Perfectly Ms. Matched(28)
“You wouldn’t flop your legs across any other PT’s lap while wearing just a towel, would you?”
Jo set the beer down on the coffee table. Alcohol wasn’t going to help her resist him. Especially when he acted like such a responsible parent. That had surprised her from the beginning. Something about that behavior made it even harder to stay angry at him.
With his eyes still closed, he grinned. “Not if you were a guy. Who knows otherwise? Other women have mentioned they actually enjoy laying their hands all over me.”
Jo grunted. It’d probably be quicker to examine his damned knee and get it over with. She ran her hand across the swollen flesh. “You mean like the women just out for your money? I bet they tell you all sorts of nice things. You’re just a big marshmallow covered in muscles.”
He laughed. “Tell anyone else that and I’ll sue you for slander. I have an image to maintain.”
“You couldn’t sue me, because it’s true.” She shook her head at the new damage he’d cause his knee. “You’ll have to take a break for a few days to let this heal. Did you look at the video montage I sent you from our workouts?”
He opened his eyes and nodded. “Thanks for doing that. Sometimes it’s hard to know if I’m making progress, but it showed I really am.”
“Were, making progress is more like it. This new injury is a setback, for sure. No more boneheaded moves like that again, please. Now move it. I’m going home.”
He stared intently into her eyes. “That’s the Jo I miss. The one who smiles at me while calling me a bonehead. It’s nice to have you back.”
Her first instinct was to tell him she wasn’t back at all, but something had changed between them tonight. “I’m tired of being angry with you, Chad. What’s in our past is done. But that doesn’t mean I want to be more than just your PT.”
“I’ll take being friends. You’ll still come to the ranch tomorrow, right?”
She started to decline, but then remembered she promised Ryan she’d see him tomorrow and bring him a book. Then, on top of it all, there was a baby horse. That was tough to resist. And she really did miss his mother.
Or was she just trying to fool herself? A sick part of her was dying to meet the woman Chad had married. “What time should I meet you there?”
He smiled and swung his legs off her. “We’ll pick you up at ten, if that works for you?”
She stood and grabbed her bag. “Should I assume you know where I live because it used to be Shelby’s house?”
“Yep.” He joined her by the elevator. “My mom said she was going to make her famous chili and corn bread. Just for you.”
“You love it too, and probably asked for that just to make it that much harder for me to say no, didn’t you?”
He held up his hands. “Guilty as charged. I really appreciate you doing this, Jo.” He leaned closer, like he wanted to kiss her.
Luckily, the elevator doors parted, so she hitched up her bag and hopped inside. “Yeah, well, I let some touching happen tonight because I felt bad about poking you at the restaurant. Tomorrow we’re back to the strike system.”
“Understood.” He crossed his arms and nodded. “But I’m curious. Have you poked all the other guys you’ve dated?”
“No. You’re re the only one who brings that out in me. I can’t figure out why. Other than you seem to know how to push my buttons like no one else.”
When the door started to close, he leaned his good shoulder against it to stop it. “Maybe I push your buttons to prove you can’t hide from me. I get you, Jo. Like no other man ever will. Because you won’t let him in and risk being hurt again. Admit it.”
“Suddenly you’re an expert on love? When those other women fooled you and used you for your money? I don’t think so, Chad.”
“It was only money that I lost to those other women, Jo. I never gave any of them my heart. Because it still belongs to you.” He stepped backward out of the doorway.
Just as the doors started closing, she said, “Actions speak so much louder than empty words, Chad. Night.” The doors slid shut, and she started her slow descent.
She closed her eyes and laid her head against the back wall. It’d been a crap day all around. A lousy date, who, on paper, should have been right for her, Chad bringing up Bryce, the heartbreak of watching poor Ryan missing his mother, and then, when she was at her weakest, the man went and threw out that his heart still belonged to her, dammit.
The best thing she could do was fix his knee and send him back to his beloved football. The worst thing she could do was let his pretty eyes and killer smile make her do something dumb again.