Page 17 of Blade
She nodded and took a sip of her water. “So, what have you been doing with all this free time during football season?”
“Not much, but the Bucks have a home game on Thursday. Coach wants me to—”
“Don’t you dare set foot on the field.” Her body went rigid, and a small fire burned in her gut. She’d physically stop him if need be. There was no way in hell she was letting him get back in the game. “I won’t sign off on it, Robert. I will call that coach of yours and personally tell him—”
“Whoa.” He smiled at her feisty reply and held up his palm to calm her. “I have no intention of playing. And Coach would never allow me to get back in the game before I’m ready. What I was going to say was, I’m going to sit on the bench and watch the game. I want to know if you want to come. I can’t sit with you in the stands, but I can get you a primo ticket.”
“Oh.” Her posture relaxed, and she settled back in her seat, her cheeks tinging with embarrassment at the way she overreacted. “Sorry. You scared me there for a minute. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Me neither.” He patted his thigh. “I need this leg to be fully healed before I get back in the game.”
“Good,” she agreed on an exhale.
“So, do you want to come to the game?”
She wanted to jump at the chance to see the New Jersey Bucks at a home game. She wanted to snatch up the offer of that ticket and cheer like a lunatic for her favorite team and her favorite player at her favorite stadium. But she gracefully declined. “I can’t make it. But thank you for the invitation. Maybe another time.”
Disappointment deflated him and robbed some of the light from his beautiful blue eyes and his happy expression dimmed.
He thought she didn’t want to go, and it made her sad. “I want to,” she said, softly. “It’s just that I have work to do.”Liar.
He didn’t respond, and she knew he didn’t believe her. The rejection she read in his eyes broke her heart. She wanted to give him a hug and apologize. Besides it being inappropriate, he wouldn’t understand, so she touched his knee instead. “I really want to go. I hope you’re not upset. I promise to watch it though.” She smiled and tilted her head. “The Bucks are my favorite team, and their star offensive lineman is my favorite player.”
His face perked up and his entire body reacted as if jolted with a surge of energy. His eyes shot to her hand, still on his knee, and she immediately withdrew it.
“Go home and get some rest,” she said. “We have a long week ahead of us.”
Friday brought Robert to his last therapy session. He hated that he wouldn’t be spending a few hours a day with Amber on a regular basis any longer, but it opened a door to the future. Goodbye Dr. Morgan.HelloooAmber. He was flying high, wearing a goofy smile, while he jogged on the treadmill and thought about moving on toward a personal relationship with her.
“You’ve made great progress, Mr. Blade,” one of the assistants commented as he passed Robert.
“Thanks.” Robert turned his head in the assistant’s direction and found Amber walking straight toward him.
She stopped in front of the treadmill and watched Robert’s legs as he jogged.
He knew she was probably only observing the fluidity of his stride, but her eyes were glued to his legs, and he suddenly felt full of machismo. Too humble to boast his physical attributes, he never showed off. Until today. He had no idea what came over him as he ripped off his hoodie to expose his loose-fitting tank top. The arm holes practically came down to his waist, and the neckline hung low enough for a nip slip every time he moved. It had the exact reaction he hoped for.
Heads snapped in his direction. The receptionist, who was giving out water bottles, almost fell over her feet as she came to an abrupt stop. He didn’t care about any of them, though. His gaze was riveted on Amber. Because her gaze was riveted on him. Her pastel eyes were huge saucers, and her sweetheart lips parted slightly. She scanned his chest and arms with the same open-mouthed expression.
It was fuel to his inflated ego. His legs moved faster, bringing his knees higher and flexing his quads, which bulged under his tight athletic shorts. With his fists clenched, he pumped his forearms, purposely flexing his biceps. If it weren’t for the insane smile spread across his face, it might not look like he was showing off. “Like what you see?” he asked.
The seductive expression on Amber’s face vanished in an instant, and an eye roll took its place. But he saw the corners of her mouth curl before she turned and walked in the opposite direction.
Robert couldn’t help the laugh that burst from his lungs. He dropped his hands to the frame of the treadmill and resumed a more normal pace as his chin fell into his chest, and he laughed heartily, until he looked up at Amber. She was still walking across the room and his gaze landed on her legs. He watched the back of her calves and the way the muscles flexed as she walked in her black pumps. Most men fell into two categories when it came to their preferred female body parts, but Robert had always been different. He loved the nape of a woman’s neck, the inside of her elbow, and the beautiful span of her collarbone. The bend of the knee and shapely curve of the back of the calf were things he never noticed before. Now, he lusted after the sexy patch of bare skin between Amber’s knees and her ankles more and more with each step she took. His heartrate skyrocketed again. Not from the spike in activity, but from a surge of adrenaline at the sight of her from behind, and he had to remind himself to slow down.
An hour and a half later, he completed the day’s regime and was left only with twenty minutes of thermal ultrasound. He honestly never felt better, physically and mentally.
“Did you catch last night’s game?” he asked, hoping she wasn’t just appeasing him when she said she’d be watching.
“I did. And the camera spotted you. The announcer even commented that everyone was waiting for your return to the game.”
“Really?” Robert hadn’t known his face was on TV. It proved that the cameras picked up everything.
“Yes. And I saw you jump to your feet when Lewinski took the ball from Baltimore.” She shook her head. “My heart lurched. For you,” she clarified. “Not the Bucks. How did it feel to make a sudden movement like that? Any pain or weakness?”
“No. None.” He remembered jumping to his feet twice in the first quarter and realized his leg had zero lingering effects from the injury.
“I’m glad.”
