This time, my knees buckling had nothing to do with muscle fatigue.
“No offense, but aren’t you supposed to be some kind of edgy badass?” Stef asked.
I tore my eyeballs away from the smoldering chief of police. “Huh?”
“I’ll admit, Studly Do-Right looks like he wants to walk over here, strip you naked, and bend you over a weight bench.”
My core clenched in involuntarily need.
“But I thought you were a play-it-cool-make-’em-beg type.”
There was nothing cool about the way I reacted to Nash Morgan. It was molten hot need laced with icy licks of fear. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but apparently some men make playing it cool impossible,” I admitted.
“You two gonna run your mouths all day or you gonna finish this set?” Mrs. Tweedy hollered. “Don’t make me add more wall balls!”
“And now everyone’s looking at us,” Stef muttered.
Everyone including Jeremiah and Nash.
I squared my shoulders. “We have to do this.”
“And we have to do it sexy.”
“You might as well take your shirt off then,” I said.
“Same goes. Maybe they’ll be so hypnotized by my pecs and your tits they won’t notice when we go into cardiac arrest.”
“Let’s try to avoid that part,” I suggested.
“I can’t promise anything.”
“Let’s go, kids!” Vernon called.
“Last set, best set,” Mrs. Tweedy shouted.
Stef gritted his teeth. “Come on. Let’s strip and sexy walk.”
“Drink.”
My eyes fluttered open and I found myself staring up into the startling blue of Nash’s. A water bottle dangled in front of my face.
I was too tired and thirsty to take offense to being ordered about.
I worked my way into a seated position. Nash was crouched down next to me, a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin and sucking his T-shirt fast to his chest. Jeremiah stood behind him looking amused.
I kicked Stef’s leg.
“Leave me alone to die, woman,” he said. He was facedown on the mat next to me.
I kicked him again harder this time. “We can’t die in front of witnesses.”
He peeled his upper body off the rubber and blinked at our audience.
“Need a hand?” Jeremiah asked Stef.
I scraped up enough energy to smirk as my workout buddy’s crush hauled him to his feet.
“I’m impressed,” Nash said as I finally gulped down the proffered water. “No one survives their first Sweating with the Oldies workout.”
“I wouldn’t say I survived,” I croaked.
“You got that last rep in,” he insisted. “It counts.”
“And had to dry heave into the trash can.”
His mouth was softened by one of those almost smiles that fired up the wild swooping in my belly. “Still counts.”
“They’re superhuman. Every single one of them.”
“That they are,” he agreed.
I noticed some of the gym goers noticing us. “Either I’m topless or you’re walking around bottomless to warrant this kind of attention.”
He glanced up and around, then grimaced. “Small town. There hasn’t been much to gossip about lately.”
“Besides their chief getting shot, two citizens being abducted and rescued, and a U.S. marshal lurking around town. Where is your shadow with a badge anyway?”
Nash hooked a thumb over his shoulder to where Nolan was sweating all over a stationary bike, looking both pissed off and bored.
“Just another day in Knockemout,” Nash said, offering me his hand.
I took it and let him pull me to my feet.
My muscles sang with a mix of post-workout exhaustion and elation.
“If you’re wanting an answer about your offer—” I began.
But he cut me off with a shake of his head. “I’d rather you think about it a little longer than one night. It’s a big ask. I’ve got a smaller ask I need you to say yes to first.”
“What’s that?”
“Mind watching Piper for me tonight? I haven’t left her alone for longer than a few minutes.”
“Sure.”
“I won’t be too late,” he promised.
I would not ask him what his plans were. And I definitely wouldn’t ask him if it was a date.
“I’m going for drinks with Knox and Lucian,” he said, reading my mind.
The ladies of town would be aflutter over that kind of sexy sandwich of hotness, I guessed.
“Yeah. No problem,” I assured him, pretending that I didn’t feel the stupid wash of relief that it was only a guys’ night out.
He dipped his head toward me in that sexy, intimate way of his. My pulse tripped. So did the woman on the treadmill behind us. She shot me a rueful grin and a shrug when she recovered.
Nash Morgan was a danger to women everywhere.
“Appreciate it. I’ll drop her off a little before nine,” he said.
I vowed to be showered, made up, and wearing something not soaked in sweat. If I could make my legs work by then. “Okay.”
He checked his watch. “I’ve gotta go. I promised Liza J I’d clean the gutters today.”
“Here.” I held out his tumbler.
“Hang on to it. I know where you live.”
“Thanks,” I croaked.
“See you later, Angelina.” He gave me a goose bump–inducing once-over before turning to leave.
“Nash?”
He stopped and turned.
Glancing around at our not-so-subtle audience, I closed the distance between us with the sexiest limp I could muster. “Exactly how much of me do you want?”
Those blue eyes changed to icy fire. “The gentlemanly answer would be as much as you’re willing to give.”
“And you’re a gentleman?”
“I used to be.” Then he lifted his chin. “Drink more water and don’t forget to stretch or you’ll regret it tomorrow.”
It was a good thing my face was already on fire from exertion.
He flashed me a wink and the ghost of a grin before heading for the locker room. I watched him go. So did the rest of the female population of the gym and a handful of the men too.
Nolan got up and wiped down his bike. He threw me a little salute before following Nash.
Stef appeared next to me. “Still up for coffee and carbs?” He had a goofy grin on his face.
“God, yes. Why do you look so happy? Are you delirious?”
“I think so. Jeremiah gave me a sweat towel.”
“Nash gave me his water. Are we as pathetic as I think we are?”
“Oh, much worse,” Stef insisted.
Vernon clapped me on the shoulder on his way to the treadmills. “Way not to suck too bad out there.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“You did well,” Aditi said.
“If you’re up for it, tomorrow is chest and back day,” Mrs. Tweedy offered.
“Don’t you dare say yes or I’ll have to come too. And I need three days to recover,” Stef whispered.
My laugh was a barely audible wheeze.
ELEVEN
PANICKING NEVER HELPS
Nash
My hands clenched into fists when I heard the thump of country music outside Honky Tonk’s front door. I’d taken a walk around the block just to hype myself up into going inside. There was laughter and life on the other side of the front door. I was supposed to participate in it when all I wanted to do was stay home, in the dark. In the quiet.