Page 37 of Out of Sight

I tried to take a step back, but Jim’s hand shoved me against Claire again, holding me in place behind the door. “Wait a minute, kid. They’re almost gone.”

Claire gave a little whimper. Discomfort? Annoyance?

Desire?

“At least I don’t have a hard-on,” I joked, holding my hands behind my back so I didn’t accidentally touch her somewhere I shouldn’t in the confined space. She tried to wiggle her body around—probably to slap me—but Jim’s grip on the back ofmy coat was firm, holding us both in place.Those curves, man.“Okay, stop squirming around or you’ll make a liar out of me.”

Marshall chuckled, but wisely didn’t comment. “Okay, we’re good,” he said after a couple seconds.

He let go of me and I took a quick step back—both to give Claire space as well as to dodge the slap she aimed at me. I grabbed her hand before it could make contact. “Claire. Honey. We don’t have time for this now. Marshal Marshall will make a note and you can kick my ass later, alright?”

She rolled her eyes, but allowed me to lead her out from behind the door. We both followed behind Jim as he walked with purpose, though not fast enough to attract attention. He surprised me by parking us behind a pillar and making a quick detour into one of the little stores, emerging with a plastic bag of supplies: a baseball hat and a pack of hair ties and clips, tossing them to Claire.

“Put your hair back. All that blonde attracts too much attention.”

He was right. It took a lot of energy to focus on the task at hand, rather than just spend all my time staring at her various points of beauty. The hair was an obvious one since it just took up so much space, but I was skeptical that she could effectively hide it when a whole-ass hood couldn’t manage to do it all the way. She had a hell of a lot of golden hair to try and pack in there.

“Can do!” she said, unphased by the task at hand. She clutched the hat between her thighs while bending over to swing her head around and gather all the hair in one hand. Then she stood back up, chest thrust out again as she lifted both arms to wrap all that gorgeous hair back into a braided bun,magically fitting everything in a small mound out of the back of the ballcap.

“That’s amazing,” I congratulated her. “I don’t get the physics of how that was possible, but I’m impressed.”

She blushed deeply, avoiding my gaze. “I have way too much hair. I should cut it.”

“No,” I disagreed. “Never cut it. Please.”

She whipped her head around so fast some of her braided bun loosened.

“Careful, don’t let all that hard work go to waste. I don’t think I could survive you pushing your nipples out at me again while you fix your work.”

It was definitely worth the new bruise forming on my chest to see that beautiful, righteous fury in her eyes. But to Claire’s credit, she punched so carefully her bun didn’t move another inch. Now that was Girl Power.

I’d follow her anywhere.

fourteen

Claire

“Very thorough questions at the beginning,” I told him, looking down at the floor as I grabbed a hand towel from his nightstand. My hands were shaking. “I felt very informed about how you set up my program. I think you’ll do just fine as a personal trainer.”

“Claire, wait.” I paused, but didn’t dare look back up at him. “I’m sorry if I crossed a line.”

I could have just gone the easy route and let him take the blame for my overreaction. I could move on without ever mentioning our kiss again. It would have been easier, and definitely would have solved a lot of problems.

But Will was proving himself to be a generally okay guy, and I didn’t want him to beat himself up over my mixed emotions.

Damn Jim. He thought it would be hilarious to have me dress up in that ridiculous outfit to see Will’s reaction. I mean… He was right. Will’s jaw practically hit the floor. It was a serious ego boost so I kept up the charade, pushing and flirting.It was fun. I liked the way he looked at me just as much as I liked the way he pushed me to try harder and do better, even when my arms wanted to fall out of my shoulder sockets.

But feeling good physically and being outrageously attracted to someone didn’t mean that things could ever work out. And the second his body touched mine I knew how hard I could fall if I let myself. I couldn’t let myself fall for him.

So I stopped.

“You didn’t cross a line. It’s not your fault for reacting to me playing hot and cold with you.”

“I don’t mind the hot and cold. Really. Take it further and go burning and frozen if you’d like. Just please don’t go. Talk it out with me?”

I chanced a peek at him and he looked so earnest. It was time to take a leaf out of his book and use humor as a deflection.

“Not right now. I should probably take a shower and get all this sweat off me. You definitely gave me a workout today. I mean you rode me hard. I mean you were very thorough with my body. Dammit!”

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