Page 38 of Serve ’N’ Protect

“Let’s do this.” He took the file from her then set the towel on the bench. “First, we’ll warm your muscles with moist heat, then massage them to get the blood circulating even more. After that, I want to run you through some easy strength exercises to gauge where you’re at.”

That tightness in her chest threatened to make a comeback. Okay then. Moment of truth.

Turning away, she took off her jacket and draped it on a dumbbell rack. She sat on another bench and peeled off her sweats. One look at her scars and she squeezed her eyes shut, covering the tops of her thighs with her hands. Chickenshit, her mind screamed. Get up!

She walked to the bench where Markus waited for her. His gaze went to her legs but he wasn’t scrutinizing her body the way a man looks at a woman he’s interested in. This was an impersonal assessment, as she’d hoped and expected. It was the only way she’d get through this.

“Lie down.” He took her cane and handed it to Ghost as the dog walked over to see what they were doing. Ghost took the cane in his mouth then went to his bed in the corner and dropped it on the floor. A moment later, he curled up into a tight, fluffy white ball. “For the rest of this workout, no cane.” He draped the warm towel over her thighs, tucking it tightly beneath her.

“If you say so.” She moaned as the comforting warmth from the towel began seeping into her legs.

“I do say so.” When he crossed his arms, she couldn’t tear her eyes from his powerful biceps that threatened to bust his shirt at the seams. “You want to get rid of that cane? The time is now, so no negative thinking.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” She threw him a salute, much as she’d done to Captain McMurray.

Markus grabbed her file and a clipboard from a table. “You told me they said you’d never walk again, but you are. Limitations are only what you accept. Very few are unsurpassable.”

“Did Sun Tzu say that?”

“No. I did.” He caught her eye. “The point is, you have to believe in yourself. And before you ask, Sun Tzu did say that.”

Markus and Sun Tzu were right. She did have to believe in herself. For the first time in a very, very long time, hope coursed through her mind and her body.

He opened her file, making an occasional hmph as he flipped through page after page. The reports were one thing, written in emotionless, factual medical lingo, but she knew the instant he’d gotten to the photos. Dark brows lowered and his lips compressed. Yeah, the images of her leg shortly after the crash were vivid and awful. She could barely stomach looking at them herself.

After a few more minutes of hmphing his way through the rest of her file, he tossed it back on the table then removed the towel from her legs and draped it over his shoulder. “This might be a little uncomfortable at first, maybe even painful. If it hurts too much, let me know.”

When he rested his hands on her thigh, she flinched but not from pain. Oh no, Nelly. Everywhere his hands touched, deliciously warm tingles skittered across her bare skin. As he gently began massaging her leg, her brain started shorting out. All she could feel now were his long, strong fingers digging into her flesh and— Oh, Jesus. Please, God, no. She glanced down, holding back a groan of abject mortification. Her nipples were as hard as olive pits, jutting so sharply against her T-shirt they looked ready to break right through the thin, worn fabric.

Not wanting Markus to shift his attention from her legs, she slowly moved to cross her arms over her breasts to cover the embarrassingly pert little buds, but not in time.

He glanced up. “Good?” Just before her hands reached their urgent destination, his gaze dipped to her breasts.

Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot! Two days ago, she’d been shot at and less than an hour ago Markus had pointed his gun at her. Ironically, all she could think right at that moment was: Just shoot me now.

“Um, yeah.” Aside from her embarrassment, she had to admit whatever he was doing felt better than good, significantly so, to the point where she really needed to focus on something other than the effect he had on her. “So other than what brought you to Leonardtown, I don’t know much about you.”

He shrugged, returning to his heavenly ministrations. “Not much to tell.”

Cassidy couldn’t be certain if he was regressing back into his stoic-guy thing or whether he was just concentrating. His hands continued working their magic, drawing her attention to his fingers. She’d never seen him wear a wedding ring, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one tucked away somewhere. Before the accident, she used to get hit on by lots of men who didn’t wear rings but turned out to be married.

“You said you’re not married and you don’t have a girlfriend. Why not? I mean, I’d think a guy with your looks would attract women like shrimp to a grit.” She held her breath. His response shouldn’t matter, but it did.

As he dug his thumb into a knot in her muscle, a corner of his mouth lifted. “You think I’m good-looking?”

“Don’t let it go to your head.” But yeah, like she’d thought earlier, he was. Now that she was thinking about it again, it wasn’t just his looks. Despite his surliness, there was something innately attractive about him. He moved higher on her upper thigh, close to parts of her that hadn’t known a man’s touch for quite some time. Involuntarily, she stiffened, relaxing only when his hands moved back down. “Answer the question. Why not?”

“You’re really nosy, you know that?” He kept digging into that knot.

“Like I said, it’s a family trait, so you might as well answer me or I’ll never stop asking.” Or wondering.

His hands stilled and for a moment she thought he’d shut down. “I don’t have a problem meeting women, but when it comes to lasting relationships… It’s never worked for me.”

“Because of your job?” she asked. “All the cop shows on TV have characters that wind up alone because of the long hours they work and their cynicism.” Ironically, for the last year, she’d been the poster girl for cynicism.

“It’s not that.” He moved to her other leg. “They all say I don’t open up enough.”

“Gee whiz.” She propped up on her elbows then batted her lashes. “I can’t imagine where they’d get such an idea.” The more she thought about their initial conversations and his terse, one-word responses to all her questions, the more she realized he’d been opening up a lot since then.