Thrown by a Curve Read Online Free PDF Page A

“It’s supposed to snow today.”
    “Yeah, like a foot of it or something.”
    “I know. It’s exciting.”
    He caught the grin on her face, and just as he had imagined, it transformed her from pretty to beautiful. Her cheeks rounded, and her lips curved into something so sexy it stole his breath. He tried not to notice, but it was hard not to. “You like snow.”
    “I love it. I love all weather, actually. There’s nothing like a big snowstorm while you’re cuddled inside the house in your pajamas with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and a great romance novel.”
    And now he’d have to get that mental picture out of his head. He wondered what her hair would look like out of that ponytail, waves of dark curls spilling over her shoulders. Though the fantasy would be better if she was reclining on the sofa naked.
    He decided this whole therapy thing would go a lot better if he didn’t find her sexy. Bathrobe, fuzzy slippers, her face slathered in some kind of green facial cream, and maybe her hair in curlers.
    “Reach up and grab that thin limb on the tree,” she said as they walked.
    He stopped and pulled his head out of the fantasy. “Huh?”
    “That limb on the tree ahead. Keep walking, but just grab the limb as we walk by.”
    “And do what with it?”
    “Here. I’ll show you the first time.” She strolled ahead of him then slowed down as she stepped under a tree with low-hanging limbs. She reached up with her right arm and grabbed one of the thinner limbs, held on as she walked past.
    Ah. He got it. “You want me to stretch the back of my shoulder by grabbing on to tree limbs.”
    “Yes, but don’t jerk it. Do it gently. Slow your pace as we walk under the trees. Just pause, hang on to the limb, and really feel the stretch.”
    “Got it.” And he did the next time, and the next; she’d chosen a heavily tree-lined street.
    “This is a lot less boring than the pulleys.”
    “Even if you are freezing your ass off?” she asked with a wry smile.
    “Even if.”
    “It’s always nice to get out of the facility. I like being outdoors, breathing in fresh air. Plus, you needed a change in your therapy. And you need to get out of your head. It’s very doom and gloom in there.”
    “So you think me yanking on tree limbs is going to fool my body—and my mental state—into thinking this really isn’t therapy?”
    She laughed. “No. I know you’re not stupid. You’ll still know this is therapy. It’s just using different mechanics.”
    By the time they’d walked a mile, he could definitely feel it in his shoulder. Plus, she made him do it leaning to the side and from the front. They walked into the facility, and he wasn’t cold anymore. He peeled off his hat and his jacket, and went to the break room for a bottle of water.
    Alicia met him at the door. “Ready for some serious work now?”
    He paused mid-drink. “I thought we were done.”
    “That was just a warm-up. Now that your muscles and tendons are toasty, we’re really going to dig in.”
    “Yeah, I don’t think so. I’m a little sore.”
    She marched over to him and pushed on his back. “Being a wuss isn’t allowed. Head over to the pulleys.”
    “I thought jerking on the tree limbs was in lieu of the pulleys.”
    She adjusted the weights for him. “You would think that, wouldn’t you? But no. Three sets of ten.”
    He looked down at the weights, which were set heavier than they’d been before. Then he looked up at Alicia. “This isn’t going to wreck my shoulder?”
    “Nope. Start lifting. I’ll be here watching your progress.”
    He went through the routine, waiting for some sharp, knifelike pain to signal that he was right, that the weights were too heavy.
    The pain didn’t come. It hurt, but therapy always did.
    Though, it was a lot less painful so far because he had Alicia to push him around. Maybe this could work.
    *   *   *
    ADMITTEDLY, ALICIA WAS NERVOUS. NOT JUST A LITTLE nervous, but a whole bundle of