheard he'd recently returned to work in Tori's family's practice as a partner of sorts and was dating someone who lived in town, a transplant from Florida. I heard town gossip at the therapy center. "I'll be better if you tell me my knee is one hundred percent."

His brow furrowed at my teasing. "I told you not to expect that at this exam. I never want to give you false hope."

I held my hands up. "I'm just giving you a hard time."

"You wouldn't be a professional athlete if you didn't. When I moved here, I thought I'd get mainly colds and flus. I never thought I'd be in charge of a famous snowboarder's care."

"I'm not that famous around these parts. I'm just Killian Wilde from the ski resort." Which I'd enjoyed immensely. No one asked for my autograph when I saw them in public. It was more likely they'd reminisce about some trouble me and my brothers got into when we were younger. It was refreshing.

Dr. Sterling manipulated my knee, checking occasionally for any pain. "How are you doing getting around?"

"I'm just getting the occasional twinge in therapy."

He slid back on the wheeled stool to enter his notes into the laptop. "Are you off the crutches?"

"I told Noelle to throw them out."

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