“Great job,” Adam said, giving her a high five. “I’m impressed. I didn’t expect you to run the entire time. That was awesome.”

She blew out another breath as she reached for the water bottle she’d left in the cup holder. “Yeah, well, if you keep working me out this hard, I’m going to have to fake my own death soon.”

He laughed. “What? No way. This wasn’t even the toughest part of today’s workout. We were only getting your heart rate up. Now the real workout begins.”

She gaped at him. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope. It’s Friday, and you’re going to have two days of rest over the weekend. So we’re going to work on arms and shoulders today. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

Preslee wandered over to the nearby cleaning station to grab some paper towels and the sanitizing spray the gym provided. She returned and began to wipe down her machine. “Didn’t we work on those earlier this week?”

“Yep. But you do know that you have to do these exercises more than once to get results, right?” His mouth quirked up.

She rolled her eyes as she tossed the paper towels in a nearby trash can. “Funny.”

“Come on,” he said, motioning for her to follow him. “I had you lifting weights before, but today we’re using the cable pulley machine.”

“The cable pulley machine?” she asked, trudging along behind him. “Why does that sound so…Fifty Shades?”

Adam chuckled. “Well, I should probably give you a safe word. Because you will definitely be in pain and begging me to stop by the time I’m through with you.” He turned to wink salaciously at her.

Her heart lurched wildly in her chest, but she ignored it and released an uneasy giggle. “And I bet you’re going to take a lot of pleasure in that, right?”

He stopped in front of the cable pulley machine and turned back to face her with an amused grin. “No doubt.”

Preslee put her hands on her hips. “I knew you were a sadist.”

*  *  *

By the time Monday evening rolled around, Adam was a simmering pot of mixed emotions. Irritation. Aggravation. Annoyance. Okay, so maybe they were all pretty much the same emotion. Whatever.

There was only one reason for his foul mood. He’d gone the entire weekend without seeing Preslee once. He’d been waiting—rather impatiently—for her to stop by the gym to say hello. But she hadn’t come in.

Where is she? What has kept her so busy?

Sadly, he had only known Preslee for two weeks, yet he couldn’t make it through two days without thinking about her. And it was driving him nuts. Mostly because it was none of his business where she was or what she was doing.

That was the real kick in the pants.