This morning there still had been some lingering stiffness in her calves that had made itself known every time she walked downstairs to the storeroom or back up again. But thankfully, the pain had mostly faded away. Well, the physical pain anyway. The mental anguish of the past three days was still very real and present.

Her head flopped forward and banged onto the desk again. Ouch. Yep, it didn’t hurt any less the second time. But she planned to stay like this for the next fifteen minutes. By then, Josh and Greg should be back from their delivery and heading into the break room for lunch, and she planned to join them in hopes of starting another casual—and probably awkward—conversation with Josh.

The bells on the entrance door chimed, and Preslee groaned. There was no way Josh had gotten back that fast. Which meant it was probably another townsperson who had seen the video and decided to stop in and pepper her with questions. Ones that she didn’t feel like answering.

Yet when her head lifted, her gaze fell directly on Adam Caldwell sauntering toward her with a confident swagger. Her stomach twisted, and she blinked rapidly, as if she expected him to vanish suddenly like some sort of mirage. But no. He was really there, moving toward her with a devastating smile that made her pulse quicken.

What the heck was he doing here?

Adam stopped in front of her desk. “Hey, Preslee. How are you?”

Still reeling in shock, she could barely get words out. “Uh, fine. H-how are you?”

“Great. Thanks for asking.” He leaned one hand against her desk as he glanced around the gallery. “Great little shop you have here. You have some pretty cool vintage stuff.”

She stared at him warily, still not understanding why he was standing in her dad’s store. “Um, yeah, everything here is vintage.” She shrugged lightly. “That’s kind of the point of it being an antique shop,” she said, offering him a teasing grin.

“Right. I knew that.” He gave her another heart-stopping smile. “So where have you been the past few days? I haven’t seen you in the gym since the other night.”

Oh my God. That’s what he came here for? Jeez. Pushy much?

She crossed her arms defensively and scowled at him. “Do you stalk all of your members like this…or only the heavy ones?”

The smile melted from his face. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you showing up at my place of business to find out why I haven’t been back to your gym. Frankly, I find it rude and obnoxious.”