Page 3 of Worth the Wait

Instinct beatdown the reaction to follow her out. A woman in that big a rush to get away needed space, not a tagalong.

Sam forced his butt to stick where it was planted and watched Leigh’s ass sway as she cut around the tables, en route to the door.

She looked fantastic. The strictly male part of him appreciated the view. The professional part took pride in it.

She’d been a member at Iron Works for over a year, doing classes and cardio five days a week before approaching him at the desk about personal training.

His schedule had been packed, but he’d made room for her. As much time as she’d wanted. Hadn’t taken long for him to see the changes in her physique. Increased muscle tone all over, making her ass even better than it’d already been. With her dedication and work ethic, she hadn’t needed the quantity of training she’d bought. And had continued to buy.

He probably should have cut her loose, but he’d enjoyed the time with her too damn much. Not just for the opportunity to admire her hot body and pretty face up close. He’d enjoyed talking with her too.

Leigh had brains, a sense of humor and maturity. The whole package. She also had a kid. One she talked about frequently. And yeah, at the time, it’d spooked him.

Then he’d packed it in at Iron Works and gone to work for Brian at Focus Fitness. While he hadn’t sat around pining over Leigh, she’d always been there, in the back of his mind. A what-if? Questions should have answers, one way or the other. Seeing her today brought that nagging what-if back, placed it front and center in his brain.

He stepped out of the coffee shop and headed toward his truck. Walked right past it and crossed the street, mid-block. He had to get to work, but he wanted a look at Leigh’s bakeshop first.

An eye-catching sign hung over the door.Short’n’Sweetwas written in black lettering on a bubblegum-pink background, with the wordscustom bakeryin smaller letters beneath. Cute name for a business, especially since it described the owner perfectly.

No sign of her inside as he walked past the shop’s large front window. Probably for the best. He didn’t have time to go in if she’d waved at him. And if she hadn’t, if she’d looked at him as if he were a creepy stalker, that would’ve sucked too. Majorly.

He made a mental note of the business hours and circled back to his two-door Sierra. Drove to the gym on autopilot, thoughts of Leigh filling his head along the way. Her easygoing laugh. The way her dirty-blonde hair shone, begging him to find out if it was as silky as it looked. Pretty face that gave away much more than her words.

He’d seen the way she looked at him all those months ago at the gym. The attraction had been there, yet she’d never come on to him. Not directly and not in any playful, joking way that might’ve been intended as a hint. Even after he’d flat-out asked if she was single. Either she hadn’t takenhishint or she’d chosen to ignore it.

Today had been different. Different was good.

“Thanks for doing this,” Brian said as Sam stepped through the door of the warehouse-turned-gym. “Cassie insisted I go to work this morning. Didn’t want me to cancel client appointments when she just had a stomach ache.” Clouds descended on the big man’s face. “When I called to check on her, she said the abdominal pain had gotten worse. So bad she can’t stand straight. I never should’ve left her alone.”

“Stop beating yourself up and go home.” Sam gestured toward the door. “I’ll handle everything on this end.”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Her regular doctor can’t get her in, so I have to take her to the hospital. No telling how long that’ll take. I might not get back here tonight.”

“I’ve got you covered, now get going.”

Brian nodded, grabbed his keys and wallet from a drawer beneath the counter, then headed out like a man on a mission.

Covering Brian’s evening clients would mean postponing the visit to Short’n’Sweet, since Leigh’s bakery closed at six. He’d waited this long to make a move, one more day was no big deal. Until he pictured her face, the way she’d checked him out at the coffee shop, before she’d recognized him. The way her face had lit up when she did. The desire in her eyes each time they touched.

He made his way to the changeroom. Swapped his clothes for a club t-shirt and sport pants, shoving his thickening cock to one side in the process. Sport pants hid chicken legs and weak glutes, not hard-ons. No more thinking about Leigh while he was on the clock. Piece of cake.

Cake. Bakery. Leigh.

This was going to be a long, hard night. Emphasis on hard.

* * *

SAM

With less thanhalf an hour to spare, Sam found a parking spot up the street from Leigh’s shop. Covering Brian’s schedule had stretched from Wednesday afternoon into evening, then all day Thursday and most of Friday. Not that Sam blamed the guy for wanting to be by Cassie’s side, but man, covering Brian’s client appointments as well as his own had made for a couple of long-ass days. When his friend had shown up at the gym unexpectedly a while ago, Sam hadn’t declined Brian’s offer to take off.

He pocketed his keys and repositioned his hat while walking up the street. Waiting to see Leigh had given him time to think. He’d hooked up with single moms before, but he’d never wanted to add Leigh to that list.

Oh, he wanted to have sex with her. Had since day one. Spending several hours together every week, month after month, had allowed him to get to know her. The more he’d learned, the more he’d liked her mind and sense of humor as much as her shapely body.

Hadn’t taken him long to realize she was relationship material, a sometime-down-the-road woman. Not somebody he’d been ready for back then. Now, though… Maybe it was time to check out that road.

He pulled the door and stepped into the bakery. Warm, sugary-scented air surrounded him, making his stomach groan. No sign of Leigh or any other adults, only a kid sitting on a stool behind a diner-style counter, with a sketchpad balanced on her lap. Whoever she was, the little girl didn’t acknowledge his presence.

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