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The sight of him nearly stopped her in her tracks. Thankfully, he hadn’t spotted her yet. He stood at the far end of the one of the registration tables, talking to Anders Wolf, a local bull rider. Alexis knew plenty of women around town who thought Anders was hot, but Ty captured her attention like no other guy ever had. His pale green eyes were a surprising combination with the deeper bronze of his skin. His short hair was dark brown, and his features were sharply patrician from the high cheekbones to the straight arrow nose. And as a power hitter, he was strong as an ox, arms full of muscles. He wore workout clothes—jogging shorts and a gray Stars tee with a baseball cap.
Her attention snagged on his shoulders now, even when she knew that swooning over a client was totally inappropriate.
But damn it, with her academic focus on sports medicine and an internship with a professional soccer team before her job with the Stars, she’d seen plenty of toned, incredibly fit men. She’d been immune to plenty of come-on lines from men looking to flirt with her while she rehabbed the physical mechanisms that drove male strength. Physical attraction wasn’t it. Ty appealed to her on some gut level she couldn’t fully articulate.
And for as long as she was working for the Stars, she couldn’t let him see it. Even now, when she was technically freelancing for two weeks.
His eyes landed on hers, however, and the electric moment nearly seared her gym shoes to the tarmac.
Forcing herself to put one foot forward, she closed the distance between them.
“Hi, Ty. Anders.” She nodded to them both before making a sideways swerve away from them, her heart beating too fast to act normally.
“Wait up,” Ty called from behind her.
She heard him excuse himself from his conversation with the bull rider, even as she tried to look like she had a destination in mind. Thankfully, she spotted her old softball coach standing with a few women that Keely had graduated with. Alexis lifted a hand to wave.
“Alexis.” Ty’s hand landed on her arm. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh.” She was flustered and irritated with herself because of it. She wasn’t one of those women who played games. She just didn’t quite know how to behave around a man she’d spent all week thinking about. “Sorry. I just got here and I’m a little distracted.” She filled in the first thing that came to mind. “I had a go-round with my sister.”
Shrugging, she hoped to write off her heated cheeks and breathlessness until she collected herself.
“I tried contacting your office yesterday to see if you’d gotten authorization from the club to take on my rehab for the week.” He drew her away from the hubbub around the registration tables where hovering parents quizzed Nate and the school baseball coach about the camp. “We could have traveled together.”
“I’m not sure my practice would approve of that much time with a client.” She walked with him toward the football field, sidestepping a couple of girls playing tag. “I can’t believe how many people showed up for this.”
“Nate said there was some kind of summer picnic for the kids who completed a swim program or something. Thought it would be a good time to catch families with kids.” Ty reached to catch an errant football pass before it connected with her head, then returned it to a couple of boys. “And the woman I spoke to at your office told me you were on vacation for the next two weeks.”
Alexis made a mental note to bring that gaffe to the attention of the office supervisor, since that kind of information shouldn’t have been offered. She slowed her pace as they neared the football field.
“Yes and no.” She didn’t want to tell him how hard she’d lobbied for this job. But it hadn’t all been about him. “When it became apparent that Nate was going forward with a baseball camp but hadn’t committed to affiliating it with the Stars, I went to my supervisor with a suggestion that I schedule my vacation for these two weeks. I thought it would be a good way to come home, plus check in on your rehab and Nate’s too.”
Her office would call the players tomorrow to coordinate visits. The Stars front office was especially concerned about how Ty spent his hours away from the clubhouse, so it hadn’t been difficult to nab approval for some freelance hours.
“So you’re here for work and fun, too,” he observed, his green eyes lingering on her as they stopped near the closed concession stand where an overhang gave them some shade.
“I came home for a few days at Christmas, but other than that, it’s been almost two years since I’ve been in Last Stand.” She’d pushed herself hard through school, finishing college early and her physical therapy program as quickly as possible.
That meant working through the summers, every summer since high school. She’d only been in the career of her dreams for a year and already she felt drained to her toes.
Ty traced the outline of the white letters on an exterior chalkboard that advertised the prices for cokes and popcorn. “If you don’t mind my saying so, that’s just plain crazy. Baseball schedules are packed, and even I get home more often than that.”
“Where’s home for you?” she asked, able to relax a little when his focus wasn’t on her.
“Chicago.” He pressed his lips together into a flat line as he turned from the chalkboard and peered around the athletic fields. “My school didn’t look much like this one.”
“I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in a big city.” Although she spent more time wondering what it would have been like to grow up with a mom. She shoved that thought aside, hard and fast. “But Last Stand is big on charm. We moved around a lot before we came here and I liked it right away.”
Although for those first few months, she’d mostly been excited to show the farmhouse to Mom when she came home. She’d been so certain their mother could be happy there if only she gave it a chance. How little she understood the woman who’d given birth to her.
“Alexis Harper from Last Stand.” Ty didn’t come any closer to her, but the way he lowered his voice a fraction made the words sound more intimate. Friendly.
He made it sound like a beginning.
Awareness buzzed through her. “At least you’ve finally remembered my name.”
“I told you I wouldn’t ever forget it again.” He peered over his shoulder toward the parking lot full of people, then back to her, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “And now, I’m going to make sure you stay committed to having fun this vacation.”
