He slowly lowered her to the floor, keeping one hand on her waist until she stepped back far enough to release it.

There he stood, wearing a gray tank top, shorts and a pair of sneakers. He had just the right amount of sweat beading on his forehead, obviously from doing some kind of exercise that she hadn't noticed during her furious walk on the treadmill.

"What? No thank you for catching you in mid air?" he said with a laugh.

"Thank you." She turned and started to walk towards the elliptical machine, trying to slip her earbuds into her ears before he had a chance to say anything else.

"Do you need me to show you how to work the treadmill? I mean I wouldn't want you putting a hole in that wall. That would be pretty expensive to repair."

She glared at him. "The stupid machine malfunctioned. I know how to work it."

"That's really weird because I use that machine almost every day."

"Good for you. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to listen to my music now."

That did nothing to dissuade him from following her right over to the elliptical machine. He leaned on the handles, his elbows keeping them from moving. He was like some sort of handsome bully that she didn't know whether to slug or ask out to dinner.

"Why do I get the feeling that you don't like me?"

"Because you're perceptive?" she said, sarcastically.

"Listen, I'm really a pretty nice guy. I open doors for people, I pay my taxes, I visit my grandma and I catch women when they're flying across rooms. What more could you ask for?"

Kate leaned forward, getting within a few inches of his face. “Does this routine usually work on the women around here? Because it’s not working on me.” Lies, all lies.

Cooper stood back up and smiled. “I guess I need to up my game, then.”

Kate rolled her eyes and started moving, hoping that he’d get the hint to just walk away. No such luck.

“And, for your information, I just moved back here a couple of weeks ago after being gone for almost ten years.”

“You came back to this place? Why?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Contrary to what you may think, this town grows on you after awhile.”

“I would highly doubt it,” she said.

“Well, I’ll leave ya to it, Katie,” he said, turning to walk back to the weight area.

“Kate,” she grumbled as she put her ear buds back in. And she might have watched his very toned rear end as he walked away.

Evie stood on her tip toes and reached high into the closet. Turning to make sure no one was watching her, she pulled down the box she’d spied a few days before. This house was a treasure trove of interesting things, and she’d never been able to say no to digging for secrets.