Chase broke up, and the other players joined in the laughter, slapping Gavin on the back and offering their advice and condolences for being teamed up with the sexy redheaded therapist. Only Roger didn’t laugh. His eyes met Gavin’s, and there he saw the glitter of anger as well as a threat.

Fortunately, the topic changed from Jessica to women in general. There were only a few females in the bar, but they all got due scrutiny, as did the newscaster on television, celebrities, old girlfriends and crushes. Then they began taunting each other, really ripping into Chase, who had recently become engaged and was planning his marriage.

“It’s all over for you, buddy.” Brian hefted his mug and shook his head sympathetically at the pitcher. “No more new women, blow jobs in the locker room, or naked fans in your bed.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that, Hollywood.” Jake joined right in. “You came home one night and somehow that chick had gotten into your condo and was waiting for you?” He smirked. “He’s right. Those days are done.”

“Look who’s talking,” Chase shot back, obviously amused. “You may as well be married. You and Nikki are inseparable.”

“Yeah, my bachelor days are numbered.” Jake sighed, looking at his watch. “What a waste for the rest of womankind.”

They continued to bust on each other, and Gavin picked up his beer once more. But he noticed that Jake had planted himself at his side and he wondered if the shortstop wanted to ensure there wasn’t a fight.

If that was the case, he was grateful. Although it had bothered him to hear Roger talking about Jessica as if she were nothing more than a sex toy, he also had enough insight to realize Jake was right. He was sexually attracted to her, and didn’t need someone else to verbalize what he was fighting within himself.

As he sipped the beer, his eyes met Jake’s and he smiled a thank you. He had a feeling this wasn’t over with Roger, but Jake had sent a subtle message with his actions that they both understood. The shortstop grinned back, and then bought the next pitcher of beer and insisted on refilling his cup first. Strangely enough, it seemed that his defense of the therapist had brought him up a notch in Jake’s and the other guys’ estimation. Not that it mattered all that much, but it told him something about this crew.

They might be a bunch of jokers, but when push came to shove, the Sonics did the right thing and had each other’s backs. And that, he admitted silently, was worth something.

Chapter 8

He was limping when he got out of the van the next morning.

Jessica pulled up at the same time he did, and noticed it as soon as she saw him. Her eyes narrowed as she got out of her car, and she put her hands in the pockets of her jacket and stepped back to face him.

“What happened?”

“My girlfriend broke up with me,” he admitted, unable to think of another excuse. “I was pissed off, and when I was in the pool last night, I guess I overdid it. Phil put ice on the knee but this morning when I woke up, it was swollen.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, and he could tell she meant it. “Let’s get inside and take a look.” But before she took another step, her head swiveled around and she gave his vehicle a double take.

“What the…”

“Enterprise ran out of cars. I had to drop off the Lexus I was renting this morning. All they had left was a Chrysler Town and Country.”

Her ginger brows arched and her nose crinkled. “Without kids, there is no excuse to be tooling around in a minivan. Why haven’t you bought yourself a car?”

Her eyes locked with his and he couldn’t escape. “I don’t know. I guess…” With those green eyes looking right into his soul, he gave up. “I didn’t want to think this was all permanent. You know, the injury. New Jersey. The Sonics.”

She gazed at him for a moment, and then actually snorted. “Well, that’s ridiculous. Let’s go.”

She started for the ballpark. “Are you coming?” she asked, turning her head when she didn’t hear him behind her.

As he hobbled after her, he hid a grin. The rear view was amazing, and for the first time since his surgery, he had a reason to be glad he couldn’t keep up. She had on jeans today, and no designer dress could look any better on her. Yet she marched forward, clearly oblivious to her own natural charms. Thankfully, the baseball cap was back in place. He didn’t think he could handle her hair and her ass all at once.

And he couldn’t blame her for being pissed. She took pride in her work and wasn’t happy to see it carelessly thrown away. But he found he could deal with that a lot better than coddling. It was honest and real, attributes sorely lacking in the people that had previously surrounded him.

As they entered the PT room, another realization came to him. Gavin knew he was, as Jessica had so delicately put it, easy on the eyes. Girls had always liked him, from the time he was in grammar school when they slipped valentines into his desk, up to last year, with Cosmo naming him one of the sexiest men in baseball. He wasn’t a caveman, “me Tarzan, you Jane” type of guy, ordering women around and acting like the world was created specifically for him. But he enjoyed females, and he liked the effect his lazy smile had on them. Their awe of him not only fed his ego, but had provided a steady stream of dates from high school on.

So it was different for him to be around a girl who acted as if he were just one of the boys. She had a breezy, tomboyish manner about her that was at odds with her feminine attributes. He would have thought that would be a turnoff, but instead, he found it a challenge.

How would any guy get close to Jessica Hart?

As she bent down to unwrap his knee, he found that puzzle a pleasant diversion from his injury.

“This looks awful,” Jessica said, her disgust evident. She finally looked up with a frown. “You did this swimming? What did you do, take a Louisville Slugger to your leg as soon as you got out?”

“No,” he said in annoyance. “I guess I just pushed myself too hard. Like old times. It wasn’t until later that it became inflamed. I guess I was exercising my disappointment with everything, maybe a little too much.”

She stared at him, eyes narrowing. Measuring, reading him. Without communicating a word, he knew she understood. She seemed to get his frustration, and his anger. Yet she didn’t appear to be holding it against him.

“What am I going to do with you?” she said softly, almost to herself. After a moment, she just sighed and put her hands on her hips.

“Okay, Rocky, I guess we’re going to have to shake up the schedule. Instead of our walk, let’s go to Plan B.”

“What’s that?”

“Since we can’t do our program, we are going to switch to an interval workout.” She gazed at him, and those green eyes lit up with a devilish smile.

“We are going car shopping.”

—

The plan worked better than she had hoped. Jessica hauled Gavin from one dealership to another, weighing the benefits of the Mustang convertible versus the luxury of a Mercedes-Benz S class. She had always loved looking at cars, even though she could afford only a Honda Civic on her budget.

So she thoroughly enjoyed taking a test ride in the aggressive Ford ragtop that reminded her irresistibly of high school, comparing it to the upscale opulence of the Mercedes. The Route 1 traffic was a nightmare as always, so they went down the back roads, admiring the scenery on the chilly spring day. In the process, she was able to keep Gavin moving, but not with the steady aerobic exercise of a walk or the structured movements of a PT program.