The last few reps were almost impossible. That was the way a good workout should be—if Nic wasn’t ready to puke by the time he was lifting the bar the last time, he wasn’t pushing himself hard enough.

Just as he collapsed on the bench and tried to let sensation return to his arms, Nic’s cellphone went off. “Oh, Jesus,” he muttered, smacking his thigh with his hand a couple times before he managed to get it in his pocket. His arms were not going to thank him tomorrow.

The prickle of annoyance he felt faded when he saw Evie’s name on the screen. He winced as he raised the phone to his ear and grunted, “Hey.”

“Nic! Hi. Oh, thank God I got you.”

Shit. Something was wrong. Surely it was a work thing, right? But Evie sounded frantic. Please let it be a code problem.

“Evie? Hey, what’s up?” Pushing himself upright was a superhuman feat. Nic had to gulp some water before he could stand and leave the bench free for the guy waiting nearby. He leaned on the leg press while his world spun and reoriented itself.

“I’m not trying to impose, I know it’s late, I’m so sorry—but I tried some other people and I haven’t gotten an answer, and I had to try you, so I did—”

“Evie, whoa, whoa,” Nic urged. “It’s okay. I was just at the gym.” God, his arms ached. “You’re not bothering me. I need to know what’s wrong.”

“There was… shit, of course, you were at the gym. You didn’t see the news on Twitter.”

Nic’s chest kept tightening, but he kept his voice calm. “Evie.”

“There was a fire at Kyle’s office building. He’s in the hospital—he’s alive! He’s okay. I think. I don’t know, they wouldn’t tell me more.”

“Oh, shit,” Nic whispered. Luckily it wasn’t leg day, so he jogged to the changing room. “Oh, my God. He’s okay?”

“He’s not in critical condition or anything. But I need to go to the hospital, and… and I know this is a big favor, but can you watch Kevin?”

“Kevin…” Nic trailed off, his brow furrowing. A dog? A baby? Her baby? Why her kid? Me, of all people? He couldn’t remember either of them mentioning any of the above, so he took a stab in the dark. “Your kid?”

“Yeah. Kevin’s our kid.”

“Ohhh. Sorry, yeah, of course,” Nic instantly apologized, even though he hadn’t known.

“It’s okay. I’m so sorry. I know it’s totally out of the blue and probably not how you wanna spend your Monday night, but Kyle likes you, he’d trust you to watch him. Oh, shit, right. He probably didn’t tell you, did he? And Dana’s out of town. I don’t want to be a bother—” Evie was losing her breath.

“Evie, it’s okay,” Nic interrupted, keeping his voice calm, even if his heart was racing. Shit, Kyle could be hurt or worse right now. With HIPAA, anything was possible. “I’ll watch Kevin. Text me your address. I’ll shower and be right over.”

“Are you sure? Really? You don’t have to say yes—”

“Of course I do,” Nic told her. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked around the locker room, thankful he’d gone late when it was empty. “I care about Kyle, too. Anything I can do for him, for you… I wanna do. A few hours watching Kevin is nothing, okay? I’d want someone to help me out, if I had a kid, and a… Kyle.”

Evie’s shallow breathing caught in her throat. Then she swallowed and answered, “Oh. You’re serious about liking him.”

“Yeah. And more, if he’d let me.” Nic didn’t want to waste time talking about his feelings, so honesty was the only route forward.

“Oh, Nic,” Evie whispered, breathing out a quick sigh. “For what it’s worth… it’s not your fault he didn’t tell you about this. It’s too much for some guys to deal with, and—God, if I messed this up for him…”

Nic grabbed his clothes out of the locker and started pulling his shirt off, awkwardly jamming the phone against his neck. “You didn’t. Evie, it’s okay. I gotta go so I can get over there. Text me the address now, before you forget.”

Evie breathed out quickly. “Sh—shut the front door, Nic, thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Course. See you in a bit.”

With the urgency hanging over him now, Nic had never showered or changed faster. His hair was still damp when he hit the road, his hands tight on the wheel, swearing at the local news channel for playing radio ads instead of breaking news.

He did care about Kyle. A lot.

And Kyle trusted him to watch Evie’s kid. Not just that; the conversation had made it clear Kevin wasn’t just Evie’s kid, he was Kyle’s. Our kid, she’d said.

No wonder Kyle didn’t want to rush into anything. It wasn’t about him not being enough. Hell, Kyle had said he trusted Nic to watch Kevin.

Christ, Nic could kick himself for moping all day over that rescheduled meeting, feeling sorry for himself.

Helping Kyle and Evie in a moment of need was its own reward. But on top of that, now that Nic realized the complexity of Kyle’s life, he wasn’t dissuaded. In fact, if Nic told Kyle as much, he might just have a shot with him. From the way Evie had spoken to him, he had at least one of Kyle’s good friends’ approval, and a big hint as to why Kyle was acting this way.

It felt like being handed another chance. Nic was grabbing on with both hands. The way Kyle made him feel, anything was worth a try.