“Are you planning to call me Twenty-Three for the next two months?”

“It’s that or Chicago Bears. Pick one.”

“Why would I choose either of those when Jamar is so much easier?”

“I never take the easy way. Let that be a warning,” she said with a wink.

He grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Apparently the flutter that swept through her belly had not gotten the memo that this was a no belly-fluttering situation. She cleared her throat. “Let’s go over what I came up with.”

After a few minutes of reviewing the various cardio drills she’d designed, he got up and asked, “Can I get you something to drink? Water? Orange juice?”

“Water is fine.”

He pulled two bottles of water out of the refrigerator; then he went into a walk-in pantry and came out with a bag of potato chips.

Potato chips? Was he serious?

He reclaimed his seat and unfurled the top of the bag. Taylor took it out of his hand before he could reach for a chip.

“If you’re going to get back in tip-top form, you’ll have to say goodbye to these,” she said. She slid off the barstool and looked around for a garbage can. There was none. “You’re ruining my dramatic effect here. I wanted to toss the chips in the trash and slam the lid closed for emphasis.”

“Don’t throw away my chips.” He rounded the kitchen island and plucked the bag from her hands. “They’re organic and they’re baked.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She tried to snatch the bag back, but he held it out of her reach. “You need to limit your complex carbs. If you’re craving a crunchy snack, go for those made from lentils or white beans instead.”

“I don’t like lentils,” he said as he retrieved a chip.

Taylor plopped her hands on her hips. “Are you seriously going to eat those in front of me? Okay, you need to decide if you’re going to take this seriously. If not, I can leave. I won’t have you saying in two months that I didn’t do my job because you can’t say no to a potato chip.”

He dropped the chip back into the bag and held it out to her. Taylor snatched it from his hands.

“You see, this is why I wanted to hire you,” Jamar said. “Another trainer wouldn’t have had the balls to tell me off the way you just did.” He dusted his fingers, as if wiping away crumbs. “I’m done with potatoes. Bring on the lentil chips.”

“You have to earn lentil chips.”

His brow arched, amusement shimmering in his dark brown eyes. “Is that how it is?”

“You wanted a drill sergeant,” she said.

Taylor wiped the grin off her face before he misconstrued it as flirting. Except this totally felt like flirting. Shit.