“Unless you want that in your file, you will do every single exercise this week that I assign to you,” I said.
I knew that I didn’t sound stern at all, with my quiet, girlish voice. But at least he seemed amused. “Yes, ma’am,” he said curtly.
Maybe the other physical therapists tried to push him, and he was sick of being pushed around. Maybe a little sass and a good laugh were all he needed to lighten up.
James and I worked through his stretches slowly, and he seemed to relax a bit.
Once we were against the wall doing leg lifts, I had to ask. “Your file said that you worked through the roughest part of your therapy in record time. Why do you hate the gentle stuff so much?”
His expression was unreadable. “If I made a crack about hating these weird dance moves, would you drop it?”
“Likely not.”
“What could I say that would make you drop it?”
Scratching my head, I pretended to ponder for a moment. “Perhaps if you did your entire session today, then did all of your homework this week…maybe I could be distracted?”
A soft growl rattled through his throat. He was obviously teasing and pretending to be gruff, and it was sexy as hell. “Yes, ma’am.”
I really liked how easily he made me smile and laugh without even trying. After half an hour of seemingly easy but focused stretches, it was time for me to massage the affected areas and check his mobility.
Although I’d done this hundreds of times with women and children, it was different wit
h a sexy hulk of a man.
He didn’t seem to notice my nervousness as he followed me into a smaller room and onto a table. Taking a deep breath, I tried to tell myself that he was completely accustomed to this, and all I had to do was my job. There was no reason to think beyond that.
Standing behind his head, I slid my hands under his shoulder, trying not to let a shiver run through me as I began to work the muscle through his t-shirt.
After loosening up the area, I did the standard stretches to make sure he was improving his flexibility a bit every week. Making notes on his chart, it seemed that he was definitely reaching a bit further than last week.
“So, you’ve been doing the arm exercises?” I asked.
“A little.” His eyes flicked up to mine upside down from where he was lying under me.
“Well, your flexibility has improved a pinch. So maybe next week, once you’ve done all of the exercises completely, it will stretch a bit more,” I grinned.
“Actually, your massage is a little different,” he said. “I think you hit that weird spot that’s been tight for a while.”
Reaching under his shoulder again, I nudged along the edge of the scapula to find the point where it still felt pretty tense. “Right here?”
“Mmm hmm,” he murmured.
The feeling of helping a patient was always satisfying, but turning a giant man to jelly from my touch was incredible.
After working the entire area again, I asked, “How does that feel?”
James sat up, rolling both of his shoulders back and stretching his arms in all directions. “Wow. That really does help.”
“Try this.” I showed him a very specific angle to stretch his arm, and the look on his face was priceless. “I can see that hits the spot,” I giggled. “After your other stretches, do that one. And maybe just try it for a minute several times a day, while you’re standing cooking dinner or something.”
His beautiful deep brown eyes locked on mine. “I sometimes do half of my stretches while I’m waiting for dinner to cook, actually.”
“A multitasker. Okay then, use that to your advantage. Do your stretches while you’re watching TV as well.”
“I don’t watch much TV.”
“Online videos. Whatever.”