Page 16 of Wild For You
I yawned unwillingly and felt my back muscles pull. I winced at the sting.
“You’re exhausted. Rest up. We can talk later.” Nash turned to face me directly, leaning into my space. “Andrew, I love you. We’re all here for you.I’mhere for you.” He straightened before I could say anything and addressed Kelsey. “Take care of our boy, all right? Don’t let him give you a hard time. Heisgoing to be a grouch, but he doesn’t mean it.”
Kelsey smiled while I frowned, even though my dad wasn’t wrong. I was anything but excited about this entire situation. I could move Kelsey with my pinky finger.
“Yes, sir. I’ve worked with much more intimidating people.”
“Good. Good. Well, Andy, you’re in great hands. I’m sure your mom will want to come by bright and early, so rest up.”
“Yes, sir,” I responded as I tried to hoist my other leg onto the bed and failed. Blushing wasn’t one of my normal reactions, but I felt my cheeks heat instantly.
I watched as Kelsey slunk out of the room and heard her escort my parents out of the house. Awkwardly, I adjusted myself on the bed and tried to lift my good leg again, but my back pulled, causing searing pain to shoot across my body.
“Fuck.”
“Oh, let me help you,” Kelsey said as she dashed back into the room and came to my side. She reached for my good leg, and I nearly pushed her away.
“I can do it,” I argued through clenched teeth, but Kelsey wasn’t having any of it.
“Save your energy for tomorrow. Right now, let me help.” Without another word, she lifted the rest of my body onto the bed and adjusted me back against the pillows. For someone so small, she had incredible strength, and I told her so.
“Well, I spend the majority of my days lifting two-to-three-hundred-pound men in and out of ice baths. Pretty sure I can handle you.”
I harrumphed, feeling the medicine start to kick in.
“Get some rest, Andrew. Rory mentioned that your first meal home should be beef stroganoff, since it’s your favorite. And even though you have more than enough casseroles and frozen dishes in your fridge to feed a small country, I make a mean stroganoff.”
“You’re going to cook for me?”
“That’s part of being a live-in nurse,” she explained, as if I knew this already. “But I’m only being nice because I get to work you over tomorrow.”
I smirked when she blushed as she realized how sexual her words sounded.
“Sleep. You need your energy,” she repeated, flustered.
Kelsey then turned and high-tailed it out of the room, but not before I saw her throw her hands across her face and mumble some unintelligible words.
If that had been one of my sisters, I would’ve ragged on her for days, but I let it slide. This time.
Unfortunately for Kelsey, she was going to regret taking this job, because I didn’t need any help. Especially not from a temptress like her.
Chapter Five – Kelsey
Andrew had been grumpier than I anticipated when I arrived at the cute house Rory owned. But I understood—or at least tried to. I’d never been injured as badly as he had. As Owen described, Andrew had sustained an injury to his knee and back after being thrown off a horse, and he was lucky to be alive.
The doctor’s therapy orders went into more detail, describing the spinal bruising and patella dislocation. He was very lucky to not be paralyzed or dead.
Thankfully, I’d dealt with both injuries from players before, so I was familiar with the exercises needed to help Andrew heal. Before I packed up my things from my apartment to make my way to Ashfield, I phoned Jackson and let him know what I was doing and asked if he had any suggestions. He emailed over an extensive list of additional exercises to try, so I had plans to put Andrew through the ringer.
If he let me.
He’d holed himself up in the bedroom most of the evening, only allowing me to enter when dinner was ready. I tried to make light conversation with him while I sat in a chair in the corner of the room, but he only answered with grunts and groans. I left him, knowing I was going to give him one day to sulk in his misery, then tomorrow, he’d get a full workover by Sunshine Kelsey.
Heck, most people who’d gone through what I did with my job and ex-boyfriend would probably take more than a day to wallow in their misery right along with him. But I didn’t want to spend a single second thinking about either loss. The thing was,I wasn’t even mad at the team. They had their rules, and I broke them. I was livid at my ex. The bastard.
Groaning, I rolled over and came face-to-face with the back of the couch. It wasn’t the most comfortable piece of furniture, and I felt my neck muscles pull as I tried to sit up. I stayed up late watching a rerun ofFriendsand forgot to set up my air mattress to sleep on in the living room. When Rory mentioned the home only had one bedroom, I knew Andrew was going to want his space. I wasn’t going to be his favorite person when the rehab started, and he’d want to keep his distance. So, I packed up my bedding along with all the clothes I’d need, and on my trip here, I stopped and purchased a brand-new air mattress.
Now, I was regretting not taking the few minutes to set it up, as I tried to stretch and felt all my muscles tense. Glancing down, I realize I hadn’t even changed out of my clothes I’d worn all day yesterday.
