Merry with a Captain (Love Beach, Holiday Collection)

Chapter 12

12

H e waited in the same room he been seen in before and was told the physiotherapist would be in shortly. He half expected to get grief from Matthew for not doing the exercises he been told to do, and not being careful where he walked. His leg was aching more than it had in a while thanks to that trip down the dock.

Fletch shifted on the chair, trying to find a comfortable position when the door opened. He was about to greet Matthew, and when he looked up his jaw dropped. Robyn was in the doorway, and she looked just as shocked as he felt.

“What?” she said. “I, well, I guess this is later isn't it? What a surprise. I didn't know you were getting physiotherapy.” She sat at the desk beside his chair.

He was a little stunned and wasn’t sure what to think.

"You're the last person I expected to see. What happened to Matthew?" Fletch asked her.

"He's the reason I was called me back from Savannah. He left, leaving us short staffed.” She turned to the tablet and typed. “Let me bring up your file.”

"Well lucky for us he left, unlucky for your clinic,” Fletch commented and watched her read his chart. “Is this weird?"

"How do you mean, me being your physiotherapist? Or that this is another way we have bumped into each other?" She smiled and rolled her chair so she was in front of his knees.

"Both I guess."

“Well, ethically, I'm not supposed to treat you since we are in a relationship." She smiled at him. "So, that being said, after today, I will have to find you another physiotherapist."

He nodded. "I understand that."

"I've glanced your file, and I see that you had an injury. I’m impressed. You've done a really good job at hiding it from me. Normally I can pick up on issues, and there were a couple of times where I wondered if you had pain, but then you rolled right along."

"High pain tolerance." He smiled. "But, I did something this morning that seemed to stir it all back up again."

“Tell me. Stand up so I can see.” She stood, and he groaned as he got to his feet. “Eesh, I can see that. Okay come out here. I want to see you walk.”

She led the way from the exam room into a larger exercise area.

"Walk away from me and turn around and walk back. And don’t try to hide any pain or fix your gait. I need to see how you move."

He chuckled. “You want to see how I move huh, or is it just wanna stare at my ass?” He was careful to keep his voice low.

She glanced around, an alarmed look on her face. “Shh, and this is exactly why I can't treat you. Now, hush, and do as you're told."

“Sorry, I forgot.” He turned and did as she instructed, but this time he didn't try to hide his discomfort.

"Now back to me. Stand with your arms hanging loose at your side."

"Matthew didn't do much of this. He just wrenched my leg around,” he told her.

"Perhaps that's why he's no longer here. Now, I’m going to touch you so don't jump."

"I'm not sure why your touch would make me jump. But okay.” He stood with his arms relaxed at his side, and when she touched him, he didn't jump, but tingles rippled along his skin and goosebumps rose on his arms. This was different a touch than what he was used to. It was inquisitive with a gentle firmness. She manipulated areas of his back, and down to his hips.

"All right, let's go back in the room." Once inside, she indicated the bed. "Lay down your back."

Fletch didn't say anything and got into a comfortable position, raising his legs for her to put the triangle shaped pillow under his knees.

"I'm gonna raise the bed and start working on your leg and hip. Let me know if there's any pain.” She lifted his leg, and he held it up. "No, relax into me. Don't stiffen."

It was difficult for Fletch to relax his leg and let her take the weight of it. But when he did, he saw just how strong she is.

“Okay?” she asked.

Fletch nodded. “Yep, but it’s not too pleasant.”

"I know, I'll do some ultrasound work in a minute, but it's important that we work on your flexibility, balance, and agility. It could take a while, so you have to be patient.” She slowly lowered his leg on the table, removing the pillow. "On your side."

The next half hour she worked on him, and he thought he'd be bruised and battered, but he had to admit, it did begin to feel a bit better. He almost fell asleep when she did the ultrasound.

“Right, you're all done, so you can go out and make your next appointment. But it can't be with me. I regret it as much as you do, but we have rules.” She tossed the towel used to wipe off the gel into the basket.

“Will do. But I guess you could work on me outside of business hours?" He waggled his eyebrows, and she giggled.

"I'm sure we can arrange something. And you can bet you’ll be doing your exercises too!” She cleared off the table and disinfected the items that she used.

"What time are you off?” Fletch shrugged back into his coat.

"I've been asked to stay till closing, which is 8 PM." She didn't look too happy about that.

"Duty calls, it's fine. You don't have to stress it. We'll always have tomorrow. Do you have a ride back to the hotel?"

"Yes, my car is out back. I have a full day again tomorrow, and they're bringing in a replacement that they want me to train so I might have a few late nights. I'm sorry." She reached for his hand.

"I’m not going anywhere. But how about we plan to go to the tree lighting ceremony Friday night. Will that be a late night for you?" He pulled her towards him, happy that she let him do that. But she did glance out the door to see if anybody was watching.

"It's a half-day for me on Friday, and then I'm off for the weekend. So I'm all yours. But I'll expect to see you back in this office before the end of the week. It's important to keep up your therapy."

"I know, but not with you. I like that you'll be all mine from Friday afternoon." He leaned down to kiss her, knowing he'd have to keep it rather chaste, but that only heightened the sexual tension.