LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Two

      It couldn’t be.

      There was no way Spencer Channing was here. In Haven, yes. In her treatment room, no.

      “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t catch that.”

      Jillian touched the screen, where his name and number were noted in the two o’clock slot. “Spencer Channing,” she said again.

      Clearly. Unequivocally.

      An injury, Megan had said.

      Kenzie had immediately wondered what kind of injury and how bad it was. Somehow, she’d never considered that he might come to Back in the Game for treatment.

      She made her way to room four, then paused with her hand on the knob to draw in a deep breath and will her heart to stop racing. Confident and capable, she reminded herself, then stepped into the room.

      “So it’s true,” she said, by way of greeting.

      Spencer’s head turned toward the door, the widening of his deep blue eyes suggesting that he was as surprised to see her as she’d been to hear Jillian speak his name.

      Then his lips curved in a slow, sexy smile that confirmed the receptionist’s assessment of its power.

      That smile was lethal. But it was only one weapon in an arsenal that included mouthwatering good looks, a tautly-muscled physique, quick wit and effortless charm.

      Yeah, Spencer Channing was all that and a whole lot more.

      But it was her job to treat his injury, not lust after his body like a hormonal teenager.

      “It’s good to see you, Kenzie.”

      “I take it you didn’t know your appointment was with me,” she guessed.

      “I didn’t,” he confirmed. “When I was told there’d been a cancellation, I just said I’d take it, without asking any questions.”

      She wondered if it would have mattered if he’d known, but she didn’t voice the question.

      “What brings you in?” she asked instead.

      He tipped his head toward his right shoulder. “Glenohumeral dislocation.”

      She winced sympathetically, imagining the pain he must have endured. Of course, he showed no outward evidence of any discomfort now. Then again, Spencer had never let anyone see what was going on inside.

      He handed her a large manila envelope. “Copies of the doctor’s report and test results.”

      She opened the flap, slid out the sheaf of papers. “Have you had any therapy?”

      He shook his head. “The doc said not before six weeks.”

      “How long has it been?” she asked.

      “Six weeks and three days,” he admitted.

      “Not that you’re impatient,” she noted dryly.

      He smiled again. “I don’t believe in sitting around.”

      And because she refused to admit that his smile did strange things to her, she took a jab at him instead. “But that’s your job, isn’t it? To sit on the back of a bull for eight seconds.”

      His smile didn’t waver. If anything, it grew wider, and the twinkle in his eye suggested that he knew exactly what was going through her mind. “Most people wouldn’t consider it sitting,” he told her.

      She shifted her attention back to the papers in her hand and began to scan the report.

      “You look...different,” he noted, when she flipped the page.

      “I’m not sixteen anymore,” she told him.

      His gaze skimmed over her again, slowly, considering. “I can see that.”

      She returned her attention to the notes in her hands.

      “You’re not wearing a ring,” he remarked.

      “Rings get in the way when I’m working.”

      “Which suggests that you have a ring to wear.”

      She glanced up. “What do you really want to know, Spencer?”

      “Are you married? Engaged?”

      He had no right to ask those questions. Her personal life was none of his business. And yet, something stirred inside her in response to his inquiries, as if pleased that he was asking. As if the questions suggested that he cared about her status.

      Or maybe he was just making conversation.

      “Not anymore,” she finally responded.

      “Not married anymore? Or not engaged anymore?” he asked.

      “Never married,” she clarified. “Briefly engaged.”

      “Anyone I know?”

      “Dale Shillington.”

      He made a face. “How briefly? Like you were really drunk one night and said yes, then sobered up and threw the ring back at him?”

      “Not quite that briefly,” she admitted.

      “You can do a lot better than Shillington,” he told her.

      “Dale has a lot of good qualities,” she said, wanting to defend not just the man but her acceptance of his proposal.

      Yes, in hindsight she could acknowledge that it had been a mistake, but at the time, she’d thought he was a man who could give her everything she wanted. To belong with someone. To be loved. To have a family.

      But no matter how hard she’d tried, she couldn’t make herself love him—and she knew that a marriage without love wouldn’t last. And she didn’t want to end up like her own mother, abandoned by her husband and raising a child alone.

      “If there aren’t better options in this town, maybe you should leave Haven,” Spencer suggested.

      She shook her head. “That’s not the answer for everyone.”

      “And apparently not for me, either,” he said.

      Before she could ask what he meant by that cryptic remark, he posed another question.

      “Are you dating anyone now?”

      “You’ve got an awful lot of questions for a guy who suddenly reappeared in town after seven years.”

      “It’s not so sudden,” he denied. “And it’s hardly my first trip home.”

      She knew that, of course. He’d been home every year for Christmas, frequently for Mother’s Day and on various other occasions, but never for his birthday, because there was always a major rodeo event somewhere on the Fourth of July.

      “Why did you come back?” she wondered.

      “Obviously I’m not in any condition to compete right now, and Haven seemed as good a place as any to rehab my injury,” he said.

      A reasonable explanation, but she sensed that it wasn’t the whole reason. It was, however, the only reason that mattered right now because it was why he was sitting on her table.

      “You’re going to have to take your shirt off,” she said, reaching into the cupboard for a sheet.

      When she turned back again,

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