Tempted by Her Single Dad Boss by Annie O'Neil

Author:Annie O'Neil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-11T13:31:44+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I DON’T THINK he’s ready.”

Maggie dug her heels in. “I think he can handle it.”

Nothing like a stand-off with the boss about a patient to test the whole Let’s see how we work together thing. Especially when all Maggie could think about was kissing him.

It had been nearly seventy-two hours since she’d arrived on the island—not that she was counting—and still her lips were reliving those kisses as if they’d just parted.

She scrunched the thoughts into a corner of her brain and tried again. “This is why you hired me, remember? To do equine therapy.”

Alex’s body language screamed defensiveness. Arms crossed, posture ramrod straight, green eyes at half-mast. She got it. His clinic. His ground-breaking methods. His rules. And yet...she still wanted to reach out to him. Touch him. Soothe away his rigid my-way-or-the-highway vibe. Show him she had a different way of looking at things that could bring out something new in a patient.

They opted for a staring contest.

Had she noticed how long and jet black his lashes were before?

Damn long and inky black was the answer to that one.

She mirrored his own body language to see if that helped.

“No horses. Not today.”

Okay, so that hadn’t worked. She dropped the crossed-arms pose. Even when he was telling her no his voice was lovely. Like a late-night radio chat show host who lulled you to sleep.

She put on her best professional voice to try another tack to make her point. “In my opinion, I think the patient is best served if we approach their weak points head on. Getting Mark out to the barn is a great way to do that.”

“Mark has plenty of things to work on in the ability lab.”

Alex’s program was great. No surprise there. The thing was, she found it much easier to get a read on a patient’s emotional well-being if she saw them interact with the horses. The four-legged therapists had a sixth sense about people and the way they responded to a patient and vice versa revealed much more than a simple sit-down chat could.

She swallowed the slew of examples she wanted to parade in front of Alex and put on a smile instead. He liked facts. Order. “So. What we’ve got here is an army veteran. Retired, disabled at thirty-five with PTSD. But that’s not why he’s here. He’s recovering from a stroke and is learning to walk again. Hopefully without the double set of canes that he is currently using.”

“Which is why he should be heading over to the walking lab.” Alex made one of those faces that said he was obviously in the right.

“Absolutely. But...” she brandished her index finger “...not until I observe him with a horse.”

“For what purpose?”

“A number of things. I want to see if he will take the opportunity to walk there for one. If getting out of the hospital and into a barn is a big enough incentive. Two, in the lab he’s going to be on high alert. Anxious. He’s got depression, right?”

Alex nodded.

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