She winced. Okay, yeah. It was probably rude of her to question him when he’d done nothing but help her. And really, what would he gain from it anyway? She was using up his valuable time and energy, and if she was being honest, she’d only given him grief about the eating plan and exercises. Even if it was in good fun, it was a wonder the man was still helping her at all.

“Sorry. I guess I’m just not used to others going out of their way for me. So I tend to question it when they do.”

“Why do you think that is?”

She gave a halfhearted shrug. “I don’t know.”

He raised a brow. “I’m betting you do.”

Well, she had a few ideas. But it wasn’t anything she wanted to discuss with him of all people. Especially after he’d already threatened to stop working with her earlier. It was embarrassing to admit that she had trouble forming attachments to others, and she didn’t want anyone having that kind of power over her. Including Adam.

She sighed. “I guess I just like to make sure a person’s heart is in the right place before I open myself up to something that might turn out bad.”

“That seems awfully cynical.”

“Maybe. But I’m speaking from experience.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Who hurt you?”

She blinked at him. “Uh, no one.”

“Someone obviously has.”

Preslee shook her head adamantly. “No, I just meant in general. People can be cruel.”

“Has someone been cruel to you, Preslee?” He sat straighter, his intense eyes focusing directly on her. “And tell me the truth this time because you can’t lie worth a damn.”

He was right. She’d never been able to lie well. “It’s nothing, Adam. Just drop it, okay?”

“Tell me. Was it your dad?”

“What? No, of course not.”

His brows furrowed. “Then it had to have been Michael or Kurt. What did they say?”

“No. Neither of them said anything.”

He paused thoughtfully. “Was it me? Did I say something that—”

“No, it wasn’t you.” Jeez. He was like a dog with a bone. “It was two strangers on my vlog, okay? They said some things that were…well, not very nice. It’s part of the reason I went on the crash diet. I was already panicking about embarrassing myself at the mud run, and their comments only made me feel worse about myself. So I let two nameless, faceless jerks who wrote crappy comments on my vlog have power over me.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “What did they say?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes. Because it matters to you.”

She inhaled a deep breath and told him all about the two men and their negative comments. She blushed and stammered through the whole thing, embarrassment heating her face the entire time.