His smile flashed an unmistakeable message. Ross had decided to back off. That was just as well, because when he passed her in the doorway she caught a hint of his scent. Raw sex, at its finest.
‘Do you have a moment later? I’ve got a few questions about structuring the gym time for Adam.’
‘Sure. Ten o’ clock?’ he called over his shoulder.
‘That’s great. Thanks.’
Stumbling block number two. How to stick to her routine when the clamour of pheromones was urging her to either fight or fly. Maybe some relaxation and breathing exercises were in order before she started on her morning workout.
* * *
It had been two days and Ross had kept his interactions with Laurie down to the bare minimum. She’d been working on her treatment plans for Adam and Tamara, and he’d left her to it. He’d skipped his morning workouts as well, so that there was no danger of his being there when Laurie went through her own exercise routine. He was aching with curiosity, and not sure how much longer he could keep this up.
But this morning she’d found her way to his office. The dark blue of her trousers matched her sleeveless top exactly, and she’d teamed that up with a pair of bright red sandals. He noticed that her fingernails were painted exactly the same shade as her shoes. He reminded himself that Laurie set store by dressing appropriately for any occasion, and that he was simply looking for clues, rather than appreciating the overall effect.
‘Good morning. I was wondering if you had some time to see me today.’
Always. Particularly when she looked so good.
‘Would now suit you? I was about to go and get some coffee. Would you like one?’
‘Yes. Thanks.’
He fetched the coffee and found her waiting in his office, her laptop placed in front of her on his desk.
‘What’s your email address? I’ll send my proposals through to you...’ Clearly she just wanted to get down to business.
Ross reeled off his address and heard his computer chime. As he opened the document attached to his email a thought occurred to him.
‘Have you chosen the costumes yet? Sports day is next Monday.’
‘Ah, yes.’ She smiled. ‘I’m going as the chicken.’
The chicken costume was great. Covered in yellow feathers, and lots of fun. If Laurie had been looking for the most embarrassing costume in the clinic’s collection, she’d chosen it for herself, but he imagined she’d carry it off beautifully.
‘And me?’ He tried to maintain an air of innocence.
‘Not the Mad Hatter.’ She glanced down at her hands. ‘You’re going as the egg. Or rather Humpty Dumpty.’
Right. As costumes went, the egg wasn’t so bad. The kids had loved it last year when Mike had worn it, and it was difficult to feel awkward when you were almost entirely obscured from view inside a large papier-mâché egg. It was, however, a little difficult to go anywhere at a speed faster than walking pace, and the two eye-holes cut in the front didn’t give a particularly wide field of vision. If Laurie had wanted to clip his wings, she’d done a fine job of it.
‘Great. The chicken and the egg, then.’ He refused to allow her to see his reservations. ‘Who comes first?’
Laurie chuckled. ‘We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?’
* * *
Three hours and two cups of coffee later, he’d been through Laurie’s treatment strategies and they were very good. She’d obviously been talking more to Adam about his likes and dislikes and spoken to Tamara about what she wanted from her stay here. Ross had just one reservation.
‘You’ve put a note here that you feel that Tamara might like to try rowing...’
‘Yes.’
‘What do you see as the specific benefits of that?’
‘At the moment her prosthetic isn’t fitting exactly right. I know you’re doing something about that, but in the meantime it would be nice to get her moving.’
Ross thought hard. ‘But rowing involves flexing your legs. Tamara’s prosthetic hurts her when she puts too much pressure on it, and we need to correct the imbalance that’s causing. Won’t rowing make it worse?’