Chapter Four
"McKenna, can you take the patient in room five? Jessica’s making a spectacle of herself." Dr. Bert, my boss, ran his hands through his white, thinning hair.
"No problem. I just finished my last patient."
This wasn’t the first time Jessica had been pulled from a patient because her flirting was uncontrollable. The only reason my uptight boss kept her was because some of the patients adored her and would take their business elsewhere if she left.
Dr. Bert gave me a tight smile and went to his office. Jessica entered after him, her head hanging low.
I pulled the chart off the wall and scanned the patient’s details. A bubble of laughter hit me and my eyes watered from keeping it in.
"Alfred, I'm going to be finishing up your treatment today." I entered the room and hoped I could get through the session without bursting into giggles.
"Good, the other girl couldn't stop staring—Raine?" A familiar voice broke into my thoughts.
"Trip?" I glanced down at the paperwork and back at a very shirtless Trip Butler.
My mind halted, and if someone held a gun to my head I wouldn't have been able to spout off a single statistic, or fact. I forced my eyes to meet his and not wander over his bare chest, memorizing his tattoos like they wanted to.
"Wait, your name’s Alfred Butler?" I blurted out, still focused on his eyes.
Trip's jaw clenched tight. The five o'clock stubble made him even more appealing. "You can never tell anyone my real name." With his jaw so tight his words came out hard.
I nodded my head and moved to the electro-stem machine. My fingers tingled when I placed the pads on his shoulder.
"I promise your secret’s safe with me." I packed his shoulder in heat as the machine worked its magic.
In all the time I’d researched Trip, and I researched a lot, I'd never realized Trip wasn't his first name. By the red tips to his ears he would've been fine with that not changing.
"So where did Trip come from?" I asked, taking the pads off.
"I'm the third Alfred in my family."
I pushed him on the table and worked my fingers into the muscles around his shoulder. He winced when I encountered a nasty knot.
"Breathe through it. I need to work it out so it doesn't get stiff. The scar tissue needs to be broken down."
Trip's blue eyes connected with mine. "Do you need to breathe too?"
My pent-up breath released in a wheeze as my cheeks burned. "You kind of stink," I blurted out, giving him the only explanation I could think of that wasn't humiliating.
He chuckled and I dug my finger in a sensitive area.
"Ouch, Raine."
"Sorry," I replied sweetly, still digging into his shoulder.
"No, you're not. Just wait until tomorrow. You're going to regret this."
"Well, right now you're not my coach. Right now you're my patient. I'm the one in control." I bit the inside of my cheek.
What the hell am I doing?
Flirting with Trip Butler was way out of my comfort zone. This was the man I’d crushed on for way too long. The man who admitted he never wanted to get married. The man who was seven years older than me. And last but not least, the man who was my coach and off-limits.
"That's where you're wrong. I'm always your coach." His eyes burned into mine and I hated being the one to break contact first.
"So, was it your grandpa who was employed by Bruce Wayne first?"
