Page 15 of Irresistibly Risky

“Is that tender too?” Her voice comes out airy, and I wonder if she’s feeling this the way I am. I hope she is.

“Not as bad as the first spot.”

She nods, and then she’s done, her hands are gone, and her expression is stoic.

“Your strength and range of motion are better than I would have anticipated given what the films show. That’s good news for you. I’ll need you to come to my office on Monday for a presurgical interview.”

“No,” Joe cuts in sharply. “That has to be done here.”

She is not happy about that, and her expression lets him know it. “You do understand I can’t do his surgery here. He will have to come to the hospital.”

“Yes, but Limbick already promised me the earliest surgery time possible, an empty floor, and a private entrance,” he counters. “I want to minimize possible exposure to the press as much as possible.”

She grits her teeth and then turns back to me. “Fine. I’ll be back here Monday morning. Now, I’d like a private moment with my patient.”

Joe leaves the room, and so does the trainer, and suddenly it’s just us again. This is not the time to tell her how we’ve already met. Especially while she’s planning to cut into my shoulder. I sit here, my shirt still off, my eyes totally, completely, irrevocably on her.

“You can get dressed now,” she instructs me, but I don’t because she’s looking at my chest. At my shoulders and biceps. At my abs as I sit up straight and they naturally flex.

“You should come back tomorrow,” I offer instead, because Monday feels too far away, and I want to see her again.

Her head tilts. “Why should I do that?”

“So you can see how I throw the ball. So you can watch me play and figure out how best to fix me.” Makes total sense to me.

She scowls, shifting her weight. “I don’t want to be here anymore than I have to.”

“Then consider it part of your job, Doctor. From my understanding, you’re not just my doctor; you’re the team doctor now.”

Her eyes narrow into tight slits as anger visibly takes over her body. She doesn’t like that. Not one bit. “Fine,” she clips out. “I’ll be here tomorrow to see how you throw the ball and understand better where your deficits are.”

“Can the surgery wait until the end of the season?”

“You tell me, player,” she tosses back at me. “From what I saw, your MRI is a nightmare. From what I just examined, you’ve managed to compensate quite well for your injuries.”

I grit my teeth and turn away from her. I’m stuck in a tough spot. If I don’t have the surgery and I suck because I’m not in top form, Coach will bench me and put in the kid. If I have the surgery, then the season belongs to the kid.

I have a serious decision to make.

I turn back to her. “Will you watch me play and give me your honest thoughts?”

She shrugs. “I have no frame of reference when it comes to football. That’s a decision for you and your coach to make. Not me. I just give you the medical facts as I see them.”

“I don’t want you to cut into my body when you hate me.”

She emits a resigned sigh, or a heavy breath, or whatever that is. All I know is this is the first she’s softened since I found her in the bathroom earlier today. “I don’t hate you.”

“Then what is this to you? Because to me, it’s my career.”

She drops onto the stool and peers up at me. “This is a nightmare. It’s not something I want to be a part of. That said, I’d never cut into anyone without the intention of fixing them completely and giving my full focus to their case. My anger with your coach or even with you will not interfere with your surgery.”

“Why do you hate Coach?”

“Personal business that’s none of yours. The reason I wanted you alone is because I’m curious why you never had surgery on this shoulder before.”

I lean forward, my hands dangling between my parted thighs. Close enough that our faces are only inches apart, and it makes her breath catch. Yet she doesn’t pull back, and she doesn’t break eye contact.

“I don’t like doctors, other than my best friend, of course. But anytime someone I know has gone to see one of you, they’re either cut open, diagnosed with some seriously scary shit, or something vital is missed and they die.”

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