Appointment with Love: The Chiropractor Chronicles

By Ellisa Irving

Caliber "Cal'' Weston is more interested in building his company, Weston Construction, than he is in building a relationship with a woman. When his best friend urges him to see a chiropractor to help with an injury, Cal is pretty skeptical but decides to give it a chance if it means it'll also make his mom happy. One look at the gorgeous massage therapist the chiropractor hired and Cal's ready for her hands on more than just his shoulder. 

 

Everleigh Davis wanted a fresh start in a new city after the death of her father. As a massage therapist at DiMaggio Chiropractic Center, she loves her job and the colorful cast of characters she works with are like the family she never had. The day Cal Weston, the handsome and rich businessman, walks into her massage room things start to get heated–namely Everleigh. When Everleigh gets some news that forces her to choose between Cal and her dreams, she will have to rethink everything that she ever thought she wanted.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ellisa Irving
• Release date: Nov 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215335413

Ellisa Irving

Ellisa Irving has been a fan of spicy love stories ever since middle school, when one of her friends showed her how to hide risque magazines in her Trapper Keeper and read them without the teacher finding out.  She has worked in corporate america and academia, but always wanted to write stories like the ones she read growing up. Ellisa is passionate about creating steamy stories with possessive jealous heroes that make their ladies swoon.  When not thinking of plot lines and characters, she has her hands full with her husband, three children, a Yorkiepoo named Eubanks, and a betta fish named Bird Man.

Book preview

Appointment with Love

Chapter 1

Everleigh

I don’t have time for this! Traffic moved unusually slow, and I only had a few more minutes to make it to work on time. I thought that I could get a little studying done at the library during my lunch break, but when it was time to leave and I got to the parking lot, I found that one of the tires on my car was flat.

Oh great, just what I needed, I mumbled when I saw it.

As a college student on scholarship, there wasn't much money in my budget for unexpected expenses like a flat tire. Luckily one of the student workers had come out of the library, saw my predicament and was kind enough to change it for me. 

My speedometer read 60, but I still pressed a little harder on the accelerator. It was less than five miles to my job, and I knew that my boss would understand, but I didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness. I worked at a chiropractic office, providing massages to complement the chiropractic treatments that he gave. Dr. Kevin Maggio, who owned the practice, had recently begun to offer massage service to his patients and was pretty cool about me setting my schedule around school. I was in my last year of college where I was majoring in health science with a physical therapy focus. My goal was to get into a top-notch physical therapy program after graduation so that I could eventually work for a professional sports team. Kevin knew about my plans and tried to help in any way that he could. I was lucky to get the job and I definitely didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. Having been on my own for so long, I needed the job for more reasons than one. 

It was almost four years ago when my father had died, and I left the small town in Nebraska where I had grown up and moved all the way across the country to go to school in Pennsylvania. I never knew my mother because she died shortly after I was born. Both of my parents were only children so Dad was all the family I had. I didn’t feel like staying around in a town with no family and figured I could use a change.

Putting myself through college meant there was little time for a social life, since schoolwork and my job took up most of my days and nights. Whatever was left after studying and running errands was usually spent doing no- or low-cost things like reading books on my Kindle, watching the ID channel or experimenting with recipes I found on TikTok. Attempting recipes was definitely easier than attempting some of those ridiculous challenges everyone was doing. 

Rushing into the back door at work just in time, I hurried to the massage room. I absolutely loved my space, and I was so excited when Kevin encouraged me to fix it up the way I wanted. It was painted the same soothing color as the rest of the office. The only furniture in the room was the massage table in the middle and a rattan chair with large, thick cushions that sat in one corner. Next to the chair was a small wicker table with a Himalayan salt lamp. The cabinets on the walls held enough linens and towels to change between clients along with my massage oils, lotions and creams. The lights had a dimmer so I could turn them down as needed and we had a sound system that pumped soothing music into the room. It was like my own personal slice of heaven on earth, and I loved being in there.

I pulled the folder from the plastic container hanging beside the door. That’s where Kevin or one of his assistants would place files so I’d know which client was next. I opened the file and saw Brigham’s name which put a big smile on my face. Brigham Dumas was a regular client. A notorious flirt who came in every now and again for one of my deep tissue massages, Brigham was totally harmless and loved to make us laugh with his endless flirting. I didn’t know much about him except that he was the eldest of three brothers and that he worked as a client services manager at a construction company. Although he was very handsome with sandy brown hair and green eyes, he wasn’t quite my cup of tea, and despite the friendly banter between us, I always remained professional.

Just as I was about to go to the waiting area to get him, Nicole, one of the assistants, walked past my room. She and I quickly became friends the minute I started working here, although she could be a little stand-offish at times.

Your favorite person is here today, I said in a singsong voice. 

My favorite person? she asked, confusion all over her face.

Yeah, Mr. Big and Flirty–Brigham.

I rolled my eyes with a smile, thinking about how much his teasing could get on her nerves.

Oh God, help us all! Nicole laughed with fake exasperation, lightly slapping her forehead with her hand.

We broke into a fit of giggles. Brigham was a total flirt and had no problem owning up to that fact. Sometimes I wondered if he and Nicole had a thing for each other, but I could never get a good read on either of them.

Going to the waiting area, I called out, Hey, Brigham! You’re up next. How are you doing today? Anything in particular bothering you?

Well, nothing’s really wrong, just trying to stay limber. You know I love when you work out those kinks. Speaking of kinks... he trailed off, looking directly at Nicole and winking. I wanted to laugh so badly, but one look at her face said she was about two seconds from smashing his face in and I didn’t want any part of that! 

As we walked into the massage room, I pointed to the table and said, "Ok, you know the routine. I’ll step out so you can get undressed to your comfort level, and then we’ll begin your massage.

I always told my patients the same thing. I wanted them to feel completely comfortable getting their massage and if they didn’t want to get totally naked, that was fine with me. Brigham only ever removed the shirt he was wearing but kept on his undershirt. I never asked him why, and he never volunteered. It just seemed to be what made him most comfortable, so I worked with it.

After about a minute, I knocked to let him know I was coming back in. Once he was situated on the table, I began to work on the knots in his shoulders and back.

He was so quiet after a few minutes, I thought he was asleep.

Hey, I was telling my buddy Cal about you, he murmured.

Oh, yeah? I laughed quietly. What exactly did you tell him?

Well, I just told him that I know this place of miracles where they have an awesome chiropractor and the best massage therapist in town. He’s so damn uptight. I figured if he doesn’t either find a girl quickly or come get one of your famous massages, he’s going to run everybody off our newest project and cost us one of our most important clients. And his assistant says she can tell when he’s in pain, because he chews her head off for the slightest thing and won’t laugh at her ridiculous jokes.

I couldn’t imagine anyone being that uptight and I knew I was good at my job so maybe I could help. It was one of the main reasons Kevin hired me. I wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity for Brigham’s co-worker or friend or whatever he was to get relief from his pain. I certainly could use the extra money if he tipped anything like Brigham, who was partially responsible for almost half my savings. And even though he was always flirting, I knew his tipping came from a genuine place. He had once explained that his mother, who was now happily remarried, hadn’t always had it easy raising him and his siblings after his father died. She managed to put herself through college and then grad school as a single mom and anything he could do to help a college girl keep her head in her books was his way of paying it forward. It melted my heart when he told me that, but definitely not enough to go out with him. Not that he asked. I think he might’ve been interested in Nicole but with his endless teasing, I don’t think either of us knew whether or not to take him seriously. What I did know was that it might take some doing, but the right girl was going to come along and knock him on his ass. 

God, that sounds awful, I mused.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy and my best friend. But he was doing work on his cabin and hurt his shoulder. There’s nothing broken but it hasn’t been the same. Honestly, I’m starting to get worried about him taking so much pain medicine. Do you think you and Doc can help him? Please? Brigham turned his head, batted his eyes, and turned down his bottom lip. He looked like an adorable toddler, and I couldn’t help but giggle. 

Well, for the sake of the project and his poor assistant, I guess you should get him in here to see us. I’m sure between Kevin and myself, we should be able to help him.

Thanks! I owe you one.

I continued working on him for another 20 minutes. After his time was up, he thanked me for the best massage ever.

You say that every time you come here, I laughed.

Well, each time is better than the last, he teased. 

Oh, and I plan to give my buddy, Cal, your information. I think between you and Dr. DiMaggio, you’ll really be able to help him. And it’ll help us too because he’s making life unbearable.

Sounds good. After you get dressed, you can head to the front and the ladies will check you out.

"Yeah, I’m sure they will check me out," he said while flexing his bicep.

I couldn’t help the bark of laughter that came out of me. Brigham definitely knew how to keep people on their toes.

Even though he only had to put on a shirt, I stepped back out again to give him some privacy. He waved good-bye as he walked out of the room on his way to the front and I was alone again in my massage room sanctuary. Just as I was wiping down the table from Brigham’s massage, my cell phone dinged with an incoming text message. I had no idea who it could be since very few people had my number.

Unknown caller: Hi, Everleigh.

Me: Hi?

Unknown caller: I’ve been trying to reach you. You haven’t responded to any of my emails. 

Me: Who is this?

Unknown caller: It’s Professor Barrett.

Nooo! As I gazed down at my phone, I probably looked like one of those cartoon characters with eyes the size of saucers. How on earth did he get my number?

Professor Anthony Barrett taught Health Science Seminar, the course where students talked about their internship experiences and had the opportunity to learn from health science professionals. I loved the course and really enjoyed hearing about some of the different careers we could pursue, although I was set on working in sports. The only thing I didn’t like about the class was Professor Barrett.

He was average height for a guy, had dirty blond hair and truth be told, he wasn’t unattractive. But there was something about the beady eyes set in a large head that always gave me pause. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he made an inappropriate comment when I’d gone to his office to discuss an assignment that I thought was graded unfairly. Ironically, it was an assignment on medical ethics, and I made a strong argument about the implications of keeping people medically alive. He picked apart my answer and told me that I hadn’t gone deep enoughwith my explanation while he licked his lips. I was so freaked out, I left without finishing the conversation and gave up on getting my grade changed. I knew I needed to keep my GPA up if I wanted to get a scholarship to PT school, but I just couldn’t stomach being around him in his small office. 

Professor Barrett: I got your number from the registrar’s office.

Ok, so that answered that question. But wait, was that even legal? I wasn’t sure, but it definitely wasn’t ethical.

Professor Barrett: I was going over one of your assignments and noticed that you got a few things wrong. I wanted to talk to you about it and figured why wait until class? Maybe we could meet up at Houston’s on Main Street around seven this evening.

Wait, was he serious? Ughhh! I was so frustrated! I really wanted to do well in the class, but I certainly wasn’t the type of girl to make out with a professor for a good grade. I wasn’t a prude. I mean, I had never had sex, sure, but that didn’t mean I was totally naive. His class was a prerequisite for graduation, so I couldn't risk failing. I needed to figure out how to keep my cool and let him down easy.

I began trying to type out a message and was thinking of the right words to say.

Me: No, thank you. We can discuss anything about my assignments when I get to class tomorrow.

But I didn’t get a chance to hit send, because right at that moment, Nicole happened to walk by. 

Hey, girlie. What’s wrong? Nicole asked with a puzzled look on her face.

You seem frustrated. Everything ok? Did Brigham do anything to upset you? She was starting to get worked up.

"No, no, everything's ok. Just worried about a