At first Viktor is tense, which only makes my task more difficult. I take peeks up at his face, looking for any signs of pain. After a few minutes, he finally relaxes into my touch and his eyes close.
“I’m sorry about your mom…” The words fly out of my mouth with no warning. I hadn’t even been thinking about it.
“Me too…” Viktor’s eyes flick over my face and close again. “Thank you.”
“I never met my mother,” I confess. God, what is wrong with me? It’s like a case of verbal diarrhea.
“Why not?” he asks.
I shrug and rub the tissue, hoping my touch is soothing it. “I’m not sure. My father never really told me what happened to her.”
“Are you an only child?” Interest in my story brings a lightness to his eyes. Open curiosity and a touch of sadness for the girl who never met her mother. My heart squeezes.
I laugh. “No. I’m the baby of the family. I have three brothers and two sisters.” Although with all their selfish ways, I would have been better off as an only child.
“Wow! Your parents were awfully busy. I can’t imagine feeding that many people.”
“It wasn’t always easy. Papa did his best,” I say fondly of my father. “My siblings weren’t always the easiest.” Easy was not a synonym that could ever be used to describe them.
When the tissue under my fingers becomes pliant, I grab the ice and activate it. “This should help alleviate any swelling and help with the soreness from today.” Once he’s settled I begin to put away my things, so I can leave after I know he’s doing okay.
I spot the wheelchair where we parked it and look around the room. “Do you have the crutches they gave you at the hospital?”
“Yeah,” he mumbles.
“I want you to use them more than the wheelchair. I know it’s a pain, but we want you to get stronger.” I zip one of my bags as he grunts, acknowledging he heard me.
Keeping my head down, I work around him. I force myself not to stop and stare. When everything but what he is using is in its place, my gaze lands on him. There’s nothing else for me to do. Nothing else to keep my shaky hands occupied. Nothing else to keep my mind from wanting to know more about him.
The air around us crackles. It doesn’t matter that this attraction is forbidden. Viktor calls to me like no other man has. It scares me to be honest. The sizzling chemistry struck me hard when the door had opened, revealing the surly, sexy man in only black boxer briefs.
“You’re staring again,” he mumbles, startling me.
A blush creeps up my face. “I’m going to go pack the car, just relax.”
The multiple trips in the cold help me keep my head. I inhale the air and let it shock my system, hoping it will dispel Viktor’s scent. In my twelve years as a physical therapist, I’ve been hit on by my clients on multiple occasions.Neverhas one made me want to throw caution to the wind.
Never.
Hell, he hasn’t even hit on me in the few hours we’ve now known each other. And yet here I am standing in the snow, looking up at his house and daydreaming about the feel of his large paw-like hands running up my body. These next few weeks are going to be the hardest so far in my career. Luckily, I’m sure his fit body will bounce back from this bump in the road.
“Ah! Get your shit together, Isabel!” I snap and draw in fresh air.
