Yeah, no kidding. When Adam had first opened his gym and began working as a trainer, he’d decided right then that he would never mix business with pleasure. Not only because there was a chance it could end in a major disaster, but because there was an imbalance of power about it that he didn’t like.

Yet Adam shook his head, dismissing his friend’s remarks. Sure, Preslee was beautiful and intriguing. But he was only curious about her, that was all. Probably because she was new to his gym, and he was worried that she might hurt herself. It had nothing to do with bedding the woman. “You’re wrong. Neither has anything to do with why I don’t want to train her.”

“All right. Then that leaves only one other explanation,” Kurt said, leaning back against the counter with a grin. “You don’t think you can help her get fit.”

Adam released a disgruntled sound from the back of his throat. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I can.”

Kurt’s brow rose. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

“How about we make a friendly bet on it?”

Adam knew what his friend was doing. Besides himself, Kurt was one of the most competitive people on the planet, and in all the years they’d known each other, neither of them had ever turned down a bet with the other. But this was different. “We’re not making a friendly bet.”

“Okay, so a real bet then.”

What? No, that wasn’t what he meant.

But Kurt continued before Adam could say so. “Twenty bucks to the winner.”

Adam snorted. “Okay. Now I know you’re joking. No one in their right mind would accept a twenty-dollar bet in exchange for that many hours of training.”

Kurt grinned. “All right. Then here’s the deal. If you can convince Preslee to let you train her and meet her fitness goals, then I’ll stop bugging you about letting me buy into the gym as half owner.”

Adam blinked. What the hell? He hadn’t been trying to up the stakes.

While he couldn’t think of a better partner for his business than Kurt, he really wanted to prove that he could make his gym successful on his own before bringing anyone else on board. Besides, the last thing he would let his buddy do was buy into a failing business. What kind of friend would he be if he did that?

But as competitive as Adam was, he also couldn’t stand the thought of passing up an opportunity to win another bet. Especially one of this magnitude. And the gym really did need the free advertisement that Preslee’s fitness goals could possibly bring them. If he used this opportunity to his advantage, it could be the one thing that saved his business. And possibly salvaged any relationship he had left with his family.