“Other arm now?”
“Yes. And you’ll do this particular stretch in two sets of ten, before and after your workout.”
As I stood off to the side, watching him complete the stretches, Lance walked back into the room, glancing from me to Jackson and back again. He extended his arm toward me, my cell resting in his palm.
“It keeps going off.”
I had an idea who was responsible for the bombardment of phone calls but didn’t say anything in front of either of them.
“Sorry about that.” I retrieved it from him. “Thanks.”
He no longer looked at me but at Jackson. “We need to talk.”
“You told me that before.”
“It can’t wait any longer.”
With a grunt of frustration, Jackson pushed off the table and turned toward his friend, the glare he shot his way making me uncomfortable.
“Fine.”
“Will you excuse us, Sophie?” Lance asked.
Lance smiled at me, a gesture I didn’t think anything of until Jackson turned to look at me, then back at his buddy. His hands clenched into fists, and his shoulders rose to his ears.
“Of course,” I quickly replied. Before I walked out, my gaze landed back on Jackson. “I can show you a few more stretches later on if you like.”
He didn’t respond. In fact, he wouldn’t look at me, his sole focus on the other man in the room. Tension coiled between them as I hightailed it out of there.
I considered our impromptu session a win. Maybe now that he knew I could help him, he’d reconsider hiring me for the job I initially applied for.
Either way, Jackson was slowly becoming more comfortable around me, and that in itself was a good thing.
15
“What’s so fucking urgent?”
I warred with wanting to rip into Lance for interrupting us and giving him shit about the way he looked at Sophie. Did he like her? Was he going to make a move on her? He was the one who told me no one here should hit on her because she was going through a divorce, but the way he watched her, smiled at her, made her laugh, he made me think his rule was meant for everyone except him.
“What are you doing with Sophie?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t like her.” He leaned against the edge of the table and cocked his head. I’d never wanted to smash my fist into his face more than I did right then.
“I never said I didn’t like her. I said I didn’t want her around. Didn’t want her to work on me.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Who said I did?” I argued, clenching my teeth so hard, I thought they’d shatter if I didn’t let up soon.
“She was working on you when I came in here.”
“She was showing me a few stretches to help my shoulder.” No way was I going to tell him about how she had her hands on me, massaging the muscles around my tender joint.
“And how about you and her rolling around on the ground?”
I could reiterate how I offered to show her a few defensive moves, but he wouldn’t let up, so I chose to redirect our conversation.
“Sophie isn’t the urgent topic you wanted to discuss. So, out with it.”
Lance pushed off the table and walked toward me, his steps hesitant, slow.
