Page 6 of Pure Temptation

“And you don’t follow orders?”

He heard the hint of sarcasm in her voice, but he ignored it. “I’m not being a dick about this, just honest. I need someone who takes lots of things into consideration, including working within my business obligations.” He paused. “I’ve been told I’m frustrating to work with.”

“I see.”

“You’re a great physical therapist, Kendall,” he said softly. “And I’m not just saying that to get into your pants. Though I wouldn’t say no if that’s an option.”

“Thanks, Daxon,” she said, then, with a smirk, added, “for the professional compliment, of course.”

The compliment was the unfiltered truth. In Costa Rica, Kendall went beyond the physical aspects of healing and actually listened when he said he couldn’t make a particular accommodation.

She was also hot, of course, but there were plenty of hot women in the world and only one Moonlight Buttress to free solo. Not that he was celibate these days, but it had been a while...which probably wasn’t a good thing since Kendall was about to put her hands on him again.

This would likely turn into the world’s most torturous PT session. Daxon tried to clear his mind of the lusty haze that was still lingering. He—or Calvin, actually—had pushed her into this setup. If he wanted to propose after-hours fun, Dax needed to figure out how to give her a real choice, the freedom to opt in or opt out. Hopefully it wouldn’t be the latter, but this would only work if she was all in.

“Look, I’ve made it clear that I find you incredibly attractive, and maybe you’re feeling this vibe, too.” He lifted one eyebrow, and he got a wry smile from her in return. “But I respect that you probably don’t want to fool around on the clock.”

She gave a little nod, which hopefully meant he was on the right track. Now for the solution.

“I have an idea for you to think about,” he continued, keeping his gaze steady on her eyes, not letting it wander down to her mouth, no matter how tempting it was. “I’m not looking for an answer right now, just something to consider. You check out my leg and do your job, and I won’t come on to you.” She gave a little snort, but he pushed on. “When you’re finished, you walk out my cabin door. Then you have a choice—you can keep walking, or you can turn around and come back in for that happy ending I’m dying to give you. Off duty.”

She lifted her gaze to his, and her eyes were filled with heat. She licked her lips, and his eyes went straight there, fixating on her tongue. A bolt of heavy lust ran through him. Fuck, he had to keep this decent. He forced his gaze back up, and a smile quirked at the corners of her mouth.

“Just think about it,” he whispered.

The body was a truly miraculous instrument, intricate connections of nerves and muscles and ligaments and bones. They all worked together to do the simple movements humans took for granted...until the system broke down. Then the different parts came into painful relief.

Kendall had seen the toll this breakdown could take on someone, how it could crush a person. Her father had come so close to that breaking point during one awful fire season, when the worst came so close to happening. Being a hotshot firefighter came with a ticking clock, and both her parents knew that when they started. In the intimate game with nature’s forces, nature always won. The night the tree limb fell and crushed her father’s arm, ending his hotshot career, was a reminder neither she nor her mother would ever forget. Her dad got out alive, thanks to his team, and after a long, painful recovery period—thanks to both his physical therapist and Kendall’s mother—he had moved on. Still, all these years later, her father missed it, some days wistfully, other days fiercely. Kendall tried not to get hung up on the question she had asked too many times: Why the hell did he still want to run toward danger instead of away from it?

All this had unfolded when she was in her tweens, and she had decided to become a physical therapist.

Her family history had probably made her a better one, or at the very least, a more dedicated one. Each client was a new path into the intricate art of movement. Each client meant learning the ways that a person could heal.

Her fingers brushed the dusting of hair on Daxon’s thighs. His body was truly a wonder. She moved her hands up and down his leg, over all that golden skin, those well-defined muscles. She was trying hard not to get distracted by his off-duty idea, but every time her fingers moved up to his thighs, he sucked in a breath, reminding her of where this could go. Later.

Concentrate.

She had seen her fair share of men in amazing shape as a traveling physical therapist, athletes with bodies fine-tuned for sports. This was different. The switch had flipped that night in Costa Rica, and she couldn’t figure out how to flip it back. She was no longer studying Daxon’s body the way she would study a work of art. She was thinking about what it could do. What his muscular thighs would feel like pressed against hers. How it would feel to run her hands over those biceps as he lowered himself over her with each heavy thrust.

She glanced up at Daxon. His eyes were fixed on her, hot and intense. Holy hell. His hands gripped the sides of the massage table, his knuckles white. Still, he said nothing. Kendall smiled. She had to admit the man had impressive focusing skills. Much better than hers, clearly. Still, it was amusing to see him all worked up like this.

She quirked her eyebrow at him. “Not your best day for relaxing?”

He gave her a wry smile. “It’s not a strength of mine, even on a good day.”

“I think if you spend this week with a little stretching, massage and low-strain exercise for your legs, you’ll be fine,” she said, rocking back onto her heels, putting a little distance between them. “The real challenge is to go easy on your calf during the rest of the day. Try to stay off your feet as much as possible.”

“I’ll think of something.”

She narrowed her eyes, and he put up his hands in surrender, laughing. “I wasn’t coming on to you. Just a guy and his ‘personal healing coach’—” He put air quotes around those last words “—having a conversation.”

“Can we stop with the job title? It sounds like I’m part of some sort of cult fitness retreat.”

He chuckled. “I already told you you’re an amazing physical therapist,” he said. “But the truth is I don’t want you as a coach. And in the interest of keeping my word, I’ll stop before I tell you what I want instead.”

She bit her lip as Daxon’s proposition came back. Off-hours fun. Low risk and high reward, if their kiss back in Costa Rica was any indication.

Kendall ended the session and packed her bags, taking her time, enjoying the heat of Daxon’s intense gaze on her. She scrolled through the tablet, reviewing and adding to his schedule for the next day. She ticked off sailing, snorkeling, and a few more of the Kalani’s features that were well suited for a guy with an itch for adventure and a body that wasn’t currently cooperating. After all, he wasn’t the resort’s first guest in this situation.