Oh yeah. Flirting with a beautiful woman was a real hardship. As if. But it wasn’t like he could tell her that. Nor could he tell her that he wanted to use Josh to motivate her. “I technically wouldn’t be flirting with you. I’d be pretending.”

Yeah, right. Liar.

“But that doesn’t explain what you’d get out of it.”

Shit. She wasn’t going to leave it alone. “Look, how about we make this into an arrangement of sorts? I’ll help you with Josh if you do me a favor. You could, ah…” Well, he had to bring it up sooner or later. “Help promote my gym.”

Confusion filled her eyes. “How?”

Not sure how well it was going to go over, he thought it best to ease her into it. “For starters, you could recommend it to your friends. I could always use some new members.”

Her cheeks reddened. “I, um, don’t really have any friends.”

Adam blinked. “What do you mean? You just stopped and spoke to Max and Brett. And Max said you knew his wife and that Jessa might be willing to join.”

She waved a hand through the air dismissively. “Yeah, I know her. But Granite is a small town. That doesn’t mean she’s a friend. I don’t…uh, never mind.”

“No, say it.”

She sighed. “I don’t…get close to people.”

“How come?”

Her head lowered, and she fidgeted with her hands. “If given the chance, people let you down. I don’t open myself up for that kind of heartache anymore. I’ve done it too many times in the past.”

He paused. “But what about Josh? If you start dating him, wouldn’t you be doing just that?”

“Yes. And it scares me. But I don’t want to be alone forever.” She blinked, surprise flitting through her eyes, as if she hadn’t meant to admit that out loud. Then she shook her head. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this. All I can say is that I don’t mind promoting your gym. You can leave flyers or business cards on the desk at the shop, and I’m happy to recommend the Body Shop to anyone who comes in. Other than that, I don’t know how else I can help.”

Her comment bothered him. Why did she feel so alone? People obviously liked her. Hell, he liked her. A lot. And his nerves were firing like rockets through his veins with the need to say just that. But he didn’t want to push her. Otherwise, she might shut down completely. That was the last thing he wanted.

So instead, he forced himself to appear casual and, not knowing how she’d react, make the suggestion he had led up to. “How about doing another video on your vlog?”