Page 59 of Nailing Heat

I flip it on and find that Nick at Nite is good for something - reruns of televisions shows that I like to watch. CurrentlyThe Big Bang Theoryis one. I do love this show. I put the volume down a bit, hoping not to wake up Dex, and begin watching.

Of course, my peace is discovered, as Dex comes strolling into the living room. He looks adorable as he pulls a t-shirt over his head. I can see in the dim light of the TV that his shorts are riding low on his hips. I imagine his hair is mussed from sleep, but I can’t really tell.

“Are you okay? Are you in pain?” he asks as soon as he sees me.

I sigh, “I’m fine.”

“What are you doing out here?” He sits on the opposite end of the sofa, watching me.

I can see him better now. I was right. His hair is a bit tossed from sleep. He’s got that kind of hair that you can run your hands through or use it to pull him closer.

“Do you need more pain medication? You would be due for some,” he tells me.

“Umm, yeah, maybe,” I reply.

Dex leaves the room, returning with a glass of water and my pills. I drink them down quickly.

“What’s wrong?” He leans over and gently grabs my legs, sliding my bottom so that I turn and I’m now facing sideways on the couch. He sits my legs in his lap and begins to rub my feet.

I giggle at first because my feet are a bit ticklish, but the more he rubs the more I enjoy. I put my head back on the couch and let out a low moan. “This feels like heaven.”

I look up and he’s grinning at me. “Happy to help you.” He watches me for a moment before asking, “What’s got you out here in the middle of the night?”

“Did I wake you?” I ask him, dodging his question.

“You did not. I got up to use the bathroom and saw that your door was open. You weren’t there so I came out here.” He keeps on rubbing tiny circles at my arches. “So, let’s try this again, whatcha doing out here?”

I sigh, looking up at the ceiling and back at him again. “I couldn’t sleep. I wanted a change of scenery. I think I slept too much yesterday morning. It’s making it hard to sleep now.”

He nods. “Sleep will be good. It’s going to be critical for your recovery. Do you want some ice while you’re up?”

“No,” I say shaking my head. “I’m fine right now.”

He nods. The show comes back on, and his eyes move to the TV to see what I’m watching. “I’m aBig BangTheoryfan too.” He smiles and watches the show for a bit, all the while still rubbing my feet.

“Are you going to head into the Blaze tomorrow?”

He looks over at me, “I was thinking, yeah, I would. I want to check on things in there. There is a player who is having some issues with her calf. Carrie, I think. So, I want to go in and check her out.”

I nod. “Carrie is one of our backs. She plays on the right,” I tell him.

He grins at me. “Right, thanks. I think I need to ask Watts for a lineup or something so that I can see where you all play. He uses numbers sometimes, but I have no fucking idea what those mean.”

I giggle. “So, I can tell you the numbers are talking about positions. When he talks to you about the lower numbers, that is defense, and the higher numbers are offense. For example, I play center back, which makes me a five.”

He shakes his head. “What if we said the position names?”

“It’s faster sometimes in gameplay to ask players to move to a number versus saying the whole position name. You’ll get used to it the more you are around the game.” I smile at him, and he smiles brightly back at me. The gleam in his eyes makes my stomach do a flip.

“I’m starting to wonder if I’m a curse being here. August said you guys haven’t had any injuries. I’m here what a few weeks and you tore a meniscus. That has got to be some kind of a sign,” he says, shaking his head.

“Oh, are you going to abandon us? Now that you have an actual patient that you can actually help and you are going to bail. That’s real shitty of you,” I tease him, knowing he’s not really going anywhere. “It’s all just some bad timing.”

“Yeah, bad timing,” he repeats the phrase. “I’m not leaving you.”

My mind turns the words he spoke over and over again. He’s not leaving me. Not the team, he said me. I smile widely at him. “You meant the team, right?”

His grin widens and he winks at me. “I meant you. I’m not leaving you while you’re like this. I wouldn’t leave the team because they are my job.”