Page 10 of Too Much In Common
“Half-sisters. Our father is the cliché airline pilot with a woman in every city.” Venom laced Tian’s words.
Perhaps comments or jokes about directions would have been a better question. Chris took hold of the mattress corner nearest him. “If we lean the mattress against the bathroom door, it should be out of the way.”
Tian and Simone lifted the other side, and Brit stepped out of his way. One of the ancient support slats slid sideways and fell to the floor, affirming Chris’s thoughts about moving the frame without the mattress on it. “Will the frame hold together when we rotate it?”
“It should. The slats may fall out.” Tian kicked the fallen slat in the direction the bed would move.
“You could screw them in.”
“The bed is an antique. My great grandfather made it for my grandma. I’m afraid I’ll ruin it.”
With the four of them, it only took a minute to move the frame into the new position, fix the support slats, and replace the mattress.
“Thanks. You saved me a good hour of moving furniture.”
Brit put her hand on her hip. “You could have asked us for help.”
Tian shrugged. “You were busy.”
Chris pointed to the nightstand. “Where do you want this?”
“Over on this side of the bed, if it isn’t too much of a problem.”
Made of the same wood as the bed, the nightstand was heavier than he expected. The eyes of all three women followed him. He hadn’t meant to show off, but he wasn’t naïve enough to think that it was anything other than his biceps that impressed them. He placed the piece next to the head of the bed.
Chris straightened and turned. All three women averted their gazes to look in random directions. They had been staring. His ego smiled, but he kept his bodyguard’s passive face on. “Anything else?”
“No, thank you.” Tian walked out of the room, a silent invitation for him to leave too. Brit and Simone stayed in the bedroom.
Now that he was alone with Tian, Chris wasn’t sure if he should apologize again or not. Near the door, Tian turned to face him. “Thank you for the help, the bear, and the apology.”
“Next time I get mail, I’m going to double check it is for me.”
“Ditto.” She stuck out her hand. “Friends?”
Chris completed the handshake. Her grip was firmer than he expected, and her hand fit nicely in his. He held her a half beat too long. “Friends? With names like ours, we better be.”
“True. It is safer that way.”
“I am sorry. I—”
“You don’t need to keep apologizing.” She laid her hand on his forearm.
Every nerve ending, suddenly aware of her touch, waited for his next move. Murphy’s law hated him. No way could he ever act on the attraction he felt. They had the same name. And the way they met would keep him in the friend zone forever. He moved from her touch and put his hand on the doorknob. “Good night, Tian.”
4
Tian droppedthe last of the flattened boxes off in the building recycling center and went in search of the workout room Javier had told her about. There was a gym and pool on the lower floors; however, since they were in the higher security section, she could access the smaller weight room and lap pool on the 43rd floor. As she assumed, the room was mostly empty at ten in the morning. In the far corner, a woman ran on a treadmill and a man swam laps in the three-lane pool visible through a glass wall.
Tian chose a treadmill near the center of the wall and brought up the screen. So many choices. Unsure how the high-end machine would respond, Tian chose a run program with a medium difficulty, slipped in her earbuds and ran.
The treadmill screen displayed a view of a mountain trail. Nice. If every hotel she stayed in had a treadmill like this one she would have fewer excuses not to exercise. A mile into her run, Tian noticed the view of the pool was more interesting than the exercise screen. The male swimmer switched from freestyle to butterfly stroke and stole her breath. Sensing movement to her side, Tian glanced over to see the woman who had been running earlier, drinking from her water bottle also taking in the view through the window separating them from the pool.
The woman said something. Tian pulled out her ear bud. “What?”
“I said, I’m getting a second workout watching him.”
“Does he usually exercise at this time?”
