Chapter 5
"So, what do you think of Paige Young?" Luke's out-of-the blue question did more to spike Gabe’s blood pressure than the exercises he’d been doing for the past thirty minutes.
Paige had pushed back her appointment, so he and Luke had been killing time by lifting weights. It wasn’t the first time this week they’d used the PT office as their personal gym.
"What do you mean?" Gabe’s attempt to keep his voice casual failed. He had been thinking about Paige way too often since their aqua therapy session two days ago.
"She's a hottie, don't you think?"
Gabe bit his tongue to keep from snapping at Luke. He doubted the kid meant for his words to sound derogatory, but they did. Or maybe Gabe took them that way because he felt protective of Paige, and he had no idea why.
Instead of snapping at Luke and telling him to stay away from her, he chose his words carefully. "Paige is determined and hard-working when it comes to her recovery. Which is good, because she has a long way to go."
Luke snorted. "That’s such a clinical thing to say.”
“Well, I am her physical therapist.”
“You can't fool me, Dr. Rivera. I know she's a woman after your own heart." A teasing tone filled Luke’s voice.
Gabe clamped his jaw shut, willing himself not to react. It would only make it worse.
Even though Gabe dressed down in jeans and a polo on Fridays, instead of slacks and a dress shirt, he avoided exercises that made him work up too much of a sweat. It wouldn't look professional to be covered in sweat stains when the patients arrived.
Yet that’s exactly what happened thirty minutes later when Paige walked through the door, fifteen minutes earlier than expected. Like an idiot, he'd let Luke talk him into a push-up contest. He regretted it the moment he spotted her crutches and tennis-shoe clad feet.
Gabe froze in plank position.
"No, keep going, man," Luke said with a grunt. "I'm going to beat you this time."
Gabe glanced up at Paige.
"Don't mind me." An amused grin filled her face as she made a rolling motion with her hand. "Carry on."
It was the most genuine smile he'd seen on her face since he met her five days ago, and it made her look radiant. Against his better judgment, he let his pride take over and lowered himself to the floor again.
After five more push-ups, his arms trembled, but he kept going, because Luke's grunts had grown deeper and more frequent.
The kid was ready to collapse. So was Gabe, but pride wouldn't let him quit.
If there was one thing he'd learned after his dad walked out, it was to push himself.
Recovering from his neck injury, helping support his family while his mom battled breast cancer, and putting himself through college taught him he could do anything he put his mind to.
"Gah!" After three more push-ups Luke finally dropped and didn't get up.
Gabe struggled through one more for good measure then flopped on the floor too. Panting, he rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling. He refused to look at Paige as heat rushed up his neck to his ears.
"You're a beast!" Luke gave Gabe's shoulder a weak smack from his prone position on the floor. "Every single time, man. I don't know how you do it." He pushed to a sitting position and propped his elbows on his knees.
Gabe would never admit how close Luke had come to beating him this time. Nor would he tell anyone Paige was the only reason he'd persevered. His pride couldn’t handle it if his assistant beat him in front of a patient.
"No wonder you both look like Greek gods.” Humor filled Paige’s voice.
"Hardly." Luke’s face beamed from the compliment. "Well, Gabe does, but I've got a long way to go to get arms like his. He’s so ripped!" A teasing glint filled Luke’s eyes.
Gabe would have smacked him if his arms didn’t feel like jelly.
"Are all men so competitive?"
Gabe lifted his gaze to see Paige with one brow cocked. She wore a hint of makeup today which made her pretty blue eyes stand out.
"I used to think my brother's and cousins' competitiveness was just a stubborn family trait, but now, I'm not so sure."
"Oh no, pretty much every man hates to lose," Luke said in a disgusted tone. He shot Gabe a scowl as he got to his feet. "It's all about pride and bragging rights." Then he jokingly pounded his fists on his chest. "We must conquer."
"Conquer?" Paige's head jerked back. Dark shadows flitted though her eyes as she narrowed her gaze on Luke.
"Yeah, you know, we have to brave the elements, be the victor and the bread winner, all to convince women we're worth having around." Luke's joke fell flat with Paige, but he didn't seem to notice. "Have a seat on the middle table and I'll get your heat packs."
Gabe's gaze followed her as he rose from the floor. If he had to guess, he'd bet there was a man in Paige's past who took the need to prevail too far where she was concerned.
Her expression returned to normal, but her posture remained stiff as she settled on the table.
He stepped to the foot of Paige's table. "How did you fare after aqua therapy on Wednesday?"
"I felt good. Not as exhausted as I was on Monday." She smiled as she nodded. "I think I'm getting stronger every day."
The smile was still small, but it looked sincere. They were making progress.
"You are. And you'll keep getting stronger if you stick with your exercises." Gabe gave her an encouraging nod. "You'll be back to normal in no time."
Her smile dimmed, and shadows filled her eyes again. Every time he mentioned getting back to normal or getting her life back, her demeanor changed. There was something in her past—recent past, he guessed—that she was mourning or didn't want to return to. She suffered more than just physical pain.
He hated to think that someone had hurt Paige.
There was that protective surge again. The one that tightened his chest and warmed his blood. He curled his hand into a fist to keep from resting it on her leg in an effort to comfort her.
He locked gazes with her. "Things will work out. Trust me."
The corner of her lips lifted in a hint of a smile as she nodded.
The door swung open, and Gladys shuffled in. "Another day, another round of torture."
"Gladys, my favorite patient." Grateful for the distraction, he focused his attention on the older woman. He caught Luke's eye and nodded toward Paige, letting his assistant know he wanted him to work through Paige’s exercises with her.
It was much safer for Gabe to work with the seventy-two-year-old retired schoolteacher than the attractive young one who kept triggering his protective side.
"Isn't he the hottest doctor you've ever seen?" Nikki Dalton, a new patient with a hamstring injury, lay on the table beside Paige doing IT band stretches. Still a senior in high school, Nikki was skipping out of school during her dance class to do PT.
"What?" Paige turned to find Nikki leaning so far off her table she feared the girl might fall off.
"Dr. Gabe. Isn't he hot?" Nikki jerked her head toward the reception desk where Gabe spoke with a man named Ernie, who was inquiring about what Gabe charged for self-pay, since his insurance refused to pay for more PT for his Achille’s tendon problems.
"I'll say." Gladys, who sat on the table to Paige's left with ice and electric stimulation patches on her knee, fanned herself. "I'd call dibs if I was forty years younger."
Paige bit back a grin as her gaze returned to Gabe. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who thought he was good looking.
"What about you, Paige?" Nikki asked.
"What about me?"
"Are you going to speak dibs?"
"What? No way." Paige frowned as she shook her head. “I’m done with men.”
It didn’t matter that the handsome therapist, who liked quirky socks, was easy to talk to and upbeat. Or that he treated each patient like they were his favorite. Paige refused to get involved with him or any other man right now.
"But just look at all those muscles." Nikki’s voice was full of admiration. "And his eyes. Aren't they gorgeous?"
They were, but Paige didn't feel it appropriate to say so out loud. "He's our physical therapist. There shouldn't be any calling dibs."
"Pshaw." Gladys waved a hand. "Don't mind her, Nikki. I think she's still trying to find her sense of humor since her accident."
Paige scowled at Gladys. Sure, she'd been moody and out of sorts since getting her heart and body broken, but who wouldn’t be?
Before she could contemplate Gladys' words further, she overheard Ernie say, "Are you sure, Gabe? I know that's not fair to you."
"The important thing is to get you better." Gabe clapped a hand on Ernie's shoulder. "Luke will get you scheduled. I want to see you twice a week initially."
Paige wasn’t looking for more reasons to be attracted to Gabe, but she'd found one. There was nothing more admirable than a man who showed compassion to others.
But she didn't need more reasons to like him. She needed the opposite. Despite what she told Nikki, there was something about Just Gabe that made her wish she’d met him eight months ago instead of lying, cheating Phillip.
Before long, Paige had finished her exercises, and Gabe was rolling out her left quad. Thanks to Nikki, she couldn't keep her gaze off his eyes and his impossibly long lashes.
"I'd kill for your eyelashes." The words slipped out before Paige could stop them. She wished she could take them back when a series of snickers surrounded her.
Gabe jerked back with a wide-eyed look. "What?"
"Well, not literally. But you know what I mean."
"No, I don't." His expression was dead pan, but she spotted a twinkle in his eyes.
"I'd die to have lashes as thick and long as yours." She explained even though embarrassment already warmed her cheeks.
"Me too," Nikki said.
Despite Nikki chiming in, Gabe's gaze remained focused on Paige. "You came close to dying once already this year, and now you want to do it again for my eyelashes?"
"I didn't mean it literally." Paige let out an exasperated huff.
“What if I died tonight? Everyone here heard you say you'd kill for my eyelashes." He looked at Luke, Nicole, and Gladys for confirmation. When they all grinned and nodded, he went on. "You would become the number one suspect."
Paige rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, your lashes are safe. You're right, I've come too close to dying once already this year. So, I guess I'll just have to make do with my own pale, thin lashes."
He looked closely at her eyes. "Your lashes look nice."
"That's because they're fake, or most of them anyway. Mine are so thin and pale that I look sick if I don't add lash extensions." It was the first thing she did after leaving the rehabilitation center last week. She needed the confidence boost.
He leaned a little closer and studied her face, his gaze bouncing from one eye to the other. He was so close, she spotted little specks of gold in his brown irises. The hint of mint gum on his breath caused a shiver of awareness to shoot through her.
"They look so natural, I can hardly tell.” The low timber of his voice caused goosebumps to break out on her arms. “Your eyes are such a striking blue. Like your father's."
Warmth crept over her cheeks under his intense scrutiny. "Thank you. My mom's eyes are blue too. And so are my brother's."
"A strong family trait, huh?" He grinned as he straightened. "At least it's a good one. I got my grandpa's big ears that poke out." He pulled both ears out from his head and made a funny face, making his eyes bulge.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"Your ears do not poke out," Paige said when he stopped being silly.
"They used to. When I was a kid, I wore a baseball hat all the time and I tucked my ears into it to hide them."
"No, you didn't." She'd learned Gabe liked to joke.
"I did. I swear." He pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped a few times before turning his phone for her to see. "My sister sent me this gem last month. I was about six years old."
A photograph of a young boy with long eyelashes and missing two front teeth filled the screen. He wore a baseball cap tugged low on his head; ears tucked under the rim.
She chuckled. "They don't stick out now.” She studied his ears skeptically. “Did tucking them in the hat help with that?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Gladys said as she got off her table. "I bet he had plastic surgery."
"I would never." Gabe let out a bark of laughter. He turned back to Paige and grinned. "Fortunately, I grew into my ears. Now, I just have a big head."
"I'll say." Luke threw a small towel at Gabe, hitting him square in the face.
Laughter filled the room again.
Fifteen minutes later, Paige was reluctant to leave after scheduling next week's appointments. She'd laughed more over the past three hours than she had for months. Lingering would be awkward though, so she headed for the door.
It opened before she grabbed the handle.
A teenage boy, who looked like he could be Brent Butler’s younger brother, walked in carrying a sub sandwich.
The red and white checkered paper around the sandwich was a dead giveaway that he'd just come from Charity's Diner—the diner—originally owned by Paige's Aunt Charity but recently been purchased by Paige’s sister-in-law Amy.
He held the door open for Paige.
She thanked him and was almost through the door when Gabe's boisterous voice filled the room. "Where's my sandwich, Travis? I'd kill for a good turkey bacon club.”
Paige whirled around and glared at Gabe.
He'd teased her about using that figure of speech, yet here he was saying it to Travis. He made eye contact with her and gave her a devilish grin that made her heart skip a beat. The handsome therapist was still smiling when the door closed.