Feeling The Heat
Michelle Roberts
Copyright 2016
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Introduction From Author
Hello everyone! I First of all want to thank you for taking the time to read this short story of mine. I absolutely love writing stories like this one! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Anyways to the point now, as thank you for checking out the book me and a couple authors have collaborated together to offer you as much value as possible. I Have included in this book three bonus books that you can access through the table of contents here. Thanks again and happy reading!
Contents
Message From Author
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Bonus Book #1: Heartbeat
Bonus Book #2: Treasured Authority
Bonus Book #3: Summers Dream
http://thefreedigitalbookclub.com/Free-bonus
Chapter One
“Absolutely not.” Kirsten gave Katrina a stern glare. “I’m not doing it.”
Katrina’s hazel eyes, the same ones as Kirsten’s widened. She pouted her lips. “Please! Please! What if we don’t go and it’s the reason we never get picked up by a label?”
Kirsten put her hand on her hip and shook her head. “You can get signed here, Kat. It’s not like we live in a musical vacuum.”
“But London, sis!” Her eyes sparkled. “We could get signed in a SoHo recording studio and spend the summers there. I’d fly you over and introduce you to all the cute British artist boys that I’ll know.”
Kirsten sighed, sitting down on her sister’s chaise and relaxing back into it. “It would never work, Kat. I don’t know anything about sports medicine. I don’t know anything about medicine or sports in general. I’ll be caught out in seconds.”
Katrina sat next to her sister and clasped her hands in her own. “There’s only two clients this week. I’ll walk you through their injuries and treatment plan so thoroughly that you’ll be up and running in no time. Honestly, it’s not that hard.”
Kirsten snorted. “Says the girl who spent eight years in school.”
“But you don’t have to do anything complex! A massage here, an exercise or two there—it’s really not that difficult.”
Kirsten worried at her bottom lip. “But they’ll figure out that I’m not you.”
Katrina shook her head. “None of the people there know I have a twin. If anyone asks, you can just say you’re having a bad week. I’ll go in and do damage control after I get back.”
Kirsten was still unconvinced. It was a bad plan. She wanted to help Katrina. She always wanted to be there for her sister. The problem was that this time Kat was asking too much of her. All because she didn’t want to lose her contract while she made an impromptu trip to London for a Battle of the Bands.
If Katrina's band sucked, Kirsten might have told her to just ditch the battle. But her band was actually quite good, and she probably would make it fairly far. That was the worst part. If Kirsten didn’t do this for her sister, she’d either miss the opportunity of a lifetime or lose her job. Meanwhile, it wasn’t like Kirsten had a job she needed to stay sharp for. She’d been recently laid off, and was living with her sister while she sorted things out.
“I’ll pay you two grand,” Katrina offered. “That’s a huge amount of money for a week’s worth of half work.”
Kirsten pondered the offer in her head. That was an awful lot of cash for someone who hadn’t had a paycheque in over two weeks. And who knew when her next one would be, anyway. It was starting to look like Katrina’s half witted plan might actually benefit both of them.
Go figure.
“Fine,” Kirsten said, sighing. “I’ll do it. But you pay me now. And you’re going to have to be really thorough in teaching me what I’m meant to be doing. Can’t have any of this half-assed bullcrap that’ll leave me cutting off the feeling in someone’s back because I didn’t know where to press.”
“Fair enough.”
Katrina went over to her coffee table and picked up a couple of files. She handed them to Kirsten, who began to sort through them. “These are the guys I’m responsible for this week?”
Katrina nodded.
Kirsten looked more closely. The first one was a big, beefy guy named Larry. He was a linebacker. He was listed as being six-foot-five and 240 pounds. She looked over at Katrina. “This guy could murder me.”
She laughed. “Larry’s a sweetheart,” she said. “Don’t worry about him.”
Kirsten picked up the next file. Brad Pritchard, the quarterback. He was slightly less gigantic at 6’2” and 225 pounds. Still not the kind of guy she wanted to mess with. Or lie to.
“And Brad?” she asked. “Is he a sweetheart too?”
Katrina tried to hide a grimace. “He’s uh...he’s an interesting character. Not as friendly as perhaps the rest of the team, but his injuries are pretty straightforward so you’ll likely have to see him less.”
Kirsten made a mental note to be extra nice to him. The last thing she needed was having her cover blown because she lost her nerve under pressure and spilled the beans.
“Do you have some pictures of them somewhere? So I don’t get them confused?”
Katrina put up her finger and snatched her phone from the coffee table, typing in a couple things and swiping at the screen. She thrust the phone toward Kirsten. On it was a picture of a huge bald guy with a mean looking face and arms as thick as steel beams.
“I assume that’s Larry,” said Kirsten.
Katrina laughed. “Bingo.” She pulled the phone back and performed another action, then pushed it toward her sister again.
Kirsten gasped. “Holy shit,” she said. “How am I supposed to work with th
at?”
On Katrina’s phone was a picture of the hottest guy that Kirsten had ever seen. He had dark hair and piercing blue eyes, with a jawline that looked like it was sculpted out of marble. His hair was ruffled in the photo, as if he’d just taken off his helmet. He had a determined look on his face that caused Kirsten to feel melty at the thought of being the receiving end of a look like that.
“Realy?” Katrina asked, pulling back the phone and looking at it. “I mean, he’s hot, yeah. I just don’t think he’s earth-shatteringly hot.”
Kirsten shook her head. “There is not a person on the earth that good looking. I can’t do it.”
“What?”
Kirsten shot up from the couch and backed away. “You’ve seen me around hot guys, Katrina! You know how I get.”
Katrina followed her. “But you’re not you—you’re me! Remember that I would never date or sleep with any of these guys. Don’t think of them like that. Just think of them as TVs that need fixing.”
“But what if the TV is so distracting that I put a hammer through its screen?”
Katrina gave her sister a churlish grin. “Really, Kirsten? You’re so good with people, and it’s just a few days. It’s not a big deal if you’re weird. When I get back I’ll tell them that I had a pregnancy scare or something.”
Kirsten groaned. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.” She tipped her head back and sighed. “This is going to go horribly.”
“It’s not like you’ve got anything else to do,” Katrina chided.
“Thanks for the reminder.”
Katrina stepped over to her sister and rubbed her hands on the tops of her arms. “You’re helping me chase my dream, sis. And you’re making a tidy profit. It’s the ultimate win-win situation.”
Kirsten chose not to mention that there was a huge potential for it to become a lose-lose in the blink of an eye. Instead, she smiled flatly at her sister and told her to get to work teaching her how to be a sports physical therapist.
It was possible to do that in three days, right?
Chapter Two
Brad was having a bad day. To make matters worse, it was the most stereotypical kind of bad day that a person could have. He’d spilled coffee on his shirt in the morning, been late for a meeting, and then got mobbed on the street by a bunch of girls who were too young to be so flirty.
Now for the worst part. The ultimate crowning glory of all bad days—his physio appointment. He’d told his coach that he didn’t need it. His shoulder only gave him grief every once in awhile now, and anyway the stress of having to see Katrina probably aggravated it more. But Coach wouldn’t hear it. He told him to get his shit together and keep his shoulder in top condition.
So he was at her little office overlooking Brittany Park, waiting for the next hour of his life to come and go. Katrina was fairly new on the scene, but Coach seemed to think she was the bee’s goddamn knees. She’d had some expert kinesiologist as her mentor and had co-authored what was currently the leading study on injuries similar to his. She was also a pain in his ass.
Brad and Katrina had never gotten along. Brad was a man who appreciated passion and drive, and Katrina more or less seemed to have slipped into her role and liked it enough to stay on. But he, apparently, was the only one who thought so.
For the first time ever, Katrina didn’t keep him waiting. She stepped into the waiting room at precisely four p.m., holding a clipboard and looking over him appraisingly.
“Uh, hi Brad,” she said. “Come on in.”
He rose from the chair and followed her, trying to figure out what was different with her today. Had she done her hair differently? Perhaps she was wearing a new perfume? But no, it was a scent free building. So why was there something off about her, even though she was wearing the same clothes as she always did?
“How’s your day going?” she asked, smiling as she took a seat behind the desk.
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Do you not want me on the table?”
She laughed nervously. “Uh, in a bit. I thought maybe we could chat for a bit. Do like, a check in. See how you’re feeling.”
This was the first time she’d done anything of the sort, but he didn’t feel like fighting her. He sat down across from her and folded his arms over his chest, studying the way she kept her eyes down on her clipboard and began scribbling notes.
“What could you possibly be writing?” he challenged. “I haven’t said anything yet.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I note everything. Trying something new this week.”
Was she trying being a total weirdo? Normally she’d have him on the table, quickly run through his massage, chastise him for not doing his exercises, and send him out the door.
“Right,” he replied.
She licked her lips and looked back down at the page. “How have you been feeling?”
He scoffed. “Fine.”
“And the...uh...shoulder. How’s that been doing?”
Was she serious? “It’s been a little painful if I’ve spent the whole day standing. Sometimes when I turn my head to the right it sends a stab of pain.”
“Well that isn’t good.”
“No shit.”
She looked up at him, and if he didn’t know better he’d think she looked nervous.
“I’ll be trying out a new massage technique on you today,” she said. “It might feel a little different. It stimulates different tissues, so you might not notice any change right away. I can assure you, though, you’ll feel it in the long term.”
“Whatever.”
She gave him a big smile, showing off her perfect teeth. “Why don’t you go have a sit on the bench, Brad?”
“You mean lie down?”
“Yes, that’s what I meant.”
Brad rolled his eyes and walked to the bench, pulling off his shirt. He heard a gasp from behind him.
“What?” he asked, turning. Katrina’s mouth was open, and her eyes were wide. He’d taken off his shirt in front of her tons of times without her reacting. Why now?
“I’m sorry!” she said quickly. “I thought I saw a spider.”
He rolled his eyes again and lay face down on the massage table. “Whatever.”
He heard her approach him, but she took her time getting her hands on him. When she did, the massage was definitely different. It was like she was just prodding around in random areas, making small circles.
“I saw that you made MVP,” she said. “Congratulations. You must be really proud.”
“Didn’t realize you kept tabs.”
“I have famous patients, how could I not keep tabs?”
She began poking at his left shoulder.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Massaging out your shoulder.”
“The uninjured one?”
She chuckled nervously, but stayed where she was. “Yeah. It helps with the blood flow. Like I said, bear with me.”
“Are you high or something?”
The massage abruptly stopped. “No!” she protested. “God no! Why would you think that?”
He rolled to the side a little to look up at her. Her face was flushed, and her big brown eyes looked to be on the verge of tears. Even though he disliked her, he hated seeing her like that. Something in his being just made him hate himself for making such a pretty girl cry. Even if she was the devil.
“You’re being unusually nice,” he replied. “And awkward.”
She reached out and gently prodded him back down onto his stomach. “I’m just trying something new, like I said.” Then she grumbled, “I can be an asshole if you want.”
Brad laughed. “I just don’t know how to handle you. Do I have to be nice back?”
Katrina chuckled. “I suppose it’s only fair if I’m being nice, that you be nice too.” She began to knead at his injured shoulder, and the pain caused him to flinch.
“Oh god! I’m sorry!”
“Katrina, you�
��ve told me a million times that you have to make it hurt to make it better. Just do your worst. Don’t pay any attention to me.”
Normally he felt like she was determined to make it hurt as much as she could. What the hell was all this apologizing about?
“Right, sorry,” she mumbled. “Have you seen any good movies lately?”
Small talk? Really?
“Not recently.” There was a silence after his answer, and he felt compelled to repeat the question back to her. “You?”
“Nope.”
Great. Boring small talk.
The rest of the massage was quiet, which was more what Brad was used to. When she was finished, Katrina gave him a little pat. “All done.”
He heard her footsteps retreat and got up, evaluating the slight girl as he put his shirt back on. Had she been knocked on the head or something?
“I guess I will see you in a couple of days,” Katrina said, glancing from her schedule to him with a smile. “Let me know how your shoulder’s doing then.”
He raised his eyebrows but nodded. “Sure.”
Brad left Katrina’s office thinking two things. First, something had changed about her. Second, whatever it was, he liked it.
Chapter Three
Kirsten had known Brad would be hot, but nothing could have prepared her for how hot. The fact that she’d had her hands on his tattooed, muscular body seemed crazy. But could she have been any more weird about it? Honestly, he must have thought she’d turned into a complete psycho overnight.
Her other client was the one she was really worried about: Larry. When she went to fetch him from the waiting room, he stood up and her eyes nearly bulged from her head. The man was massive. She actually glanced behind her as they entered her office to see if he would fit through the door frame.
“Larry,” she said, sitting behind her desk. “Please take a seat.”
He filled the seat across from her, his face neutral.
Sports Romance: Feeling The Heat Page 1