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“I’ve got it from here, thanks.” She stuck a crutch under each arm and stood as tall as her injured leg would allow. “I’d shake your hand, but I’m not too steady on these things.”
“You don’t say.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and eyed her up and down, not bothering to hide the glint of raw appreciation in his gaze. “Explains why you fell through the door, landed on your ass and interrupted my workout.”
More like on her face, but she wasn’t about to correct him. Not when she was too busy trying to control her cha-chaing hormones. “I didn’t think anyone would be in here this late. I was planning on doing some stretches, but then I heard voices...”
“Eavesdropping?” A playful grin teased the corners of his lips. “Hear anything interesting?”
She pursed her lips. “If you must know, it sounded like you two were getting...intimate. And then Sara said stop, and you wouldn’t, so I thought she might be...in trouble.”
“In trouble?” A burst of laughter escaped him. “Get this straight, Duchess. I don’t have to pressure women to be with me.”
“I don’t imagine you do,” she muttered.
“So you opened the door for a little lookie-loo?” He waggled his brows. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as a voyeur. Kinky. I like it.”
“That’s not how it was.” She wobbled on her crutches, not sure whether to stay and continue what was turning into verbal foreplay or flee in search of Sara and the ice. Before she could make up her mind, he strode over to the weight rack, grabbed a ten pounder in each hand and began doing squats.
“Hey.” She shuffled a couple of steps forward. “Sara said you were through for the night.”
“She said we were through. And we are. I’m just doing a little leg work before bedtime. I don’t care what those quacks in Sacramento think. I’m going to be back by the start of next season, better than ever.”
“Next season?” She studied him. The shock of blue-black hair falling across his forehead. The full sleeves of tattoos, partially hidden by his brace. The logo of Thor brandishing a lightning bolt in one hand and a baseball bat in the other on his sweat-stained shirt. All of it clicked into place. “You’re that baseball player. Jace Morgan. The one who hit for the cycle in last year’s All-Star game.”
Not that she had a clue what that meant. But the way her brother Gabe and his buddy Cade had gone on and on about it, it had to be pretty extraordinary.
“It’s Monroe.” He switched to lunges. “Want my autograph?”
“Dream on.” What she wanted was him gone. She’d picked the Spaulding Center for Rehabilitation and Research because of its reputation for being discreet. With a star athlete like him there, the press was sure to come sniffing around. And just like that—poof—there went any shot she had of keeping her recovery on the down-low. The whole dance world would know where Noelle Nelson, prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet, had gone to mend her ruptured ACL. A dancer’s worst nightmare.
She tightened her grip on her crutches and headed for the door.
“Leaving so soon?” Jace’s tone was almost taunting.
Noelle clumped around to look at him. He was still lunging, his fine, firm ass squeezed tight, the muscles in his legs bunching and flexing with exertion. It was a second before she could remember what she was going to say. “Not every woman is susceptible to your charms.”
Liar, liar, pointe shoes on fire.
He stopped lunging to smirk at her. “So you admit I have charms.”
“I admit no such thing.” She huffed a stray strand of long, blond hair off her face. The man was as annoying as he was attractive.
Jace shook his head and crossed to the weight rack, where he exchanged the two ten-pound dumbbells for one twenty pounder. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
“I do not—” She stopped midsentence, the irony of her words not lost on her, and reached down to scratch an itch under her knee brace. “Shakespeare?”
“Not all jocks are dumb.” He sat on the edge of the bench and started in on hammer curls with his good arm. So much for a little leg work. “There’s more to me than meets the eye.”
That was what she was afraid of.
“I think I could use that ice pack, after all. I’d better go see what’s keeping Sara.” She hobbled to the door.
“Hold up, Duchess.” Jace set down the weight with a clank. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
“Sucks for you,” Noelle called over her shoulder without stopping her snail’s-pace escape. He’d find out eventually. Bat his too-long eyelashes and worm it out of Sara or some unsuspecting nurse. Until then, he’d have to be satisfied with Duchess.
Because Noelle had a mission. And a plan. And neither one included a bad-boy ballplayer with a panty-melting smile and a working knowledge of the Bard.
* * *
JACE FROWNED AND concentrated on the barbell in his hand, his reps picking up speed. He didn’t want to think about Duchess What’s-Her-Name and her ridiculous assumption that he was getting it on with his new PT. Or her legs that seemed to go on forever. Or the way her sweet little ass swayed when she hobbled out of the room. Who knew crutches could be sexy?
He had enough to worry about. He hadn’t taken a three-and-a-half-hour flight—commercial, no less—to let himself be distracted by a pretty face and an even prettier body. He was going to be back in a Storm uniform by spring training, playing the best ball of his life.
He lowered the weight to the floor with a grimace and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees and staring at his reflection in the mirror. The guy who looked back at him had never been afraid of a little hard work. Hell, it wasn’t the first time he’d torn a ligament in his throwing arm. Been there, done that and he had come back in record time. But this time he’d needed surgery, and he’d be lying if he said the man in the mirror didn’t look a little scared.
The pocket in his gym shorts buzzed and he pulled out his cell, glanced at the screen and swiped his finger across, grateful for the interruption. “Hey, dude. Tough loss.”
On the other end of the line, Cooper Morgan, Sacramento Storm second baseman, swore. “Yeah. The close ones really suck. How’s the rehab going?”
Slow. Painful. “Great. I’ll be back at short before you know it.”
“Not until next season.” A note of caution crept into Cooper’s voice. He and Jace were part of the trio the press dubbed “the most lethal double play combo in the major leagues,” and he’d always been the level-headed one. “The good, the bad and the ugly,” a reporter had called them. Cooper was the “good,” Jace the “bad” and first baseman Reid Montgomery, with a jagged scar across one cheek that made him look a modern-day pirate, the “ugly.”
“I know. I heard the damn doctors.”
“I’m sure you heard them. But are you actually going to listen for a change?”
“Who appointed you my goddamn keeper?”
“It was either me or Reid.” Jace could hear the smile in his friend’s voice. “And he’s got some new chick he’s into, so...”
Jace chuckled and reached down to grab the water bottle he’d stashed under the bench. “Say no more. Let me guess. Tall, blond and drop dead gorgeous, with an IQ only slightly higher than her waist measurement.”
Cooper’s answering chuckle echoed over the phone. “Bingo.”
Like the Duchess. Except for the IQ thing. Jace could tell from her quick barbs she had more going on upstairs than Reid’s usual companions.
Beauty and brains. A dangerous combination.
Jace took a gulp of water and swirled it around in his mouth before letting it trickle down his throat. “So what’s the deal? You still coming out here for the All Star break?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Think they’ll let you out for a day or two?”
“I don’t see why not.” Jace sipped the water again and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back. “As long as I’m a good boy.”
“You?” Cooper scoffed. “Not likely.”
“I can be good,” Jace insisted. “When I want to be.”
“Which, unfortunately, isn’t often.”
“Did you call to harass me or was there something you wanted?” Jace chugged the last of his water and wiped his mouth on his good arm.
“To harass you.”
“Mission accomplished.” Jace stood and stretched. “I better go. Rumor has it they get pissed around here if you’re not in bed by ten.”
“Are you at rehab or summer camp?”
“Both.” Jace bent to pick up the weight. “I’ll call you in a few days. Kick some ass for me in St. Louis.”
“You bet.”
Jace ended the call, returned the weight to its place on the rack and headed back to his room. Once inside, he flipped on the light switch and stared, open-mouthed.
“What the hell?”
The bed had been empty when he left to meet Sara. Now one of those inflatable love dolls lay sprawled on top, her cherry-tipped breasts pointed straight up at the ceiling and her ruby red mouth in a permanent O. A cardboard box sat between her open legs. On one side, the words For Your Enjoyment: Handle With Care were printed in bold, bright blue marker. No return address, but the postmark was from Chicago, where the Storm had finished up a recent road trip.
Jace flicked open the utility knife on his key chain, sliced through the packing tape and began pulling out items one by one. A box of condoms. A tube of Astroglide. He kept digging. The damn thing was packed with enough sex toys to keep a rowdy bachelorette party whooping it up for hours.
Cooper and Reid’s warped idea of a care package. They’d probably paid some gullible orderly a fortune to do their dirty work. Or maybe offered him box seats the next time the Storm were in Phoenix.
“Very funny, assholes.”
The corners of Jace’s lips curled into a smile in spite of himself. It was funny. Though God only knew what the staff would think when they came to clean in the morning.
He started chucking stuff back in the box until all that was left was the doll. No way was she going to fit, not in her present state. And he sure as hell wasn’t leaving her like that. With a sigh, Jace opened the valve.
Nothing.
He picked up the doll and squeezed it. A long, slow whoosh of air escaped from the valve. He squeezed again. “Come on, baby. Give it to me.”
A shrill, female squeak from behind him made Jace turn toward the door, the doll still in his arms.
“Sorry.” Noelle leaned against the door jamb, almost as if her crutches weren’t enough to keep her vertical. Her porcelain cheeks tinted red. “Again.”
“Back for some more covert operations?” Jace loosened his hold on the doll. “Has anyone ever told you your timing sucks?”
“Maybe it’s not my timing.” Her eyes traveled from him to the doll and back again. “Maybe it’s your...libido.”
“Very funny.” He smiled in spite of himself. She was smart, sassy and not in the least bit intimidated by his tattoos or his attitude or his fame, like so many women. “You know there was nothing going on between me and Sara.”
“That doesn’t explain you and...” she wagged a finger at the doll “...her.”
“A practical joke from a couple of friends.”
“Some friends.”
He threw the doll onto the floor and stepped on it, squashing one plastic boob. The air came out in a hiss, and he continued to flatten the doll with his feet.
“You’re going to pop it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like I care?”
“You never know. You might need her for...something.”
“Like I said, I’ve never been that hard up for female companionship. And I don’t plan to start now.”
“From the way things looked a minute ago, you could have fooled me.”
He stopped his rhythmic stomping to stare at her. “Was there a reason for this late-night visit? Couldn’t sleep? Lonely? Miss me, maybe?”
Her face flushed an ever deeper scarlet. “Sara said I should apologize for spying on you guys.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not much of an apology if she’s making you do it.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she huffed. “And no one’s holding a gun to my back.”
“Well?” He folded his arms across his chest.
“Well, what?”
“I’m waiting.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he tilted his head. “For your apology.”
“You really are the most infuriating man.” Her lower lip jutted out into a pout that he shouldn’t have found so sexy.
“I’ve heard.” He shrugged. “Many times. But I’m not the one who has something to apologize for.”
“All right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have listened in. And I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” Her aqua eyes flashed with righteous indignation. “Are you satisfied?”
“Hardly.” He picked up the deflated doll, stuffed it into the box and closed the lid before she could get a glimpse of any of the other goodies inside. “But it’ll do. For now.”
“Forever,” she countered as she turned to leave. “I’m here to get back on my feet, not make friends.”
“We’ll see about that, Duchess.” He frowned, realizing he still didn’t know her damn name, and watched, transfixed by the swaying of her perfect ass as she disappeared out the door. The squeak of her crutches on the linoleum of the hallway echoed in her wake. “We’ll see.”
He tossed the box onto the floor and stretched out on his bed, the room strangely empty without her larger-than-life presence. He liked sparring with her. She was a worthy opponent and a certified babe to boot, with eyes a guy could get lost in, hair that begged to be mussed and a body built for sin. And she’d made him forget for a moment, had briefly lifted the tension that had gripped his chest since he went down on the field.
He smiled and reached for the TV remote. Maybe rehab didn’t have to be a total drag. All work and no play made Jace a dull boy.
And if there was one thing he wasn’t, it was dull.
2 (#u2846af61-50b3-5b05-8c40-34a9bd169afd)
THE CLOCK ON the wall read 11:15 when Jace sauntered into the PT room the next morning. A full 45 minutes before his session was scheduled. No one would mind if he did a little cardio first, right?
Wrong.
