The Renegade Returns (Mill Town Millionaires) (3 page)

All the work would be done by Aiden and Jacob. They should have the rewards—they
would
have the rewards. And Luke would have his freedom. He loved his brothers, loved the new family they’d built. But how could he stay here and still feed his love for the road?

Unbidden, an image of Avery’s face as she flushed with embarrassment came to him. He shook the enticing image away. He had never let anything in Black Hills hold him back. He certainly wasn’t going to start now.

He and Avery would have a little fun, something to liven up his time here, but he could still walk away on his own terms. When he was good and ready.

THREE

A
ll work and no play made Avery a dull girl—and apparently made Luke a frisky boy. Just the look on his face as he settled into one of the treatment rooms warned her he would be trouble.

Avery experienced a lot of feelings during her therapy sessions with clients: pride, sympathy, joy…but never this mixture of irritation and interest. How did he get under her skin with such little effort? A few words and she was tripping over her own feet.

His very presence seemed to inject her with pheromones that clouded her mind and drew her thoughts where they shouldn’t go in a professional setting. Especially when her work required her to have her hands all over him.

Then there was the return of the awkwardness. She’d stopped dating because of it. Better to avoid it than to wonder if she had a medical condition—one that caused shaking, clumsiness and unintelligent muttering—all with a single look from any eligible, attractive man. The sight of a handsome man shot her adrenaline up, and if he spoke to her, she immediately became all thumbs. Her considerable intelligence didn’t help at all. And her fellow citizens’ determination to marry her off meant she’d had a wealth of humiliating experiences.

Dropping things, stumbling into door frames, bumping into all manner of furniture, and—her favorite—jerking her fork so that food ended up in all kinds of crazy places. One time, she’d actually flicked pasta onto her date’s eyebrow. She couldn’t remember that incident without cringing. So Mark escorted her to many functions, which gave her a reprieve from the matchmaking mamas.

The only time it didn’t happen was when she put on her scrubs and became her professional self—comfortable in her knowledge and authority.

Until Luke. And he knew it, too.

Luke—with his sexy stare and flirty ways—jump-started the phenomenon quicker than any guy ever had. Which was why she approached him for this second session with her professional facade firmly in place. And it would stay that way. “I’ve worked up a comprehensive plan for you,” she said, “now that I’ve had a chance to evaluate you firsthand—”

“Firsthand evaluation?” he asked, bending to catch her gaze. “How did I miss that? Can I have a do-over?” His wiggling brows didn’t help her nerves. She gripped his chart hard before it could get loose.

“Behave,” she said in her sternest voice.

“Oh, honey, I don’t know how,” he said with a wicked grin that sent shivers racing over her.

How could he derail her so easily, so completely? She dared not speak for a moment, afraid she’d get out no more than a croak as her throat tried to close. That would be humiliating.

Finally, she cleared the constriction. “Look, in this clinic, I’m the boss. This is my career.” She adopted a stern look, despite the amusement on his face. “Here, I’m not your friend, family, or—” She almost said
girlfriend
. Where the heck had that come from? “So stop playing and get busy.”

He didn’t respond right away, which surprised her. Luke always seemed quick on the draw. But she could feel him watching her. Probably preparing for battle.

Lord, have mercy. His teasing made her want to combust from the inside out. Her cheeks burned in a flash fire she couldn’t control. She hadn’t felt like this since, well, since Luke had jokingly teased her in high school. Good or bad, she wasn’t sure. The mixture of irritation and utter fascination with someone who could dive right into the good parts of life while she was left hugging the walls in fear confused her.

“You know what I mean,” she finally said, swallowing her emotions down. “We can be friends elsewhere—”

“We can?”

“—but here, business only.” Maybe the less she spoke the better. He seemed intent on twisting her words for his own amusement.

“So out there you’re fair game?” he asked with a quirk of his brow. Smart-ass.

“Down to work. Now,” she said, holding out the folder, open to the plan she’d worked up for him.

“Can I just say one thing before the friendship blackout starts?” he asked.

Knowing anything she said would just encourage him, she simply watched him without responding.

“Look, I wasn’t kidding about dinner,” he said, bending a little to look her in the eyes.

Startled, she met his gaze without hesitation, getting a spark of deep connection before turning away. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, hoping to shoo the subject away like an unwelcome bug.

“Look, you said you wanted to have some fun, an adventure—”

“Actually, Cindy said that.”

“And I can help.”

She remembered his whispered words from the other day. There was no doubt in her mind that any adventure would be incredible with Luke along for the ride. “What are you talking about?”

“Hey, every day is an adventure for me. And I don’t need to climb the side of a mountain for a thrill. I’d go so far as to bet that there are some pretty interesting adventures right here close to home that you haven’t even thought about.”

“And you plan to show them to me?”

He straightened a little. “Why not?”

She couldn’t raise her voice above a whisper. “Why are you doing this?”

“In my book, I owe you. I acted like a jerk…before…but I’ve always seen you as a friend. Besides, this sounds a whole lot more interesting than what I had planned—jaunts over here for my therapist to torture me, and… Nope, that’s about it for the next few months.” His smile was hopeful. “Let me do this for you.”

“I don’t know…”

“Scared?”

Heck, yes.
“Maybe.”

His teasing smirk said he knew he would win. “That’s okay. It’s all part of the fun.”

Suddenly it was all too much—the teasing, the attraction, the nerves. She desperately needed to shift gears. Holding up her hands, she said, “Look, today, we’re talking about you. Not me.”

“Um, not so far.”

“Stop playing and pay attention.” Her schoolmarm demands only made him smile wider, but this time he actually cooperated. Miracle of miracles.

That grin said he wasn’t finished with her yet, sparking anticipation low in her core, but he finally reached his hand out for the chart.

With relief, she let him read because she didn’t have any starch left for her voice.

“This plan is mapped out for ten months.”

His unexpected dark tone warned her she might need starch for her backbone, too. “Yes. This is a reasonable prognosis to have you completely healed, strengthened and back on the racing circuit for the season after next.”

“That’s too long.”

She frowned. “But your other therapist projected that from the time of his initial evaluation it could be a year or more before your body is strong enough to return without a risk of further injury. I have to agree.”

Luke was shaking his head before she was even half-finished. “Not an option.”

She could totally sympathize as the last of the teasing disappeared from his eyes, replaced by frustration. “Our bodies don’t always agree to the timelines we want,” she reminded him, her voice going soft with sympathy.

“This one damn well better.” There was no room for anything but determination in Luke’s voice. “I will be back on the racing circuit this next season. No later.”

Avery knew when pushing would gain her ground, and this definitely wasn’t the time. So she let his remark go. She’d found when men got something in their heads, especially something they were passionate about, there wasn’t any argument that would do much good.

And she was frankly relieved that his determination got his focus off her. By the time they moved into the workout room, her control was firmly back in place. A return to the comfortable fit of her therapist persona.

Luke’s rippling upper body muscles distracted her at times—clearly he worked out regularly. His body was slim but strong, deceptively so when hidden beneath his clothes. But it met every challenge she gave him and more. His lower body performed, though it was obviously not to his satisfaction.

He gave it his all—she couldn’t fault him for not trying. About halfway through the circuit, she started thinking of him as Tough Guy. No matter the demand, he did it without question. He never asked to stop, never cried—almost 90 percent of her patients did in the early days. He just kept pushing forward.

His expression was the most serious she’d seen on him since his return, except for the stoic one she’d glimpsed as he’d made his way across the dining room floor that first night. She’d seen similar expressions on many patients—that determination to ignore the stares, ignore the pain and force yourself to move regardless of your body’s protests.

As they came to the end of his session, she bent and twisted his legs, pulling them into positions that would ease the tension, improve his range of motion and hopefully lessen his pain. Time and again she forced her gaze away from glistening muscles and sexy hollows. Not to mention the scars that had her heart cramping in sympathy.

But he’d worked hard today and there was a much better way to help him recover than a simple muscle stimulation session, even though she knew she shouldn’t touch him any more than necessary. But it would help. By morning, Luke would appreciate anything that would make it easier for him to get out of bed.

At least, that’s the excuse she gave herself.

* * *

“Come on,” Avery said, urging Luke to his feet after helping him stretch. He’d always had a love/hate relationship with stretching. He’d rather be running or pumping weights, but one of his former trainers had convinced him how good it was for his body. After that, he’d been able to relax into it.

But somehow stretching with Avery was different. It should feel good, did feel good, but not in the way he’d experienced before. Male hands, male strength—his other physical therapist had a no-nonsense touch that did the job at hand and nothing else.

Avery’s hands during their sessions gave him a sense of comfort, as if he could feel her desire for him to heal within each touch. Even through the pain he caught a hint of awareness beneath his skin, an itch for more. And always, that low-level hum distracted him.

“Reward time,” she said.

Too bad that couldn’t mean what his body hoped it did. Nope. It would be the usual post-therapy ritual that included heat and some electrical muscle stimulation to reduce pain and atrophy. Sad when getting shocked was the highlight of his visit.

He assured his disappointed body that this was a good thing. After all, he had rules of his own. Namely, he was not staying in Black Hills—which meant no entanglements. No relationships. His body would simply have to mourn the loss of more intimate contact.

Her rules challenged and intrigued him. Professionalism was very important to her, especially when dealing with a lot of people who had watched her grow up. Still, he longed to break through her professional facade. One, because she needed some fun more than any person he’d met in forever. Someone to push her buttons, force her to loosen up.

Two, he needed a distraction from the first true attraction he’d felt in a long time. Especially since it was toward a woman he would not be able to get away from in the coming months. But they could be friends, right? Just friends.

“So how come I never saw you when I came home?” He chuckled. “It’s almost like you were avoiding me.”

He almost bumped into her backside as she halted. The odd look she threw over her shoulder smothered his teasing. Had she really—?

“Why would you avoid me?” he asked.

“Do you want your reward?” she countered in a cool tone.

“Um, yeah.”

“Then don’t ask irrelevant questions.”

She just might have found the key to making him fall in line. But that didn’t stop him from being curious. He’d bet his racing car that she had avoided him…and didn’t want him to know it.

As she walked away, she said, “I guarantee you won’t want to miss this.”

Just like that, his mouth watered, hunger rising out of nowhere to overwhelm him. It was totally out of character for him, this physical need to be close to someone. If it had been anyone else, he’d have let the hunger lead him, but he couldn’t. Not with Avery. Indulging in something physical with her wouldn’t be fair, knowing he would never make his home here.

But now curiosity had joined the mix of anticipation and arousal, so he leaned a little heavier on his cane to gain speed. What could be better than the usual after-workout routine? At least it eased the soreness long enough for him to get home. By tomorrow morning, he’d be stiff again. Even the massive whirlpool tub Aiden had installed in his suite didn’t help for long. His body resisted what he wanted.

He’d been told he pushed too hard before, but each moment without definitive recovery ramped up a panic inside. Getting back on the track was a need that called to him day and night. He couldn’t rest for the jitters beneath his skin.

An itch to escape.

It only subsided when he was with Avery. With her, he felt a constant, low-level hum that drew his gaze, his attention—hell, his body—in her direction. An illusion that, if he could just get close enough, all the fears and doubts and nerves would stop. Dangerous territory. Which gave him one more reason to keep his hands to himself.

When Avery opened the door to one of the smaller rooms around the perimeter and Luke glimpsed a thickly padded massage table, he wanted to groan. Have mercy. Now he had an itch for something completely different.

“Take off your shoes. I just want to work some of the tension out of your legs and back,” she said.

He wanted to joke, to throw something stupid out there to break the tension building under his skin. But nothing came to him. “Is massage an extra perk?” he tried, his voice sounding strained.

A slight choke had him glancing at her with a tight grin, but she’d turned away.

“Um, no,” she finally said, though her voice was muffled. It took him a minute to realize she was off balance, uncertain. Did she not normally do this?

That settled him down, and he was able to tease her again. “So am I simply special?”

Her obvious embarrassment was so cute he wanted to kiss it away. Her flushed cheeks and shaky hands made him warm, awoke a need to hug her and share a grin. Not the reaction he was used to, but definitely safer. Shucking his shoes and socks, Luke approached the table with a breathless anticipation that was exponentially higher than the situation warranted.