Page 25 of Rescued Heart

Like the woman who had mistaken him for someone else at the auction. The one he’d accidentally flirted with. He’d been the one to offer her a mutual deal the night of the fire. But a dance differed from a fake date. Or two.

And the email he’d received this morning proved that he couldn’t lose his team’s trust. Now he only needed to figure out a way to tell the kids the bad news.

He adjusted his shoulders on the bench beneath his back as Zack moved into position to be Eddie’s spotter. “Can you hit me with another ten pounds?”

With the bench press bar separating the two of them, Zack turned for the weight rack. “Two fives coming up.”

Eddie positioned his hands on the bar above his chest. “Make it tens for each side.”

Zack’s hands remained empty of the requested extra weights. “Is there a reason why you’re trying to outdo your max weight during today’s shift?”

Eddie kept his focus on the ceiling tile with a faint dark stain. “No better time to get stronger than the present.”

Zack simply crossed his arms. “What’s in the present that you need to get stronger for?”

Sometimes it wasn’t wise to spend so much time with the crew. They learned too much. Which reason did Zack want? The one where Bianca had yet again been in his dreams last night, and he’d only got a handful of hours of rest. Or that an even bigger nightmare had landed in his inbox this morning. One from the mayor’s assistant.

Eddie huffed. “The grant money’s not happening for the youth center.”

Zack relaxed his stance and then picked an additional ten-pound weight off the rack. “Sorry, man. I thought you were only moody because you somehow botched things with Bianca the other night.”

“There was nothing to botch. She’s a movie star.”

Zack secured one of the clips on the bar to keep the weights from sliding. “Pretty sure movie stars are still people. You might have more in common than you think. Naya showed me an interview where Bianca talks about her faith.”

Eddie loosened his grip on the bar. Did they share more than he realized?

He shook his head. Not what mattered at the moment. “The mayor didn’t even have the decency to tell me himself. Not that he even remembered me when I returned to his house after the fire.”

Zack slid the weight onto the left side of the bar. “Have you prayed for another way to raise the funds?”

Eddie froze. Not exactly.

Bianca’s beautiful face popped up in Eddie’s mind, followed by Scarlette’s pouty one.

Had God provided another way?

He rolled his shoulders, but the pressure remained, just like the truth. Fake dating a movie star was not an option. No matter if she’d looked like the perfect coaching assistant, with dirt on her cheek and her shirt half untucked from her oversized shorts when she’d returned.

If the woman under the façade had asked him to go have coffee with him, and if she served the Lord too, that might have been a different story.

But he’d finished being the casual dating guy.

Zack grabbed the second ten-pound weight and added it to the opposite side. Eddie inhaled slowly and then exhaled as he pushed the weight bar up.

“Come on, Rice.” Zack spotted his hands under the quaking bar. “A little more.”

Eddie gritted his teeth and willed his arms to give more. The bar lifted higher. Then another inch. At that exact moment, Bianca’s voice reentered his mind.

There’s no one else it can be except you.

The look in her gaze had been defeat. She hadn’t been pretending when she’d said that.

Sometimes his compassion felt like a weakness, allowing others to manipulate him. Yet it could be a strength…where he saw the true heart of the situation—the person.

The weights clanked against the safety bar, and Zack helped center the bar into its resting position.

Eddie wiped his palms on his shorts. Did her job really depend on him being in some pictures with her? “Give me a second. I want one more try.”

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