Everyone jerked their heads in the direction of the sound until all female eyes were on Adam. He stood there with his arms crossed, a muscle ticking in his strong jaw, with his dark eyes trained on Preslee. He looked pissed, and every bit of that anger seemed to be aimed in her direction.

Her heart rate sped up, and her palms dampened with sweat. Crap. How much of their conversation had he overheard?

“Fucking beautiful?” he repeated, still staring at her. “Was that what you were going to say?”

No one answered him. All of the women had been stunned into silence by his sudden arrival, including Preslee.

“Or how about smart? Sexy? Out of his league? Because if you say anything other than those words about yourself, then you’re not nearly as self-aware as you should be.”

Preslee blinked in shock as the other women exchanged glances with one another and bit into their bottom lips to keep from smiling. “Uh, Adam. We were, um, just talking about—”

“I know what you were going to say,” he said, interrupting her. “But I don’t like it when women talk about themselves that way. No dropping F-bombs in my gym.”

“But you just did,” she accused playfully.

“Yeah, but mine wasn’t the same one that you were going to use.”

Her nose crinkled. “Fat is a word that most people use, ya know?”

“Not in my gym, they don’t.” He came closer and shrugged. “I mean, what exactly is fat, anyway? Is it a size six? A size twelve? Eighteen? Twenty-eight? Who gets to decide that? Society? Well, that’s bullshit. I’ve seen women in every one of those sizes looking gorgeous as hell. Sexy isn’t a size.”

Preslee shook her head. “Not all men agree with that statement.”

He nodded. “You’re right. But there are plenty of men out there who love curvy women. And yeah, there are some who don’t. But you don’t have to check any boxes for that guy. He doesn’t matter. You do. Don’t ever think you need to shrink yourself just to squeeze into some narrow-minded view of an unrealistic beauty standard.” He smiled at her. “You’re beautiful just the way you are.”

Preslee’s heart lurched wildly inside her chest, and her muscles tensed. She hadn’t expected Adam to have this kind of powerful effect on her. But he’d blasted through all of her defenses, and she could no longer ignore the way he made her feel. The man paid attention to her, even when no one else did. As if she was special and he valued her as a person. But the complimentary words? As a woman, those made her feel feminine and desirable. Something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

She’d definitely needed that.