“See,” Erica said. “Something ails you. Spill.” She cocked her hip against Ivy’s desk and crossed her arms, looking every inch the knockout she was. Erica belonged on the cover of an elite women’s sportswear magazine. She was tall and toned, with a wild crown of black curls and smooth skin that looked perpetually glowing.
For the most part, Ivy didn’t bother envying other women’s looks, mostly because no good ever came from the comparison game. But Erica had a stop-dead-in-your-tracks-and-stare-shamelessly beauty, with a radiant confidence to match, and it was hard not to want that. Especially the confidence. If Erica wasn’t so damn nice and cool to boot, Ivy might even resent her for it, but she didn’t. Erica was too genuine, like Sean. As if altruism was their natural state of being. And the fact that they were both insanely good looking was simply coincidental.
With her cranky attitude and hard shell, Ivy was the odd one out in this gym by a landslide. And even though she didn’t deserve them, she was grateful both Erica and Sean were in her life. Especially Sean. If she was the darkness, he shone the light.
Would he be seeing the late-night bombshell again tonight?
“Earth to Ivy Harrington.” Erica nudged Ivy’s chair with her leg. “What’s up with you today, girl?”
“Nothing,” Ivy mumbled. What could she say? That Sean might have a new girlfriend, and she was jealous? Right, that would go over well. Especially since she most definitely was not jealous. Not even close.
“Have you seen Sean today?” she asked without thinking.
Erica paused, staring down at her with big brown eyes. Then a slow smile broke out over her full lips and her nose crinkled endearingly, showing off the sprinkle of freckles that lay there. “Oh, I see.”
Ivy shifted her attention back to her computer. “You see nothing. There’s nothing to see. It was just a question. I have a client coming in at nine who trained with Sean pre-injury. I wanted to know if he was here so I could touch base.”
“Uh huh.”
“What, uh huh? There’s no ‘uh huh’ okay.”
“Girl, you’ve had it as bad for that man as he’s had it for you since you walked into this place. And now that he’s moved in beside you, the tension is only getting stronger. I mean, I can practically feel it.”
Ivy shoved back in her chair and looked up. “What tension? There’s no tension. Sean is a friend. That’s it.”
Erica opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a tap on the door. Both Ivy and Erica swiveled their heads to see who it was, and Ivy’s jaw hit the floor.
“Excuse me,” said none other than the hallway bombshell from the night before. “I’m looking for Sean.” When neither Ivy or Erica answered, she added, “Sean Thompson.”
Ivy blinked, as Hallway Bombshell stepped forward in the awkward silence, looking totally out of place in a gym wearing a sexy wrap-around dress that showed off her cleavage and holding a plate of what looked to be fresh homemade cookies.
“Um…” The woman glanced over her shoulder as if looking for something they might be gawking at. “I waited at reception, but no one was there, so I came a bit further and saw this office. I don’t think I’m in the wrong place. I mean, his name is on the gym, after all.” She laughed, and the familiar musical sound hit Ivy like a punch to the throat.
Erica recovered first. “I am so sorry. It’s my day at reception. I brought Ivy coffee, and we got carried away talking.” She offered a brilliant smile. “We didn’t mean to be rude, it’s only that Sean doesn’t often have his girlfriends bring him cookies to the gym.”
Hallway Bombshell threw back her glorious head of thick hair, and laughed. “Oh no, I’m not his girlfriend. I mean, I wish. He’s a work of God that man is. Finest I’ve ever seen. But I’m only here with a peace offering.” She lifted the plate of cookies higher. “I think I may have accidentally crossed some lines last night, and I didn’t want to come across as disrespectful.”
The beautiful mystery woman’s dark eyes shifted to Ivy. “You’re Ivy?” she asked sweetly.
Ivy searched for a sign of bitchiness in her tone, but there was only genuine kindness dripping off the woman. She was bloody perfect.
Ivy nodded stiffly, wondering why in the hell this woman appeared to recognize her name. Hallway Bombshell’s head bobbed sagely as she offered a low “mmhmm” that purred sexily from her throat, which only confused Ivy more, before the woman thrust her plate of cookies into Erica’s hands.
“Well, can you tell Sean that these are from Tina?” She turned to leave, but paused to add, “Tell him he can keep the plate.” Then she winked and sashayed her perfect apple bottom right out Ivy’s clinic.
Erica angled her whole body toward Ivy in one slow motion. “Okay. What was that?”
Ivy, who was still reeling from the fact that the woman from last night had appeared in her office with a plate of baked goods, knowing her name, shrugged.
Erica stared at her for another beat before she burst into laughter. “Holy cow! I mean, she was a ten! No, more like an eleven.” Erica snagged a cookie off the plate and shoved half into her mouth. “I definitely need to hear this story,” she said through a full mouth as she walked to the office door. “I’m gonna find Sean and get the deets. I’ll fill you in over lunch, k?” And with that, she departed, leaving Ivy alone and baffled.
Questions rolled through her head at rapid speed along with an odd feeling of relief mixed with dread. If Hallway Bombshell wasn’t Sean’s girlfriend, why had she brought him homemade cookies? As a peace offering? For what? Being a knockout? Keep the plate? Was she kidding? Would he really not want to see her again? And most importantly—why did the woman know her name?
She definitely needed deets, and it couldn’t wait until lunch.
CHAPTERTWO
“One more set, bro. You got this,” Sean said encouragingly to Jason, one of the guys he trained regularly.
