Stealing Home(14)

Crossing my arms, I gave him an unfazed look. “I’m here to see to your leg. Not your dick.”

“I think that by taking care of one, you’ll be taking care of the other.”

“True. Ice baths are up to the task of tending to torn muscles and swollen dicks. So let’s get started.”

Archer lay stretched out in bed for another minute, calling my bluff, but when I made no move to throw myself at him, he sighed. “The ice bath it is.”

“Good choice.” Rushing to him when he started to climb off the bed, I positioned myself under his arm to keep him from putting any weight on the injured leg.

Archer’s arm wound snuggly around me, holding me close as we slowly made our way into the bathroom. “I could get used to this. My arm around you. You spending the night in my room. Getting my needs tended to by you. I might just try to injure myself again once I’m healed up from this one.”

“Can’t wait to run that plan by Coach,” I muttered as we came to a stop at the edge of the tub. When he didn’t step in right away, I lifted my eyebrows. “Afraid of a little ice bath?”

“Please. I’ve had just as many of these over the past five years as I have showers. I’m immune to them.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

His eyes lowered. “I don’t know what you’re into, Doc, but I don’t typically bathe with my clothes on.”

“Those aren’t clothes.”

“I don’t bathe with my underwear on. That better?”

Before I could say anything else, his free hand tugged the waistband down over his hips. Then said underwear were in a heap at his feet.

“There. Much better.” When he glanced over, he didn’t miss my crestfallen expression. “Sorry? Did you want to help with that?”

My eyes lifted to the ceiling. Mostly just to keep them from exploring Archer’s exposed body. “Get in the bath already.”

I kept my gaze up as I helped him step into the tub, but even then, it was hard not to notice him in my peripheral vision. Even stepping into a thirty degree tub of water and ice, probably in serious pain from the muscle tear, he was still hard.

The muscles south of my navel contracted.

He didn’t wince when his other foot stepped inside, the water skimming just below his knees. His skin didn’t even erupt in goose bumps. Maybe he was immune to the discomfort of it all.

“Okay, lower down nice and easy. No sudden movements. Use me to brace yourself.” I slid my other arm under his armpit to guide him down, but he was barely putting any weight on me.

“Thanks, Doc. I already planned on using you to brace myself later, but I appreciate the green light.” His curved smile lifted even as the rest of his body lowered into the tub.

“Can you be serious for five minutes?”

Archer’s jaw set when that part of him disappeared into the tub, but he didn’t yelp or grimace like most of the guys did. “I am being serious.”

“Fine, then can you not be so serious? I’ve got a job to do tonight, and it doesn’t include f*cking you.” I blamed my blunt crudeness on the cold water and feeling like my eyes were going to go crossed from keeping them focused on the ceiling. “Besides, how can you even be thinking that with a groin pull?”

Archer worked his jaw loose as he lowered the rest of himself into the tub. Water sloshed up the sides as his body displaced it, ice clinking against the fiberglass. “I could be thinking that if my head had just been severed from my neck.”

I smiled as I turned to grab a towel to roll into a headrest for him. “I’m starting to believe you could.”

His eyes met mine as I leaned down, tucking the rolled towel behind his head. Archer wasn’t the type who liked the extra babying and comfort measures, but I needed to keep my mind and hands busy. I didn’t trust myself around him, and staying focused on my job was the only way to make it through the night without letting Archer take my body—the way I’d spent the past couple of weeks dreaming.

“So?” His voice was the verbal equivalent of a nudge.

My head shook. “No. We can’t.”

“Why not?”

That was the very question I’d been beating to death since Archer’s attention turned my way. “You’re a player. I’m on the staff. I think there’s something in our employment agreements that strongly discourages, if not prohibits, relationships like the kind you’re suggesting.”

His head turned so it was facing me. His eyes were darker than I was used to seeing them—more gray than green. “No one would have to know.”

As a distraction, I tested the water again. His hand floated up to the surface and found mine. Despite the freezing water, the warmth from his skin spread up my arm. “People would find out.”

“Not if we were careful.”

My fingers tied around his of their own accord. It was like a reflex—when Archer reached for me, I reached back. “People always find out.”

“You and me. Those are the only people who will find out.”

My eyes lifted to his. “And where do you see this relationship going?”

“Anywhere we want it to.” When his body moved closer, a wave of water crested over the lip of the tub. “I can’t promise you romance and forever any more than you can promise me the same. This life, it doesn’t leave much room for anything but baseball, but I can promise you my free time when I get it. My attention when it’s mine to give to something other than the game. My loyalty and devotion.”