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  She causally walked over to the nearby desk and started writing in his file.

  Little minx. She’d had him hook, line and sinker, and she knew it. What he’d give to have it all over again. She might just be the sexiest little devil he’d ever come across. She liked to play did she? Well, two could play at that game.

  Standing, he leaned against his crutches and adjusted his raging hard on.

  “Okay, so we are all done for the day, keep up the exercises at home and I’ll see you next week,” she said, turning to him and giving him a sheet of paper with suggested exercises. “I think you should also take it easy, if you know what I mean.” She smiled. He knew exactly what she meant.

  “I’ll see what I can do. There’s plenty of… ways I guess I could still have just as much fun without moving.” He smiled playfully.

  He turned and started for the door.

  “Oh, and Nate,” Claire called behind him.

  He turned his head towards her, her body leaning against the doorframe.

  “Next week we start our sessions in the pool. Clothing optional.”

  Nate shook his head smiling. “I’ll be here. Couldn’t miss an opportunity to see you get wet. If you know what I mean.”

  Claire’s face turned into shock as she disappeared into the room out of sight.

  Yeah that’s for the boner you left me with minutes ago, he chuckled to himself. Two can definitely play that game.

  Claire held her hands in her face. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  Why did she have to play along with his games? She should have held her ground and not given in. She had a boyfriend. A boyfriend! Yet here she was moments ago flirting with someone else.

  It wasn’t even the flirting that really bothered her, it was the fact she had enjoyed it. The fact she had lost herself in the moment. She didn’t want to think of what could have happened if he’d kissed her. It felt wrong doing this. Being with Nate like that. Part of her felt drawn to him. She wasn’t herself around him and she knew that. But what did that mean? She wasn’t ‘that girl.’ She may have been fun, outgoing, spontaneous, but she wasn’t a cheat.

  She’d been with Dave now for nearly six months. He was good to her, treated her right. He was an amazing boyfriend. She wasn’t just going to walk away from that, especially when she couldn’t forget what had happened between Nate and her that night months ago. Nate wouldn’t treat her the way Dave did, with love and respect. Nate was a bad boy, through and through.

  ***

  “Earth to Claire!” Layla yelled.

  They were in the extremely small plane about to jump 14,000 feet, and all Claire could think about what Nate.

  She turned her head towards Layla. They were dressed in the most unflattering jumpsuits, and each attached to an instructor.

  “Sorry, just thinking about what’s it going to be like,” she said nervously.

  ‘Well you’re about to find out!” Layla laughed.

  “I just wish Dave could be here, too.”

  Layla leaned across and rubbed Claire’s leg. “Hey, don’t worry about it. He had to work. There wasn’t much else he could do about it, right?”

  “I guess you’re right.” Claire smiled. “Thanks for filling in, you’re the best.” She said with a wink.

  Dave had called Claire half an hour before they were expected to jump and told her he had been called into work, so he wasn’t able to make the jump. They’d booked and paid for it months ago. To say she was upset was an understatement. She’d been trying to get Dave out of his shell, to do something crazy with her, for months, and now that they had their chance he couldn’t make it.

  Thankfully Layla had come to watch them, so she was more than happy to fill in for him. In fact, Layla seemed to be getting close with the hot male attached to her right now.

  Claire hadn’t been skydiving yet, but had always wanted to go. Although they were doing a tandem skydive, she couldn’t help but feel nervous.

  “Ready?” Steve, her instructor, said behind them as he shuffled them forward towards the open door.

  Her feet now dangled off the edge, and she could feel the force of the wind beneath her. She kept her eyes closed tightly

  “On the count of three,” Steve said behind her. “One. Two-” He didn’t even get to three before he pushed her forward and out the door.

  Claire screamed. Opening her eyes she saw herself falling fast. It was exhilarating. All previous thoughts were banished from her mind. Her only thought was of flying. Freedom.

  ***

  Nate threw his phone across the lounge room. He crossed his hands over the back of his head and leaned up against the back of his couch.

  He was sick and tired of being told to get out of his apartment. If he felt like leaving, he would. But it just so happened that he had a nice supply of alcohol to keep him company on a Saturday night. If he wanted to go out he would. He just didn’t want to, it was a simple as that.

  His sister had arrived on the coast early this morning to stay at their mum’s place. The anniversary of Nate’s father’s death was fast approaching, and Nate dreaded the thought of it. Apparently it meant that Nate needed ‘saving’ more than ever.

  He just wished people would leave him the fuck alone and let him get on with his life, however he wanted to.

  ***

  Today would be different. There would be no flirting, no physical contact, unless necessary. No thoughts about what his lips would taste like, or the way his touch sent shivers down her spine. No, today Nate would be the patient, and Claire would be his therapist. Claire was finished with all the mind games. Playing them never made her feel any better.

  She watched Nate limp over to the pool with his crutches. This week was the week they would use the pool to get him walking.

  “Morning!” Claire said cheerily.

  “Morning,” Nate grumbled in reply.

  Claire frowned. He obviously wasn’t in a very good mood today. She noticed he already had his board shorts on, ready to get in. He reached the pool steps and rested the crutches against it, pulling himself down to sit on the first step. Claire quickly walked over to him to help.

  “I’ll be fine,” he growled, shooing her away.

  She quickly took her shirt and pants off, revealing her red full-piece swimsuit, and slid into the water.

  He looked up at her and frowned. “I better not be getting wet for no reason. This better work.”

  Jeez, what’s his problem today?

  Claire watched as he used his good leg to help him slide down the next step. He was clearly struggling, and she wasn’t just going to stand there and watch him.

  She reached forward and held onto his chest to help him down.

  “I can do it myself,” he snapped.

  “Will you just shut up and let me help you?”

  “Whatever.”

  Claire rolled her eyes. This was just perfect, cranky Nate. If he hadn’t already pissed her off enough he was sure going to try to today.

  Claire held his chest as she moved him off the left side where there was a long steel bar hooked to the side of the pool.

  “So I’ll need you to hold onto this bar and use it to steady your weight. Start off by putting minimal weight on the sore leg, and when you feel like it’s getting easier add a little more pressure. All you need to do is walk back and forth along this bar, okay?”

  Nate didn’t answer. Instead he used his strong leg to limp to the side of the pool. Once he reached it, he started doing as instructed.

  “That’s it, don’t put too much weight on it yet, you don’t want to hurt yourself,” Claire said encouragingly.

  “Can you not talk?” he said sharply.

  Claire was over his attitude already, but decided to keep quiet, staying close by in case he needed help.

  She watched as he went and lapped the pool, applying more pressure each time, and then suddenly he stopped and pulled his hand off the rail, and looked down at his legs.

  “Stop, Nate! Y
ou’re not ready for that yet!” she called out to him. He was going to try and walk.

  Nate glared at her.

  “Don’t look at me like that, you’re not doing it Nate,” she warned.

  “Try and stop me,” he said harshly.

  It all happened so fast. One minute she was watching him take a step, the next he was screaming in agony. She tried to swim to him as fast as she could, but by the time she got to him, he was completely submerged. Claire pulled him from the water using all her strength-he was easily double her weight.

  Nate emerged from the water gasping for air. Pulling him to the side of the pool, she shouted for a nearby therapist to call the ambulance. While they waited, Claire tried talking to Nate, but he remained silent, even as he was strapped into the gurney. She stayed with him as they pushed him out into the car park.

  “Did you want to go with him to the hospital?” the ambulance officers asked her.

  She opened her mouth to say yes but before she could, Nate interjected. “No, she’s not coming with me.”

  Claire looked down at Nate. His face showed no emotion.

  “I’m done, Claire. I’m done with all this shit. I’m done with you.”

  Claire stood there stunned and watched as Nate was lifted into the ambulance and taken away. She couldn’t help but feel like it was all her fault, even though she knew she’d done nothing wrong. Or had she?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Claire? Baby, what’s wrong?”

  Claire broke from her daydream at the sound of Dave’s voice. She shifted her body against his and pulled the doona tighter around her chest.

  It had been one week since her therapy session with Nate. One week since he’d told her he was done with her. One week of feeling like absolute shit. And one week since she’d had a decent night’s sleep.

  Nate’s doctor had phoned the clinic not long after he left the hospital to let them know that, apart from some minor water inhalation, Nate had suffered no injuries and would be fine to continue his therapy sessions. Nate never returned, though, and for some unknown reason it ate Claire up inside. She had called him several times, left messages, but he never answered.

  “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” Claire lied, smiling at Dave.

  She wasn’t fine. Her days were filled with distraction, unable to focus on anything but Nate. Her nights left her tired and restless, and to make matters worse, she couldn’t understand why she felt the way she did. Why she cared so much about Nate.

  Every part of her told her to forget about it, walk away. She shouldn’t be feeling like this, shouldn’t be thinking about him like that. But she did.

  “You’re not fine. You haven’t been fine all week. Please tell me what’s wrong,” Dave pleaded.

  Claire sighed and turned her body towards him. He was leaning up on his elbow, looking down at her with a worried expression.

  “I don’t even know if I understand it myself.”

  “Well maybe if you talk about it, it might start to make sense.”

  Claire sighed. Maybe he was right. “I have this patient…” She pursed her lips together. Should she tell him the patient was Nate? Would it be lying if she didn’t? Technically it was patient confidentially so she shouldn’t really say anything. Deciding against it, she continued. “He came in a couple of weeks ago needing therapy sessions for his leg to help him learn to walk again. He was a douchebag to begin with, but after a couple of sessions he appeared to be getting better. His attitude, although still frustrating as hell sometimes, was improving. He was even doing well physically, and it was like he wanted to be there. Then one day he came in and he was different. He was distant and angry. I thought maybe I was pushing him too hard. I can’t even begin to imagine the emotions you’d have to deal with after going through such an ordeal, but then he got too confident. He tried to walk when he wasn’t ready and hurt himself. He told me he was finished, like he wasn’t going to come back again, and he hasn’t. It’s been a week since then.”

  “Maybe he hurt himself when he tried to walk and wasn’t able to?”

  “No, his doctor called the clinic and told us he was fine to come back to therapy.”

  “And you’ve tried contacting him?”

  “Yeah I’ve tried calling him, but nothing. I don’t know what to do…” Claire trailed off.

  “Are you likely to forget about it anytime soon?” Dave questioned.

  “I…I don’t think so. I mean… I don’t know. I can’t just let it go. What happens if he never walks again? Then it’s my fault.”

  “His decision to walk again is his Claire, nobody else’s, not even yours. But it sounds like maybe something else is going on in his life that might have something to do with it. You said so yourself. He was different before he hurt himself.”

  Claire had never really thought about it like that. She’d known he was different, but just assumed he was angry at her because of the accident.

  “Maybe you’re right. What should I do?”

  Dave smiled and kissed her forehead. “What you do best. Track him down and find out what his deal is. If I know one thing about you, it’s that you won’t let go of this until you’ve found closure.”

  Dave was right. Dave was always right.

  She smiled and kissed him. “You’re right. First thing tomorrow morning I’m going to find out what’s going on.”

  He smiled back at her. “Good. Now that that’s settled, can we get some sleep?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Claire said turning her body so her back was pressed up against his chest.

  Tomorrow she would find out where he lived. Using his contact details for personal reasons could get her into serious trouble, but she had no other option.

  Claire smiled to herself as she snuggled into Dave. Talking to Dave did make her feel better about it. He was great at giving advice. He was great at a lot of things. He was sweet, caring, kind and loving. All the things Claire wanted. Dave was the perfect boyfriend.

  ***

  Nate heard a loud knock on his apartment door.

  “Mum, if that’s you, I’m fine, you can leave me alone now,” he yelled out.

  A shaky voice called out, “It’s Claire. Your, um, physiotherapist.”

  Nate froze midway between his chin-ups. Claire? How on earth?

  “I just want to talk to you, I promise I won’t be long,” she said through the door.

  He continued doing his chin-ups, tossing up whether to let her in or not. He didn’t really feel like being lectured today, but he also hadn’t seen anyone apart from his mum and sister for the past week.

  “How’d you find out where I lived?”

  “I…” He heard a hesitation in her voice. “I found it in your contact details.

  He wasn’t a lawyer or anything, but he knew damn well she couldn’t use that kind of details about a patient for personal reasons. She was desperate, desperate to see him. Interesting.

  “Fine, let yourself in,” he called, deciding not to stop doing chin-ups. He wanted to see the look on her face when she saw him topless and sweaty.

  Nate watched as Claire opened the door quietly and peered in. Her eyes focused on him instantly, and she blushed a beautiful shade of crimson. Mission accomplished. He decided to see how long he could play until she showed her fiery side. He lifted his chin up to the bar, trying his best to flex every muscle in his body. He kept his eyes on her, watching her flustered expression turn into a frown. Apparently she wasn’t in the mood for games.

  “Will you get down and talk to me,” she said demandingly.

  Nate chuckled and slowly let himself down, making sure he put no pressure on his bad leg. Hopping over to the kitchen bench top, he grabbed his water and took a swig.

  She looked at him, unimpressed. “Can you put a shirt on please?”

  Nate nearly spat out the water in his mouth, laughing. He lowered the bottle and looked at her intensely. “Why?”

  “Because it’s rude to be half naked in f
ront of guests!”

  “You’re not my guest, you’re my therapist.”

  Claire growled, “I don’t care what I am. Please just put a shirt on.”

  Nate pouted. “But I’m all sweaty.”

  She crossed her arms in front of her.

  Oh how I’ve missed that face.

  “Does my body bother you, Claire? Does it make you uncomfortable? Does it make you think naughty, wicked things?” He winked at her.

  “Nate!” Her expression was priceless. Was that an embarrassed blush or an angry blush?

  “Fine,” Nate chuckled, picking up a nearby shirt and pulling it over his head.

  He studied her now, as her body relaxed. She wasn’t dressed the way he’d normally seen her. She was dressed in a soft, knee-length strapless dress. The jade colour of the dress drew attention to her light blue eyes. Her wavy hair hung loosely around her, a small plat clipped to one side of her head. She looked young, not the serious girl he’d seen so many times.

  “How come you’re not at your placement?” he asked.

  “I left early,” she said quietly, still staring at him. He watched her fidget with the straps on her handbag. “Why haven’t you come back to your sessions? The doctor said you were cleared to come back.”

  He had known this was coming. She just didn’t get the hint.

  “I’m not coming back. I told you that,” he replied heavily.

  “But why? I need to know why?”

  “Why, Claire?” He moved closer to her, his voice growing angry. “Why the hell do you need to know why I don’t want to come back?”

  “People don’t just quit like that for no reason, Nate. Why won’t you come back?”

  “Because I don’t want to!”

  “I can help you, Nate. I can get you walking again. You just have to trust me.”

  “Trust you?” Nate coughed. “Why would I trust you? You don’t know anything about me!”

  Claire stepped forward, her back straightened, showing her confidence. “I know enough to know that I’m not the only reason you won’t come back to therapy,” she said quietly.