Page 40 of The Playmaker
8
Cole
After going over my latest MRI with me, I sit on the examination table as the doc pokes and prods me. As he takes my vitals, I think about Nina. Jesus Christ, I wasn’t the only guy to do a number on her. No wonder she doesn’t believe she’s marriage material. But Christ, that girl is more marriage material than any woman I’ve ever met. She deserves the white picket fence, the kids, the minivan and whatever the hell else she might want.
When I’m fully recovered, I have every intention of finding the douche bag who humiliated her and giving him a good beating. I don’t give two shits if his brother is a cop, or if I end up with another concussion. No one treats Nina like that and gets away with it.
Dr. Sanders flicks the penlight over my eyes and pulls my focus back to the present. “So, what do you think brought on the nausea last night? Were you doing anything strenuous?”
“I…uh, well, I had a girl over.”
He tucks the flashlight into his pocket, folds his arms and stands back. He frowns at me, his bushy grey brows knitting together. “I thought you said you were going to take it easy. That hockey was more important than any woman.”
“Yeah, I know. It just kind of happened.” I’d sworn off women during recovery, but this is Nina we’re talking about. “Believe me, I learned my lesson.” Frenzied sex—years in the making—is not in the cards for me. But Nina asked me for bedroom lessons to help her writing. How can I possible say no to her?
Am I really going to let a girl come between me and my recovery?
But this isn’t just any girl. It’s Nina.
Careful, dude, she only wants sex and hockey lessons from The Playmaker. Nothing more, nothing less.
It’s not the real Cole she or anyone else wants. That guy’s unlikeable, and not worthy of a nice girl like her. Nope, that guy wasn’t even enough for his mother to stick around. It’s best to keep him under wraps.
“You’re well on your way to a full recover, and I don’t want to see anything keep you from your game.” His white coat makes a swishing sound as he turns from me and grabs my file from his cluttered desk. “From here on out, rest and relaxation.”
“No sex?”
He turns back to me, his eyes serious, but a small grin turns up his lips. “I’m not going to say that, if you’re finding abstinence too difficult. You have to have a life, but just take it easy, okay? You need to keep your brain rested and your blood pressure level.”
I climb down from the table. “When do you think I’ll be able to get back on the ice?”
“The headaches are back, right?”
“They were gone for a long time, and it was just last night I had a severe one. I was hoping I could do some easy skating with a friend. Nothing strenuous, just like walking, but on skates.”
“Let’s give it a week before I give the okay on that. Come back then and we’ll run some more tests, and then we’ll have a better idea where you are. In the meantime, relaxing activities that don’t take too much out of you.”
He makes some notes on his chart and I thank him as I leave his office. My heart beats a little faster when I find Nina sitting there waiting for me, checking something on her phone. Keeping my blood pressure down in her presence is going to take a hell of a lot of work.
As if sensing me standing there, she lifts her head and gives me a smile that fucks me over a little bit. She stands, and after I make another appointment for a week from now, we leave together.
“What did he say?” she asks when we reach the car.
“I’m on the road to recovery but I can’t do anything too strenuous.” I give her a wink, and she shakes her head, and it’s then I realize just how responsible she feels.
“I knew it. We shouldn’t have had sex.”
“Nina, none of this is your fault. I wanted you, and my team’s entire defense couldn’t have kept me away from you last night, concussion or not.” When she gives me a soft smile, I say, “We can have sex as long as I take it easy. I believe he said something about you doing all the work.”
She laughs. Hard. And I can’t help but laugh with her.
“Nice try, Cole.”
“I think he also said something about you cleaning the house for me, too.”
She rolls her eyes. “Did you get a prescription for that?”
“Well, no, but I believe it was implied, and—”