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An
excerpt from
ISBN 0-373-79082-1 |
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Becka slapped Sal's leg. "Okay, big guy, sit up and let's get you on your feet." She turned to rummage in the supplies closet, digging back toward the rear. "I have some crutches back here somewhere that you can use…" She emerged with the crutches just as Lopes tried to slide off the table. As soon as the injured foot touched the floor, he yelped and lost his balance, falling forward. "Dammit, Sal!" Becka let the crutches fall to the linoleum and leaped to catch him before he went to the floor. Face screwed up in pain, he slumped against her, one arm hooked over her shoulder. The locker room was empty, all the players taking a break before the game. And that, she thought in frustration, meant she was on her own trying to move a man who weighed twice what she did. "Okay, let's get you back on the table." Becka puffed with exertion as she struggled to hold him. Even for someone in her shape, moving a man twice her weight was a job. "Let's move back to the table a bit at a time. Just let me carry your weight when you need to put your bad foot down, and take little steps. Okay?" She took his grunt for assent and moved him slightly back toward the table, first one step, then two. It was like the clumsy, shuffling slow dances she'd done in junior high, Becka thought, or maybe like a pair of dancing bears. They made progress, though, until Lopes began laughing. Caught in the ridiculous clinch, Becka couldn't keep from joining him. His shoulders shook. "Hey baby, I got some smooth moves for you," he managed. Becka smothered another giggle. "Stop it or I won't be able to hold you up," she ordered as she propped him against the table. She took a breath of relief before leaning in to wrap her arms around him for the final push. Then laughed again. "You know, in ten years in the majors I can't say I've ever seen physical therapy like that." The voice was like warm molasses, with just a hint of a drawl. Becka jerked her head up to see Mace Duvall in the doorway, watching them. Her mind stuttered to a stop. He was lean and tawny like a jungle cat, with the same sense of coiled energy waiting to spring. The face that had merely been good looking on television was taut and honed down, almost predatory in person, made more so by the thin scar than ran along his left cheekbone. He looked at her like he wanted to snap her up. In some indefinable sense, he was more present in his body than any man she'd ever seen, inhabiting the space around him in the same way that a prowling cat filled its enclosure at the zoo. The blood thundered in her ears. She couldn't take her eyes from him. Sal, meanwhile, was hyperventilating with excitement. "Oh wow, man, you're Mace Duvall. It is truly a pleasure to meet you." Sal's words snapped Becka out of her daze, and she finished helping him up onto the table. Sal grinned. "Hope you don't mind if I don't get up." Mace stepped over to shake hands with the young ballplayer, but he never took his eyes off Becka. "What happened to the ankle?" "Bad slide. It's just a sprain, though. How long are you here for?" "A week." "Florence Nightengale, here, said I'd be back up tomorrow," Sal told him, hooking a thumb at Becka as she leaned over to pick up the crutches. "I think I said we should go get it x-rayed, Sal." Becka slapped the crutches into Lopes' hands. He ducked his head in embarrassment. "Oh. Well. Yeah," he mumbled. "Go get decent," she said with a glance at his unbuttoned uniform. "I'll drive you to the ER." "Right. Gimme five minutes." He swung out of the room, still grinning. Oddly, the space seemed smaller with just her and Mace, Becka thought, struggling to banish the uneasiness. Maybe it had to do with those mocking whiskey eyes. Maybe it had to do with the unexpected edge of desire that suddenly sliced through her. She struggled to breathe deeply and slow her system down. So she was attracted to him. Big deal. She'd been attracted to plenty of guys in her life. No way was she going to pat his ego and fall at his feet like every other woman he met. This was her territory and her job. She wasn't about to let some pretty boy make her uncomfortable. His mouth curved up in a slow smile as though he knew what she was thinking. It brought out the temper in her. You're a professional, Becka reminded herself. Act like it. "I take it you're the infamous Mace Duvall." She stuck her hand out. "I'm Becka Landon, the trainer." * * * * * *
"So was that your version of bedside manner?" Mace asked,
shaking her hand, intrigued to feel her pulse jump unsteadily under
his fingers. He'd always been partial to redheads, and this one
had the glowing, luminous skin that was a combination of good fortune
and complete, utter fitness. Deep, dark red without a hint of orange,
her hair feathered down to end just above her shoulders, framing
exotic cheekbones and slanted green cat eyes that stared out at
him from under a fringe of bangs. Her lush mouth looked soft and
sulky. Becka raised her chin belligerently. "He was hurt, I was doing my job. You have a problem with that?" He might just have a problem with her, he thought, wondering how those full lips tasted. "Only when it means distracting players in the clubhouse." "Oh, get over it," she said impatiently, turning to jerk the cover off the treatment table. "His foot wouldn't hold his weight and it was either catch him or scrape him up off the floor." Something about the way her eyes snapped at him tempted him to push her a bit, just to see how she'd react. "Happens a lot that way?" She flushed. "Now you're being insulting. These kids like to play tough guy when they're hurt. I was just trying to keep him from making things worse." "Looks like you distracted him from his pain just fine." Her cat eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?" "I don't usually see trainers in a clinch with players." She laughed then. "Are you kidding? To these kids I'm like their old Aunt Edna. Sal's mind is on the games he's going to miss, not me. His mind doesn't work that way."
Just for a heartbeat, his gaze flicked down to the buttons on her
polo shirt. "Sweetheart, every 18 year old's mind works that
way." "Gee, Duvall, are you always such a charmer or did you cook up the sexist b.s. just for me?" Oh, belligerence suited her, he thought. She had herself a temper, Miss Becka Landon did, and she wore it well. And if she looked this good in shorts and a polo shirt and a temper, he couldn't help wondering what she looked like in nothing at all. "No offense intended, just a friendly warning. You don't want to underestimate these boys. Half of them just got out of high school two months ago. Their hormones are still kicking in. Something you think is harmless might have them daydreaming about you when they're on the field." "Oh stop, Duvall, you're flattering me."
He stepped closer to her, and her heart jumped up into her mouth. She should haul off and put him in his place, Becka thought, but her mind kept focusing on the flecks of copper in his golden eyes, and the heat she could feel radiating from him. Seconds stretched out, until she heard Sal's voice as he crutched back toward the training room. "I'm ready, Florence." "Be there in a minute, Sal," she called back and got her keys and purse. She glanced at Mace. "Well, this has been fun, Duvall, but I've got to run. Guess I'll see you in a couple of hours when the game starts." The corners of his mouth curved in a slow grin and his eyes simmered with a heat she felt down to the pit of her stomach. "Funny, I thought we'd started it already."
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