Sandra Steffen - Gift Wrapped Dad

www.millsandboon.co.uk

My brothers, Leon, Larry, Dave and Ron—

great guys, one and all.

A special thank-you to Gordon Allen of Gordon Allen Rehabilitation Associates

Contents

Prologue Dear Santa, I know it’s only October, but my best friend Stephanie told me I’d have a better chance if I wrote to you before the Christmas rush. Mom’s always telling me I’m a good boy. Mrs. Hansen, my teacher, said I’m not only good, I’m gifted. That means I’m smart, so you can bring me some books to read if you want to. But what I really want is a baseball glove. Not a sissy one, but a real leather, major league baseball glove. I want a dog, too. I don’t care what kind. Oh, and a dad, if you know of any extras anywhere. Yours truly, Tommy Wilson P.S. Stephanie says hi.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Dear Santa,

I know it’s only October, but my best friend Stephanie told me I’d have a better chance if I wrote to you before the Christmas rush. Mom’s always telling me I’m a good boy. Mrs. Hansen, my teacher, said I’m not only good, I’m gifted. That means I’m smart, so you can bring me some books to read if you want to. But what I really want is a baseball glove. Not a sissy one, but a real leather, major league baseball glove. I want a dog, too. I don’t care what kind. Oh, and a dad, if you know of any extras anywhere.

Yours truly,

Tommy Wilson

P.S. Stephanie says hi.

Will Sutherland stopped in the doorway, the hum of an exercise machine obliterating any sound he might have made. The room was oblong, with mirrors and exercise equipment lining one entire wall. It was unoccupied, except for Krista.

She was wearing a black leotard and tights, the muscles in her thighs tightening with every stride she took on the treadmill. Her hands grasped the side rails loosely. Even so, the strength in her upper arms was clearly evident.

Her hair was as dark as always, but longer, coiled into a braid partway down her back. Her face was tipped up, and her eyes were closed, which explained the fact that she hadn’t noticed his presence. She was more slender than he remembered, but the way she filled out the top of her leotard was still the closest thing to perfection he’d ever seen. Will wouldn’t have minded staring at her for hours, except he was in a hurry to get this matter settled.

Gathering his thoughts, he said, “I didn’t believe it when they told me I’d find you up here. ‘Krista, exercising?’ I said. I was sure they had you confused with somebody else.”

Krista Wilson opened her eyes. She didn’t need to turn her head to know who had spoken; she’d recognize that voice anywhere. Breathing deeply, she slowed her pace on the treadmill and turned her head slightly, finally looking at the man who was watching her from the doorway. Studying his face unhurriedly, she couldn’t help smiling.

“Hello, Will.”

For a long moment he looked back at her, his lips slowly lifting into a grin she remembered well, the kind of grin that had made her swoon once, the kind of grin that reporters liked, fans loved and women adored. On anyone else, it would have looked practiced. On Will, it looked boyishly natural. It always had.

Thoughts whispered through her mind the way memories sometimes did. Images of her and Will laughing together and loving together lingered around the edges of her memory as if it had been weeks since she’d seen him instead of years. His hair was cut short, the front slightly askew, as always. His eyes were still a vivid blue—bedroom blue, according to the papers. His arms and shoulders looked as powerful as she remembered, and she could practically feel the afternoon stubble on his chin. He looked nearly the same as he had eight years ago. Only the crutches were different.

“I heard about the accident,” she said quietly.

Will inclined his head, his smile changing slightly as he said, “I don’t recall receiving any Get Well cards from you.”

“I don’t remember receiving any letters from you eight years ago, either,” she said quietly.

“You never were one to beat around the bush, Krista. That’s why I’m here.”

He looked into her eyes as if he were reaching into her thoughts, and Krista altered her first impression of him. He wasn’t the same as he’d been eight years ago. He was more serious, more mature.

Her heart was beating hard from her workout. Breathing between parted lips, she flipped a switch on the treadmill, stepped off the machine and walked closer. Fleetingly, she wished she was wearing something less revealing. Since there was nothing she could do about it, she squared her shoulders and stopped a few paces from him. With her hands on her hips, she asked, “Why are you here, Will?”

“I need a good physical therapist. And I’ve heard you’re the best,” he answered.

“You already have a physical therapist. I saw you together in Person Magazine. I believe her name was Miss July.”

One corner of his mouth rose, but it wasn’t the cocky smile she remembered. In a voice edged with irony, he said, “Unfortunately, my former therapist was more interested in getting me on my back than on my feet.”

His eyes had darkened like smoke, and he leaned on his crutches as if he was tired to the bone. He took a deep breath and finally broke the silence between them. “You aren’t going to ask, are you?”

Krista shook her head. She knew he was referring to his ability to make love. She also knew what a delicate subject that was with patients who had suffered spinal-cord injuries. The Will she remembered had been virile and too darn sexy for her own good. The man standing before her was every bit as ruggedly handsome and sexy as he’d been in her memories.

He didn’t smile, but she hadn’t expected him to. He didn’t come right out and say if you want proof, come closer, either, but it was there in the set of his shoulders, in the determination in his eyes and in the way his fingers tightened around the handrests on his crutches.

She thought about moving closer and, God help her, she did. In fact, for the first time in a long time, she was tempted to touch a man intimately, to savor his touch in return. A curious sensation swooped deep inside her, and Krista couldn’t suppress the admiration she felt for Will’s courage and tenacity.

In that instant, she felt as if she were twenty years old all over again, meeting Will for the first time. She’d been at the bus stop not far from Michigan State University’s campus that sunny October day eight years ago. He’d taken one look at her and stopped in his tracks. Thunderstruck, he’d called it. Secretly, she’d called it love. They’d been together the rest of the year, and although he’d never promised her forever, she’d somehow believed it was what they’d have.

She could still remember how they’d both reacted to an innocent brush of their shoulders. Most of all, she could still remember how her world had rocked when he’d left her behind to play pro baseball. At first she’d dreamed he’d come back. Now he had, but not the way she’d imagined. He needed a physical therapist, not a lover.

That line of thinking brought her back to the matter at hand. Raising her chin, she looked him straight in the eye and said, “You’re not a small man, Will. A male physical therapist could handle your weight and help you if you stumbled or started to fall much better than I could.”