“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 fucking 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.”
My mind traveled back in time to a place and a player who I thought had embodied those qualities. I’d been wrong. “Loyalty and devotion? Is a player even capable of that?
“This one is.”
When his thumb brushed up my hand and circled my wrist, I felt a jolt spill down my back. A simple touch. An innocent one. Already my body was firing to life from this lightest of caresses—I couldn’t imagine how I’d survive what he had in mind.
“I need time to decide. We’ve both got so much to lose. I can’t just jump into something like this.”
“How much more time?” Archer tugged my hand so I slid a little closer. “Because I’m pretty sure my manhood’s going to be obsolete in about ten minutes.”
I splashed some water at him. “For being such a tough guy, you’re kind of a big baby.”
He blinked the water out of his lashes. “Do you know how cold these things are?”
“Yeah, I played sports. I spent my fair share of time in an ice bath.”
“And how long has it been since your last one?”
“A while,” I answered.
“In quantitative terms?”
I paused long enough that a grin was already forming on him by the time I got anything out. “A while is quantitative enough.”
“Well, I’ve already had two tonight and get to look forward to another eight in the next twenty-four hours.” He sank deeper into the tub, but it wasn’t big enough to fit his long frame. His knees popped out from beneath the surface of the water.
“Maybe next time you’ll listen to me when I tell you to take it easy.”
“Taking it easy isn’t my approach to anything in life. Especially when it comes to baseball.”
My gaze dropped to where his hand was still holding mine beneath the water. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Good. Then this next part shouldn’t come as a surprise.” At the same time his hand tugged on mine, his other arm reached across the tub to wind around my back.
Before I’d caught up to the fact that Archer’s arms were around me, I was being rolled into the tub with him. As my body crashed over his, water and ice surged over the sides, spilling across the tile floor as ice scattered everywhere. I was so surprised by what had just happened, the icy water took a few moments to process.