“No, she left a message on the machine yesterday saying she wouldn’t be in tonight. I’ll call her back in a little bit to reschedule her.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call her when I get a break in my schedule. I have to talk to her anyway.”
“Tammy Strothers canceled in your ten o’clock slot, so I’ll leave that time open for you to call Kirsten and get some paperwork done.”
She smiled. “Thanks. If I get a hold of her, I’ll transfer her to you, so she can reschedule.”
Jordan returned to her desk and attempted to banish thoughts of Kirsten. She picked up her first patient’s chart and went to the waiting room to bring him back. The morning was busy, and Jordan hustled from patient to patient. When she finally had a free moment, she retreated to her office, pulled Kirsten’s chart from the stack, and looked up her work number.
As she dialed, Jordan took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves as she recalled the look of desire and awe she’d seen in Kirsten’s eyes while she’d danced with Alex.
Kirsten picked up on the second ring. “Hello, this is Kirsten. May I help you?”
“Hi, Kirsten, it’s Jordan Roberts. Am I disturbing you?”
“Um, hi, Jordan. I’m just about to conduct an interview, but I can spare a few minutes. What can I help you with?”
Jordan noted Kirsten’s voice sounded a little vacant, and she wondered what was going on with her. “I saw that you canceled your appointment for tonight, and I was just calling to make sure you were okay.”
Kirsten sighed. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine. You sound like you’re upset.”
“It’s nothing.” Kirsten continued to sound detached.
Jordan blew out a frustrated breath. “Okay, if you say so. Will you be here on Wednesday?”
She was trying to get Kirsten to tell her what was bothering her, but Kirsten wasn’t giving anything up. She had a feeling it had to do with Saturday night but wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. Hell, Jordan didn’t even know her that well and was probably stepping over the line of prying. She just needed to leave it alone.
“I’m not sure, Jordan. I’m pretty busy.”
Jordan was confused, unsure why Kirsten was giving her the brush-off. “Okay. Well, just call the office when you want to reschedule. Bye, Kirsten.”
“Jordan, wait.”
“Yes?” Jordan asked, weary yet hopeful.
“I’m sorry.” Kirsten took a deep breath. “Look, to tell you the truth, my feelings were a little hurt on Saturday night when you got upset with your friend for inviting me to sit at your table.”
“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, Kirsten. It had nothing to do with you. I just need to keep our relationship strictly professional for now, and having you join us for a drink would have crossed that line.”
“Oh, okay.” There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “Jordan? Is the six o’clock appointment still available?”
“Yes. Do you still want to come in?” Jordan did a mental fist pump that she would get to see Kirsten later.
“Yes, please. I’ll see you tonight.”
“See you then. Have a great day.”
Jordan hung up the phone and bounded up to Karla’s desk. “Kirsten Murphy wants to have her appointment tonight, so can you put her back in at six?”
“Sure, but I’d think you would be disappointed. You could have gone home early.”
“Karla, you and I both know that you would have put someone else in that slot, so don’t play that game with me.” Jordan winked at her and went back to her desk to get some paperwork done.
Thoughts of Kirsten bombarded her throughout the day, but she was thankful the distraction didn’t spill into the treatment of her patients. She’d managed to keep her focus while with a patient, but when she was at her desk charting, it was a different story. It occurred to her that it might not be a bad idea to go back through the charts to make sure she’d gotten all notations correct. As Kirsten’s appointment neared, Jordan’s energy level began to rise, and her heart raced in anticipation of seeing her.
*
Kirsten’s nerves were in full force when she walked into the clinic for her appointment. She was nervous that Jordan would somehow have super powers and would be able to know what she was thinking, what she had thought at the bar, what she had done in the shower afterward. But that wasn’t possible. Jordan couldn’t possibly know that she had fantasized about her, which had ultimately brought her to one of the strongest orgasms she could remember. She just hoped that she could remain calm and collected throughout the appointment.
“Hello,” Jordan said when she entered. “Why don’t you come over here and lie down?” She led Kirsten to a table.
Kirsten followed. “Sure thing.”
She felt a wave of relief when Jordan greeted her with a smile and appeared to act as if nothing had happened. She didn’t want to discuss that night at the bar. As far as she was concerned, their phone conversation earlier in the day had resolved that issue.
Jordan left her to get settled for a moment, and when she came back to the table, she pulled up a stool and opened Kirsten’s chart. “I’m glad to see you. How’s your knee feeling?”
“It’s feeling much better. It doesn’t hurt as much to go up and down the stairs, but it’s still a little difficult squatting.” She looked down at her hands, which were trembling in her lap, took a deep breath, and then looked up. “Jordan, thank you for calling me today. I felt awful about canceling tonight’s appointment, but I was uncomfortable and thought you might be mad at me.”
Jordan placed a hand on her thigh and smiled warmly at her. “I could never be mad at you, Kirsten. I like to focus on my patients when I treat them, and I feel like I don’t concentrate hard enough if I have a personal relationship with them. I really do like you, and I want you to feel better. I hope you understand.”
Kirsten’s heart thundered at the thought of having a personal relationship with Jordan, and she prayed that Jordan hadn’t picked up on it. “I do, and I appreciate your honesty. Does that mean we can be friends after you’re done with me?”
Jordan laughed. “I would really like that. Let’s get started.”
The first touch of Jordan’s hands against her skin set her body ablaze and called back to mind her shower fantasy. She struggled not to blush. In her head, she knew it was all therapeutic, but at times, Jordan’s hands gliding over her skin felt like a lover’s caress. It was during those times that she had to stifle a moan.
When Jordan finally finished her hands-on treatment and handed her off to an aide to take her through the exercises, she could barely contain her sigh of relief. Her insides had been shaking the entire time Jordan had been treating her, but after a couple of exercises, she felt like she was returning to normal. Normal. Ha! Whatever that was. These days, Kirsten didn’t know what normal was anymore.
Chapter Sixteen
Kirsten progressed nicely over the next couple of weeks thanks to her therapy. Jordan had said she could start hiking again, but when she had, her knee had given out when she’d slipped going downhill. The searing pain that had shot through her knee as she’d tried to stand had angered her. She had been doing so well, and now this would set her back.
Once she’d gotten home, she’d applied the large ice pack Jordan had given her and religiously iced her knee for the rest of the weekend. By Monday morning, she’d still had some pain and had called the clinic to talk to Jordan. Her stomach turned as the phone rang. Jordan was going to be disappointed that she’d re-injured herself, and disappointing Jordan was something she never wanted to do. Karla had answered the phone and told Kirsten that Jordan was with a patient but would call her back.
Kirsten had been up and down from her desk all morning attending meetings and had just returned to her office with her ice pack and lunch when her assistant buzzed.
“Yes, Julie?”
“I have Jordan
Roberts returning your call, Ms. Murphy.”
“Thank you.” She pressed the button with the blinking light. “Jordan?”
“Hey, Kirsten. Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you, but this morning has been crazy. Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure. I went hiking on Saturday and twisted my knee again. I iced it all weekend, and I’m about to ice it again, but it still hurts. I’m pissed this happened. I was doing so well.”
“On a scale of zero to ten—zero being no pain—how would you rate it?”
“I’d have to say a six, but when it happened, it was about an eight.”
“Try not to worry about it. This sometimes happens. We’ll take it easy with your treatment tonight, and it shouldn’t take long to get you back. We need to test your progress every once in a while to see if you can tolerate the activity. This just shows us that we have more work to do.”
“Should I come in tonight?”
“Definitely. Let me perform some tests when you get here, and we’ll treat it accordingly, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks for calling me back,” Kirsten said gratefully.
“Anytime. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Okay.” Kirsten hung up the phone, applied her ice pack, and took a couple of anti-inflammatory pills.
Kirsten continued through her workday, trying to avoid being on her feet too much. Every hour, she would put her foot up on her desk to elevate her knee and ice it. Even though she was disappointed she’d hurt her knee, she was glad that it was Jordan who would help make it better.
She thought back to the night of her first physical therapy appointment and how stunned she had been to see Jordan was her therapist. She hated being in pain and not being able to hike, but if she hadn’t had that initial injury, she might never have gotten the chance to spend this time with Jordan. Despite their current therapist-patient relationship, Kirsten was hopeful that they could one day be friends. She couldn’t allow herself to think they could be more. Not with the upheaval her life was in.
Kirsten arrived for her six o’clock appointment, changed her clothes, and walked back into the treatment area. She spotted Jordan across the room. Jordan turned and smiled, then pointed to an empty treatment table. There are those damn butterflies again. I’m just nervous that I did more damage to my knee, that’s all. Not long after she got supine, Jordan came over with a chart in her hand.
“Hey, there. How’s your pain now?” Jordan looked concerned.
“It’s about a five. I was able to ice it a couple of times today.”
Jordan smiled. “I’m going to move your knee around a little. Let me know if anything hurts.” Jordan manipulated her knee and then took her time feeling the area around the joint. “I think you just strained it again, but it seems to be okay. We’ll work on reducing your pain tonight.”
“Sounds good. Let’s get started.” Kirsten was relieved to hear that she hadn’t significantly injured anything and that it was just a minor setback.
She lay back and allowed herself to feel the pleasure and pain Jordan’s hands elicited. Jordan spent more time massaging her knee and mobilizing the joint than she had in the past couple of weeks. Jordan had told her that she would spend most of the treatment trying to lessen her pain, but she couldn’t help feeling a little more special that Jordan was paying so much attention to her. Jordan stretched her hamstrings and quadriceps, then finished the session with ice and electrical stimulation.
When Kirsten’s treatment was completed, Jordan extended her hand to say good-bye. Kirsten grabbed it, and a current of electricity raced through her body. Jordan’s eyes got wide for a second before she dropped her hand like it had caught fire and cleared her throat.
“So, um, how’s your knee feeling?”
Kirsten was curious about why Jordan had taken her hand away so quickly. She still felt the tingling in her own palm and couldn’t help wondering whether Jordan had felt it, too, and what—if anything—any of it could possibly mean. “It’s feeling better. Can we go back to the exercises next time?”
Jordan laughed. “Hang on there, cowgirl. Let’s see how you’re feeling first.”
Kirsten looked down at her feet and sighed. “I’m just sick of this pain and not being able to do the things I like doing.”
“I know, but remember, this is just a minor setback. Try not to worry and keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll see you next time.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Jordan.” Kirsten grabbed her bag and walked out of the clinic. This injury was really testing her patience. She just wanted to get back to hiking without worrying if her knee would hold up. She thought about the shock she’d felt when she’d shaken Jordan’s hand. She’d never had a reaction like that to anyone, but didn’t want to explore that too deeply. At least, not until she was no longer Jordan’s patient.
Chapter Seventeen
Kirsten had worked hard in physical therapy, which had pleased Jordan no end. She loved it when patients took their treatment seriously and didn’t expect her to fix it alone. And Kirsten’s efforts had been paying off. But despite her insistence that she’d been experiencing less pain and swelling, she arrived at her appointment at the end of the week with a worried look on her face. Jordan washed her hands and went to treat her.
“You okay? You looked bummed.”
Kirsten gave her a sad smile. “I found out today that we may have to lay off some employees.”
“I’m sorry, Kirsten.”
That was the main reason why Jordan had never had any desire to own or direct her own clinic. She loved her job, but damn if she wasn’t glad when she could leave the clinic at night and not have to think about any of it until she returned the next morning. At times, she felt bad for her boss, Ben, having to deal with staff issues and patient complaints. No fucking thank you. She loved treating patients, but she had zero interest in the business side of things.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I guess so. The production in one of our satellite offices has fallen, and we’re trying to get the numbers back up. With production down, we’re losing money, which means potential loss of jobs. Unless we can recover, we’re going to have to close the office.”
“How long has this been happening? With production being down?”
“Not long, thankfully. Just a few months, but it’s been a steady decline, which doesn’t bode well.”
“I’m sorry this is getting you down.”
“Thanks. I’m going to try to find another option. These people work hard for our company, and a lot of them have families depending on them. I’d do anything to prevent them from losing their jobs.”
“Well, if anyone can come up with a solution, I know it’s you.”
“I appreciate your confidence in me. It means a lot.”
The concern in Kirsten’s eyes and voice warmed Jordan’s heart. She was discovering that Kirsten had a heart of gold, and she cared deeply for others. She also kept a brave face even though she was experiencing the tragedy of her marriage breaking up.
Jordan appreciated the time they were able to spend together and get to know each other, and as time went on, she discovered she wanted to see Kirsten outside of the physical therapy sessions. It had startled her to find she wanted more; more Kirsten, more time together, more butterflies in her stomach whenever she thought of this remarkable woman. Jordan wanted desperately to do anything to put a smile back on her lovely face.
In the beginning of Kirsten’s therapy, Jordan had tried to keep conversation strictly to the treatment she was providing, but Kirsten was so open and so enchanting, it had been tough to avoid being pulled into personal topics of discussion. She’d also had difficulty reining in her naturally flirtatious behavior whenever she was around a striking woman. More than a few times, Jordan had to remind herself that Kirsten was still a patient, and flirting would definitely be crossing the line.
Jordan wiped the massage cream off Kirsten’s knee and instructed her aide to take her through her exer
cises. She would have loved to spend the rest of the appointment with her, but she had to physically remove herself from Kirsten’s presence. As it was, she was behind in her charting and would have to work fast to get out of there on time. She had made a sizeable dent when Carrie knocked on the door.
“Kirsten’s leaving, but she wanted to talk to you first.”
Jordan walked out to the waiting room. She felt her breath catch as she spotted Kirsten, who had her back to her. She tamped down her lascivious thoughts of Kirsten’s shapely ass and how well it filled out her shorts. She cleared her throat, and Kirsten turned to her.
“Everything all right?”
“Oh, yeah. My knee is feeling better. I just wanted to thank you for letting me vent about the possible layoffs.”
Jordan added polite and well-mannered to her growing list of Kirsten’s positive attributes. “You’re welcome. Have you come up with anything?”
“Not yet, but I plan to spend the whole weekend coming up with a strategy.”
She appreciated Kirsten’s resolve. “Good luck with that. I hope you’re able to find a solution.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you next week, Dr. Torture.” Kirsten grinned and left, once again leaving her breathless.
Chapter Eighteen
Over the next few weeks, Jordan steadily progressed Kirsten’s exercises and gave her the approval to try hiking again. While she was happy Kirsten was doing so well, she was a little sad that she wouldn’t be seeing her three times a week anymore. Her sadness dissipated when Kirsten came walking into the gym for her last appointment. It was impossible to feel anything but joy when she was around Kirsten. Jordan led her to a treatment room and got her settled on the table.
“So, did you go hiking last weekend?”
Kirsten smiled and nodded. “My knee felt great. It was a little uncomfortable when we were going down hills, but otherwise there were no problems. I can even squat without pain.”
New Beginnings Page 7