“Yep, sure am. Tonight, in fact. If you’re a good boy and hop onto the table, I’ll put the electrodes on your ankle and not other more sensitive areas of your body.”
He laughed. “I have better ways to both stimulate and be stimulated.”
“Table,” she ordered, picking up the machine and turning on her heel for the gym.
“I want you to try the board first.”
She turned back. “No way in hell.”
“I want you to see how stable the boots are, how much support they give me. And since you’ve never boarded, it would be good for you to experience for yourself how it feels on my feet and legs.”
He did have a point, but… She eyed the boots dubiously. “No, thanks. I’ve spent hours on YouTube. I’ve got a pretty good idea.”
“Did you just compare my snowboarding to those amateurs on YouTube?”
She exhaled. This was how they spent their days—bantering. And, yes, that led to a lot of laughing. But tonight, after being surprised and scared and just plain-ass tired, she wasn’t in the mood. But she also knew how determined he could be, and if she didn’t appease him by trying the stupid board, he’d be next to impossible to get onto the table for therapy. And she really wanted to put some space between them and sink into the tub with a glass of wine.
“Fine, I’ll try it, but only if you promise not to let me hurt myself. I can’t rehab us both at the same time.”
“I’m pretty damn sure you could rehab an entire hockey team at once.” He retrieved the board, lining it up near her and stabilizing it with one foot while she set the machine back on the counter. “Hold on and step into the boots. I’ll strap you in.”
“I’m going to regret this,” she murmured, stepping into one boot. “I just know it.”
Once strapped in, she didn’t feel any safer. The boots held her feet at an awkward angle. “You’ve got to be kidding me. How do you do anything in these?”
He grinned. “I’m just that good.”
She laughed, and some of her frustration ebbed. “Okay, Superstar, now what?”
“It’s all about balance.” He put his hands on her hips and tilted her body as he spoke. “Lean back to slow down, lean forward to speed up, tilt sideways to turn. Ready?”
“No.”
“Here we go.”
With his hands at her hips, he walked alongside as he pushed her forward. The board tilted beneath her feet, and she gasped, grabbing for his hands as if that would stabilize her.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “We’re just getting the feel.”
All Julia could feel was the heat growing beneath his hands and the way it tingled down through her hips and between her legs.
He stopped her at the front door. “Hold on, we’re going to turn.”
Wrapping one arm around her waist, he lifted her off the floor and held her against his body as he spun a semicircle before setting her down again. Her T-shirt rode up, putting her skin that much closer to his. He smelled amazing, a blend of shower-fresh and pure Noah, a scent that had become intimately familiar to her over the last week. And one that always made her panties a little damp.
“Oh yeah,” he murmured, sliding her slowly down his body before setting her on the floor.
“This was one of my better ideas.”
All that heat and muscle stoked the fantasies she’d been fighting on a daily—sometimes hourly—basis. “Funny, I was just thinking it’s one of my worst.”He looked down the length of the hallway where it passed through the kitchen and continued until it dead-ended at the door to the gym. “Just for that, you’re on your own.”
“Noah,” she warned.
“Remember forward, back, turn. I’ll walk beside you.”
With his hands poised to catch her if she wobbled, he said, “Get some momentum.”
They spent the next fifteen minutes crawling up and down the hallway until Julia figured out the basics. Then he taught her to turn around the island and again into the dining room to make a circle back to the foyer.