Preslee turned her head to gaze at him over her shoulder and offered him a teasing grin. “Is this your gentle way of saying you don’t want me bleeding to death on your gym floor?”

He returned her smile. “Yeah, I’d prefer that didn’t happen.”

“Well, you’re no fun.”

Adam’s smile widened. “You did sign the waiver saying that if you injure yourself, it’s not the gym’s fault, right? Because I’m thinking about having you sign another.”

She giggled. “Don’t worry. You’re covered. I signed it. Besides, if I sued someone every time I got hurt, I’d be a billionaire by now.”

His brow rose. “Let me guess. Accident prone?”

Her shoulder lifted in a quick shrug. “Well, I would’ve said klutz, but the way you put it sounds much kinder. Let’s just say I’m the only person I know who can cut myself with a spoon.”

Adam chuckled. The woman obviously had a good sense of humor and could laugh at herself. He admired that. He also liked that she hadn’t given up after the mishap she’d had on the machine. Though he’d make damn sure that didn’t happen next time.

He continued giving her tips on how to use the stair-climber successfully, as well as the proper form she should maintain while doing so. Once he finished going over everything at the top of the machine, she grabbed her phone, and they moved to the bottom. “See those metal footholds on both sides? Those are there for you to step on or off the machine.”

“I didn’t even notice them before. That makes sense.”

He nodded. “Use them next time. And after you use this machine a few more times and get used to it, I can show you a variety of exercises you can do on it that will work whichever muscles you want to focus on.”

“Well, I’m here to lose weight so that’s pretty much all of them,” she said, then winced as if she hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.

He leaned toward her and lowered his voice, hoping to put her at ease. “Preslee, don’t be shy about asking questions. Between Kurt and me, one of us is always available and happy to help.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling. “I appreciate that.”

Just as Adam opened his mouth to tell her it wasn’t a problem, the tip of her tongue darted out to lick her full pink lips, and his own lips froze on the words. Because it would’ve been a blatant lie. There was a problem. And it mostly had to do with how one little sensual gesture on her part had caused something warm and insistent to move through him, low and deep, at the speed of a rocket.