Long Distance Lover

“I’m finished, David. Finished.” Her voice cracked. “Dr. Graham was just here. He told me everything. I may never run again, not even with rehab.” She banged her fist against the mattress. Tears seeped from her closed eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Christ, what am I going to do?”

He leaned down and gathered her in his arms. His heart knocked in his chest. The soft scent of her rushed to his head, the feel of her body in his arms went straight to his groin. Kelly had no idea of the power she had over him. But in all the years they’d worked together, she’d never once indicated an interest in him beyond his coaching ability. He’d watched her move in and out of relationships, each time nothing sticking, and was secretly pleased. His greatest hope was that one day they would consummate their long-standing relationship. He ached to discover what it would feel like to be inside that kind of physical power. For now he would satisfy himself with fleeting moments like this.

“Listen,” he said, speaking softly against her hair. “Dr. Graham sees a dark cloud in every rainbow. We’re going to get you the best treatment available and you’ll be back on the track and you will be a champion. Have I ever let you down?”

She shook her head and sniffed hard.

“Exactly.” He smiled. He opened the nightstand and took a tissue from the hospital-issued box. “Here.”

She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Thanks,” she murmured. She looked at him. “I need you to be honest with me, David.”

“Of course.”

“If I can’t run again, what will I do?”

Her voice was so pained and the imploring expression in her eyes twisted David’s stomach.

“That’s not something you’re going to have to worry about for a very long time. I promise you.”

Chapter 4

David sat at his desk in the office he shared with the assistant coach, poring over the brochure he’d received that morning in the mail from New York. The rehabilitation center at New York University Hospital was one of the best in the country. It was expensive, but worth it. If Kelly were to have any chance of a full recovery he would do whatever was necessary.

A knock on his door took his attention from the information in front of him. He looked up. “Come in.” He slid the brochure into his desk drawer.

“Hey, Coach,” Stephanie Daniels said, stepping inside. “Mind if I close the door?”

He looked at her with skepticism. The last thing he needed was a harassment suit.

“You can leave it cracked.”

She didn’t look pleased but did as he asked. She crossed the room a bit too seductively for David’s taste and sat down in a chair on the opposite side of his desk. She crossed her long, bare legs, the micro shorts not leaving much to the imagination. They hugged the apex of her sex defining clearly what she held between her toned thighs. David looked away.

“What can I do for you?”

Stephanie leaned forward revealing a hint of cleavage from her V-cut tank top.

“I was just wondering how Kelly is doing.”

“She’s doing great. She should be released at the end of the week.”

“Really?” She toyed with the heart-shaped locket around her neck. “Seems a little soon. She must not be too bad…” She let her statement hang in the air.

David leaned back in his chair. “Kelly will be just fine and back before you know it.”

Stephanie twisted her lips and forced a smile. “That’s good to hear. Everyone will be glad to have her back.”

Everyone but you. “I’m sure.”

She stood slowly. “Well, I guess I’d better be going. I have practice in an hour.”

“Good.”

She hesitated. “Uh, David, not that I’m saying Kelly won’t be back…but what if she isn’t?”

He knew what she was hedging at. She wanted Kelly’s spot on the team and by all rights it should be hers. But if he admitted that now, he’d have to accept the fact that Kelly may not return. And that he was unwilling to do.

“She will. End of story.”

She puffed out her chest. “See you on the track.”

“Yeah.”

He watched her saunter out. Stephanie Daniels had skill; there was no question about that. But she didn’t have star power. Kelly was the whole package, skill and charisma. David had worked with Kelly for the past six years, seeing a champion in her. He’d created her from nothing—turning a shy, insecure girl into a woman who understood the meaning of winning at all costs, who could charm the media and inspire a team. She was his. His career was riding on a championship and Kelly was the key. But if he was forced to deal a new deck of cards to ensure a championship, then he would. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Chapter 5

“Let me get the door,” David said. He stepped around Kelly and opened the door to her garden apartment.

She inched her way in, awkwardly balancing on crutches, and looked around in awe. The small, very Afro-centrically designed space was filled with flowers. Her living room resembled a tropical hot house, bursting in a kaleidoscope of color.

She turned clumsily toward David, her face beaming in delight. “This is incredible.”

“From all the folks who love you.”

She moved gingerly into the room and pressed her face to the blossoms, testing one after another. “This is so nice.”

“And I’ll personally drop by every day to take care of them and you,” he added.

“You’ve done too much already. You haven’t missed a day at the hospital; you brought me home, getting me into rehab. I can’t ask you to come over here every day.”

“You’re not asking. I’m volunteering. I want to and I will.” He picked up her small overnight bag. “I’ll put this in your bedroom. Why don’t you sit down?”

She did as he asked and plopped down on the couch with her leg stretched out in front of her. She propped the crutches against the couch. The delight that she felt only moments ago on coming home slowly slipped away when she considered what she was up against in her current condition. At least in the hospital pretty much everything was done for her. Now she would have to get in and out of bed alone, maneuver through the house—and what about bathing? She sighed and rested her head against the cushions, just as the phone rang.

She reached for the phone on the end table.

“Hello?”

“Kelly Maxwell?”

The voice was totally unfamiliar.

“Who’s calling?”

“I’m a reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and I was hoping to speak to Ms. Maxwell.”

“She moved.” Kelly slammed down the phone just as David returned.