Page 34 of Worth the Wait

“I didn’t take it as an endorsement. I took it as ‘leaving this hot chick’s card on the desk to hit her up later.’ I’m not saying you can’t hook up with business associates or members. That’d make me the biggest hypocrite in the world. But if you have plans to get together with her, I won’t call her about potentially coming on board. You know, to prevent an uncomfortable situation down the road.”

“Makes sense.” Sure, he’d had a lot of casual hookups. Some of which had resulted in hurt feelings when he hadn’t been interested in pursuing the connection further. To hear Brian talk, Sam was a heart-crushing man-whore who inevitably left behind a string of angry, jilted castoffs. Had he really been that much of an asshole?

The restaurant run-in with Liz popped into his head, making him cringe. Yeah, maybe he had been that guy. Had been. Past tense.

“You’re welcome to call Frances McKenna,” he said, meeting Brian’s waiting gaze. “I won’t be going there.”

Brian’s eyebrows rose to new heights. “You sure about that?”

“One hundred percent.” Good a time as any to spill the beans. “I’m seeing someone. Leigh’s the only woman I’m interested in going anywhere with.”

“Leigh. As in, your training client? The one who was here this morning?”

Sam nodded. Waited for some age-difference comment. Waited and welcomed, because he had a comeback for any and all.

“I thought you brought her to try out the club because she wants to rehire you,” Brian said.

“Nope. Brought her for strictly personal reasons.”

“That explains her workout this morning.”

Sam shook his head. “Not sure what you mean.”

“I recognized her from our days at Iron Works. I remember her being a go-getter in the gym, even when she wasn’t in a training session. But here, this morning, zero attention on her workout.” A grin spread between the confines of Brian’s ginger beard and moustache. “Lots of attention on you though.”

“I didn’t notice.”

Brian leaned across the desk and issued a buddy slap to Sam’s shoulder. “Good.”

“Why’s it good?”

“Because it means you were focused on your client.”

“Always.” He could let it go at that, probably should. “Hey, you don’t think it’s a problem, me being with Leigh?”

“Why would it be?” Brian looked away to nod a goodbye at a departing member, clicking the mouse to check them out of the system, then returned his attention to Sam. “Because you were her personal trainer?”

“Not that. I don’t give a shit about that.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“She’s older than me. By more than ten years. I don’t care about the age difference, it’s not a problem for me.”

Brian nodded. “Then it’s not a problem, period. You’re dating her, not making a lifetime commitment. By the time that amount of gap would matter, you will have moved on.”

“Or maybe I won’t have.”

Focusing on the computer, his friend grunted in amusement. “Right.”

He should definitely let that go. Should, but couldn’t. “I’m serious.”

One look at Sam’s face and Brian stopped smiling. “I can see that. Is it Leigh you’re serious about, or are you just serious about wanting a commitment in the future?”

“Not sure yet, but I’m not ruling anything out.”

“That’s a starting point,” Brian said, nodding again. “Sticking with my answer that the age difference doesn’t matter. Not at this point. If things feel like they’re getting serious between you, you should probably reassess. Give some thought to whether a relationship with Leigh can give you everything you might want, further down the road.”

“If you’re referring to having kids, that’s not for me. The closest I’ve come to thinking about having kids is hoping I never got a call telling me I’d made that mistake.”

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