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CHAPTER 1

Emma

I’d thought I was a pretty experienced physical and rees and worked full tie of clients I thought I’d seen it all

I rong

An Olympic swimmer’s body was next level, with defined e, broad shoulders tapering down into an insane V Abs to hs and sli but a tiny white towel

“Mrph!” I greeted my new client I’d ht

He stood there, all six foot three glorious inches of hi a lot of ti up to and then through the Oly him injury-free, relaxed and ready to push himself to the extreme physical limit

I just hadn’t planned on hi hot

“You’re htly to the side, his brow furrowed He looked confused by my role

I cleared my throat “Yes I’m Emma Nelson” I stuck out my hand with the intent to establish professional control over the situation But then he slorapped his large, warainst the countertop at uidebook of establishing good client rapport

I drewto focus Deep breaths I could do this I’d better be able to do this I’d spent the better part of the past sixfor this job Everyone and their cousin wanted to be a part of the Oly could hs and the triumphs over incredible obstacles I’d been a fan ht in theside-by-side with one of the world’s most famous athletes in peak physical condition, ruames That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

And it wouldn’t just be a huge break forto the next level My best friend Tori and I had started it years ago, back ere in high school: Scoop’d We told stories, interesting ones about interesting people She specialized in the trashy ones that, I’ll adht in the readers I liked the feature pieces, the focus stories on good people doing good deeds You could say our blog showcased the best and the worst of people Together, it worked, and our little endeavor now had about 250,000 followers

Tori drea, and I could see the appeal Set your own hours, work from home in your PJs, choose your stories and write the as a physical therapist, but when she talked about it, I could get caught up in the fantasy

We both agreed—covering the Olyht, it would launch us over the top We were going to cover the ga to do it in a way no one could otten herself a job in PR, so she’d have access to all of the athletes at all hours With her social butterfly personality, she’d be in on all the dirt in no time

And old The story everyone wanted The scoop on swiain and again in Rio

Everyone knew the rough sketch of his backstory At 14, already a pro co accident But he’d overcooal He’d won a silver and a bronze at just 18 in 2008 In 2012, when he’d been expected to ascend to the throne, he’d had to sit out the London Olympics due to an injury Now, at 26, he was ready

But how had he almost drowned? Ru, another about hiht with a friend What had really happened that night on the boat? And why had Chase returned to swi hours in the pool every day enduring legendary, punishingly long and intense workouts, after having nearly died in the water?

With Chase poised to win big, I wanted to find out the whole truth The truth he never gave interviews about, had never shared with anyone else We’d capture the ultimate hurew up to becoold medalist Who didn’t want in on that? We’d have an audience of millions if I pulled it off

I had four weeks to scoop Chase Carter This e’d be at the US Oly to the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta Then Rio, baby And during those four weeks I’d take care of him, of course He was a national treasure, practically able to fly through the water I’d do e therapist to help him achieve his Olympic dreams and make history

But also, along the way, I would try to get to know hiain his trust I wanted to learn his secrets, on or off the record I didn’t want to do anything capital-W Wrong, like lie to hih exterior and learn the real story But desperate times required desperate measures

Chase Carter didn’t like reporters He didn’t do interviews, stayed notoriously tight-lipped during tea alone He couldn’t help it that most of the world’s population had a massive crush on him and treated him like a rock star At the last team press conference, a woman had tossed him her bra He’d watched it fall to the floor, then looked up with a coolly arched eyebrow That photo of hies

It only served to make people more wild about him The unattainable, inscrutable, superhu before ht

“Why don’t we discuss your preferences and past injuries,” I said, tapping a stack of papers on the countertop as if I needed to do it The papers had nothing to do with hi to do withmyself

“Didn’t my coaches provide you with my health history? There’s a file ab

out this big” He gestured with his large hands It

“Yes” I cleared irl “I’ve reviewed your files I know your health history But I also like to get to knowwith every day for the next month”

We looked at each other, the strange feeling of a face-off between us Why did it see reservations about me as his physical therapist? I must just feel paranoid I had all the credentials and plenty of experience I knew I could do this job well

“You want to know my preferences?” he asked, and I swear his voice dropped a notch lower Yes, I did want to kno he liked it His e and more His eyes were such an incredible shade of vivid blue, the type of color you saw on the cover of a azine and had to wonder if the shot had been air-brushed Meeting him in person, it turned out he really did have eyes the color of an aquamarine tropical sea

“I like it hard,” he said I kneas talking about the type of hand pressure he preferred in ht in entle You have to kno to get in deep”

“Yes!” I tugged at“Of course I specialize in sports e, so…”

I clapped ether The sound echoed in the room I’d never felt so aith a client And he hadn’t even taken off his towel yet That itty-bitty white thing he had wrapped around his completely naked, utterly perfect body

I turned to straighten out the sheet on theto I tried to picture rams She’d lectured all of us sternly about the importance of professionalism in client-therapist relationships

I tried to picture Tori warning me that I had the worst instincts when it came to men And she had evidence to support her clai around behind her back? Who’d lentthing that never uilty on all counts You’d think I would have learned by now When everything in !” that was exactly when I should run in the other direction

But I didn’t run I couldn’t I’d been hired to ith Chase every day of the next four weeks More than that, I didn’t want to run I et pulled in by Chase Carter, the end But all I could picture was Chase Carter’s glorious body, about to be bared completely for me to rub from head to toe

CHAPTER 2