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“Evelyn.”
“Aww, that’s so cute and sophisticated.” She sighed, and I found her dreamy expression endearing.
As she climbed on the cross-trainer, I asked, “How come I’ve never seen you at any of our events?”
I racked my mind, but I was sure I’d never met Brooke before Graham introduced her. I would’ve remembered.
“Daddy never invited my sister or me to any work event.”
Ah, yes. Coach’s golden rule: friendly, not friends. I wasn’t sure if Brooke realized she’d just referred to her father as Daddy in front of me. I’d always been told that people felt comfortable in my presence. While comfortable wasn’t what I was looking for—it made me think of pajamas or old sweaters—I’d take it for now. Brooke seemed constantly on edge. Maybe it was the fact that she was new here and the team was skeptical of her, or maybe it was something more. I wanted to show her that we didn’t bite, that we were a laid-back group. Life was too short to go to work stressed out every day. I felt protective of her.
“Probably wanted to keep his girls away from this misbehaving bunch.”
Brooke chuckled. “You’re distracting me from my workout.”
I could take the gallant route, but I’d always been more the balls-to-the-wall type.
“Brooke, some honest feedback here: this isn’t a workout. You’re just dusting off the cross-trainer.”
Her pretty pink
mouth popped open.
I shrugged. “It’s true. You’re going at a snail’s pace. You’re not working out regularly, are you?”
“Well, no, but since we have a gym in the building, I’ve finally run out of excuses. I’m twenty-seven. This feels like I’m ninety.”
“I see.”
“I have no tempo.”
“That comes with time. Increase speed gradually.”
“Yes, boss.”
She’d said it jokingly, yet now I couldn’t help but wonder... what was she like in the bedroom? Would she relent her control to me, trust me to give her pleasure? Her body was toned, and that outfit left nothing to the imagination: the curve of her ass was highlighted, her small waist, and those breasts were so damn tempting. I was trying real hard to ignore the sight of her perky nipples pushing at the fabric....
I cleared my throat.
“Coach bounced back well after his heart attack last year.”
Brooke averted her gaze, glancing at the screen of the cross-trainer. I was betting she was weighing where this fell on the friendly-or-friends spectrum... I knew it was the latter, which was why pride surged inside me when she opened up nonetheless.
“He did. But the few months right after were rough for him. And for us. We tried to be there for him in any way we could, but he didn’t exactly let us. I can’t help worrying that he’s not taking it easy enough.”
She was lovely. I knew how she felt. I’d gone through that feeling of helplessness when my oldest brother, Landon, drowned in work after his first wife died. No matter how much I—or everyone else in the family—had tried to reason with him, it wasn’t until Landon decided to take action that things changed. Now he was happily married again, but for a few years, we all worried about him.
She increased her tempo on the cross-trainer and was out of breath in thirty seconds flat. She really had no physical conditioning.
“Don’t laugh at me.”
“I’m not.”
I was. Her breath was coming out in sharp bursts as her chest rose and fell. Perspiration dotted her neck. Fuck, that skin looked so soft, so kissable.
I wanted to trace a path up to her ear, suck that earlobe between my lips. I’d hold her with my hips against that wall, feasting on her, starting with her neck, pushing up her T-shirt and running my tongue all over that smooth skin. I looked away from her, but that didn’t keep the vision of a naked Brooke under me out of my mind.
Right... I needed some distance, which was why I told her I’d head to the shower. I needed to cool off, get my thoughts straight again.
