Page 58 of The Savior

He returned and asked, “Where to next?”

A light triangle of sweat dampened the front of his tight shirt. The shirt sleeves squeezed his biceps, and the workout had made the definition of his muscles and veins stand out.

He scanned the gym since she opted to mentally stutter and stay silent, then based on where his gaze hovered, she knew he would pick the treadmills.

She turned to eye the wall. The row of treadmills, mostly unused, lined the far corner. Running without the possibility of escape didn’t seem like the best idea.

“Or we can go grab my card from Smokey’s,” he offered.

No way would Chelsea walk into last night’s ground zero. But running? She tried not to groan and gave herself a pep talk. Her arms and hands were dead-dog tired. Not her legs. She could handle a treadmill. “Let’s run.”

He snorted but led the way to the last machines in the corner. How quiet and intimate… the perfect place for Liam to tell her how flattered he might be, but that he wasn’t interested. Or maybe, he could explain why this sudden crush was ten kinds of wrong. Whatever she sensed from him, it was unequivocallynotattraction. It couldn’t be. He’d said as much! Nothing made sense. She’d created problems where there were none before.

Liam punched buttons on the treadmill’s screen and jogged. She eyed his machine and punched buttons until their inclines were at the same angle. The treadmills quietly purred as they ran side by side.

The lack of conversation was good. Things couldn’t be awkward if they weren’t discussed… right?

He checked her screen, and her eyebrow arched. Liam punched the green arrow, striding faster.

Chelsea tried to ignore his adjustment, but he’d run then look her way, run again, look again.

Maybe, perhaps, shewascompetitive. Chelsea jabbed the green arrow to match his speed.

He laughed, and she ignored him. Finally, she hit that place where endorphins pumped, and each stride made her feel as if she could fly—

Liam punched his stop button, and not waiting for the machine to slow, he stepped on the edges. “What the hell are you doing?”

She punched the stop button also and scowled. “What does it look like?”

“I’m not your mother, your boss, or your partner.”

She had no idea what he meant by that. “No kidding.”

“What are you trying to prove?”

“What?” She wasn’t trying to prove anything. She was hiding! That was all and far easier to understand than unwanted chemistry.

“If you need to prove yourself to some jackass boss…” He bunched his shoulders. “Then you have to do that. I can’t say shit about the expectations you deal with—”

Her brow furrowed. “I’m sorry?”

Liam gestured at the pull-up bars. “Sending you home because you were hungover? I can’t imagine the shit you put up with as a woman.”

Her jaw fell. They were very muchnotthinking about the same problems.

“We’re all frustrated,” he continued. “I’m frustrated. You’re frustrated. Everyone in this goddamn gym is probably frustrated.”

She closed her mouth. Her heart was racing faster than when she was running, and she didn’t know where he was going with their conversation.

He stepped down. “I need to talk to you. Even if I’m not supposed to.”

Or maybe theywerethinking about the same thing. She didn’t know.

He dropped his head back and ran his hands into his hair. Sweat made it stay where he pushed it. “I don’t know how much I should say.”

Say nothing. Please, don’t say a word!

“I should say nothing,” he snapped. “There are rules. Spoken and unspoken. I get that. But shit…”

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