by Krista Lakes
You're a professional, Elsie, she thought to herself. It's work. Don't enjoy this too much.
“Comfy?” she asked, drawing in a breath to try to calm herself down a bit.
Oliver grunted an affirmative sound. Elsie approached him and dribbled a bit of the massage oil onto his back, then slowly rubbed it in. It only took a few moments to realize how tense his shoulders were, so she started her massage there.
It was hard for her not to enjoy the firmness of his muscles underneath her fingers. There was a reason he had all those sponsorships and ad campaigns selling things to women. He was incredibly sexy. Once again, she had to remind herself that he was a patient and that she couldn't allow herself to feel attracted to him.
But can I really help it? She thought. He's an attractive man. I'm allowed to think so, right? As long as I don't act on it, I can appreciate it, just as long as I stay professional.
Oliver lifted his head and turned to face her, his eyes squinting as the light hit them. “What did you say, Elsie?”
She froze, feeling her heart skip a beat.
Did I say that out loud? She asked herself. Oh God, please tell me that I didn't.
“Nothing,” she said, stuttering as she found her voice. “You're just really tense. Take a deep breath in and try to relax your muscles.”
Ollie put his face back down and let out a long breath. Elsie felt the difference in his muscles immediately. It seemed that he knew his body really well.
He must really know how to handle himself, she thought, but then stopped herself from going any further with that thought.
Her mind was heading in an unprofessional direction again, so she looked around for something that would pull her back into the right state of mind. She noticed Oliver's hair and for the first time saw that his roots were coming in. She remembered his beautiful dark hair from the search pictures.
“What are you planning on doing with your hair?” she asked.
His muscles tensed instantly. “Why do you ask?”
“Because your roots are coming in,” she said gently. “Why did you dye it?”
“So I won't be recognized as easily.” Oliver lifted a hand to touch his hair, as if his fingers could see the color shift. “I'll have to tell Nikki to fix it. She's back in California, so it'll be a little while before I can get it dyed again.”
Without even thinking about it, Elsie said, “I can help you fix it if you want.”
Crap, talk about being unprofessional, she thought, as soon as the words came out of her mouth.
Oliver lifted his head from the table and looked up at her. “Really?”
Elsie shrugged. “My mom was a hair dresser. I've picked up a few techniques over the years.”
Ollie brought his face back down once more and relaxed. “You know, that would be great, actually. Nikki really shouldn't have to worry about my hair anyway.”
Elsie found a big knot in Oliver's right shoulder. She focused the pressure there, applying her weight to try to work it out. As she did, she hoped that he'd keep on talking because it seemed to help distract her from his amazing body. For some reason, though, she didn't really want him to keep talking about Nikki and she wasn't sure exactly why.
“So, what does your mom do?” Elsie asked. “You've told me a lot about your brother, but nothing about your mom.”
Ollie chuckled and Elsie could feel it vibrate through her hands. “She's supposed to be retired, but she's one of those people who refuses to take it easy. So she spends most of her time volunteering with a cancer foundation near where she lives.”
Elsie nodded. She wasn't too surprised, given the story of his brother. If anything like that had ever happened to one of her sister's kids, she would have volunteered at a cancer foundation too.
“What did your mom do while you were growing up?” she asked.
“Everything,” Ollie stated, with no hesitation. “She did everything. She was a single mom with two sons. It wasn't uncommon for her to work three jobs, just to keep my brother and me fed and our health insurance paid up.”
“Wow, she sounds like a strong woman,” Elsie said, easing her weight a little harder onto the knot in Ollie's shoulder.
“She's the strongest woman I've ever know,” Ollie replied. He paused for a moment. “I think she'd like you.”
Her hands stalled for a moment. The compliment made her heart flutter and her stomach go bubbly. “Really?”
“You listen the same way that she does,” he said. “Even though she was working all the time while we were growing up, she always made us kids feel like we were the center of her world. You do that too.”
Elsie felt her face heat. She knew she was blushing, and felt grateful that Ollie couldn't see it. He had given her a high compliment, though. One that she wasn't expecting.
“Thank you,” she finally said.
Oliver's phone rang. The ringtone was one of her favorite country songs, which made Elsie smile. He slowly raised his head and reached into his pocket to the pull out the phone. “I need to take this call. It's Coach. Can we finish this massage up later?”
“Of course,” she said, taking a step back to grab a towel from her bag. “I was almost done anyway.”
She wiped the oil from her hands with the towel, as Oliver sat up on the massage table. Despite her will power, she was unable to maintain focus on his face. Her eyes drifted downward. His abs called out to her. And his muscular pecs and the firm ridges of his shoulders.
Good lord, I can see the jagged edge of his serratus anterior as perfectly as if I was looking at a text book right now, she thought, as a warm tingling sensation filled her.
“My eyes are up here,” Ollie joked.
Once again, Elsie felt as hot blood rushed to her cheeks from embarrassment.
“I, um, well,” she stuttered. “Sorry.”
Oliver just chuckled. Elsie spun around and put the oil back in her bag. By the time she turned back, Oliver had put a shirt on and she was grateful for it. He still looked like sex on a stick, but at least she could pretend to maintain some level of professional decorum.
“I'll see you soon, okay?” he said, as he lifted his phone to answer it.
“Sounds great,” she replied, picking up her bag and clipboard. “Should I bring some hair dye for next time? Maybe some bleach to match your current shade?”
Oliver pondered for a moment. “That's probably best. I guess I'll stick with the blond for a little longer.”
Elsie nodded, and Ollie's phone continued to ring. She didn't want to keep his coach waiting any longer.
“See you soon,” she said, spinning around toward the door.
She left the house quickly, overwhelmed with embarrassment. He'd caught her checking him out and she'd never felt more flustered in her life because of it. Luckily, the air outside was frigid. It was good, because her face felt like it was practically on fire.
This is not how I'm supposed to feel about a patient, she thought, starting her car. What is it about him that has me feeling this way?
Elsie didn't understand. She'd seen hundreds of ripped, muscular men. She'd done thousands of massages and never once had anything like this happened to her. Never before had she found one of them so attractive, or had the desire to run her hands over them just to feel their strength underneath.
Makes me wonder what it would feel like to have him run his hands down me, she thought, as the naughty side of her mind chimed in.
“What am I thinking?” she whispered, backing down the driveway. “This is insane.”
I'm a professional. I shouldn't even have an inkling of anything other than medical effectiveness while touching him, she thought to herself.
“Maybe it's nothing,” she said. “Yeah, it's probably nothing.”
Elsie did her best to justify her feelings. She told herself that Ollie was a good looking man and it was only natural for her to feel some kind of attraction toward him. Just because she was a medical professional, didn't mean that she had
to be a robot.
She stepped on the gas as soon as she pulled onto the County Road, pointing her car in the direction of home. She decided to shake it off and let the feelings go for the time being.
It's just one day, she thought. One event. Besides, it's not like he feels the same way about me. He's rich and famous and can have any girl he wants. I'd be kidding myself if I thought a guy like him would be interested in a small town farm girl like me. Especially one who is supposed to be a professional.
She continued her drive home, hoping that these sexual feelings toward Oliver were just a phase that would soon pass.
I'll get past this, she thought. I'm sure by the time the next session comes around, I'll have forgotten all about the way he made me feel when he was shirtless.
She stepped a little harder on the gas as she remembered the way he'd felt under her fingers.
God, I hope so anyway.
Chapter 8
Ollie
Outside, the wind was howling with a spring blizzard. The single-pane glass windows in the old farmhouse were showing their age, rattling to the cadence of the blizzard and sending icy air into the room. Oliver laid under the covers of his bed, wrapping himself like a burrito to stay warm. The furnace was on, but hardly did anything to take the edge off of the cold. The wind just sucked any heat right out of the house. It wasn't just the wind, though, that made the house feel cold.
This place is just too empty, he thought. It needs some plants or pictures on the wall or something to make it feel like an actual home.
The place felt more like a doctor's office than a house to Oliver. Especially at night. The medical equipment that was everywhere only added to this. Looming in every corner was at least one item that reminded him of why he was there in the first place. It actually felt kind of creepy being there all alone. It was like something out of a bad dream.
His stomach rumbled, loud enough so that he could actually hear it over the whistling wind outside.
“And of course now I'm hungry,” he said, rubbing his belly and pouting.
He hadn't eaten much for lunch and now it was dinner time. But his knee was throbbing with the storm, and the pain medication hadn't kicked in yet. The last thing he felt like doing was getting up and trying to figure out something to cook in the kitchen. But he had to eat. Elsie had made that clear to him and he took her advice very seriously.
Elsie, he thought. Maybe I should call her up and see if she'd come over. She mentioned that Thai Chili Pizza. And just today, she talked about helping me bleach my hair.
Just the idea of seeing her again made him feel a little better. He was admittedly lonely and Elsie's company would have put his mind at ease. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his cell phone. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should really be calling her for anything that wasn't medical related.
My mental health has to be taken care of too, right? He thought. I think I can spin this as medically related. At least enough so that it fits into her contract.
With that, he opened up his contact list on his phone. He was about to hit Elsie's number, when Nikki called. The phone rang loudly and startled him, causing him to nearly drop it.
“Jesus,” he whispered, feeling his heart beat in his chest. “Scared the crap out of me.”
It reminded him of when he and Nikki were dating. She'd always manage to call at the worst times. It was like a gift of hers, an innate ability to interrupt things. The phone continued to ring in his hand and he looked at the screen, wondering if he should even answer.
It's late, so I doubt she's calling for business reasons, he thought. She's going crazy, I think. I don't know if she fully understands that we aren't together any more. If she wasn't the best in the business, I'd let her go, but I can't. I guess I should answer.
“Screw it,” he whispered, before answering the call. “Hello?”
“Hey, Ollie,” Nikki said, sounding more chipper than the last time they spoke.
“Hi,” he said, sinking into the pillows. “What's up?”
“You doing okay?” she asked.
“I'm fine,” he replied. “Just relaxing. What about you? You don't usually call this late.”
“I was just sitting here thinking about you,” she replied. “Remember when we took that trip to Paris?”
“Yes, of course I remember,” he said, unsure why she was bringing it up. “What made you think about that?”
“I started going through old pictures. I found a few of you and I. They were the ones that were taken in front of the Eiffel Tower,” she said.
Oliver recalled the trip, which they had taken about a year before. He had surprised her with it, back when Nikki was his world and he'd do anything in his power to make her happy. He figured a trip to Paris would do the trick, and it did. For the most part anyway. He spent an insane amount of money on her, bought her expensive dresses and purses, and even paid for a private tour of the Eiffel Tower.
I guess we really had chemistry back then, he thought. Too much chemistry, really.
Nikki and Oliver had the volatile kind of chemistry. The kind that blows up and leaves the earth scorched. It had made for a passionate love life, but nothing comes without a price. And that price was usually paid in emotionally charged arguments. It hadn't been long before they mutually decided to end it and just maintain a business relationship.
“That was a pretty fun trip,” Ollie admitted. He frowned as he remembered the end of the trip. “Everything except the part where you threw a glass at my head on the way home. You remember that? You thought I was going to propose to you and I didn't. I still don't think that justified having a wine glass shattered against my skull.”
“We were in Paris, Oliver,” she said, her voice harsh. “You'd taken me to the City of Love as a surprise. What was I supposed to think?”
“That we'd only been dating for two months,” he said, shaking his head. “It was a little too soon for marriage.”
Looking back, Ollie realized that those two months had been some of the longest months in his entire life. Being with Nikki had been exhausting. It was just too much effort to be her boyfriend. When they weren't talking business or making love, they were fighting. It was so much different than his interactions with Elsie. The complete opposite, really.
At least my conversations with Elsie are relaxing and fun, he thought. I'm actually sad when she leaves to go home. With Nikki, it had always been a relief. I wish I was talking to Elsie right now instead.
“I guess you're right, Ollie,” Nikki said, her tone going sweet and soft. “You're always right. Two months of dating might have been a little soon to expect a proposal. I don't know what I was thinking when I hoped that the man I loved would want to be with me forever.”
He cringed, as Nikki attempted to lay a guilt trip on him. There was nothing he hated more than the passive aggressive guilt that she used to manipulate him. The thing he hated most about it was that it actually sometimes worked. He felt like banging his head against the wall and he might have, if he'd been able to walk that far. For a moment, he considered hanging up on her but knew that it wouldn't do any good. She'd just call back again.
“Nikki, is this why you called? To try to make me feel bad?” Ollie asked. “I don't need this right now. I was just about to watch some TV and try to relax. I had a long day of physical therapy and I'm exhausted. If I can't help you with anything that's business related right now, then I need to go.”
“Oh, we're only doing business now, huh?” she asked, her words filled with sarcasm. “And here I was, thinking we were friends.”
Anger and annoyance bubbled up into Oliver's gut. She was pushing his buttons, just like she used to. She wanted a response from him. She wanted to get him mad. But he didn't give her that. Instead, he bit his tongue.
“What do you want Nikki?” he asked as gently as possible. “I'm not feeling very well right now.”
“I was talking with Coach,” Nikki said, forced to change the
subject when her guilt trip didn't pan out as expected. “He thinks that once you reach the twelve week mark, and once a week physical therapy sessions, then you should definitely come back home. I've already lined up several functions. Your team will be waiting for you.”
Oliver rolled his eyes. Just the thought of attending those functions and getting bombarded with crazed fans made him exhausted. But if she'd already booked them, then there really wasn't too much that he could do about it.
“Anything else, Nikki?” he asked, his eyes half closed.
“Yes, actually,” she said. “I want you to change your physical therapist. I've already done the research and found a great one. His name is James Weaver. According to his website, he was able to get a professional football player back up to playing speed in just nine months. And that player had an injury that was worse than yours. I'm sure that with a little financial incentive, I can get him to go out to Iowa and work with you. You wouldn't even have to move from where you are now.”
Oliver sat up in the bed, leaning against the headboard. “Wait a damn minute, Nikki. You want me to fire my current therapist, who is doing a really great job, on the hope that this James Weaver would want to fly to Iowa for a PT job?”
“Yes,” she said, bold through every word. “I guess that is what I'm proposing.”
“Why?” Ollie asked, trying to keep his anger in check.
“To be honest, I like that he's a man,” she replied. “You should have men around you, not women. I'm sure this Elsie is a fine therapist, but I question if she's capable of giving you the treatment that you need. I just wonder if she's really up to the task.”
“You're the one that picked her out,” Ollie said, bringing his hand to his forehead in frustration. “You're the one that thought she would be perfect for this. She's a physical therapist with sports medicine training, who has experience working with patients who have undergone an ACL repair. She also didn't know who I was and was far enough out of the public eye for me to be able to handle this recovery effectively. Elsie checked all of those boxes perfectly and now you're changing your mind?”