Page 10 of Midnight Mate
I’d left to keep from committing murder. Leaving Cat had been the icing on the shit-cake that was my life. Judging by the hot-cold way she was acting, she hadn’t forgotten it either.
“Okay, considering your mobility and pain levels, I’m going to draw up a treatment plan for us to get started.” Her tone was all business.
I forced my thoughts to follow her words.
My knee.
I was here to heal, and that was it.
My wolf would just have to get over it.
“Based on what I’ve seen here today—” Her voice grew serious, “and the fact that your body should have healed itself by now—” We shared a knowing look, and I winced because she was right. “—I suggest three sessions a week with some exercises at home for your days off.”
“An athlete never has days off,” I said, mostly to remind myself who—and what—I was. A snowboarder. And more importantly, someone who no longer lived in Midnight Falls.
“Then this should be easy for you.”
“Do you think this will be enough to heal me?” I asked.
“If you follow the plan I’ve laid out, I don’t see why not.”
“Good. With the season opening in a few weeks, I don’t want to leave my boss down an instructor.”
She stiffened. “You’ll be out of here in no time,” she said, turning away to finish writing notes in my patient file.
Well then.
Apparently, time didn’t heal everything.
Guilt pricked at me as memories flooded in. Images I’d worked hard to force out for the past decade. My chest grew heavy.
I looked down at my hands, familiar regret warring with what had been a teenager’s desperation.
“Cat, listen, if this is too difficult, working together—” I began, but she cut me off.
“Why would it be difficult?”
Now that I’d brought up the elephant in the room, her tone had gone frigid. To her credit, she was facing me now with full eye contact. Like a prizefighter more than willing to go head to head.
I drank it in, surprised and intrigued.
The look in her eyes—the fire, the heat—was new. The old Cat hated conflict. She would have been polite above all else. This version was braver. Sassier. And damn if it didn’t turn me on.
“The way we left things wasn’t exactly friendly,” I said, choosing my words carefully now.
“I don’t need any more friends,” she said. “Besides, this is my job, and I’m a professional. What happened between us is in the past. We’re not the same people, and I’ve certainly moved on.”
It was a challenge—or at least that’s how my wolf took it. One I would have gladly risen to if not for my wolf strangling my attempt to lie right along with her.
Fuck.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
“All right,” I said slowly, my voice hoarse in my ears. “Three times a week. What do I do at home?”
She thrust a few papers at me. “Instructions for the exercises are here. It works best with a partner.” A shadow passed over her expression. “A girlfriend maybe.”
“Don’t have one.”
