Necessary Roughness (HotShots Book 1) by Courtney Cole Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes gold?
    “Trust me,” he drawls. “I’m always ready.”
    My ovaries run into hiding and I gulp.
    I’ve never in my life been affected by a person’s mere presence as much as I am with Nicky. He’s like raw masculinity. Or pure sexuality. Or something. I don’t even know how to describe it.
    I just know, he makes my hands shake. Literally.
    “Good,” I say, very professionally. “Where would you like to work? I need to make some initial observations so that I can come up with a treatment plan. We just need a bunch of flat space where there are no sharp corners in case you fall.”
    “My gym,” he says immediately. “I’ve got mats in there. But I won’t need them because I won’t fall.”
    He’s so determined that he literally sticks his chin out.
    “Ok,” I reply cheerfully. “That’s a great place to start.”
    He slowly gets out of his chair, babying his right knee immensely. I see how he puts all of his weight on his left leg, how he stands at a tilt. There are scars on the front and back of his leg from the two surgeries that I know he’s had. I’ve read his file three times.
    We walk down long halls to his gym, and I hover close to his elbow. I want to take his arm, to assist him, but I have the feeling that he’d throw me off.
    Also, he’s a giant man. I know from his file that he’s six-six. But standing next to him in person…. he’s like a giant solid wall. I feel like an elf in comparison.
    “What else should I know about you?” I ask conversationally as we walk. He gives me side-eye.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I know about your injury. I read the physician’s reports and I’ve gone through your file. I know your height, your weight. I know your playing history. Is there anything else I should know that could help me help you?”
    “Do you want to help me?” he stops, turning to face me. Once again, he seems like a wall, or a mountain. And I suddenly just want to climb him. To climb right up him and…
    “Sophie?” he brings me back to the present, eyeing me strangely. I flush, because the though I was having about him… it wasn’t professional in the least. I clear my throat.
    “Um, of course. I want to be help you. But you should know, I’ll give my professional, unbiased opinion. It might end up that helping you might be telling you that you’re done. You don’t want to permanently injure yourself.”
    His gaze is stony now, and he looks away, walking again, down the hall. I trail right behind him, and I know it’s causing him pain to walk so fast.
    He opens a door. “This is the gym,” he says gruffly, holding the door open so I can pass.
    I enter a palatial workout area, lined with weights, mirrors and…chandeliers?
    I turn to him. “Who has chandeliers in their gym?”
    He winks. “I do. This is New Awlins, babe.”
    “Right.” I walk past, and I have no clue what that even meant, but he called me Babe, and my heart is racing.
    “Ok,” I turn to him. “Let’s start with some basic range of motion exercises so I can see what we’re working with. Can you lie on your back?”
    “I do amazing things on my back,” he says flippantly, and my ovaries twitch again.
    “Do you ever turn off?” I ask him, as I sink to my knees next to him.
    “No. I would say something about you being on your knees, but that would be inappropriate.”
    His hazel eyes flash, and I find it hard to believe that he gives a damn about propriety. Then he winks again, and I know it as a fact.
    I sigh.
    I put a hand beneath his left knee, going through the motions with his good leg first to get a good baseline for his normal. His skin is warm, and tight with muscle, and he’s such a top specimen of maleness. I should know, I’ve worked with athletes my entire professional life.
    “You don’t have to be so gentle,” he tells me gruffly. “I like it rough.”
    Good lord.
    My cheeks flush and he laughs, and I put his leg down.
    “Mr. Chase,” I tell him primly. “If