Page 39 of After You

God, even that made Hannah feel nostalgic. And she thought hot sauce on eggs was disgusting.

“You wanna take a look?” Larry asked Hannah.

“I…um…” She sighed. If Kyle was going to keep doing this, she needed to tell him—all of them—the truth. “I’m happy to talk with you about what I do for pain,” she said. “But you should know that I’m not practicingPT.”

Larry chuckled. “Well, I hope you’re past the point of practicing.”

All the guys laughed with him. Kyle just rolled his eyes at her. That was possibly not a new joke. She smiled at the men. “I mean, I’m not a physical therapist.”

Man, she hadn’t said those words out loud very many times. They sounded very strange.

Kyle frowned. “What are you talking about?”

But she addressed the information to Larry. “A couple of years ago, I got very interested in treating chronic pain.” That was true enough. It was her chronic pain, but she’d definitely been interested in treating it. “I wanted to know what techniques could be used besides prescription drugs.” Because she’d been an addict who was trying to get clean while still suffering from the pain she needed the pills for. She thought it was okay to not share every detail. “So I found myself learning about massage therapy and essentialoils—”

“Like what Hope does?” Levi asked.

For a second, Hannah was flustered by having Levi Spencer’s attention on her. That was ridiculous of course. He was one of the guys… Oh, who was she kidding? He was not just one of the guys. He was a minor celebrity and, okay, she was a little starstruck. She smiled, though she was sure she looked nervous. “Yes, I guess so. From what Kyle and Albert told me anyway. But I also practice acupuncture.”

“No way,” Levi said. “That’s amazing. Hope has done some massage stuff on me, but I’d love to try acupuncture. You setting up appointments? I have this spot in my shoulder blade that kills me sometimes,” he said, reaching behind his back as if to indicate thespot.

“You get that from rolling the die at the craps table or pulling the lever on the slot machines?” Conrad asked him with a huge toothygrin.

Levi laughed. “I think it’s from hoisting all those gold bars around in my moneyroom.”

Conrad thought that was hilarious. “Yep, that’s probably it. I could come over and help you get rid of some ofthat.”

Levi clapped Conrad on the shoulder. “And you know that just makes me want to spray-paint a bunch of bricks gold for you to come over and haul them around forme.”

“Well, now I know they’re fake,” Conrad said. “I wouldn’t fall forthat.”

“You would if I told you that one of them is real and you have to figure out whichone.”

Hannah watched the exchange, torn between saying hell yeah to Levi coming over, taking his shirt off, and letting her work over his muscles, and saying hell no to the whole thing. The idea of sticking any of these people with needles made her jumpy.

“Hey,” Kyle said from across the table. He snapped his fingers in front of her. “Hey.”

She focused on him again. “Um, yeah?”

“You’re picturing Levi without a shirt on, aren’tyou?”

She was pretty sure her blush confirmed it without her having to say a thing.

Kyle narrowed his eyes. He didn’t seem to find that funny. “You do acupuncture? Really?”

Oh, right, back to the big confession. She nodded. “I do. And massage. And yoga and meditation.”

“NoPT?”

“Nope.”

“Because of the big pain research study you stayed out therefor?”

“Right.” That had been part of it. Of course, she’d been one of the subjects of the study. They’d needed people with a narcotic addiction who were willing to try alternative pain-control techniques. She’d been treated with acupuncture and had been grateful ever since that it had worked for her. It was the best thing for managing her pain when it got bad. “I became fascinated with it when I saw what it coulddo.”

“And you just gave up on the PT?” Kyle looked pissedoff.

She knew that he wouldn’t necessarily embrace the alternative medicines that she was passionate about, but why did he care? She wasn’t doing it here. And she wasn’t trying to convert anyone. He was the one who had told Larry to ask her about his pain. “Yes,” she said. She hadn’t given it up, exactly. She couldn’t do it anymore. But she couldn’t tell him that without going into all the details.

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