Page 53 of Unexpected Delivery

“Text me any information you have on him in the morning, and I’ll have something for you in a day or two,” Easton says. There’s some mumbling in the background that sounds feminine. He sighs. “And send me your address. Briar has decided she’ll be taking my credit card tomorrow to buy you a care package. Goodbye.” With that, he hangs up.

I snort, shoving my phone into my back pocket. “See, Gracie Girl. I told you, we’re going to take care of you and your momma.” I’m not sure who called her that first, but it’s become a nickname among the three of us.

“Where’s Arbor?” Hael asks from the doorway.

I spin around, quirking an eyebrow. “Maybe try not staying out half the night and you’d know.”

He raises a tattooed hand, flipping me off. “Fuck you. I signed a three-bike deal that, if I play my cards right, will more than cover Arbor’s hospital stay, but the guy wouldn’t shut the fuck up. I’m beat. Seriously, where is she?”

“She’s with Morris in the pack bedroom. Change and come back. It seems like we’re on baby duty tonight, and Gracie is fussier than I’ve ever seen her.”

Hael glances down the hallway and back into the bedroom. “Is Arbor okay?”

I sigh and shrug. “I hope so, but I’ll fill you in when you get back. We need to make some changes in how we’ve been handling things.”

The next morning, Morris has me take Arbor to her old cabin to collect the rest of her things. There isn’t much, so it doesn’t take long. I carefully pump her for information on her ex, but I still don’t have a last name by the end of our conversation. What I do have is all of Arbor’s information, and considering she lived with him, I don’t foresee Easton’s tech guy having any trouble linking them together.

We head to the gym after, so I can handle the one training session for the day that I can’t get out of. I only have four employees, but I’ve been counting on them more than ever lately. They’re opening and closing regularly without me, which is fine. They’re capable personal trainers with their own clients, and I’m happier only going in for necessary things, like training and payroll. If I could afford to cut back on my training clients, I would do it in a heartbeat, but babies are expensive.

Arbor seems happy to be out of the house, and Gracie snoozes in her stroller as I walk through the paperwork I mentioned Arbor could work on while I’m busy.

“Okay, I take the total amount they owe you.” She points at the invoice total. “Then subtract anything written in the margin and/or highlighted in green because that’s already been paid.”

“Yeah,” I agree, leaning around the back of her chair. “Then just note the balance somewhere here on the bottom and list the date next to it, so I know it’s recent.”

“I’ll handle it, but I swear there has to be some better way to keep records moving forward.”

“Probably,” I admit, laughing.

I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to take over completely and come up with her own system. I enjoy the physical aspect of owning the gym, but the admin side is stuff I’m forced to do to keep the doors open.

Her head tilts as she smiles.

It puts our faces close since I’m still stretched around the chair. She looks so much healthier today; just from a single good night’s sleep, the dark circles under her eyes have lessened. Not to mention the impact it’s had on her overall demeanor.

That electric scent of hers sits heavy in the air, tinged with cherry blossoms. It hits my nose all at once, and my nostrils flare. Everything in me aches to kiss her, but I’m not sure she’d be open to that.

Arbor licks her lips and pats my arm. “I think you’re about to be late. It’s three minutes to eleven, and you mentioned that you need to change.”

“Shit, yeah, I better go.” I shake away the haze that was creeping in and step back to pull off my jacket. Tossing it onto the filing cabinet, I head for the door. “If you need me, I’ll be out in the ring. Other than that, you know where the bathroom is. If you get bored in here, you can head out and explore, but it’s not much.”

Jesus.

Way to ramble things I’ve already said.

When she smiles and waves, I finally force myself out of my office. I very nearly set her up at the check-in desk, but I didn’t like the idea of all the guys trying to flirt with her as they were coming and going.

Time to knock out this hour session so I can take the rest of the day off.

My focus is shit once Arbor makes her way out of the office. She rocks around the gym with Gracie and even sits behind the welcome desk for a while. I spend three or four days a week with most of these guys.

Hell, sometimes more.

I would consider most of them friends.

Dax misses the pad completely and clips me in the chin, all because I can’t take my eyes off Arbor. She’s across the gym, talking to Ray and Matt. Ray is a regular, and Matt is one of my employees. He’s also worse than Hael used to be. If there’s a woman within five miles of his general proximity who’s single, he finds her, then he proceeds to woo her with his easy smiles, California accent, and promises of free Pilates lessons.

That motherfucker doesn’t even do Pilates.

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