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Ugh. At the time, she’d dismissed her chances of encountering Jordan, even though he played for the Razors. The gods couldn’t be so cruel. Apparently, however, gods laughed at angels. Jordan had been sent—or volunteered—to test the quality of the clinic’s services. With her. She should have known the minute she stepped into this room, but she’d been in deep denial.
“You asked for me?” Sera said slowly.
Jordan nodded and then cracked a grin. “The fact that, when I booked my appointment for today, your receptionist couldn’t stop extolling your cooking skills just sealed the deal for me.”
“She mentioned my cooking?”
“And baking,” he added. “Apparently, the homemade dishes that you sometimes bring in for the staff earn you brownie points. So you were clearly the right choice.”
“Let me remind you of something...we don’t like each other.”
“Correction,” Jordan said, lips quirking. “You don’t like me. I have no problem with attractive and passionate women. You, on the other hand, have issues—”
“Right.” She narrowed her eyes.
“You should feel safe around me,” Jordan said easily. “We’re practically related.”
Right. Jordan’s older brother Cole had recently married Sera’s cousin Marisa Danieli. Jordan loved to joke about the couple’s long and winding path to the altar. At one point, Marisa’s former fiancé had been dating Cole’s ex-girlfriend, and Jordan had kidded that his brother and Marisa were engaged by proxy. It did not, however, mean that she and Jordan were related in any meaningful sense of the word.
Up to now, Sera had done her best to ignore the fact that she and Jordan were technically cousins-in-law. Marisa and Cole had had a surprise wedding, so she’d been spared having to be the maid of honor to Jordan’s best man.
“I’ll drive you into the ground, Serenghetti,” she harrumphed, changing tactics. “You’ll sweat like you’ve never worked before.”
It was only a half-idle threat. She expected a lot from her patients. She was good, she was understanding, but she was tough.
Jordan’s smile stayed in place. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”
“Are you always so sunny?” she grumbled. “Do the clouds ever come out in Serenghetti Land?”
He laughed. “I like to rile you, Perini. I may not have clouds, but I can rock your world with thunder and lightning.”
There it was again. The sexually tinged double meaning. And then a traitorous voice whispered, You already have. Once. The fact that he didn’t remember just made it all the more galling. “You don’t want to get involved with me.” Again. “I’m not a woman you can conveniently walk away from.” This time. “I’m your sister-in-law’s cousin.”
He arched a brow. “Is that all that’s stopping you?”
She threw up her hands—because no way was she going to remind Jordan about the past. Their past. And with her bad luck, in the future she and Jordan would be named as godparents to the next Danieli-Serenghetti offspring. As it was, they’d dodged that bullet the first time around since Jordan’s brother Rick and his wife Chiara had done the honors. It seemed Cole was going down the line by order of birth in naming godparents from among his siblings.
Jordan shrugged and then glanced around. “At least we’ll have the memory of a few good physical-therapy sessions.”
“All you’ll be remembering fondly is the pain,” she practically snarled.
“I’m a good listener if you ever want to...you know, talk instead of spar.”
She swept him a suspicious look—unsure if he was joking or not. Better not to take chances. “As if I’d open up to a player like you,” she scoffed. “Forget it.”
“Not even when you’re off duty?” he teased. “It could be therapeutic.”
“When I need to unwind, I’ll book a vacation to the Caribbean.”
“Let me know when you’re going. I’ll reserve a seat.”
Argh. “It’s a vacation—as in, I don’t want to be irritated!”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Irritated isn’t your natural state?”
“No!”
* * *
