He didn’t like the idea of her trying to make herself more attractive for a man. Any man. She was beautiful just the way she was. Didn’t she know that? Because if she didn’t, Adam would have been happy to explain it to her.

But the one thing he couldn’t do was discourage her from going after something she wanted. Even if it was some dude who didn’t seem to give her the time of day. “Well, you never know if you don’t give it a shot, right? Go for it.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. It’s probably a lost cause. Josh, uh, doesn’t seem interested.”

Because he’s an idiot. “So what are you going to do about that?” Adam asked, hoping his words would fire her up to go after what she wanted.

“Give up,” she said quietly. “It’s what I always do when something isn’t working for me. I quit.”

Adam frowned. Her admission reminded him of the night when she’d thrown away her card and left. She’d given up too easily. He’d thought it was out of frustration, not that it was a pattern.

While he was confident that he could help her attain her goals, that was going to be hard to do if she decided to quit every time she got discouraged. If they were going to work together, he needed to find something to encourage progress and keep her coming back to the gym. Even if that meant…

Damn. Adam sighed. He knew firsthand how competitive men could be. Especially when it came to women. If he had to use Josh to keep her motivated, then so be it. That was exactly what he would do. Even if he didn’t know what she saw in the guy. “I can, uh…help you with the Josh situation.”

She squinted. “The Josh situation?”

“Yeah. You want him to notice you, right?” He waited until she nodded hesitantly before continuing. “I can help with that.”

Confusion swamped her face. “How?”

“By flirting with you in front of him.”

Her eyes widened. “Uh, I don’t think that would—”

“It’ll work,” he said. “Trust me. The moment he sees another man taking an interest in you, it’ll pique his own. I guarantee it.”

She didn’t even hesitate. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t. I offered.”

She paused. “But why? What do you get out of this?”

He frowned. “Do you always expect someone to have ulterior motives? Can’t someone just do something nice for you?”

She crossed her arms. “Answer the question, Adam.”

“All right,” he said, grinning. “You and Josh can name your first kid after me.”

Preslee huffed out a breath. “I’m serious, Adam. Why would you want to…flirt with me? Wouldn’t that be awkward for you?”