Page 14 of Extended Bridge

Shaking my head, I continue, “I was making a nice life for myself without you boys. Then Bennett here had to go hurt himself andvoilá, here I am again.”

“He’s made a lot of progress,” Río notes. “Nowhere near the showman he used to be, but at least he’s been walking without too much of a limp.”

I turn my head to acknowledge Bennett for the first time. “I saw you limping a second ago.”

He shrugs. “Only sometimes. Not onstage.”

“Yeah, only when you think you can get away with it,” Río adds.

I stand straighter. “You shouldn’t be limping. If you are, that means you’ve been pushing yourself too hard, which will only delay your recovery.” The other band members snicker. I don’t care. Bennett needs to hear this, loud and clear. “Which leads me to the inescapable fact that you were doing lunges. Of all things. Why do you insist on aggravating your injury?”

All eyes turn to Bennett. I refuse to allow my body to react to his nearness. How his hair falls at the precise right angle to highlight his amazing features. Straight nose. High cheekbones. Unusual and oh-so-sexy green eyes. This is all above his neck. The buzz centered in my chest that started when he entered this section of the gym intensifies. Maybe it’s lower.

“Can’t blame a guy for ushering his therapist here faster.” He grins. “She was taking her sweet ass time.”

No, no, no. I will not fall under his spell again. “Well, your wish seems to have been granted because here I am.” I rub my hands together. “Are you ready to get started?”

“Born ready.”

“You say that now.” My thumb and pinky rub together at his suggestive phrase. “In that case, let’s start off with the first round of exercises.”

Bennett looks like he wants to argue with me, but his band members razz him, which I allow. I need to establish I’m in charge, so I simply cross my arms and wait for him to get to work. Which he does after all the guys give their parting shots and depart. Tristan remained rather quiet, but he was the most accepting of me. Although Darren’s missing presence is felt, I do appreciate their new keyboardist.

Our first session goes pretty well, but I’m not about totell Bennett this if I expect him to continue working as hard. He still has a long way to go.

Bennett interrupts my thoughts. “Maybe having a full day off was what I needed?”

What is he getting at? Better put him in his place, and not as the frontman of the band. “Not if you truly want to heal faster. I can give you days off, though, if you’d prefer. Maybe fly in once a week for a quick session.”

“No way,” he growls. “I’ll keep up the PT.”

I bury my smile. “Thought you might see it my way.” I do want to praise him for his focus during the session, though, so he keeps it up. “I’m aware of how hard it is for you to pay attention, Rock Star.”

He eliminates the distance between us. In the middle of the gym, he looks as if he wants to either throttle me—or give me a hug.Or rub his sweat-covered body against mine. I’d prefer none of the above.Yeah, right.

Our standoff ends when he asks, “How did Austin take you coming on tour with me?”

“All right, not the question I was expecting.” I consider the best way to respond. “He was surprised. He did take the opportunity to put his proverbial hat into the ring to be the manager of my third clinic.”

“Did you tell him to fuck off?”

“No,” I enunciate the word clearly. “He’s good at what he does, he just needs a little more time to develop all his skills. Like teaching patients how to do skater jumps.”

Bennett mulls over my response as he walks to the water fountain. “He sure does. I stand by my opinion of him, though. He wants in your panties.”

My head shakes. “Seriously, he does not. You have an overactive imagination.”

“Oh yeah?” He pours himself a cup of water, offering to prepare one for me as well. When I put up my hand, he downs his cup. “If I truly had an overactive imagination, Jenna, I’d position you so your back’s against the corner, like so.”

He walks forward, which causes me to retreat, my back in the corner of the gym, away from the machines.

“Then I’d hold up a cup of water between us, as if offering it to you to drink.” His movements follow his description. “I’d do it to prevent anyone who’s looking from figuring out my lips were covering yours in a devouring kiss I’ve been dying to have with you since you fled my bedroom in nothing but a towel. After, I might add, you had my cock down your throat and I made you come in the bathtub so hard I was drying the marble hours later.”

As he talks, my breathing becomes more labored. His gaze eats me up like my body clamors for him to do. My core contracts, pleading for his fingers. Or more.

None of these things can happen.

“One hug,” I choke out. As much to remind him as me. “Nothing more.”

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