“Yeah, how about going after what you want? Who cares if she’s your client? If you want her, then make a move. Hell, if nothing else, just ask her to dance. Anything is better than you sitting here looking so pathetic.”

Adam grinned. “Was that your version of a pep talk? Because, if so, you really suck at it.”

“At least I’m not too chickenshit to go after a woman, all because there might be a little competition.”

Fire lit in Adam’s stomach. “You think Josh is what’s holding me back?” He scoffed. “You know better than that. It has nothing to do with him. Not going after Preslee has more to do with her not looking at me as anything other than her trainer…and her pal.”

“So that’s it. You two are just friends?”

Shrugging, Adam glanced over at her again. “Probably.”

“You don’t even know for sure?”

“No. I mean, she says we’re just friends, but then I sometimes get the feeling that there’s…I don’t know, something more.”

Kurt threw back his head and groaned. “You’re killing me here, man. I’ve never known you to be such a quitter. Or to run away from a challenge. Especially of the female variety.” He motioned to Preslee, who was ordering a drink at the main bar. “If you don’t get over there and ask that pretty young woman to dance, I’m going to pull a junior high move by going over there and telling her that you like her and ask her if she likes you too. I’ll even draw a little diagram on a bar napkin with checkboxes that say yes and no.”

Adam laughed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Kurt lifted one brow, and Adam’s chuckle dissipated.

Shit. Okay, maybe he would. “Fine, I’m going. Just keep your mouth shut. If you say anything to her about this, I’m going to fire you. For real this time.”

Kurt grinned. “All right, but you might want to hurry. Josh just showed up, and his eyeballs are dangling in your woman’s cleavage.”

Adam spun around to see Josh’s mouth hovering close to Preslee’s ear, as if he was trying to talk to her over the loud music, and his laser gaze was pinpointed directly between her breasts. Damn it.

A low growl rumbled from Adam’s throat. Before he even realized what he was doing, his feet propelled him forward through the crowd. But as he advanced on Josh and Preslee, an errant thought ran through his head. Preslee was his client. His friend. But not…well, his.

As much as he hated it, he needed to remember that.

*  *  *

Preslee leaned toward Josh, straining to hear what he said over the blaring music coming from the speaker over their heads. She probably couldn’t have picked a worse place to stand inside the bar if she’d tried.