The Bull Rider's Homecoming by Allie Pleiter

Author:Allie Pleiter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

It was hard to see Luke again. He’d ruffled her composure so much back at the Red Boots, she wasn’t quite sure how she’d feel at his next therapy appointment. Today she wished his training was at the medical center, not the Blue Thorn where so many memories lurked.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Luke, ever the showman, didn’t look the slightest bit fazed when he met her at the guesthouse door. She knew better than to believe the facade—the connection they’d almost reforged at Red Boots was as strong for him as it was for her. He was just infinitely better at keeping it hidden. It gave him a decidedly unfair advantage.

She hugged her files like a shield. “Good morning to you, too. How’s the leg feeling?”

“Feeling,” he smirked. “And that’s a good thing. Glad to be hurting, you know?”

That was a dangerous subtlety. Neuropathy or paralysis patients often struggled with feeling whole again, and could turn pain—or the pursuit of it—into an obsession. The “if I hurt then I’m alive” mentality could take some people down a dangerous path. “You need to take this at a reasonable speed. Do you think you can do that, mister ‘let’s go two more levels until I’m thrown off’?”

“Hey,” he countered. “The whole thing was your idea. You had to know I’d do that.”

She had. She had known full well he’d run the risk of going beyond his abilities yesterday. Letting him go up to level five had been a calculated risk. He would have found a way to do it anyway. At least Red Boots was a controlled environment. Rodeo arenas weren’t padded; no bucking bull had an “off” switch. “Are you ready to work? I’ve come up with some new regimens now that we know how your leg behaves.” When Luke gave a “this ought to be fun” smirk, she cautioned, “This will hurt.”

He spread his hands wide. “Bring it on.”

Twenty minutes later, as sweat beaded off his forehead and grunts punctuated his every move, Luke lost his zeal. “You weren’t kidding.”

He was much easier to handle while he was taxed. He didn’t have enough energy to flirt, so they could keep to the task at hand. He waited until she announced the final set of exercises before mentioning, “Rachel is going to come watch Friday’s session.”

“Oh really? Quick left. Did it occur to you to ask me if this was okay by me? Right.” She’d been calling out sudden direction changes while he paced around the room, rebuilding his reflexes and muscle memory. “Backward, now slow to the right. Three more minutes.”

He stopped, pointing at her. “You’re punishing me,” he puffed, out of breath. It wasn’t a whine, it was a declaration.

“I’m treating you. Quick right. I’m sorry if it feels like punishment, but you’re the one who set the ambitious goal on the tight timeframe. Slow left.”

“It’s not the exercises, darlin’, it’s the attitude. You want me to hurt.” He’d stopped just short of saying “you want to hurt me,” but they both heard it in his voice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.