There were plusses and minuses to pool work. She couldn’t see his body as well underneath the water, but there was a lot of close contact with them both wearing next to nothing. She really wasn’t sure which was worse.
At least she had her sturdy one-piece bathing suit on. It didn’t come off even remotely as easily as a bikini, which helped remove thoughts of her stripping her clothes away so he could take her against the wall of the warm pool.
“Good afternoon, Nick,” she said, making sure her voice was calm and professional.
He looked up and gave her the look that seemed to say he was humoring her. The thing was she loved his crooked smile. He brushed his fingers through his hair, water droplets falling down his toned chest, and she practically panted.
Quickly submerging herself in the water, she went down to her neck so he wouldn’t notice her hardened nipples. In a little while, she could blame them on her feeling cold in the pool. Though they’d both know she’d be lying. The room was eighty degrees with the water right about the same. If anything, she normally began sweating by the end of their sessions―whether that was the temperature or the close proximity to Nick, she wasn’t 100 percent sure.
“You’re running late, doc,” he told her as she drew near.
“Sorry, I got caught up in my notes and lost track of time,” she told him. The truth was she had been taking notes, but then her mind had wandered as it did quite often these days, and she’d been thinking about him for the past hour and what she’d like him to do to her. She certainly wasn’t going to tell him any of that.
“Is all your stretching done?” she asked, stopping three feet from him.
“Yep, I went extra deep this time,” he told her. His tone was normal, but the twinkle in his eyes assured her he was baiting her. She decided to ignore him.
“Good, then let’s get you on the treadmill. You’re strong enough that I think we can put it at four,” she said, a wicked smile lighting her lips.
Nick didn’t say a word as he moved to the underwater treadmill. There were bars on the side of it that he could hold on to for balance, but he never chose to use them. Nick enjoyed pushing it to the maximum when she allowed him to.
“If you feel any pain whatsoever, I need for you to tell me. The water protects you, but you can still get injured,” she warned him.
He rolled his eyes, wondering how such a simple task could cause an injury. Sometimes she wanted to smack the man for his ridiculous bravado.
“You might think I’m overreacting, but it’s my license on the line if you get injured while I’m treating you. If you want to get back in that helicopter and fly again, then you would do well to listen to me,” she said, her voice stern, her eyes serious.
“Okay, okay,” he said with a laugh as he stood on the machine. “Let’s get started before my skin looks more like raisins.”
She moved over to the control and turned the machine up to two. He looked at her with a brow raised as he began jogging through the water. She slowly increased the speed. When she got to three, she took a breath and went under water, pressing her hand against his knee.
She often had to touch him, and at first that had led to a lot of sexual comments. Those had lightened in the past week, but the look in his eyes when she would meet them told her more than any words he chose to say.
His muscles felt good and were flexing nicely. She came up for air and moved over to the controls. She kept pushing the speed up, and Nick didn’t even breathe heavily as he quickened his pace.
Four might not seem like a high speed to an athlete like Nick, but with the resistance of the water, it wasn’t easy to do. Chloe certainly wouldn’t admit to it, but she didn’t last a heck of a long time at that speed in the water, and she ran six days a week.
Chloe kept an eye on Nick as he faced forward, his stride perfect, his arms pumping. She kept a careful watch on his features to see if he was feeling any pain. He ran for fifteen minutes and didn’t even break a sweat. He was stronger―so much stronger than when she’d first arrived.
Chloe realized he wouldn’t need her the entire six weeks. There wasn’t a heck of a lot more she could do for him that he wouldn’t be capable of doing on his own. He was walking without a limp, understood his limits in the gym, knew which stretches to do before any activity, and had all the equipment he could ever hope to have at his disposal.
She might not need to stay past the end of the current week. The thought sent a pang of unease through her. She should be elated she’d be able to leave early, because she would still get paid. She just wouldn’t have to deal with Nick Armstrong anymore―or his family. But she liked him. And them.
None of that mattered. She couldn’t have a relationship with any of them. It wouldn’t work out―it wouldn’t be right, even if she never discovered anything nefarious in any of their lives.
“Okay, time to stop,” she said. She turned off the machine and had to take a few deep breaths before she could speak again. “I want you to do a cooldown by swimming across the pool and back very slowly, as slowly as you can.”
He stepped off the treadmill and looked at her, the expression on his face unreadable. He moved a bit closer before he stopped himself. Chloe didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until he let out a sigh, then turned and jumped into the water, slowly swimming away.
She went to the steps to wait for him. She climbed from the pool with him and had him sit down while she examined his leg. Everything was in perfect order. Soon, it wouldn’t even be possible to know he’d been injured unless he decided to tell a person.