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The music on my playlist switches tempos, and I inch up the speed, little by little, until my breath is in sync. I’ve just hit my stride listening to a song by Pink when a man I’ve seen a couple of times takes the machine right next to me. My jaw tightens. There are only about fifteen open treadmills, and he picks the one next to me. Seriously annoying. I crank my music in an attempt to drown out the heaviness of his feet as he starts pounding the treadmill without even a warm-up.
I chance a glance over at Nick. His back forms the perfect v, tapering down from a broad pair of muscular shoulders to a tight waist. He’s doing curls with the dumbbells, alternating, one then the other, and every time he lifts the muscles in his arm, neck, and back ripple with the effort. If I thought this workout was going to get Nick Montgomery out of my mind, it’s managed to do just the opposite, instead causing my center to ache with a need stemming from thirty days dreaming of nothing but this man and no other release than a rubber toy for months.
Even at this distance, my body responds to his presence like a magnet to steel and seems undeniably drawn to the shining blue eyes in the mirror. I should look away, but his eyes mesmerize and capture me with their intensity until it’s even hard to breathe. My heart races just a little faster as he watches me, continuing his workout while my nipples pebble under the power of his gaze. As much as I’d like to deny this attraction, the chemistry is just too overwhelming and profound. I can’t be in the same room with the man without feeling the power of his masculinity, and watching him work out is doing nothing but fanning the fire that’s flaming down below.
Sheer will is the only thing that allows me to rip my eyes from his gaze and focus on powering through the rest of the run without glancing up once. I’m dripping with sweat by the time the workout’s done and head to the corner with the exercise balls. I’m just going to have to face the hard reality that I am completely attracted to Nick Montgomery.
The ball settles under my weight as I use it to knock out my crunches instead of a bench. Once done, my eyes scan the free weight area homing in on Nick’s body bent over a picture-perfect female, his lips upturned in a smile, dousing my new and hard-found admission like it was a bucket of acid. He’s looking down at Miss Body That Won’t Quit, sprawled on the bench beneath him pressing weights, gazing up at him with a set of long fake black lashes. The half-dressed blonde’s breasts heave up and down with every lift, threatening to pop out of her skimpy sports bra, while my stomach rolls at the unsettling sight.
My legs move without prompting. It takes a matter of minutes to reach the locker room, get dressed, and swallow past the lump in my throat and sourness in my stomach. This is what happens when you’re too blinded by desire to remember your own rules. Desires I usually take care of at the club and rules I never break. The fact that I haven’t been able to go to the club and release all this pent-up energy since well before all the shit broke out with Lexie last month is catching up with me, but no more. This incessant dreaming and pining away for Mr. Nick Montgomery stops now. One good night at the club is all it will take to work whatever it is in my system out. I head down the hall and glance out to the main gym floor. Trent’s still leaning against the front doorway. I put my cell in the air to indicate my intentions and then head out the back hall and the employee entrance before connecting with his cell.
“Trent here. What’s wrong?”
“I’m heading home and didn’t want you and Liam to freak out. It’s only six blocks, and I’m going to walk.”
“Give me a second. I’m just coming around the corner. Okay, I’m behind you now. You want to let me know why the change of plans all of a sudden?”
“Nope. You wanna tell me why you and Liam bailed and stuck me with that egotistical asshole?”
“Nick?”
I laugh. It didn’t take him but a minute to figure that one out. “Yep, that would be the one.”
“First, we didn’t bail. We rotate positions so that our team doesn’t get burnt out, and they stay fresh. That’s all that’s going on here. We’re just waiting until the rest of the team is in position before we fully switch shifts.”
“No, that’s not what’s going on here, Trent. But I’m not about to get into a one-sided conversation with you about it. I know you men all stick together on these things. So if you and Liam can’t protect me, that’s just fine.”
“We’ll discuss it when you’ve calmed down.”
“Don’t patronize me, Trent. I’m old enough to make my own decisions, and that’s exactly what I plan to do from now on. Nick and Sheldon plan to give Lexie and me an update on what’s happening with an accomplice of Darwin’s tonight. I’ll decide after that if I need security or not and who will be providing it.”
“I’m not sure what’s going on, but you’re running on four hours of sleep after over twenty-four hours without it. I think you need to hear what Nick and Sheldon have to tell you tonight and then sleep on it before you make a decision.”
“I’ll consider it. I have to get off the phone and text Nick to let him know I wasn’t abducted or anything.”
“Nick knows exactly where you are, Allie. He’s getting his vehicle right now.”
I reach the door to the apartment first, but not by much. Trent goes in first to make sure it’s safe and then gives me the signal to enter. “See? There’s nothing here. We’re all probably worried for nothing, but I’ll take your advice, hear them out, and sleep on it. I’m going to jump in the shower and get ready. We’re supposed to meet Sheldon and Lexie at seven,” I say, heading into the bathroom.
A long, hot shower doesn’t help my mood one little bit. I blow dry my hair out, contemplating what possessed me to let my guard down with Nick for even a minute. I’ve yet to meet one man who doesn’t hit on anything in a skirt, well, except for a close friend, who isn’t slightly interested in what we females have hiding underneath our panties. I pull a pair of my go-to jeans from the closet, grab the soft winter blue sweater that Lexie gave me for my birthday last year, and pair them with dress boots that come up to my knees. My hair curls quickly under my busy hands. Another few minutes to splash on a little makeup and gloss for my lips, and I check the result in the mirror. There, that will have to do.
Trent’s reading on a device in the living room. My eyes scan the room, prepared for an onslaught by Nick, but he’s nowhere around. “Where’s Nick?” I skim through my purse to make sure everything is in place.
He glances up, his eyes steady and unwavering. “He went back to his place to get freshened up and asked us to get you to Donovan’s. He’ll meet us there.”
“Good.” That will save an uncomfortable silence, because sleep or not, my mind’s made up. Nick staying in my apartment, this close to me, is just not going to work. I knew it from the beginning and let myself get waylaid by his good looks and charm, but that’s not likely to happen again.
Trent doesn’t even try to fill the silence with unnecessary chatter on the way to the pub. Instead, he gives me time to think, mull things over. One more night with Nick, and then after that, so long dodged bullet.
“Getting close to your favorite spot,” Trent acknowledges as we near Donovan’s Irish Pub.
“I usually come here with Lexie when it’s been a particularly grueling night in the ER, or things didn’t go as we would have hoped for with a patient. Sometimes if Lexie is already asleep, Camellia from the hospital will come with me for a pint. But whoever’s with me, this is always where we come after a rough night.”
“I heard the accident was pretty bad last night.”
“It was a tangled mess, that’s for sure. The good thing is that everyone is alive and will get to see another day, but some of them are going to have a long road to recovery.”
Trent’s comfortable enough with himself to soak in the silence until we pull in into the restaurant parking lot. “Nick’s already inside, and Liam has his eyes on you. Remember what I said. You haven’t had much sleep. Think about what they have to say before you make any rash decisions about your security.”
