“Canadian.”
I cracked up and had to stop. God! He couldn’t make me laugh when I was struggling to regulate my breathing, dammit! But that was too funny. I guessed we were close enough to the border for that to be an issue, yes. Hell, Vancouver was closer than Seattle.
Ethan peered down at me, amusement flashing in his eyes. “Time for a break, I take it?”
“That’s your fault,” I laughed breathlessly. I planted a hand on my chest. “I need to calm down. Fuck.” My heart was threatening to escape my chest at this point, and my lower back hurt like a bitch. It was the same sharp stabs every time. “Okay, so that’s what I have to look forward to. Canadians and divorced men with custody arrangements. I think I’ll pass for a while longer.”
Ethan tilted his head. “You’re not into women?”
What? Even though I was literally the only person nearby, I had to ask. “Who, me?”
He furrowed his brow and nodded once. “Yeah, I thought… Never mind.”
No, no, I wanted to hear this. “You thought what?” I pressed. “Do I have, like, a lesbian vibe or somethin’?”
I wasn’t offended or anything, just curious and more than a little baffled. Other than the one time a woman had hit on me—legit, I’d lived on that flattery for a good six months—I’d never been mistaken for a lesbian before.
Ethan squinted and rubbed the back of his neck. “No matter how I phrase this, I’ll sound like an idiot, so I’d rather keep my mouth shut.”
Now I was even more intrigued. How bad could it be?
“Don’t worry, I won’t make a Facebook post about my PT clocking clients as lesbians,” I joked.
He exhaled a huff and smirked ruefully. “Fine. Honestly? I’m used to female clients hitting on me, and when you didn’t, I…”
“Assumed I was alesbian,” I said slowly. Was he for fucking real? I didn’t know whether to laugh or… Actually, I definitely wanted to laugh. This was the first glimpse of Ethan as the man Gray had described. Arrogant and whatnot. “I’m seeing you in a whole new light, Coach.”
He shot me a little look at that. “I understand I come off as a douchebag, but it’s the truth. Eight times out of ten, I have women gawking at me in the gym.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
What the actual fuck?
“I didn’t know what to say, so I just laughed it off and continued walking,” I admitted. “I’m still blown away.”
Thank fuck for girls’ night at Chloe’s house the following day. I’d needed to vent, and my sister, Adeline, and Isla were good listeners.
“Uh, yeah. I’m kinda speechless too,” Isla chuckled. “Wow.”
Adeline hopped up to sit on the kitchen island, and she refilled her wine. “Makes total sense. If you don’t fawn over him, you must be gay. My God. Some men, I swear.”
Chloe had gotten her initial shock out of the way—not to mention a laugh or two—and now she had her thinking cap on while she prepared our snack board.
“What do you think, sis?” I had to ask. “Because on the one hand, I don’t want to be the hypocrite who laughs at him for something I think most women are painfully familiar with—being gawked at and bothered at the gym. But on theotherhand…how often do you get hit on in order for you to legitbelieve someone is alesbianif they don’t flirt with you? Not even if every single resident in this town flirted with me would I assume a guy is gay if he doesn’t make a move.”
Isla laughed. “Seriously.”
Chloe pursed her lips and placed a small bowl of olives next to the marinated artichokes. “See, my mind went there too—about the hypocrisy. Like, we don’t know what he’s been through and so on. But…” She shook her head. “Everything I know about Ethan Quinn… Helovesthe attention. I’m sure there are men who take their shirts off simply because they’re hot, but he’s not one of them. He does it for likes, for attention, and for compliments.”
That was what I feared, and it was such an unsexy attribute. It was unfathomable too. Ethan Quinn was handsome, successful, clearly driven, and he had several wonderful traits. He was kind, funny, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and helpful. Why on earth was he chasing validation?
Like many people, I could be super judgy at times, something I hated about myself. And he was making it extremely difficult not to judge. Because no matter the circumstances and unknowns, it took a special level of arrogance to assume someone was gay because they hadn’t flirted with him.
Excuse me, I was there to get healthy and achieve goals. Not flirt with my PT.
“By the way, please don’t talk about Ethan being my PT with others,” I said. “He and I haven’t addressed the fact that my nephew and his brother are together. And at this stage, I feel weird bringing it up.”
Chloe tilted her head, curious. “You mean, you haven’t even mentioned that you’re part of each other’s extended family? That’s a bit strange, doll. You will attend the same birthday party for Jayden next Saturday.”
