“It hurts so bad.”
Grabbing another towel from the cabinet, I dried him off the best I could.
“You need to get up, Logan.” I firmly grasped his arm. “I’m going to lift you, but you need to help me.”
“I need a fucking pain pill, Brooke.”
“And I’m going to give you something, but you need to get up off this floor. Okay?”
He slowly nodded his head as I helped him off the floor while he held his towel against him, and onto the marble seat that sat in the corner of the shower. With his jaw tightly clenched, he leaned his head all the way back.
“I thought I told you to sit and shower. How the hell did you fall?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he growled.
“Stay here and I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Trust me.”
I ran to my room and opened up the suitcase that contained the medicines I brought with me from California. Shaking the pills into my hand and grabbing the amber-colored glass bottle, I went to the kitchen and took a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
“Here, take these.” I handed him four pills.
“Are these Tylenol?” he asked as he looked up at me.
“No.” I smiled. “They’re a Chinese herbal medicine to help with the pain.”
“These aren’t going to help me!” he shouted.
As I reached down and grabbed both of his wrists, our eyes locked.
“Do you trust me?” I slowly asked in a calm tone.
He hesitated for a moment before answering, “I don’t know if I do.”
Letting go, I took a step back and placed my hands on my hips.
“Well, you better get your head out of your ass and start or else this isn’t going to work.”
His face, frozen as the pain swept over his eyes, focused on me. He didn’t say a word as he popped the pills in his mouth and chased them down with water.
“Thank you. Now sit here for a few minutes while I go find you something to put on.”
Walking into his room, I opened up his closet and found a black robe hanging on the hanger. This would have to do for now. Walking back to the bathroom, I looked at Logan.
“How’s the pain?”
“Tolerable.”
“Good. I brought your robe.” I smirked as I held it up while he slipped his arms into the sleeves.
“Why are you smirking?”
I shrugged. “No reason.”
The truth was that there was something about a man in a robe that bugged the shit out of me. Two-piece pajamas were fine as far as I was concerned, but a robe was a definite no-no.
“Could you please turn around while I remove my towel and tie my robe?”
“Really? You’re worried about that? I am a doctor, after all. I’ve seen many dicks in my lifetime.”
“I’m sure you have, but you’re a beautiful woman, and I think it’s best that I leave my manhood to your imagination.” He winked.
I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh.
Once his robe was secured, I held on to him and helped him out of his oversized shower. Handing him his crutches, I told him to go take a seat on the couch.
“I can’t go to my bed?” he asked.
“No. You’ve spent too much time there the past couple of months. The only time you’re allowed to get into bed is to sleep.”
He took a seat on the couch and gave me a funny look.
“What?” I asked.
“I need some underwear if I’m going to be sitting here.” He sat with his legs crossed.
“Then go get a pair. Take your crutches and hobble to your room and put them on. The days of people doing everything for you are over, Mr. Jackson. I’m going to go in the kitchen and pour us some wine. As soon as I get back, I’ll start working on your leg.”
With a cocked head and a narrowing eye, he spoke, “Are you always so bossy?”
“Most of the time.” I smirked as I turned and headed to the kitchen.
****
Logan
Shaking my head and with a small smile, I grabbed my crutches, headed to my bedroom, and took a pair of underwear out from the drawer. After putting them on, I hobbled back out to the living room where I found Brooke sitting down, sipping on a glass of wine.
“Have a seat.” She patted the couch.
“So therapy starts now?” I asked as I sat down.
“Yes. Therapy officially starts now.”
She got up from the couch and grabbed the amber-colored bottle from the table. Twisting the cap off, she poured the contents into her hand.
“What is that stuff?”
She got down on her knees, brought my leg up to the coffee table, and started with my foot. “It’s a special Chinese oil that contains many healing properties.”
Her hands rubbed around my foot before reaching up to my calf and thigh. Her touch, even if it was for therapeutic reasons, turned me on. I gulped as I felt my cock twitch. Just the mere fact that her beautiful slender hands were on me was driving me crazy. I needed to distract my thoughts because the only thing running through my mind was fucking her on the couch.
“Where did you get that stuff?”
“A friend of mine.” She looked up at me with a beautiful smile.
“You know what I’ve noticed about you?” I asked.
“What?”
“Your answers are always so vague.”
Her eye narrowed as she looked at me. “You think?”
“I don’t think. I know.”
She straddled my leg as her thumbs pressed down deeply.
“Who’s this friend of yours?”
“His name is Jeung Woo. He’s the one who helped me walk again.”
She stopped massaging my leg, wiped her hands on the towel she brought from the bathroom, and took a sip of wine.
“He must be an incredible doctor, then.” I smiled.
“He’s not a doctor. He’s a healer.”
“How did you find him?”
She poured some more oil into her hands and vigorously rubbed them together before placing them on my leg.
“My father has a lot of business contacts in China, and after telling his friend over there about the accident, he suggested that we get in touch with Woo. So my father did and he agreed to see us. We left for China the following week.”
“How long after the accident was that?”
“Six weeks. I spent those six weeks in my room and in my bed, refusing to get out of it.” Her brow arched as she looked up at me. “If I couldn’t walk, there was no sense in me trying to get back to my life before the accident. Being fourteen at the time and hormonal, I had hit my lowest point. I was very angry. I hated the world. Every time my dad would try to talk to me, I would push him away. He even sent a psychiatrist to the house to come talk to me.”
“Did the psychiatrist help you?”
“Not really because I wasn’t open to listening to her. There was nobody who could tell me how to feel. It wasn’t until after I met Woo that I started to open up.”
“How long were you in China?”
“About six months. My father had arranged for an American teacher to homeschool me while I was there. Because of his business, he couldn’t stay with me, so he left me in the good care of Woo.”
“He left you there in China all alone with a total stranger?”
Her lips gave way to a gentle smile. “Woo became like a second father to me very quickly. I understood why my father couldn’t stay and I wasn’t about to let the accident destroy my family’s life any further. He taught me so much about life and what was really important. After Woo felt my time in China was up, he flew back to the States with me and stayed with us for three months while he continued my rehabilitation. Just between you and me, I didn’t think he was ready to say goodbye. I had kind of grown on him.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“He is. After careful consideration, he left China and moved
to California. He has a practice there. He wanted to bring his knowledge to the States and try to help those who wanted to seek an alternative medicinal route.”
“Am I really going to be able to play hockey again, Brooke?” I asked with seriousness.
Her hands came to a halt on my leg and she looked up at me with her beautiful blue eyes.
“It’s up to you, Logan. Only you have the power to decide whether or not you’ll get better.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. My leg is fucked up.”
She stood up, wiped her hands, and then took a seat next to me. Grabbing my hand and interlacing our fingers, she spoke, “We all have a natural self-healing ability. You just have to tap into that ability. Listen, Logan, I’m going to be brutally honest with you. Your road to recovery is going to be intense and exhausting. You’re going to become so frustrated that you’ll want to give up. But I will stand by you every step of the way. It’s going to be hell, but we’ll walk through it together. You won’t have to do it alone.”
Staring into her eyes and listening to her soft-spoken tone overwhelmed me with a feeling I hadn’t had in a very long time. A feeling of peace. I placed my hand on her cheek. This woman had the most beautiful soul of anyone I’d ever known and it was taking every ounce of strength I had not to kiss her.
Chapter 14
Brooke
Our eyes stayed fixated on each other as the riveting pulses once again flowed through my body. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to feel his lips on mine. Suddenly, my phone rang and I broke our eye contact as my heart still raced.
“Let me see who’s calling.” I got up from the couch and rummaged through my purse, which was sitting on the table.
“Hey, Dad,” I answered.
“Hi, sweetheart. I’m sorry I missed your call last night. I was in a meeting.”
“That’s okay. I just wondered what your plans are for Christmas. I was thinking about flying home.”
“Oh, sweetheart. I figured you would spend Christmas in New York since you haven’t been there very long. I’m going to meet your Aunt Marley and the girls in Aspen to do some skiing.”
“Oh, okay. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t alone for the holidays.”
“If you want, I can come to New York and we can spend Christmas together.”
“Dad. It’s fine. Have fun skiing. We can facetime on Christmas.”
“Are you sure, sweetheart?”
“Yes. Listen, I have to go. I’m in the middle of therapy.”
“I love you, Brooke.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
Setting my phone down, I walked back over to Logan and took hold of his leg.
“You know, with everything going on, I forgot about Christmas,” he spoke.
“It’s coming fast.” I looked around the room. “Tomorrow, after the gym, we’re going to get this place a Christmas tree.”
“I’ve never put one up here before.”
“What? Are you serious?” I cocked my head at him.
“Why bother? And wait a minute. What do you mean ‘after the gym’?”
“You’ll see.” I grinned as I continued to massage his leg. “All right, I think that’s enough for today.” I looked at the time on my phone. “Let’s not wait until tomorrow. Let’s go now and get a Christmas tree.”
“I really don’t feel like going anywhere,” he spoke.
“Okay. Then I’ll go myself.”
I went to the kitchen and washed the oil off my hands. Looking out the window, I noticed it was snowing outside. Logan was still sitting on the couch and stared at me as I walked by to go to my room. Grabbing my boots, I slipped my feet into them, put on my black winter jacket, and slipped a light pink knit hat over my head.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Logan said as I walked by him and grabbed my purse.
“Yes, and it’s snowing outside, which makes it even more festive. I’ll be back soon,” I spoke as I placed my hand on the doorknob.
“WAIT!” Logan spoke loudly. “Let me throw on some clothes and I’ll go with you.”
I smiled as my hand gripped the knob. “Okay. I’ll just wait right here for you.”
A few minutes later, Logan hobbled over to me on his crutches. An ache formed between my legs as he stood there in his dark gray winter coat and matching knit hat. The sexiness that radiated from him could be seen from miles away. As soon as we stepped outside onto the snowy pavement, I stopped for a moment and looked up, letting the snow softly hit my face.
“Umm. What are you doing?” Logan asked.
“Have you forgotten that I’m from Cali? It doesn’t snow where I live, so when I do see it wherever I’m at, I embrace it.”
“Oh. Okay. I can understand that. I do the same thing when I’m in a state with no snow during the winter months. I embrace the sunshine.” He smiled.
“There’s a tree lot around the next block. I saw it the other day when I went to get groceries,” I spoke as I took off my glove and held my hand out in front of me, letting the snow hit it.
“I know. That tree lot is there every year.”
We walked slowly and carefully so Logan didn’t slip and fall. As I walked next to him, I held on to the fabric of his coat. He looked at my hand and then over at me.
“What are you doing?”
“Holding on to you in case you slip.”
“Do you really think if I slip you’d be able to stop me from falling?” He grinned.
“I can try. If not, I’ll be going down with you.”
He shook his head with a smile as we finally made it to the tree lot without any mishaps. As we were walking around looking at the trees, Logan glanced over at me.
“So I was thinking. When we find a tree, how the hell are we getting it back to the apartment?”
My eyes locked with his, as I didn’t think about that.
“Shit.” I had an idea. “Follow me,” I spoke as I walked ahead of him and back onto the street.
“Where are we going?” he shouted as he tried to catch up.
I stood on the corner and hailed a cab. Taking the crutches from Logan, I told him to climb in.
“I don’t understand. Where are we going?”
“Take us to the nearest Target Store,” I told the cab driver.
Logan chuckled. “Seriously? We’re going to buy a tree from Target?”
“Yep. They have some nice ones. At least they do in California. Plus, we’ll have to buy some decorations for the tree. It’ll be our one-stop store.” I grinned.
****
Logan
I found her nothing short of adorable. The excitement in her eyes about buying a tree and decorations was refreshing and made me temporarily forget about what I was going through. The cab driver dropped us off in front of Target and when we walked inside, Brooke grabbed a basket. As we made our way over to the tree section, my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and noticed Bruce was calling.
“Hey, Bruce.”
“Logan, the press conference has been set for the day after tomorrow at six o’clock at the Four Seasons. You need to be there around five so we can go over some things.”
I took in a deep breath. “I’ll be there.”
“See you then.”
Placing my phone back in my pocket, I hobbled over to where Brooke was standing and looking at a tree that was on display.
“That was Bruce. The press conference is the day after tomorrow at six o’clock.”
“Good.” She smiled. “What do you think about this tree?”
“It looks like any other tree to me.”
She sighed. “Do you see one you like better?”
“No. This one is fine.”
“Okay.” She grinned and flagged down one of the employees. “We will take this tree right here. Can you take it to the front for us since we have more shopping to do?”
“Sure, ma’am.” The male employee nodded.
“He called you ‘ma’am.’ Aren’t you going t
o scold him?” I snickered as we walked to the ornament aisle.
“No. I’ll never see him again, so it’s not a big deal. What color ornaments do you like?”
“Does it really matter, Brooke? Don’t women usually just pick out what they want without any regard to what we males like?”
“You’re paying for it, so you should pick what you like.” She poked me in the shoulder.
“I’m paying for all this? You’re the one who wanted the tree. Why do I have to pay for it?”
This older woman that was in the same aisle kept glancing over at us with a smile.
“What a cute couple. This must be your first Christmas together. How long have you been dating?” she asked.
I looked over at her in confusion. “We aren’t dating. She’s my physical therapist.”
“Oh.” The older woman cocked her head. “I’m sorry. You two sure argue like a couple.” She smiled. “Happy holidays,” she spoke as she pushed her cart down the aisle.
I glanced over at Brooke as she started laughing. “Oh my God, she was so cute. Anyway, Mr. Hockey Player, it’s your tree that’s staying in your storage. Did you really think I was hauling it back to California with me?”
I shrugged. “I thought maybe you could come back every Christmas and set it up.”
“Ha ha! Now pick some ornaments so we can get out of here.”
“Fine. I like the red and gold ones.”
“Really?” Brooke asked with a frown. “You don’t like these pretty blue and silver ones?”
I couldn’t help but smile. She wanted the blue and silver ones and that was what I was going to end up buying.
“Yes, Brooke. I do like those better than the red and gold.”
With a grin, she placed a couple of boxes of the blue and silver ornaments in the basket. We picked up a few other trimmings for the tree and headed back to the apartment.
Chapter 15
Brooke
As soon as we pulled up to Logan’s building, Peter, the building doorman, came out and grabbed the box with the tree in it from the trunk of the cab.