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"That's fair," I say, though it doesn't feel fair. "I'll prove to you I'm the best trainer. I'll see you on race day, Mr. Hinton."
I spin and leave that office before I do something stupid, like start crying.
"Clover," Asher calls after me.
I keep walking. I don't want to talk to him. I made a bid for the gym and I lost. And I have a feeling that Russ likes me even less than he did before.
I like myself less. At the first sign of difficulty, I reached for the money I swore I'd never spend on myself.
And my knee aches. I want so badly to limp, but I won't do it. I stride out of the gym, each step a shot of pain radiating from my knee up to my hip and down to my ankle.
Unfortunately, I'm not stupid enough to risk running on it, so Asher catches up to me on the sidewalk outside the gym.
"Empress, stop running and talk to me."
I spin on him. "What is there to say? Do you want me to apologize? because I hate to tell you, but sleeping with me didn't change the fact that we're competing for this gym." I pop my hands on my hips, a new idea occurring to me. "Or did you think it would? Did you sleep with me to soften me up? Convince me I should just roll over and let you have the gym?"
To my utter annoyance, Asher doesn't get angry. In fact, he looks slightly amused. "I mean, I wouldn't have been disappointed if my supernaturally magical penis had convinced you to give up on the gym, but that's not why I slept with you."
I'm so taken aback, I don't even know what to say. Asher looks good but a bit frazzled, his hair still sleep mussed like maybe he didn't get a shower before coming into work. He definitely didn't shower at my place this morning.
"What is wrong with you?" It's a rhetorical question, so I don't wait for an answer. "Supernatural and magical mean basically the same thing. And if you actually had a magic boner it would have healed my knee."
Asher leans in. "Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale."
"Argh! Damn it, Aldridge. Stop being nice to me. I'm mad at you."
He looks genuinely confused. "Why?"
"Because you were undermining me with Russ."
Asher takes a step back like I might be dangerous. "I wasn't undermining you. I was asking Russ to plan a different competition or to choose a different trail race so your knee can heal."
"And now Russ knows I'm injured. I'm at a disadvantage, and you look like a hero."
Asher huffs out an exasperated breath. "I'm not trying to be a hero or make you look bad. I just don't want to see you hurt." He cups my cheek with a hand. "I hate seeing you in pain."
I jerk away from him. "I'm fine. I told you not to tell Russ about my knee and you went behind my back and did it anyway. Without discussing it with me. You just decided for me that I'm too weak for this race and went over my head to get me pulled from it."
Finally, Asher's expression gets more serious and he stops looking at me like I'm an amusing child. "Shit. I'm sorry, Clover. That's not what I intended. I just wanted to help."
I'm so thrown by his sincere apology that I'm speechless for several long seconds.
"Are you okay?" he asks, though his lips are twitching toward a smile.
"I've just never…" I think it over, but can't come up with a single instance. "That's the first time in my life a man hasapologized to me sincerely without having an ulterior motive, like trying to get in my pants."
Asher's full on grinning now. He holds up his hands. "Full disclosure? I'm definitely hoping to get into your pants sometime soon."
And, damn it, I can't help but smile back at him. "I'm still mad at you."
"I know. I screwed up. I should have talked to you before I went to Russ."
I sigh. I don't want to be angry with this beautiful, kind man. "Fine. I'm not mad anymore. And I'm sorry about trying to use my cash to buy the gym out from under you."
He leans forward and presses a quick kiss to my lips. "You're forgiven. What happened? Did you win the lottery?"
"I got an early advance on my inheritance, but I'm not going to use it for the gym. Don't worry."
