Kayne’s mouth tipped in that amused almost-smile.It was maddening.“I’m here for threat assessment.”
“Don’t say that so loudly,” she hissed, glancing around.The contractor on the ladder glanced over.Wonderful.Now she was terrorizing the staff.
Kayne’s expression didn’t change.He was carved from granite, and somehow still ridiculously attractive granite.“We need to do a walk-through.Secure entry points.Assess blind spots.Upgrade locks on the service doors.”
“This is a gym, not Fort Knox.”
“With respect,” he said in that velvet-and-gravel drawl, “Fort Knox is easier to secure.”
Her pulse tripped.She hated it.She kind of loved it.
Leo nodded, proud of himself.She wanted to throw a dumbbell at him.“I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Oh, no you don’t.”She pointed at him.“You started this circus.”
Leo’s phone buzzed, and his expression flattened.“It’s work.I have to take it.”
Of course he did.
With an apologetic grimace, Leo was out the door, leaving her alone with Kayne Serruto, the human embodiment of temptation and tactical precision.A fact her nervous system noticed immediately.
Silence stretched between them.She felt an awareness, alive and electric.Chloe scrambled for professional composure.“Okay.Fine.Let’s do your assessment.”
Kayne dipped his chin and walked beside her down the long hall, boots quiet on the unfinished concrete.His stride was deliberate and steady as a heartbeat.The air buzzed with unspoken things.Nerves.Attraction.Resistance.Curiosity.She felt as if she were walking through an electromagnetic field.
“You’re upset with Leo,” he said
She snorted.“Understatement of the year.”
“He’s trying to protect you,cher.”
Goodness, that voice with that accent.Someone needed to outlaw it.“I know,” she sighed.“That doesn’t make it less maddening.”
He opened one of the half-installed doors, sweeping the room with his gaze before motioning her in with a gesture that felt ridiculously intimate for something so mundane.
“He’s worried.With reason.”
Her breath hitched.“You actually think the altered picture was serious?”
He didn’t answer right away.His gaze met hers, steady and tender in a way that made her insides twist.Then his expression softened, not pitying, just honest.“I think someone is paying an uncomfortable amount of attention to you.”
The words were calm, but they hit her with a jolt of fear mixed with something dangerous.
She swallowed.Because, yes, hearing that from anyone else might have frightened her.But from him it steadied her.And irritated and confused her.
Damn it, and dangerously attracted her.It was a wildly inconvenient connection she absolutely did not ask for.
“Look,” she said, clearing her throat, “most stalkers are just keyboard warriors with too much time and too little life experience.”
His gaze sharpened.“And some of them aren’t, like Fraiser Talbot.”
A shiver raced up her spine.Not because he was fearmongering.He wasn’t.He was calm and factual.The calm made it real.She’d almost forgotten about Fraiser.
They moved through the dusty space in silence, and she realized something surprising.He wasn’t trying to crowd her or overwhelm her with macho speeches or scare tactics.He was simply there, observing and protecting.He was a wall she hadn’t asked for but sort of appreciated.
It was disarming.And maybe worse, comforting.
When she paused upstairs, leaning on a new doorframe, the confession slipped out before she could stop it.“This is all a lot.I’m sure Leo told you about the gym, my website, and the clothing line.Not to mention my face on billboards.I didn’t expect any of it.”
