“It’s just an observation.” He was quiet for a moment as he set the casserole dish on the coffee table. “Umm…Silas used to do the same thing. He said hearing the words spoken aloud helped him to comprehend them better than just reading the text.”

Well, that made sense to her. “I don’t understand what the big deal is,” Taylor said.

“It’s not a big deal. When we were in about the tenth grade, Silas was diagnosed with a learning disorder. It changed the way teachers—”

“We can go over your game plan later,” she said. She set the legal pad on the coffee table. “We need to get going. I booked us for an hour at this new CrossFit gym in the city. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late.”

Taylor could tell by his pensive expression that he wanted to say more. She stared into his eyes, imploring him to drop it.

After a moment, he nodded and, in a subdued voice, said, “I’ll meet you outside in ten minutes. I’ll follow in my SUV so that you don’t have to ride all the way back up here once we’re done.”

An hour later, Taylor’s biceps burned like liquid fire as she counted down the last five hammer curls before instructing Jamar to stop.

“Holy shit,” she said. “We’re both going to pay for this in the morning.”

She set the twenty-pound kettlebell back into the rack, then rubbed it down with a sanitizing wipe. She pulled a few more from the plastic container and did the same to the rest of the surfaces they’d touched during the high-intensity full-body circuit Jamar had just completed. This boutique CrossFit gym had been on her radar for a while now, but none of her previous clients had been willing to spend the money they charged to rent the space to nonmembers.

As much as she appreciated Jamar’s personal gym, getting the chance to work him out on the gymnastic rings, rope-climbing wall, and monkey-bar rig was worth putting on a public show. Not that there was anyone here to watch the performance.

She’d chosen this particular place because they offered an exclusivity option on certain days of the week. They had two hours to themselves, and Taylor was going to make the most of it. They would both be exhausted by the time they were done.

She continued wiping down the surfaces, observing Jamar out of the corner of her eye as he replaced the athletic tape around his wrists and ankles.

Taylor had always considered herself a forearm kinda girl. Well-defined forearms on a man were her kryptonite. But Jamar’s powerful, chiseled thighs made a convincing case for switching to the leg camp. Watching the way his inner thigh flexed as it peeked out of the hem of his shorts had her wanting to take a bite out of it.