Page 39 of Something Like That

“I like you, Alex.” He kept his voice steady, because he wanted her to know how serious he was. “A lot.”

She blinked a couple of times, but kept her gaze locked with his. Her eyes were silver this morning, the insecurity making them almost sharp. “Okay.”

Not the most promising of starts. But he was in it now, so he might as well see it through. “And I would really like to see you, you know, outside of our professional relationship.”

His gut tightened, the words hanging in the air between them. For a moment, he wanted to take them back, afraid she was going to reject him outright. Which wouldn’t be surprising, given the fact he’d been a huge asshole. She had no reason to think he wasn’t going to flake out on her again.

And if she decided to sever their professional relationship, well, it would seriously suck, because she was great strength and conditioning coach, but he could deal.

She stared at him hard. He got the feeling she was studying him, once again peeling back the layers, searching for something. And he was not afraid of what she might see this time, no matter how much tension seeped into his muscles. He knew he was broken, that was no surprise to anyone who’d followed his career. He just hoped she didn’t think it was all too much.

“I like you, too, Nick.” Her voice was low, and he had to strain to hear her over the blood rushing through his ears.

She hesitated for just a second. There was definitely a but coming. The rush of disappointment that washed through him was unexpected. He didn’t think trying this thing with her had meant so much to him. He actually stopped breathing.

“But,” she said and glanced away. He thought his heart might beat right out of his chest. She looked back at him, and for the life of him, he couldn’t read her. At all. “If we do this…” She waved her hand back and forth between them again. “Then we have to set some ground rules.”

His heart skipped into a time and a half beat. She hadn’t turned him down. “Sure.” His voice came out a little rougher than intended.

“First, when we’re here, in the clinic, we’re coach and client. Everything is to remain professional. You’ve come to me for my expertise, and I expect you to respect my work. There will be no power play issues or anything like that here in this building.”

He nodded. “Absolutely. I value what you do and the positive effect it’s had on my conditioning.”

“Good.” She stared at him.

He raised a brow. “Is there a second?”

She sucked in a deep breath. He kept his gaze locked on hers, even though he really wanted to drop it a little lower. No need to fuck this up before it started.

“If we do this—”

“When we do this.”

She pursed her lips at his interruption. He wanted to kiss that look right off her gorgeous face. “I think we should keep it casual. Nothing serious.”

He stopped, surprise zipping through him. He hadn’t expected that, although he wasn’t sure why not. It wasn’t like he was looking for anything serious, so why wouldn’t she be the same? Casual was perfect. The weird feeling in his gut had to be due to something else. “Yeah, absolutely.”

“I mean, you’re only here temporarily.” She tapped her thumb on the counter top. “You’ll be going back to New England soon…”

“And you’ll be staying here with your business and everything…”

“Exactly.” She punctuated the word with a nod. “So, it makes sense, don’t you think? That we don’t let things get too serious?”

Part of him wanted to argue, but that was ridiculous. She was right.

“Casual is perfect.” His voice sounded weird, but she didn’t seem to notice. She nodded, like his agreement was the best thing she’d heard all day. The weird feeling in his gut intensified. He ignored it. “Anything else?”

“Yes. The third thing is about Em.”

“Okay.” He couldn’t quite keep the confusion out of his voice this time.

“She’s at a rather vulnerable age right now, and she’s going through some extra stuff… well, I assume its extra stuff…” She stared off over his shoulder, obviously getting lost in her own head. Whatever was going on with Em seemed pretty serious.

“Is Em in some kind of trouble or something?” The question slipped out before he could stop it. It wasn’t like he could help in any way. About the only thing he could do was toss some money at it. He was good at that. It’s what finally got rid of his ex-wife.

The thought of Em or Alex being in trouble, needing help, sent all of his protective instincts into high alert.

She gave him a small smile. “Nothing serious. Just some teenage stuff and finding herself and all that.” Her eyes turned serious, the silver darkening. “But she really looks up to you and likes you, and I don’t want whatever happens between us, to affect your relationship. With her, I mean.”