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She fiddled with the cardboard sleeve circling her cup. Dared a glance across the table and found him smiling at her. A genuine smile, or one damn good facsimile thereof. Either way, it warmed her more than the coffee she sipped.
“Nothing new with me, everything’s good, and yes to working out regularly.” She toyed with her cup, contemplated. If he laughed in her face, so be it. What was a little more embarrassment in the grand scheme of things? “I miss seeing you at the gym.”
“New trainer not kicking your ass hard enough?”
“I don’t have a new trainer.”
His eyebrows rose, then his gaze drifted lower, over every inch of her body not obscured by the table. “I know I said it already, but you look great. You definitely don’t need a trainer anymore.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s one of the things I’ve always liked about you. You know how to take a compliment.” He leaned forward and folded his arms on the table. “Confidence is a sexy thing.” His gaze tracked her tongue as she licked a spot of whipped cream from her lips. “So is watching you drink that coffee.” He’d just called her sexy, after complimenting her physique.
This was officially the best coffee break ever.
“I find confidence sexy, too,” she said, meeting his eyes straight on. “I like it when a man knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go get it.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Leigh.”
Apparently, she’d used up her allotment of boldness and flirty banter, because she didn’t have a comeback. Nothing she could actually say, anyway. The only words in her head were,Let’s go to my place and get naked. And those were staying put.
“How’s the new job working out?” she asked, directing conversation into safer territory. “What’s it been, five or six months?” Such a ruse. She knew exactly how long he’d been missing from her gym.
“Six, and they’ve flown by. It’s great. Brian’s got an amazing setup going. Clients are loving it.” Sam shifted to dig his wallet from deep within the front pocket of his jeans—damn lucky wallet—then pulled a business card from the worn leather. “Stop by sometime and I’ll give you a tour.”
“Are you trying to lure me away from Iron Works to Focus Fitness? Is that ethical?”
He relieved her of the coffee cup, then pulled her hand toward him, halfway across the table. “Whatever it takes to get you there,” he said, slipping the business card into her palm.
“Anything to snag a client?” Hopefully he’d missed the breathy quality so evident to her ears. From a simple, innocent touch. She needed to get laid soon. Any sex would be better than no sex at this point.
“I don’t want you as a client, Leigh.”
Music and the buzz of voices wove together in the background, disappearing as her pulse pounded harder and faster in her ears. Sam’s hazel eyes twinkled and his smile accented the perfect, square jaw she’d wanted to touch since their first personal training session. God, that jaw. That face. That body.
She probably had drool trailing from the corner of her mouth. But she couldn’t feel her face—only her hand, where he continued to tease her skin with soft strokes. And her clit, where all the sparks he’d created were headed.
A loud, startling ringtone jerked her from her Sam-induced trance.
“Shit, sorry,” he said, withdrawing his hand to pull his cell from a back pocket. One glance at the screen and he answered with, “Hey, man.”
This was her chance to save what little composure she had left. She waved at him, shuffled along the bench to escape, but he reached across and caught her wrist. Shook his head. Nodded toward the spot she’d just vacated. As if on command, she slid back to her original place in the booth.
“Yeah, I can cover that, no problem. I’ll be there in fifteen. Hope she’s okay.” With that, Sam pushed the phone aside and focused on her. “I wouldn’t have answered that, but Brian’s girlfriend hasn’t been feeling well and I knew he might be calling me to back him up at Focus.”
Leigh had never been formally introduced to Brian’s girlfriend, Cassie, but she’d said hello to her at Iron Works plenty of times. That was before Brian had resigned to open his own fitness studio. And taken Sam along with him.
“It’s nothing serious, I hope?” she asked.
“Me too. If anyone deserves a happily ever after, it’s those two.”
“Do you believe in those? In happily ever afters, I mean?”
Sam leaned back, fingers laced behind his head, the casual position making his biceps pop in a dangerously distracting way. “If you’d asked me that a year ago, I would’ve said hell no. After seeing Brian and Cassie together, the way they click and the sacrifices they were willing to make for each other when theyweren’ttogether…yeah, I’m a believer.”
Wow. And simultaneously, ugh. “You’re going to make some young woman very happy one day.” She scooped her cup off the table and shimmied out of the booth with relative fluidity, thank goodness. “I’ve got to get back to work. It was great to see you, Sam. Good luck with everything.”
SAM
