Taking Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy Book 1)

by Wild, Nikki

  When I found out she didn’t have a date to the prom, I asked her to go with me. I was falling for her hard.

  I didn’t care what any of my friends thought about it.

  Maisey wasn’t one of the cool kids.

  But to me, she was better than all of them.

  I’d looked forward to that night so much.

  “Do you remember standing me up for prom?” I asked, staring at her back. It was a nice view. Where she was all angles and sharp turns before, she’d become curvy and feminine. Her shoulders stiffened at my mention of prom, but she still didn’t turn around.

  “Standing you up? I don’t think we ever really set anything in stone, did we?” she asked, finally turning around and looking at me again.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not. Seriously, Mr. Collins, I don’t remember much from high school. It was a long time ago.”

  “Not that long. For fuck’s sake…” I muttered. “Call me Jesse.”

  “Right. Jesse,” she nodded. “Now, about your treatment plan…”

  She rattled on and on about torn ligaments and the importance of keeping my knee active by exercising it, but I wasn’t really listening.

  I was thinking back to that night so long ago. I’d never been so humiliated in my life when she’d stood me up. My friends never let me live it down. The jock of all jocks being stood up by the nerdy girl from biology class… Some of those bastards still liked to bring it up every now and then when they were particularly hell-bent on ribbing me and running low on material.

  “Don’t look like she’s showing up,” Tom, the manager of the gas station said. I’d been sitting on the hood of my cherry red Ford Mustang waiting for Maisey to show up for half an hour already. The sweltering heat was punctuated by the bow tie that was practically strangling me while I waited.

  Maisey had insisted I meet her at the gas station instead of picking her up at home. I’d protested, we’d argued about it, and she won. I checked my watch again before jumping back in my car and heading to her house anyway.

  When I’d gotten there, I found the front door wide open and Clyde passed out on the couch. I was dying of thirst because of the heat, and after calling Maisey’s name, I went to the fridge and opened it, hoping for a bottle of water or something.

  Instead, I found Maisey’s note saying she’d left. I walked into her room and saw that everything had been cleared out, except that one white dress hanging in the empty closet like a scene from a bad movie.

  I’d gone to the prom alone, been crowned King and at the last minute, in Maisey’s absence, the Student Council had finally decided to make Barbara Simmons, the head cheerleader, into Prom Queen. I’d endured countless questions that I didn’t have the answers to, so I told everyone the joke was on them, that I never meant to take Maisey Jayne, of all people, to the prom.

  I told them I wanted to go alone, that it was a joke all along, just to save face.

  But inside? I was dying of embarrassment. The goddamned King doesn’t go to prom alone…

  I’d never heard another word from Maisey, but after thinking about it for years, I’d come to the conclusion that she left for reasons that had nothing to do with me. Hell, if I lived in that shitty trailer, I’d have left too.

  “Rehabilitation will be extensive and frankly, exhausting. In addition to traditional methodologies, we’ll be doing acupuncture, aquatic therapy, cold-laser therapy —,” she was still rattling on, and now I was staring back at her, studying her to see how she’d changed.

  As far as I could tell, the years had been good to her.

  Real good.

  “Are you married?” I interrupted.

  “What?” she asked, her eyes widening.

  “I was just wondering what happened to you. You disappeared off the face of the Earth, embarrassed the hell out of ol’ teenaged me, and I never heard from you again. What have you been doing with yourself?”

  “Oh. Well, this is it,” she replied. “Been going to school, trying to become the best PT I can be.”

  “You must be great if you’re working here.”

  “I try.”

  “So, you’ll be working with me? The whole time?” I asked.

  “Yes, Mr. Collins,” she nodded.

  “Maisey, stop calling me Mr. Collins, for fuck’s sake.” I wanted to remind her that my cock had been inside of her, but I refrained, because she was so uptight that she’d probably explode.

  “Right. Sorry. Jesse,” she replied.

  “Looks like we’re going to get a lot of time to get reacquainted, huh?” I asked, my eyes raking over her curves.

  “Look, Jesse. I’m here to help you get better,” she snapped. “That’s all. We don’t need to waste time talking about the past.”

  “Wow, you’ve become quite serious, haven’t you?” I mused. I could have sworn I saw a slight blush creep into her cheeks, and it surprised me how much it pleased me that I’d gotten to her, even if it was a small victory.

  “I take my job very seriously. Let’s just get started, shall we?” she said, clipping her words.

  “Sure, baby, whatever you want.”

  “Don’t call me baby. Please.” She turned around and put her hand on the door handle, before turning back to me. “Actually, Mr. Coll — Jesse — I’m going to need to do an exam. Please take off your clothes and put on the gown lying there on the chair. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  She was gone before I could comment, which was too bad because I really wanted to make a joke about her asking me to get naked. Instead, my laughter echoed behind her in the empty room.

  Maybe this rehab thing wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

  MAISEY

  “I don’t understand the problem, Maisey,” Larry said, his voice growing increasingly full of annoyance. This was the third time I’d asked him to take me off Jesse’s case.

  “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I have. I don’t think I’ll be able to do the best job for him.”

  “That’s nonsense. You’re the best in your field. You’ve brought athletes back from worse injuries, you’ll be just fine. I don’t know why you’re so upset about this,” he said, shaking his head, “any other woman would be jumping at the chance to work on Jesse Colorado’s body.”

  “Larry, that’s so unprofessional,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

  “We’ve already established I’m not the most professional guy in the building, haven’t we?”

  I sighed, completely defeated. There’s no way in hell I was going to tell Creepy Larry why I didn’t want to spend another minute in the room with Jesse.

  “Alright, fine, then I don’t want to be alone in the room with him.”

  “What? Why not? Are you afraid he’s going to assault you or something? That seems out of character. Maisey, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

  “No! No I’m not afraid of him, I just - just - oh god, never mind, Larry.”

  “Well, you know we’re short-handed. I don’t really have anyone I can spare for the long sessions he’s going to require, and there isn’t a damn person in the building better suited to making Jessie ready for the next football season. In fact, I’m taking you off all your other cases, so you can focus on him. You’re going to have to just buck up and handle this, Maisey. Can you do that?”

  “Yeah,” I relented, sighing again.

  “Maisey, when I hired you last year, I had the utmost confidence you were the right person for this job,” he said, peering into my eyes. “I hope you don’t make me regret that decision.”

  Fuck! Maisey’s face flashed in my head, reminding me that I couldn’t afford to lose this job.

  “No, Larry, it’s fine. I’ll deal with it. Forget I said anything, okay?”

  “Good,” he nodded, “make sure you do the best job you can, Maisey,” his voice growing serious. “A lot is riding on this. Not to pressure you, but bringing the golden boy of Colorado back to full form could bring us a lo
t of great press.”

  “I understand,” I nodded, standing to leave as I hid my shaking hands from his view. I had to figure this one out by myself. I had no choice.

  And I knew, after my brief visit with him earlier, that Jesse wasn’t going to make it easy on me.

  I walked back to his room, determined to keep my guard up, no matter how much he tried to penetrate it.

  I knew how he worked. He’d worked his charms on me once before, but I wasn’t going to let it happen again.

  I nodded to the big guy he’d called Grady who was still standing outside of his door like a pit-bull on guard duty and knocked quietly on Jesse’s door and walked in. He was standing by the window leaning on his crutches with his back to me, looking out the window.

  The hospital gown opened in the back, giving me a perfect view of his bare ass.

  “Oh!” I said, turning around quickly and covering my eyes. “You should have left your underwear on! I’m sorry, I guess I should have said that.”

  “I don’t wear underwear,” he said, “unless I’m on the field.”

  “Please turn around,” I asked, shaking my head as I stared at the wall and feeling a wave of heat rise to my cheeks.

  “Already did,” he replied.

  Slowly, I looked over my shoulder, just to make sure he wasn’t lying. He’d sat down on the treatment table, his long bare legs hanging over the side.

  “Okay,” I said, turning to face him. “Next time, you should wear comfortable clothes, work out clothes, or something you can move around in, and um…underwear.”

  “I came here straight from the hospital,” he shrugged, flashing those blue eyes at me. It was so hard to look right into them.

  They were so blue, so familiar. Too familiar.

  “Okay, so today I’m going to do an exam and we’ll go over your treatment plan,” I said, getting right to business and picking up the clipboard I’d left lying on the counter earlier. I buried my nose in it and kept going, full steam ahead. The faster I finished this, the faster I could get out of here. “I’ll have some questions for you. Let me know if you have any for me.”

  “I already did,” he said, a crooked smile spreading across his handsome face. He was so much more handsome than I remembered. And even better looking than he was on television. He’d filled out, turned into a man. He wasn’t that same cocky lanky teen that he’d been back then. Now, he was a cocky, ripped, muscled masterpiece.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “I asked you a question. I asked if you were married. You didn’t answer. I don’t see a ring, so I’m guessing not.”

  “Oh!” I replied. “Right. No, not married.”

  “A girl like you? I can’t believe you’re single.”

  “So,” I said, completely ignoring his comment. “You were hit by a car going how fast?”

  “I was told the asshole was going about 35 miles per hour around the corner.”

  “And the impact was completely on your left side?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “Boyfriend?”

  “What?” I asked, looking up from my clipboard.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” he said. His hair fell over his forehead and I couldn’t help but stare at it, wonder how soft it would be if I reached out to touch it.

  “Mr. Collins, I —,” I began.

  “—Jesse! Come on, Maisey, you act like we barely know each other!”

  “Jesse. I’m not here to answer personal questions. I meant, you can ask me anything about the treatment plan, or the services we provide here. I’m not at liberty to discuss my personal life.”

  “At liberty? God, Maisey, when did you become so uptight?” he asked.

  “I’m not uptight!” I demanded.

  “Sure, whatever,” he replied. “So you aren’t going to tell me if you have a boyfriend? Maybe you have a girlfriend?” he winked.

  “No!” I replied, doing my damnedest not to get flustered. “I don’t think those questions are appropriate.”

  “Okay, I get it, you’re at work. You’re obviously very driven. You don’t want to fuck up your good job, I get it. I can respect that. How about we get a drink later tonight? Catch up on old times?” he flashed that grin at me again and I averted my eyes as fast as I could. If I didn’t see it, I couldn’t be affected by it, right? Wrong. My knees were quivering at this point and my hands were shaking even more than they had been in Larry’s office earlier.

  “No, that won’t be - no, thank you, Jesse.” I shook my head vigorously.

  “Wow, you’re a tough sell, aren’t you?” he murmured.

  “Back to you,” I said, my voice annoyingly high-pitched and squeaky. I cleared my throat and started again, flipping through his chart so I could keep avoiding those eyes. “Your injuries are listed here. Torn ACL in the left knee, severe contusion of the upper thigh, hip and lower back, and - um - and —,” I stuttered, blinking at the words in front of me. This couldn’t be right.

  “And a groin sprain,” he finished for me, opening his thighs wide on the table and pointing between his legs at his very naked genitalia. My heart skipped a beat and I swallowed hard and nodded, looking away as fast as I could.

  “Right. A severe groin sprain.”

  “Does it say it’s severe?” he asked. “It feels severe. It’s all swollen and bruised. You should take a closer look,” he said, spreading his legs wider and laying back on the bed, completely exposing his entire package.

  I couldn’t believe him. Did I want to take a closer look? I never wanted to look away…

  “I’m being serious here Maisey. If we’re going to have a doctor patient relationship I need you to look at this groin sprain.”

  “No, that’s fine, you can um…you know what?” I asked. “I think we’re done here for the day. I’ve got a list of all your issues, I’ll take a look and tomorrow we’ll start fresh after I develop a more extensive treatment plan for you.”

  His laughter was mocking, but I ignored it, saying a little silent prayer that he’d closed his legs and sat up before I looked at him again.

  “You sure? You didn’t really examine me.”

  “That’s okay. I can get everything I need from your hospital records for now.”

  “If you say so…” he said. “You’re the expert.”

  “Yes, I do,” I nodded, forcing myself to look back at him, making sure to only look him in the eye this time.

  “I have complete confidence we can restore your knee to its full potential. Tonight, I want you to stay off of it and keep it elevated as much as possible. Tomorrow, we’ll start some gentle stretching and electrical stimulation.”

  “Sounds kinky,” he joked, winking at me suggestively.

  “No, actually electrical stimulation is a type of electric current therapy that has proven to be eff—,” I began.

  “I know what electric stim is, Maisey,” he replied. “It was a joke.”

  “Oh, right,” I replied. “A joke.”

  I tore my gaze away from his again. This was all too much to take in all at once.

  Jesse Colorado was a man best experienced in small doses. For me, even the most minuscule exposure was threatening to take me down. I had my job cut out for me, that’s for sure.

  “Jesse,” I continued, turning away and heading for the door, “thank you for choosing Steadman Hawkins for your rehabilitation needs.”

  “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, right?” he asked.

  His question caught me off guard. Indeed we were. I spent so much time with my patients, that sometimes we got to know each other very well. It was one of the aspects that I enjoyed about my job.

  This time, it just might be the death of me.

  “Yes,” I replied, stopping to face him.

  “Then you’d better stop being so goddamned formal with me, Maisey Jayne. I’m just messing with you. Lighten up. We come from the same place. That makes us friends, at the very least.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jesse,
” I replied, opening the door and walking out, my heart beating so loudly, I was sure he could hear it.

  JESSE

  I fucking hated being injured. In fact, outside of my dick not working, I couldn’t think of anything worse than my knee being fucked up. It took me five minutes just to get out of bed and take a piss, and even then it was damned near impossible to balance the crutches and keep from pissing all over my toilet at the same time.

  It didn’t help that I’d been hard almost all day. I’d gone home from the clinic with a raging case of I-need-to-fuck, and even after tossing one off before bed, I’d woken up in the middle of the night still pitching a tent. Who the fuck do you call if your natural erection lasts more than four hours?

  And it was all because of the elusive Maisey Jayne.

  I couldn’t believe it was really her after all this time.

  I couldn’t believe she wouldn’t answer my questions earlier. She was so jittery and nervous and fucking clinical around me, it was as if our past together had never happened.

  There was no fucking way she didn’t remember. Of that, I was certain. She remembered those long nights helping me in the library, and she damn sure remembered the night she came back to my bedroom.

  “I think you’ll pass. You seem like you’ve got the material down pretty well at this point,” she said, her black curls bouncing around her face as she closed her notebook. She had a little upturned button nose, and those big green eyes, and I’d found it difficult to stop looking at her.

  “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are, Maisey?” I’d asked.

  “What? Oh, come on. Me? No. Barbara Simmons, though? That’s beautiful.”

  “I don’t know about that. Barbara has the brains and the body of a barbie doll. You’re unique, Maisey. Smart… Shy… Innocent… That’s what makes you beautiful.”

  She looked at me with those big green eyes and I couldn’t help but kiss her. Her lips were warm, soft, so soft. She melted into me, and we lay on the bed kissing for what seemed like hours in the still of the night.

  And when the heat between us escalated, our clothes melted away and then we were moving together, sliding against each other, our lips caressing and our hands groping each other in the dark, her thighs falling apart as I slipped inside of her, rising and falling above her as she moaned and whimpered, her cries like music to my ears.