LIGHTNING (5 page)

Brooke

Bringing the razor to his face, I began using short downward strokes. I could tell he was nervous, but I wasn’t sure if he was nervous about me shaving him or the fact that I was so close to him.

“So tell me about you,” he spoke.

“Shh. Don’t talk or I may end up cutting you.” I smiled. “I was born and raised in Laguna Beach, California. My father, Brady Alexander, runs his own company called Alexander Securities & Holdings. I graduated from UCLA with a Master’s degree and then transferred over to the University of Southern California, where I was accepted to their residency program and graduated with my Ph.D.”

Logan put his hand up. I stopped shaving and stared into his sexy brown eyes. Eyes that no longer displayed so much anger. Eyes that made my panties melt.

“How old are you?” he asked with a smile.

“Same age as you, twenty-seven.”

As I brought the razor back to his face, he held his hand up again.

“Why did you accept this job? Didn’t you already have a job?”

As I continued to shave him, I spoke, “I had just finished my residency at Cedars Sinai and had two other job offers I was considering. But I took this job because I like challenges and I knew you’d be a challenge.”

“So you’re a newbie at this?”

“Not really. I have a couple years of experience under my belt.” I winked. “I’ve helped many patients during my residency and clinical training.”

“Yes. But under the supervision of another doctor.” He smirked.

“True. But I have other training as well. Training in a more non-traditional way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you more about that when the time is right.”

Finishing the last stroke down his face, I stood back and smiled. “That’s better.” I turned the wheelchair around so he was facing the mirror. Running his hand down each side of his face, he narrowed his eyes.

“You left some stubble.”

“From all the pictures I saw of you on the internet, that’s how you look. Besides, women find it incredibly sexy.” I smirked. “When was the last time you had a bath?”

His brow arched as he stared at me through the mirror.

“Are you saying I smell or something?”

“No. It’s just you’re going to want to smell extra fresh if you’re getting your hair cut tomorrow and getting your cast off. By the way, dial your hairstylist and tell them you need to get in tomorrow morning.”

“They’re closed now. I’ll call first thing tomorrow.”

“Okay. But if you don’t, I’ll be forced to take the scissors to your hair and I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.”

“Trust me, after hearing you say that, I’ll make the call.” He smirked.

I pushed his wheelchair out of the bathroom and out of the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“You’re going to take a bath. Your tub is way too big and sunken in, so you’re going to use the bathtub in the guest bathroom.”

“I don’t want to take a bath.”

“You have to. End of discussion. I’m going to help you, so don’t worry.”

“I am not getting naked in front of you!” he exclaimed.

“That’s fine. You can keep your underwear on or wear your swimsuit. No big deal.”

“Sorry, Brooke, but this is not happening.”

“Yes it is, Logan. You need a bath and you need your hair washed before tomorrow.”

“I’m getting it cut off. What does it matter?”

I slowly shook my head. He was such a man.

“Do you honestly think it’s okay to go to the hair salon with filthy dirty hair?”

“It’s not that dirty. My brother just helped me wash it last week. I think it was last week.”

“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes as I wheeled him into the guest bathroom and started the water. “Would you be more comfortable if I put some bubble bath in it?”

He frowned. “I’m a guy. I don’t have bubble bath.”

“I do. I brought some with me. I love to take long hot bubble baths.” I grinned.

“I’m not going around smelling like a girl. No thanks.”

“It’s vanilla-scented, so it’s neutral.”

“You’re not going to stop are you?” he asked.

“No.” I shook my head with a light smile.

“Fine, Brooke. Get your bubble bath.” He sighed.

I went to my room, grabbed the bubble bath from my bag, and when I walked back into the bathroom, I couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath as he sat there with no shirt on. The way his biceps hugged the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing was nothing compared to seeing them out in the open. He was extremely muscular in all the right places. His washboard abs were definitely something to be desired, which left me wondering about another body part of his. A part that I shouldn’t have thought about, but it couldn’t be helped. He was a drop dead gorgeous man and any woman who looked at him would have the same thoughts. I tried to clear my head as I walked over to the water and poured in a capful of vanilla-scented bubble bath.

“Was something wrong?” he asked.

“Wrong? No, nothing. Why would you ask?”
Shit.
He knew I was speechless when I saw him.

“Just the way you stopped when you came back in and the way you stared at me.” He grinned.

“Oh. That. No.” I waved my hand in front of my face. “I was just thinking that you’re going to have to walk to the tub. The wheelchair won’t fit next to it.”

He locked the wheelchair and placed his hands on the armrests as he slowly lifted himself up.

“Hold on. Let me help you,” I spoke as I grabbed his muscular arm. “Do you need me to help you take your pants off?”

“No. I can do it.”

I could tell he felt uneasy, so I tried to make light of this uncomfortable situation. “Are you sure? Guys usually beg women to take down their pants.” I grinned.

“Very funny. If this was under any other circumstances, I’d welcome it. But that would be weird since you’re my therapist.”

“So you’re telling me that the only women you let take down your pants are your girlfriends?”

“No. The only women I let take down my pants are the ones that I’ll never see again.”

Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but smile.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Logan. I’m a doctor.”

“Doctor or not, I have a feeling you aren’t going anywhere any time soon, so you’re not taking down my pants.”

He carefully took down his pants and I gulped. Not a small gulp. But the kind that almost choked me. Just through his boxers I could tell he was the whole fucking package. From head to toe, this man was blessed with a body of the gods. I could tell he was uncomfortable, so I made sure not to look down at his man parts as I helped him to the bathtub.

“Just stick your leg out of the tub the best you can. If the cast gets a little wet, it’s no big deal since it’s coming off tomorrow.”

****

Logan

This was uncomfortable. Not sitting in the tub, but Brooke sitting on the edge of it, staring at me. This wasn’t right. She was too damn sexy — the mouth-watering kind of sexy — and all I could think about was her naked body under mine. She reached up and pulled the handheld shower down and turned on the warm water. After wetting my head, she poured some shampoo into the palm of her hand and began working it throughout my hair. I closed my eyes as her strong but slender fingers massaged my head. It felt so good and, suddenly, I felt my cock twitch. Enough of a twitch to startle me and force me to open my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing. It just feels good to have my hair washed.”

The more she ran her fingers through my hair, the more my cock twitched. I gulped and panicked at the same time. Soon enough, it was completely hard. For the first time since the accident, I got an erection. Thank God I agreed to the bubble bath or else I would have been totally humiliated.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked out of nowhere to stop thinking about how good her hands would feel massaging my dick.

She cocked her head with a smile. “Why?”

“No reason. I just wondered if you did, how he felt about you coming to New York.”

“To answer your question, no. I don’t have a boyfriend. No one steady at least. I never had time for relationships. I devoted every minute of every day to my studies and my training. That was my main focus. I put guys on the back burner.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s good you focused on your studies.”

“How about you?”

“Nah. I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m not the relationship type of guy.”

“So that girl that stopped by the other day was just a friend?” she asked as she rinsed the shampoo out of my hair.

“I’m not so sure I’d call her a friend. I hadn’t seen her since the morning before the accident, after we—”

Shit
.

“After you fucked?” She raised her brow.

“Yeah. We both had too much to drink the night before.”

“Ah, the too much to drink that led to drunken sex.” She tried to play it off as no big deal.

After washing my hair, Brooke wet a washcloth, soaped it up, and ran it down my arm. She needed to be stopped because my cock was trying to get harder than it already was. I took the washcloth from her hand.

“I can do it.” I smiled politely. “But thanks for washing my hair. I got it from here.”

“Okay.” She sensed something. I could tell. “I think I’ll go out in the living room and give you some privacy. Just call me when you’re ready to get out.”

“Will do.” I nodded and let out a sigh of relief as she left the bathroom. If she stayed in here the whole time with me, my boner would never go down and then what would I do? Being as sexually frustrated as I was and having an erection for the first time in two months, I decided to take advantage of it. Just as I was about to come, I heard Brooke’s voice.

“Hey, Logan?” I heard her speak from the doorway.

“Yeah.” I continued to jack off.

“Do you need me to bring you fresh clothes?”

“That’d be great. There should be some clean sweat shorts in the bottom left hand drawer of my dresser. The t-shirts are in the drawer above.”

“And underwear?” she asked.

Shit
. I rested my head back on the tub as I came. “First drawer on the right.”

Brooke

After helping Logan out of the bathtub, he grabbed the towel from my hand and wrapped it around his waist. I helped to dry him off with another towel and then he changed into his fresh clothes while I waited outside the bathroom. When he opened the door, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Look at you. Freshly shaven and all nice and clean. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. So, I’m going to head into the kitchen and fix some dinner. You can come help me if you’d like.”

“Nah. I think I’ll go back to my room.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.”

“What are you making?”

“Chicken fettuccine Alfredo, and a salad.”

“Sounds good.”

While I headed towards the kitchen, Logan wheeled himself back to his bedroom. I couldn’t stop thinking about the connection I felt with him earlier. I had worked with many patients, young and old, but I had never felt such a strong bond with them. There was something about Logan that touched me and it was more than just his good looks.

As I was preparing dinner, I received a call from his brother, Brandon.

“Hello.”

“How’s it going? I haven’t heard from you in a couple of days and, to be honest, I miss my brother.”

“Things are going good. I got him out of bed, gave him a good shave, and he had a bath.”

“Huh? How did you manage that?”

“Long story. Just give me a little more time with him. He’s coming around. He’s no longer swearing at me or throwing things. We had a nice conversation. Oh, and he’s getting his haircut tomorrow before he gets his cast off.”

“Wow. I can’t believe you got him to do that. Thank you, Brooke. Owen and I want to be there when he gets his cast off tomorrow.”

“Not a good idea, Brandon.”

“Why not? You said he’s coming around.”

“Because I’m not sure how he’s going to react once he gets the cast off and finds that his leg is completely useless.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but we’re coming. We’re his family and we need to be there.”

“Fine. If you insist.” I sighed.

“By the way, will you be flying back to California for Christmas? If you are, you can just leave instructions for me and Owen and we’ll help him out until you get back.”

“That’s next week, isn’t it?”

“Yep. It’s sure coming fast.”

“I don’t know if I am or not. I’ll give my father a call and let you know.”

“Okay, sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After ending the call, I looked up and saw Logan wheeling himself into the kitchen. I smiled.

“Hey. Decided to help after all?”

“I want you to tell me what happened to you,” he spoke in a serious tone.

“I will tell you, but you have to cut up the tomatoes and cucumbers for the salad. Deal?”

He sighed. “Deal.” He wheeled himself over to the counter, but it was too high for him to comfortably reach. “I can’t do this. I can’t even fucking reach the counter,” he snapped in irritation.

“There’s no need to get all worked up over it. We have other options. One being that table right there.”

I took the cutting board, knife, tomatoes, and cucumbers and set them on the table.

“See. Now wheel your ass over here and start cutting. Rule number three: there are always alternatives to everything. If one way doesn’t work, another way will.”

“How many rules do you have?” He smirked.

“A lot. Now chop chop.”

“I will as soon as you tell me what happened to you.”

Walking back over to the counter, I picked up the knife and began cutting the lettuce for the salad.

“I took my first ice skating lesson when I was two years old.”

Immediately, Logan looked up at me. “You skate?”

“Yes. Now let me tell my story. Questions can come after.”

“Sorry. Go ahead.”

“My mom loved to ice skate. She said there was no feeling in the world like having your feet glide over the smoothness of the ice as if you were flying. Like I said, I took my first lesson when I was two. By the time I was four, I had a personal coach. I started competing at the age of five, and at the age of ten, I placed first in the U.S. Junior Championship. When I was thirteen, I took second place at the World Championships and when I was fourteen, I won the gold. My next stop was the U.S. Olympics. Winning that gold medal secured me a spot on the team. One night, my mom and I were on our way back to the hotel in Minneapolis after a competition. My dad had to leave the competition early to catch a flight to Texas for a business meeting he had the next morning. I remember stepping out into the snow and looking up as the flakes hit my face. The car service my dad hired was waiting for us and I remember my mom asking the driver if it was safe to drive. He assured her the roads were fine. As he was driving us to our hotel, he hit a patch of ice coming around a curve and the car spun out of control several times. As the car was spinning, a truck plowed into the side and pushed us into a guardrail. That’s all I remembered about the accident. When I woke up in the hospital, I was paralyzed from the waist down.”

“I’m sorry, Brooke.”

“Don’t be. Everything happens for a reason, right? If that wouldn’t have happened to me, I wouldn’t be enjoying the fine company of you.” I gave a small smile.

“How old were you when the accident happened?”

“Fourteen. It happened a few months after I won the gold and found out I was on the USA team.”

“What about your mom? Was she okay?”

“My mom died a week after the accident. She had a brain aneurysm that ruptured.”

“I’m really sorry.”

I tilted my head as I set the knife down. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Are you finished yet? Dinner’s just about ready.”

“Yeah.” The corners of his mouth curved into a sweet smile.

“Good. Wheel your ass over here.”

Taking down two plates and grabbing some silverware from the drawer, I set them down on his lap.

“You can set the table while I serve.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He turned his wheelchair around and wheeled back to the table.

“Rule number four: never ever in your entire existence call me ‘ma’am.’” I smiled.

“Right. Sorry. So are you going to finish your story?”

I placed the food on the table and took a seat across from him. “I’ll tell you more when the time is right.”

“Huh? Why not now?”

“Because I want to talk about you. Tell me all about what drove you to play hockey in the first place. I want to know what was inside you that was so strong that you followed your dream.”

****

Logan

“My dad took me to my very first Rangers game when I was six years old. I remember sitting there, mesmerized by the entire game. The way the players had so much power on the ice just fascinated me. Not only by the way they raced up and down it, but the power of the sticks they held in their hands. I wanted to feel that kind of power and the power of shooting that puck right into the net. The first time they scored a goal in the game, the crowd roared and I remember looking around at the spectators and seeing the smiles across their faces. From that day on, I made it my mission and life dedication to play in the NHL and become somebody. I wanted to be the one to put a smile on all those people’s faces. After that game, I told my mom and dad I wanted to learn how to skate. My brothers laughed at me and called me a pussy.” I chuckled. “I didn’t tell them at first I wanted to play hockey. I took it one step at a time and I learned to skate first. But my dad knew, and that Christmas, he bought me my first hockey stick. I joined a hockey league and it was full force from then on. After my mom died and my dad became a full-time alcoholic, playing hockey was a way for me to take out my anger. I took it out on the ice instead of people, with the exception of the players on the opposing team. If it wasn’t for my aunt and uncle, I’m not sure I would have made it. I hit some rough patches along the way, but they made sure I stayed on track.”

“I’m sorry for the loss of your mom and I’m sorry about your dad. Did he drink much before she died?”

“An occasional beer here and there. She did everything for him and he couldn’t handle her being gone. My brothers and I tried to help him, but he didn’t want to be helped. Ironically, he stopped drinking a few months ago, started attending AA meetings, and is now dating his sponsor, Maggie.”

“Good for him. That’s a good thing, right?”

I shrugged. “I guess. He’s trying to be a dad again and Maggie is a nice woman. It’s good to see him sober, although I can’t forget the things he did and said over the past eighteen years.”

As Brooke and I ate our dinner and continued to talk, there was a knock at the door.

“Are you expecting someone?” she asked.

“No. Are you?”

She gave me a small grin as she got up from her seat. “No. But I’ll go see who it is.”

As I took another bite of my pasta, I froze when I heard Bruce’s voice.

“How are you doing, Logan?” he asked as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Living the dream, Bruce.” I spoke sarcastically. “What brings you by?”

Bruce dropping by worried me. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he wasn’t here with good news. He sighed as he took the seat across from me.

“Listen, Logan, the other companies decided it was in their best interest to drop you. I’m sorry. I tried my best. But with the doctors saying that you’ll never play hockey again and learning that Nike dropped you, they got real nervous real fast. You disappeared and no one has heard a word from you. You know they don’t like that shit.”

I clenched my fist as the anger brewed inside me and I felt my life slipping away from me.

“This is bullshit, Bruce!” I shouted. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t even have my cast off yet.”

“You need to listen to me very carefully, Logan. I spoke with Coach Gene and he didn’t have the balls to tell you this yet, but he’s giving you until the fall to recover. If you are still unable to play hockey by time the next season starts, he has no choice but to replace you. The pressure’s on him now.”

Brooke could sense the explosion that was about to emerge, so she got up from her chair and clasped my shoulders from behind.

“Aren’t you just the bearer of all bad news?” she spoke to Bruce.

“I’m sorry, but I have no choice.”

“You can tell your people that Logan will be back on the ice in the fall.”

Bruce arched his brow at me and then looked at Logan. “I’m happy that your girlfriend has so much faith in you.”

“I’m not his girlfriend. I’m his physical therapist and I’m the one who will help him get back on the ice.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was working with a physical therapist.”

“He starts physical therapy tomorrow and he will hold a press conference. Set it up and he’ll be there.”

Bruce got up from his seat and placed his hand on my arm. “I’ll call you with the day and time. It’s the right thing to do, Logan.”

The only thing I could do was give him a nod as I tightly clenched my fist. After he left, I looked at Brooke with anger.

“How the fuck could you tell him that I’ll be back on the ice? You don’t know that, and I’m not doing that press conference!” I yelled as I wheeled myself back to my bedroom.

“Because you will be back on the ice and the press conference is something you need to do. Not just for your fans and your team, but for yourself. I won’t stand by and let you destroy your career any further,” she yelled from the other room.

Climbing into bed, I was full of rage. Losing my endorsements confirmed my career was over regardless of what Brooke said. I was happy she had so much faith in me because I had zero. There was no way in hell that I would be able to play again. Brooke had too much confidence in me and I appreciated her for that, but it pissed me the hell off at the same time that she got my hopes up.