Page 12 of Something Like That

He gave her another of those half smiles. “Yeah, I was thinking that while getting soaked this morning.”

“You might want to think about a more waterproof coat, too.” Feeling a little more centered, she moved over to him. “While the cashmere looks great, it’s not really practical in the rain.”

He flicked the buttons undone and slipped out of the coat. Held it out from his body, water dripping from the hem. “Yeah, I was thinking that, too. Looks like I’ll have to take a trip to the mall.”

“Don’t let Em, or Janelle, hear you say that. They’ll insist you need a personal shopper and you’ll never get rid of them.”

“Janelle?”

“The massage therapist here in the clinic, and my business partner.”

He nodded.

For some reason, she felt the need to fill the silence. “We’ve known each other since our kids were little. We met in a community parenting program. Janelle’s son, Malcom, is a few months older than Em.” Okay, seriously, what was with the verbal diarrhea? She needed to stop talking. Now.

He nodded again, clearly still a man of few words. She’d always thought of him as the strong, silent type and apparently, not much had changed.

“Since Malcolm and Em were so close in age, we always seemed to end up at the same functions. Mostly school stuff. And then, we sort of bonded, and we’ve been friends ever since. I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet her eventually.”

He rolled his lower lip between his teeth, like he wanted to say something. Which was the last thing she wanted. No more talking about her past.

Hoping to distract him, she held out her hand. He glanced at it and then back at her, his ginger eyebrow raised in a rather comical fashion. Very corny villain. How he’d mastered that one, she had no idea. “I’ll hang up your coat in my office, next to the radiator, so that it dries. Hopefully before you leave.”

He stood there for a moment, watching her. She thought he was actually going to refuse. But then, he passed it over.

She didn’t know why, but it felt like a victory. It made her all giddy on the inside, like she was back in high school and he’d finally noticed her, finally saw beyond the nerdy girl with the too-big brain, and the mouth full of metal. She mentally gave herself a shake and headed to her office, grateful for the reprieve.

Man, she was all over the place today. And it was so out of character for her, she didn’t know what to do with herself. Or why she was suddenly feeling everything, right at the surface.

She glanced over her shoulder. He’d followed her and now stood in her office, watching her, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. A thousand butterflies took flight in her belly, making her breath hitch. She tore her gaze away, made a show of hanging up his coat.

This was ridiculous. Sure, she’d spent a good number of her teenage years crushing on him, but that was the past, back when life had been simple and she hadn’t made so many mistakes. When she believed in love and soulmates and forever. Before reality had broken her heart into so many pieces, she’d never be able to find them all, even if she wanted to put it back together.

Which she didn’t.

She brushed shaky fingers over the wet cashmere, as if that would somehow fix it. But it was ruined. The coat—which probably cost more than her car—was beyond repair, much like those teenage fantasies.

An ache bloomed at the base of her throat, but she swallowed it down. She knew from experience that leading with your heart meant you had to put your faith in someone else. With the exception of Em, there was no one she trusted enough to ever make herself that vulnerable again.

Nick hadn’t sweated this much in… shit, he couldn’t actually remember.

Alex was a task master when it came to training, working him hard, while making sure his knee was well protected. Since his surgery, his main source of cardio had been swimming, which was a great workout, but there was nothing quite like the feel of sweat dripping off your skin to make you feel alive.

Maybe that was just him.

They’d been working together for a couple of days now, so he was feeling more at ease in the space and with her coaching style. Not that it had taken long for him to get comfortable. From the moment he’d stepped inside the building, he’d felt almost at home here at the clinic. He didn’t really understand why.

She wore another pair of yoga pants today, these ones with a slightly flared leg at the bottom, and the same light blue zippered hoodie. As usual, she had on running shoes. Her golden hair was pulled back into a ponytail. If he had to guess, he’d say it would probably hit just below her shoulders when down. Not for the first time, he wondered what it would feel like against his fingers. Or look like strewn across his pillow.

Which was so inappropriate, he refused to even go there.

Today, she’d decided he was ready to move to the next level, so she’d started him off with some mobility moves. They were the kind that included range of motion and balance exercises mixed with low intensity cardio.

She’d gone through each move as an example, and then watched as he tried. She’d wandered around, checking his form from all angles, critiquing and adjusting where necessary. When she was satisfied, she combo’d the moves into a fluid routine that involved ten reps of each. She’d then made him do three sets. By the end, he was limber and warm, sweat prickling his skin.

He appreciated her all business attitude. Just because his libido was trying to make a fool out of him, didn’t mean he had to give in. Besides, he couldn’t afford the distraction. However interesting and fun it might be.

After the warmup, she’d moved on to a routine of strength coupled with power exercises, which she turned into a circuit. It was pretty intense, and a couple of his muscle groups screamed in protest. It had been a long time since he’d trained this hard. If he kept this up, he’d be back in the lineup in no time.