Page 14 of My Athlete Neighbor

She considered turning around. The children's library wouldn't open for hours—she could come back later. But then Kane dropped from the bar, caught sight of her in the mirror, and smiled that damn smile that made her forget all the reasons this was complicated.

"Morning." He grabbed a towel, making no effort to hide the way his gaze traveled from her running shoes to her ponytail. "Nice shorts."

"Nice... form." The words came out more breathless than she'd intended. She busied herself with her water bottle, trying to remember why she'd thought working out this early in the morning was a good idea.

"I could say the same about yours." He moved closer, voice dropping. "But I should probably check your technique. You know, as a professional athlete."

"I know how to use gym equipment."

"Do you?"

Before she could protest, he'd guided her to the weight rack. "Here." His hands settled on her hips, allegedly adjusting her form but really just setting her skin on fire through the thin material of her shorts. "You want to keep your core engaged."

"My core is plenty engaged." Especially with him standing so close, his chest barely brushing her back.

"Hmm." His breath tickled her ear. "What about your grip?" His hands slid down her arms to demonstrate proper hand positioning on the weights, and she had to bite back a gasp at the contact.

"Kane..."

"Just being helpful." But she could hear the smile in his voice, feel the way his thumbs traced small circles on her wrists.

The fitness center door banged open.

They jumped apart like guilty teenagers as Oliver Chen and Dmitri Volkov strolled in, already mid-argument.

"Ice ballet is essential for agility," Dmitri was saying in his thick Russian accent. "You try doing triple axel on ice, then tell me it won’t help your game."

"It's too early for this debate." Oliver noticed Allison and Kane, his eyes narrowing with interest. "Oh hey, didn't expect anyone else to be here. Especially not our lucky charm."

"I'm not—" Allison started, but Dmitri cut her off with a dramatic gesture.

"Ah! The puck witch." He curtsied with a ballet plie squat. "Your magic has been holding on this week. I got goals in practice.”

"I’m not a witch.” She looked to Kane for help, but he was suddenly very interested in re-racking weights.

"Don't mind Dmitri." Oliver started up a treadmill. "He's convinced you're some kind of hockey fairy godmother. Says the ice feels different now.”

"Ice always tells truth," Dmitri said solemnly, then ruined the effect with an exaggerated wink. "Like how it knows when Kane is distracted checking his phone between drills."

The weights clanked as Kane fumbled them. "I'm not distracted."

"No?" Oliver's grin turned wicked. "So you regularly miss Coach's plays because you're too busy scanning the library’s website? Because yesterday, when you kept checking if story time was over so you could 'accidentally' run into someone in the lobby..."

"I wasn't—that wasn't—" Kane grabbed his towel, the tips of his ears burning red against his tousled brown hair. Their eyes met briefly, and Allison's breath caught at the mix of embarrassment and heat in his gaze. "I'm hitting the showers."

"Running away only proves point," Dmitri called after him. "Like frightened baby deer on ice."

"I should go too." Allison headed for the door, workout forgotten. "I need to... catalog... things."

"The library doesn't open for three hours," Oliver pointed out helpfully.

"Early cataloging. Very important."

She practically fled, face burning. Behind her, she heard Dmitri say, "Young love is beautiful thing. Like perfect triple lutz."

"It's too early your shit," Oliver groaned. "Just spot me on bench press."

Allison meant to go back to her apartment. Really, she did. But somehow she found herself in the equipment room adjacent to the gym, heart pounding as she tried to catch her breath. The small space smelled like leather and rubber, metal racks holding various weights and resistance bands.

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