In any other situation, she’d have been all over flirting with this man. Getting him into her bed ASAP. As it was, she was still half-tempted to go for the gusto with him, instructor or not. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man—smart, funny, handsome, and sexy as hell. He was even kind and decent, if reluctantly so. The man had an ironclad sense of honor, and she suspected that he wasn’t the kind to lie to her. In fact, he would be pretty darned near perfect if he weren’t so damned determined to destroy her dream.

She probed the muscles across the back of his neck lightly until she found a giant knot in one of them.

“This is old scar tissue,” she commented. “How long have you been running around with this knot? It must give you constant pain.”

“Pain is optional. I choose not to notice it,” he muttered as she dug her thumb into the mass of scarred fascia to start breaking it up. “Ouch!” he yelped.

“Hang in there, Mr. Optional Pain. Just a few more seconds.”

The scar tissue started to release. It felt like a zipper unzipping, and she smoothed the pad of her thumb down its length more gently. “Try that,” she murmured.

Tentatively, he rolled his head. “Whoa. That is better.”

He rose to his knees and turned around to stare at her. What was that expression in his eyes? Gratitude? Confusion?

Huh. What did he have to be confused about? Although, Lord knew, he confused the hell out of her. One second she wanted to strangle him, and the next she wanted to have hot monkey sex with the man.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” he asked.

Hot monkey sex? Oh. Wait. He was talking about fixing his neck.

“A fantastic soft-tissue chiropractor at the Olympic Training Center showed me how to do it.” The words came out more breathless than she wanted them to, and darned if her cheeks weren’t heating up.

“That would be a handy skill in the field. Can you teach me how to do it?” he asked.

If she wasn’t mistaken, his voice was huskier than usual, and his breath was coming faster and lighter than before.

“Sure. It takes a little practice, but it’s not hard.”

“I have a staff meeting with Cal in”—he glanced down at his watch—“two minutes ago. Shit. Show me later?” he called over his shoulder, already sprinting for the gym’s door.

“Yes!” she called back.

* * *