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  Claire turned to John. “Can I have a moment with you in private?”

  Nate chuckled. “Better be a quickie, I’m not waiting here all day,” he mocked.

  Claire death-stared Nate, which only seem to amuse him even more.

  “Quickly then, Claire,” John said, pulling her away from Nate so they could talk out of earshot.

  “What is going on?” John asked sternly. “Do you know him?”

  Claire shook her head. “I…I…” she stuttered.

  How was she going to explain to John how she knew him, and why he affected her so much?

  “Look, Claire. This is your last clinical placement. I’m giving you a great opportunity. Whether you have history with him or not, this is something you can’t pass off. You have to be a professional about this.”

  Claire knew John was right. She couldn’t decline taking Nate on as a patient. She needed the experience, and it wouldn’t look good to her professors if she turned down a patient without sustainable reasoning.

  “No, you’re right, it’s fine.” Claire smiled unconvincingly.

  John smiled and handed Nate’s file back to her. They both turned and walked back to Nate, who was standing there with a smug look on his face.

  “I’m John Seymor, and this is Claire Green. She is a student at the University doing her clinical placement,” John said, pointing to Claire. “She will be taking your physiotherapy sessions for the next five weeks.”

  Nate eyed Claire up and down, frowning. “Maybe it would be better if I got someone who knew what they were actually doing.”

  Claire’s mouth dropped. Just when she thought she couldn’t hate the guy anymore, Claire thought

  “I assure you, Claire is very good at what she does. I’ve giving her your recovery plan for her to follow. Of course if you don’t wish her to do it, then it’s up to you,” John said.

  Nate stood there for what seemed like an eternity looking back and forth between Claire and John, considering his options.

  Claire could feel her skin burning under his gaze. She knew every patient had the right to refuse and request that John be their therapist, but the fact that it was Nate made her blood boil.

  “Well?” Claire snapped.

  Nate locked eyes with her. If he thought he could stare her down, he was wrong. Very wrong.

  “Mmmm. Do I get anything in return for doing this for you?” He winked and grinned at her.

  Claire tilted her head. “Mmmm, let me see. Maybe the ability to walk again?” she retorted, not willing to play along with his little game. If he was going to dish it out, he’d better expect her to do just the same.

  “Claire,” John warned.

  Claire kept her composure. Part of her wanted to plead for Nate’s forgiveness. She didn’t want John thinking badly of her. But a huge part of her, the dominant part, wouldn’t let Nate get away with being rude.

  Nate laughed. “Oh well, what the hell. Might as well give her a try. Doubt she’ll be able to handle me. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll be sure to hand her back.”

  Claire rolled her eyes. Her life had just gotten a little bit more interesting - for the worse.

  “Well, now that’s settled I’ll be going.” John smiled at Claire, then turned back to Nate before leaving. “Good luck, Nate.”

  Claire watched as John walked away, leaving her with him.

  “So, sunshine, where do you want me first? On the floor? On the bed?” He smiled mischievously.

  Claire rubbed her temple with her free hand. “Look. It’s plain and simple. I’m here to get you to walk again. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

  That comment only seemed to make Nate smile more. “Hard does sound appealing. Hard. Rough. Thick.” Nate breathed heavily and narrowed his eyes.

  Focus, focus, Claire thought to herself. He is doing this to you on purpose.

  “You’re wasting my time. Let’s go.” Claire shuffled the papers in his pile trying to distract herself from his gaze.

  “Fiery little one, aren’t you?” Nate laughed to himself.

  “Just follow me, will you?” Claire said, turning on her heel.

  They moved down the corridor and into the room where they would do their sessions together. She could feel his eyes burning into her back as they walked.

  They approached the large room which looked similar to a gym with several pieces of physio equipment scattered across it. She noticed a couple of other therapists with patients across the room. She walked to one of the patient beds and turned to Nate, who was still smiling at her.

  “If you can hop up onto the bed, we can begin.”

  ‘What, no foreplay?” Nate teased.

  Claire ignored his comment as she helped Nate up onto the bed, taking his crutches and placing them against the nearby wall.

  “So we’re going to begin by doing some basic stretches and exercises. Your ankle will be stiff from the cast, and you’ve lost a lot of the muscle in your leg. Our aim this week is to get movement back to your leg, and start building that muscle back up so you can start putting pressure back on it. I will give you exercises to do at home, too.”

  “What, so you’re not going to let me get up and try and walk?” Nate frowned at her.

  “If I let you do that, you risk injuring yourself even more. We have to take things slow. Trust me.”

  “Trust you? I don’t even know you.”

  Claire thought about what he had said for a moment. Ever since he had arrived this morning he had showed no sign of recognising her. Yet she had recognised him instantly. She didn’t think she would ever be able to forget Nate. Never forget the most amazing kiss she had ever had, and then of course the painful events that followed.

  “Can I ask just one thing before we get into this? Do you recognise me?” Claire asked.

  Nate looked at her with confusion on his face. “No. Should I?”

  Claire looked at Nate hard. “When did you say your accident was?” she asked.

  Nate shrugged. “Two months ago.”

  Claire frowned and sat down on the stool at the end of the bed. She opened the file and quickly skimmed through Nate’s details. Then it hit her. The date of the accident was the same day they had met. She read further on. The chart noted that his last memory was of the morning of the accident when he was getting ready for work. He didn’t remember their meeting. The scene at the club. The kiss.

  Suddenly, she didn’t know what to do. Should she tell him? Would it make a difference if she did? Probably not. Maybe it was better this way. He didn’t know her, didn’t know what had happened between them. She could do these sessions with him without their past encounter hanging over their heads.

  “Claire?” Nate pulled her attention away from the file and its contents. She must have zoned out.

  “Sorry.” Claire smiled shaking her head. “Where was I? Oh yes…so if you want to lie back on the bed and I’ll help you with some initial stretches to get your muscles moving,” she said, her voice sounding more cheerful.

  Nate stared at her briefly, seemingly confused at Claire’s sudden change in attitude, and then followed her direction. Placing Nate’s file close by, Claire wheeled her stool so she was in front of his feet. She grabbed the ankle of his fractured leg and started massaging and stretching the muscles and tendons. She watched Nate tense every now and then and saw his face clench. She knew it must be painful for him, but he was doing his best not to let it show.

  “So tell me a bit about yourself. Where are you from? Any family?” Claire asked while continuing her exercise.

  “Why?”

  “Why, what? Why do I want to know? Because some patients find talking through the pain makes it easier to deal with.”

  Nate snorted. “I’m not in pain.”

  Claire ignored his comment. “Just trust me on this, okay?”

  “You keep saying that, but I still don’t know why I should.”

  “Amuse me.”

  “Fine.” Nate sighed. “I was b
orn in Sydney and moved to the Gold Coast when I was ten with my parents and sister. We didn’t want to leave, but Dad got a job he couldn’t refuse so we packed up our lives and started over. After I finished high school I took a gap year, which turned into a three year gap rather than one. I backpacked through Europe, stopping at cities for months at a time and working at the local bars and pubs to save up more money for the next leg of the journey. When I got sick of Europe I came back home for a while, then went to Canada and worked at the ski fields. My mum begged me to come back, said she missed me too much, so I decided to go home. After about six months of bumming, I decided to go to University and enrolled in business.”

  “Was it hard after so many years of travelling and seeing and experiencing different places to then be stuck in one place?” Claire asked.

  “One of the hardest things I’ve had to do. But it was lonely travelling. I moved around a lot by myself. Things aren’t the same when you don’t have someone there with you to be excited with. That’s why next time I plan on going with someone.”

  For a moment Claire imagined travelling with Nate, backpacking through the cities, living together.

  “Are you blushing?” Nate asked, leaning up on his elbows to get a better look at her.

  “No. I… I’m just getting hot doing these exercises.” She couldn’t think of what else to say.

  She could see Nate smiling out the corner of her eye.

  “Anyway. So, business hey? What did you major in?” Claire asked, trying to distract him.

  “Doesn’t matter, I quit three years in. I work, well I worked, at a tattoo parlour. That was before the car accident, though. I’m officially unemployed at the moment. Impressed?” He laughed.

  Claire couldn’t help but smile. “Very.”

  He smiled back at her and she finished the last exercise. “Okay, that’s all of those we will do for now. If you want to jump up with me, we will go to the mat and do some more and you can tell me about all those tattoos on your arms.”

  Nate pulled himself up as Claire handed him his crutches.

  “But that will take hours,” Nate said.

  “Exactly.” Claire smiled and helped him onto his crutches.

  Nate just shook his head and laughed. “Okay, but just remember, you asked.”

  As the session progressed, and they talked to each other in a happy civilized way, Claire slowly started to see parts of the Nate she once met.

  His attitude seemed to stay that way for the remainder of the session. He seemed more focused on walking again and on pushing past his pain barriers than making snide remarks and making Claire feel uncomfortable.

  But as soon as the session was over, the old Nate returned.

  Claire helped him to his feet from the mat, using her shoulder under his arm. She was tiny in comparison to him. Her small frame moulded easily to his side.

  She held him tightly as he used her support to walk to his crutches without putting pressure on his leg.

  As they reached the table he placed his hand on it to steady his body. “Claire?”

  Her hair swept across her face as she looked up at him, still holding him close. She was suddenly very aware of how close they were. Her legs had somehow parted his leg in between hers so her stomach pressed up against him. Her breathing quickened. Why was he so good looking? She didn’t even care that he was covered in tattoos - that only made even more beautiful. A canvas waiting to be admired.

  His eyes held hers. She could feel her heart beating faster. His hand came to her face and gently pushed her hair behind her ear, his thumb lingering longer than it should on her cheek. She stared at his full plump lips and found herself licking her own lips remembering their kiss from months ago. His thumb grazed her cheek and found her bottom lip. His touch was gentle. She felt lost in the moment, a million different emotions running through her. Then a name came to her: Dave. Claire quickly pulled herself from his grip and handed him his crutches.

  “So I’ll see you again on Wednesday? Don’t forget to do those exercises tomorrow,” she said grabbing the file and making notes.

  Nate looked away and started walking towards the door with his crutches. “Sure, whatever,” he mumbled, walking through the door without looking back or even a goodbye. And the old Nate was back.

  Claire sighed. Maybe it was better this way. Keep the distance? Although she doubted she could handle that Nate through a whole session together.

  Just as she finished writing her notes, her phone rang. She looked at it and Dave’s name flashed across the screen.

  “Hey!” Claire answered.

  “Hey, babe. How’s your day going?” Dave asked.

  “Great! I’ve met some really amazing people. It’s all going smoothly,” she lied.

  “That’s awesome, Claire. Maybe I’ll get to meet these amazing people one day?”

  “Sure, that would be great.”

  Claire didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to tell Dave that she was doing Nate’s therapy sessions. The last time they had met it had ended in a fight. It felt wrong to lie to Dave. Wrong to even let herself get caught up with Nate the way she just had.

  “Did you still want to come over tonight?” she heard Dave ask, bringing herself out of the memories of her encounter with Nate.

  “Yeah, of course. I gotta go, but I’ll talk to you later?”

  “No worries. See ya, babe.”

  “Bye, Dave.”

  She hung up the phone and held it to her chest. She was not that girl. She didn’t lie to her boyfriend. She didn’t get flustered over another guy when she was in a relationship. No, this thing, whatever this thing was with Nate, ended now. She wouldn’t compromise herself with him again.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Claire was going to give Nate five more minutes and then she was cancelling his session and catching up on her program plans.

  He was late. Late! Late to his own freakin’ therapy sessions. Claire was fuming. At first she was worried something had happened to him when he was over twenty minutes late. So she had pulled up his contact information from his file and called his phone. When he answered, she couldn’t hide her anxiety. “Nate? It’s Claire your physiotherapist. Your session started twenty minutes ago, has something happened?”

  She could hear Nate groaning into the phone. “Do I have to come? My bed seems rather inviting, and I hear there is a model search TV show marathon today. Can’t you just torture someone else?” Nate mumbled.

  Claire squeezed her phone and pulled it away from her ear. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers, furious with his attitude. Most patients were determined to do their best during their sessions, pushing themselves to the limit. Some needed encouragement that they could do it when they felt down on themselves. Nate however, didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass if he walked again. Laziness was not something she responded to very well.

  She slowly put the phone back to her ear. “Look. You either get here in ten minutes or you can say goodbye to your therapy sessions. I know you live nearby,” Claire said sharply.

  She knew it was an empty threat. Nate could do his therapy sessions when he wanted, but she didn’t want him to know that. She wanted to get him on his feet and walking. The quicker he did, the faster he would be out of her life.

  “But that means I miss seeing hot, half-naked chicks on TV. Not unless you are considering getting half naked for me too? That might make it worth my while.”

  Nate’s seductive tone only made her madder.

  “I don’t have time for your shit, Nate. I’ll ask you once more. Are you coming or not?”

  Talking to a patient like that could get Claire into serious trouble and she knew it; it was a risk she was willing to take. For some strange, unknown reason she wanted Nate to walk again, and she wanted to be person that helped him, too.

  “Fine, if it makes you happy, I’ll come.”

  Claire sighed. “It does.”

  “Can’t help it if you find me so attractive that you can’t
keep your hands off me.”

  “Nate!”

  He laughed. “I’ll be there in ten. Bye, Claire.”

  Claire hung up the phone, instantly regretting talking him into coming. She should have just cancelled it. Now she would have to put up with him. Thankfully the sessions were only an hour long, and since he had wasted nearly half of it, she wouldn’t have to endure too much of his infuriating personality.

  She had decided after the phone call to wait out in the car park for him, and that’s where she was right now. Fifteen minutes had passed since their phone call and he still wasn’t there.

  This is a joke, she thought to herself as she looked out to the street waiting for him to arrive. Five more minutes and that was it. She was walking away and Nate would have someone else cover his sessions from now on. Just as the thought left her mind, a taxi rounded the corner and pulled up in front of her. She watched Nate get out of it, throwing the crutches around in front of him. She didn’t move to help him, even though she should have. He had just wasted half an hour of her time. He was getting none of her sympathy and help.

  “You said ten minutes, Nate!” Claire snapped as he limped over to her.

  “Sorry! Jeez, I had to make myself look pretty.”

  Claire rolled her eyes. “Well you didn’t do a very good job.”

  He smiled at her now. “Well we can’t all be as beautiful and sexy as you.”

  Beautiful.Sexy. Claire quickly hid her blushing cheeks by turning to walk back inside. Wasn’t she mad at him a few seconds ago? Now she was blushing.

  Great work, Claire. Way to keep your emotions on track, she told herself.

  “I thought you’d be long gone by now. Haven’t given up on me yet?” Nate said from behind her as they entered the building.

  “Not yet. When I start something, I always finish it.”

  “Well you know what they say...”

  Claire waited for him to finish his sentence. When he didn’t and she couldn’t hear him coming behind her anymore she stopped and turned her head. Nate was standing there, head cocked to one side, staring at her ass.

  She death-stared him, but his eyes were still focused on her behind. She watched him take his bottom lip into his teeth and bite down. Heat radiated off her body. Even on crutches, Nate’s sex appeal wasn’t lost. The black shirt he was wearing today was tighter than the one he had worn on Monday, giving Claire a clear image of what his ripped body looked like. It hugged his muscles in the right places.