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I let out a deep breath in front of my favorite bag, stretched my arms out a few times, and started to move.
Chapter Ten
Aiden
It was a mistake to go back to the gym when I saw the lights on and realized her car was the only one in the parking lot. I’d recognize it later, the ramifications full and clear once all was said and done.
But at the moment, I wasn’t thinking about that. Even if I hadn’t left my wallet on my desk, the sight of her lone car, the bright lights, and the dark sky around the building probably would’ve made me stop.
Because it was only a matter of time before I recognized something important when it came to Isabel.
Curiosity and attraction were two entirely different things. Interest was so mundane because so many things held my interest.
Football held my interest, which was how I knew who she was, who her family was.
Working out held my interest because it kept me feeling strong and healthy and sane.
When I had the time, reading held my interest if the story was good.
Those were all easy and peaceful things that kept my attention and reduced my stress.
But if I thought my manager would fall neatly into that category once I figured her out, I was kidding myself.
That became apparent when I approached the front door, and with a grimace and a flare of anger, I found it unlocked. Interest never exploded into a bright ball of fiery emotion, something unnameable, at the realization she was inside with the music blaring while the door was wide-fucking-open for anyone to walk in.
Attraction did that. But I wasn’t ready to name it. Not until later.
The music was hard and angry—sort of like the rippling waves of emotion I was trying to keep in check—with guitars and drums and screaming rock, so I knew Isabel wouldn’t be able to hear the ding of the bell over the pulsing from the stereo system.
Even then, I could’ve turned around, locked the door behind me with my key, and left her to work out in peace. Once I knew that my state of mind was hardly polite, hardly civilized.
But I didn’t do that either.
“What the hell is she thinking?” I muttered.
When she avoided me, I let her be.
When I caught her dumping out the cup of coffee I bought her, I didn’t push.
When she continued, over and over, to do things that seemed completely at odds with what Amy had told me, I didn’t engage in the way I wanted to.
When I caught myself watching her, studying her, fighting the urge to pick her apart until I understood all these things that I didn’t seem to understand, I’d let her be.
But as I rounded the corner and she came into view, I knew I should have left. Something inside me screamed to turn and go. Leave her be now when it matters.
Because the first thing that came into my head when I noticed the graceful strength in her body, with hair unkempt, limbs and back coated with the sheen of unbelievable effort was, I could watch her do this all night.
I’d been lying to myself that I was only curious about her as my employee.
It wasn’t polite or professional as I stood and watched her. This had sharp, snapping teeth and a voracious appetite, something I hadn’t tapped into before.
Like shaking a limb that had fallen asleep, wincing through the pins and needles as the blood flow returned because for so long, that side of me had been silent.
I stopped to watch Isabel draw her left arm across her body to deliver an explosive back fist to the bag, followed by a right hook and, with a quick snap of her arm, an elbow strike.
Her technique wasn’t perfect, but when emotion took over, it was rare that anyone held their body correctly.
Finally, finally, I was seeing the real her. And I knew the truth of that bone-deep.
