Page 8 of Breakaway to You

She looked at me for a few seconds before answering, like she was weighing the pros and cons. “We can start over if you’ll agree to follow my regimen and accept that I’m trying to help you.”

“Deal.” I stuck out my hand for us to shake on it.

“Deal.” She grasped my hand, and although she’d had her hand on me moments before, this felt different.

A buzz of electricity flowed through my hand and up my arm. Our eyes connected, and I wondered if she felt it too.

As if she could tell what I was thinking, she dropped my hand like it was on fire, averting her gaze. “Okay, Mr. Lawson, let’s get back to your session.”

My brow rose. “Mr. Lawson? If we’re going to be spending so much time together, I think it makes sense for you to call me what all my friends do.”

She looked at me warily. “And what’s that?”

My lips spread into a wide grin. “The Zeke Man.”

My answer must have caught her off-guard, because she pulled her lips in to stifle her smile. It eventually snuck out, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I had a feeling I’d be doing whatever I could to see that smile again and again.

Chapter4

Piper

Ihad tried not to smile. I really had. His answer was ridiculous, and I would not be calling him The Zeke Man, but seeing his demeanor change, the weight he seemed to carry around him disappear, and that smile had made my stomach flip, too hard to resist. The person he’d been the first day he’d walked into the physical therapy room was finally back after being gone for the last month.

My evaluation had really messed with his head, and although there was a small part of me that felt bad for him, I’d had to tell the truth. It didn’t surprise me that he had taken the news about his body aging hard, but I also hadn’t expected for him to change from what the media claimed was a fun-loving guy to a grump in a matter of minutes.

Yes, I had known who Zeke Lawson was before he had stepped foot in this room. Anyone who watched hockey knew who he was. Not only was he a great right wing, his looks had definitely made him popular. Add the fact that he had traded teams a fair amount in his career, which had caused his name to be thrown around in the hockey world as people wondered what team he would be going to next. I never thought he would come to the Minnesota Wolves. Not because he wasn’t good enough, but I had never entertained the thought of having him be one of my athletes.

I might have had a tiny crush on him over the years. Nothing substantial, more of a celebrity crush kind of thing. I’d had one for Crew Anderson too, but he was retired and engaged now. Funnily enough, he and Zeke were from the same town and had grown up playing on the same team, the Glacier Gators. I guessed the small town of Glacier Grove produced hot hockey players.

Interestingly, I’d never had a crush on Jordan before I met him. He was cute enough to have been on my radar as a fan but he’d never captured my attention before he started showing interest in me.

I had not been looking forward to the Blue Jays coming to play tonight, but it was a necessary evil. It had been my dumb decision to get involved with a hockey player, and now I had to deal with the consequences. I hadn’t expected him to show up in my physical therapy room though.

After our breakup, he had badgered me with so many calls and texts that I’d had to block his number. He’d then resorted to begging during our therapy sessions. It had been torture. It never made sense to me why he wanted to get back together so badly when he obviously wanted to be with other women. I had figured he’d be happy to be rid of me and go have his fill of women. To my disappointment, that hadn’t been the case.

Thankfully, leaving the Blue Jays had helped, and I hadn’t seen Jordan in months. And I would only see him now whenever his team played the Wolves. That and the occasional charity hockey event.

But seeing him today in the doorway had rattled me. I’d felt no desire to take him back. That ship had sailed—and sunk. But I was still unsettled that he felt like he could show up whenever he wanted. Add in that our entire exchange had taken place in front of Zeke, and I had been more than flustered. I’d also been embarrassed. My mistake of dating a professional athlete while being his physical therapist was embarrassing enough, but to then have my dirty laundry aired out in front of someone else was humiliating.

“So,” Zeke said, breaking through my thoughts. “You and Tuvalo, huh?”

Ugh. I should have known he’d want to talk about what had happened.

“Yep.” I kept my answer short, focusing on his knee, working through the range of motion.

“I wouldn’t have thought Jordan was your type.” I could feel his eyes on me while he spoke.

I bent his leg. “I don’t have a type.”

“Oh, sure you do,” he said. “Everyone has a type, whether they recognize it or not. And you definitely have a type.”

I eyed him as I straightened out his leg, completely disagreeing. “Oh, really? And you happen to know what my type is?”

“Of course I do.” He said it with so much confidence that I almost believed him.

Curious to see what he would say, I asked, “Okay, then. What’s my type?”

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