Chapter 3

Gavin made a beeline for the courtyard, narrowly avoiding his father and Flynn, another of his yappy cousins. Once outside, he sank gratefully onto a bench off in the shadows. He closed his eyes and let the brisk evening air cool him off, felt the whisper of the spring wind, and heard laughter and muted music. The leaves on the trees fluttered, and his calm returned in slow measures.

Then he heard a whine.

He blinked his eyes open and heard a whump-whump. Another whine, this one suspiciously canine. “Hello?”

A soft woof, and he spotted what appeared to be a big dog. Maybe a Great Dane or Rhodesian ridgeback? It moaned hopefully.

Gavin rose from his bench and moved across the courtyard to the dog, tied to another bench and tangled in his lead. It turned out to be a giant puppy. The dog had a water bowl and a bone but wanted to lick every spot on Gavin’s face and hands instead.

Gavin chuckled as he untangled the leash, giving the dog space to move. “Easy, boy. Wow. You’re friendly, huh?” He sucked in his breath when the large pup nearly gelded him. But the dog calmed right down when Gavin used a deep-voiced command for sit. He peered at the collar and, when he turned the tag just right, saw a name. “Jekyll, huh? Makes sense, because you are nearly one huge Hyde already.” He sat, stroking the dog, and the big puppy soaked up the attention like a sponge. Anytime Gavin stopped, the dog nudged him with that huge head to continue.

Not sure how long he sat there petting Jekyll, Gavin felt himself easing all the way down, able to once again truly enjoy himself. He wondered how his parents were doing, if Landon had escaped with Ava, if Hope had danced with more of Del’s guests. Had Theo, not yet of legal age, tried to snag himself a beer?

He also wondered what Zoe was up to. A date? Washing her hair? Breathing? He clearly recalled her snarky put-downs. To his surprise, he hadn’t seen her last night at the self-defense session. And that bothered him. He’d tried to talk to her at the gym on Wednesday and Thursday, but both times she’d been too busy running to converse. She was definitely sending out don’t touch vibes. And though he’d been called persistent, he hadn’t wanted to look like that guy who didn’t understand that no meant no.

Seemed like with Zoe, he was dead in the water with no place to go but down. He sighed.

As he petted the dog, a woman rushed outside straight in his direction. She seemed frantic, upset.

“You okay?” he asked.

She gave a small shriek, and Jekyll tensed.

“Shh, it’s okay, boy,” Gavin said to calm the pup. To her, he apologized, “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I came out here to clear my head. Too much loud music in there.”

“Oh.” The woman held a hand to her chest. He couldn’t make out much of her face, but she seemed younger than Hope and had a petite frame. “You scared me. But now I can see you. Took my eyes a minute to get used to it being darker out here.” She sighed. “Yeah, that music is loud.” She paused. “What are you doing? Is that a dog?”

“This is Jekyll. We just met.” He watched as she neared, the moonlight highlighting her features before she joined him under the shadow of the trees. Her enthusiasm for Jekyll had him sliding over in the seat to make room for her. “Careful. He likes to lick.”

“Oh, he’s adorable.” The woman chuckled as she sat. “So big, though. I always wanted a dog when I was little.”

“We all do,” he said. “Until we have to clean up after it. I went through my dog phase pretty quickly.”

She nodded, still enthralled with Jekyll. He sat like a gentleman as she stroked him.

“You okay?” Gavin asked.

“Yes. Just avoiding someone inside.” She sighed.

“You want me to talk to them for you?” Gavin could barely take care of himself. But if a woman needed help, he could suck up his issues and deal. “Is this a woman thing, like someone being bitchy? Or is one of the guys inside bugging you?”

“Oh no,” she protested. “Nothing like that, really.” She groaned. “He hasn’t done more than say hello, but I can feel him watching me. Not like a stalker or anything. But like he’s going to ask me out, maybe. Not that he has or anything. I don’t know.” She groaned again, and though Gavin couldn’t see her, he could hear the blush in her voice.

He grinned. “So that’s a no to me beating him to a pulp?”

“I sound stupid. The poor man has done nothing more than look at me and say hello once or twice, but he makes me nervous.”

“Nervous can be good. As long as it’s not psycho-stalker nervous.”

“You’re not helping.”

He chuckled. “Sorry. But it’s funny to hear it from a woman’s perspective. I want to make a certain woman notice me, and I’ve said hello a bunch of times.” And flexed for her, but that was beside the point. “But she won’t give me the time of day.”

“Maybe that’s because you make her nervous. She’s probably hiding, like me.”

“Hmm. Maybe.” Something to think about. “You going to be okay out here?”

“Yes. But if anyone asks, you never saw me.”

He stood and saluted. “Right. Bye, Jekyll.”

He left the pretty brunette alone with the dog and entered the great room again. When Hope found him right away, he turned his head from her, cupping his cheek.

“Gavin? Gavin, where were you?”

“My face. God. He has big hands.” A peek at her showed his sister had paled.

“Oh no. I was kidding. Seriously, no one bothered me at all. I…” She trailed off as he straightened, dropping his hand, and looked down his nose at her. “Asshole.” She marched off, her lack of concern for her dear brother heartbreaking.

Landon joined him. “So Mike finally got himself hitched again. Sucker.”

They snickered, though they were both pleased for their cousin. Mike’s first wife had died years ago in childbirth. That he’d found love again had surprised all of them. Gavin had to hand it to him. The guy had guts, opening himself to risk like that.

“Seen Theo?” he asked, not seeing his brother around.

Landon pursed his lips. “Maybe I have. Take a look. I sent Dad to find him.”

Gavin followed Landon’s gaze and saw their father walk up behind Theo, who was taking a sip of beer from a bottle clearly not his own. Then Gavin watched as Theo spit out what he’d been drinking and choked when their father patted him on the back.

“I take it you arranged everything?”

“What? Like getting my underage brother a beer with the promise not to tell anyone, then letting Dad know Theo was planning to take a drink? Nah. Not me. Must have been Hope who narced.”

“Nice.” Gavin chuckled. “So setting Theo up… You’re still thinking it was him that put the blow-up doll in your bed.” Back when Landon had been courting Ava, a doll looking suspiciously like her had ended up in his brother’s bed. Landon’s lips flattened, apparently still not amused with one hell of a prank. “Yeah, I do.”

“I do too.” Gavin knew Theo had done it. A work of genius. He had real hopes for his kid brother. “That or Hope.” Payback for throwing him at freakish Sam, the giant. “She’s shifty enough to do it, and she’d been the one upstairs alone that time. Remember how she bitched about my unclean bathroom?” Try to sucker me. Ha. That’ll teach you, Hope.

Landon’s eyes narrowed. “Good point. I’ll have to give Hope some of my personal attention too. Wouldn’t want her to feel left out.”

“You do that.”

After a pause, Landon glanced at him. “It’s kind of loud in here. Ava and I are planning to take off.”

“Me too.” Gavin felt relieved that he could leave without looking like a wuss. “Can I get a ride?”

Landon nodded, and Gavin thought maybe Landon felt the same about the noise. His brother had seen some shit overseas. Sand and hot sun, mortars, gunfire. Maybe Landon also felt closed in here with too many people, too much noise. The guy had Ava to help him, though, so Gavin didn’t overly worry about Landon’s state of mind. Not as if Big Brother ever had a problem he couldn’t handle anyway.

Gavin followed him back to Ava, musing on his evening. He’d spent some quality time with his cousins, who amused him for the most part. He’d found the courtyard and Jekyll. And he’d scammed his sister. So all in all, not a bad night.

Of course, going home to find Zoe York in his bed—minus her pink yoga pants—would have made the night perfect. But hey, he still had hope. Envision it, and it will come, he chanted to himself. And smiled.

* * *

Sunday morning at the gym, Zoe leg-pressed until her thighs shook. Missing her workout times had put her off schedule, and she felt like an addict undergoing withdrawal. But one of her training teams at work was dealing with an unexpected illness, so she’d had to take over his classes at one of the satellite clinics near Tacoma.

The hours this past week had been brutal. And ending on a Friday at six? The traffic had been hellacious, forcing her to miss the final self-defense class. She refused to think about how much she’d looked forward to it. Now she had no more excuses to watch Gavin Donnigan so carefully.

She’d done a lot of thinking the past week, and she’d grown tired of trying to maintain a careful distance between herself and the rest of the world. Zoe wasn’t by nature a withdrawn or morose individual. Yes, she worked hard, but she maintained a sense of humor and liked being around others. Not all the time, but enough to know she appreciated socializing.

Grieving her sister had taken its toll, and Zoe wanted to smile again, to feel alive.

One person had made her more aware of the world around her. Even though he spouted nonsense and thought a little too highly of himself, she’d finally admitted to herself that she wanted to know him better. Guns of Steel intrigued her, and she figured she could at least give him the chance to charm her before he inevitably did something stupid and she walked away.

She finished her leg presses in a less-crowded gym than she was used to, completed her circuit, and decided to finish up with a light jog to cool down. She’d spotted Gavin talking to one of the regulars while they both worked out. Obviously, he wasn’t on the clock today, yet he’d still come to the gym, as fanatical about routine and exercise as she was. As she watched him, her heart raced a lot faster than the easy jog required.

Zoe continued to run, studying Gavin in his natural environment. He smiled and laughed at something the older man with him said. Seeming at ease, Gavin looked too darn pretty to be working in a gym. With his smile and physique, he should be modeling for a protein powder or fitness magazine.

She sighed, wishing she was better than that—a woman who got her rocks off ogling the hot trainers at the gym.

As if he’d felt her stare, Gavin glanced over and blinked. He nodded, but didn’t have the easy grin he normally gave her. This was friendly but aloof.

She didn’t like it.

Frowning, she slowed down on the treadmill. Gavin said something to the man with him. They continued to talk while Gavin finished his set of weights. Then he put them down to help the guy do his reps. After a new set of bicep curls, Gavin handed the older man his towel, then slapped him on the shoulder and walked away.

Zoe left her machine, gave it a cursory wipe-down, then followed Gavin. Fortunately, she hadn’t lost him to the men’s locker room. She found him alone, doing push-ups in the room where they held their self-defense classes.

“Gavin?”

He didn’t stop exercising, and she couldn’t help but be entranced. Wow, was he strong. And ripped. She didn’t get the sense he worked out to show off either, which actually impressed her even more. She watched his back and arms, his shoulders, as he moved up and down with ease.

“What’s up?” he rasped and continued to move.

He paused, only to adjust his hands, then started doing triangle push-ups, which even she had a hard time doing.

She watched in silence while he finished twenty more push-ups.

He slowly stood and stretched, rounding his shoulders to stretch his lats. “Zoe?” he prodded.

She’d made up her mind. Time to see this through. “I missed the last session, and I was hoping you could show me what we did. With classes being over, I can’t make up what I missed.”

“True.” He considered her. “Where were you?”

Nosy, but if he planned to help her, she could concede him an answer. “One of my trainers couldn’t make it to work. Sick kid, so I had to step in and teach his class. Put me over on my time and stuck in Tacoma late on a Friday.” She sighed. “Totally screwed with my gym schedule, but hey, it’s my crew. My responsibility.”

“What do you teach?”

“Electronic medical record software. I work at SMP Medical Group.”

“Yeah?”

“You know when you go to the doctor, and he’s busy tapping away at his computer, documenting the exam?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s us.”

Gavin smirked. “And when he’s swearing at it because it’s not doing what it’s supposed to?”

She sighed. “That’s us getting the software company to fix the bugs. Though nine times out of ten, it’s actually user error. Just because the doc’s wearing a white coat doesn’t mean he or she is computer literate.”

Gavin chuckled.

“Seems like it’d be easy, but there’s constant turnover of the medical staff, and we have to do periodic updates and roll out new work-flow systems. Especially when the software is new to us,” she rambled, annoyed with herself for doing so. His easy smile and laughter made her edgy. “Well? You going to show me what I missed, or what?” When Zoe grew nervous, she tended to take refuge in assertive behavior. Great when at work, not so great when trying to attract a man.

“Huh.” He looked her over. “So you’re pretty smart.”

She frowned. Had that ever been in question? Before she could say something sarcastic that would no doubt get her banned from his presence, he waved her closer.

“You missed the fun stuff.” He wiggled his brows.

She wished he was less handsome—or less captivating. It wasn’t so much his looks as the total package that got to her. That sexy tough guy that sometimes seemed a little…off. Not wacky, just apart, as if he wasn’t quite with the rest of the group. She’d seen him staring off into space a time or two, and it made her feel a kinship with the man. The two of them locked in a knot of emotion that no one else would understand.

Of course, he might have been dwelling on choices for dinner, for all she knew. But she didn’t think so. Gavin had depth. And persistence. Or so she’d assumed. For four long months, he’d been bugging her to smile. Now that she felt ready to, he suddenly gave up?

She scowled. “You know, if you’re too busy pumping up in here—all alone, watching yourself in the mirror—I can always find someone else to show me the ropes. When will Landon be in?”

“Now, now, Yoga Pants. Don’t get in a snit. Let Professor Gavin show you how it’s done.”

She rolled her eyes, biting back a smile. Man, she’d missed his sense of humor. There was something really wrong with her. “I am more than my yoga pants, Professor.”

He sighed. “So much more.”

Not wanting to ask what that meant, she said nothing and simply followed his instructions.

They tugged each other back and forth, gripping shoulders, and Gavin showed her how to break free from his grasp. Their proximity caused the butterflies in her belly to spasm and dance, no matter how hard she tried to see him objectively. A self-defense instructor. Just her teacher. Her hot, sexy, totally built teacher.

They seemed to be touching a lot more than they normally did in class, but since he’d done nothing inappropriate and had agreed to help her, who was she to judge?

He said something else, but she couldn’t think beyond the feel of all that muscle under the thin T-shirt beneath her hands. He was so hot…literally. Like a furnace as he moved, all that power bunching under supple flesh. God, he even smelled good. Not funky, but clean. A healthy sweat that did nothing but rev her engines.

I have got to stop touching him. He’s frying my circuits.

“You got it?” he asked.

She nodded. Sure, sure. Maybe Piper had been right about her fixation—

He yanked her off her feet and flipped her onto her back, flat on the mat, though he’d moved with her, easing her landing.

Leaning over her while she sucked in a breath, wheezing, he stared down in concern. “Zoe? You okay?”

She glared between pants, trying to catch her breath, and rasped, “You…threw me…to the…ground.”

“You said you were ready.”

It took her a moment to realize that had been the meaning behind You got it?—which she totally had not. Served her right for ogling the man.

When she was finally able to stop gasping for air, she took hold of her embarrassment and let him help her to her feet. “Show me that again, but slower.”

Gavin nodded, unsuccessfully biting back a smirk, and took her through the steps of using his counterweight and her own body mechanics to basically trip her opponent over her, adding her opponent’s momentum to increase the pressure of his fall.

After a few dry runs, she motioned for him to grab her again. “For real this time.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t take it easy on me.”

He scoffed. “Sure. I’ll punch you in the face a few times and slug you in the belly, bend you into a pretzel, maybe pull your hair too. Then I’ll see if you can flip me over. You sure you’re ready for this, lightweight?”

“Smart-ass.” Though if he really wanted to, he could crush her. He clearly knew how to use deadly force. “Hey, you’re the one teaching us this high-level stuff. If you didn’t want us using it in real life, why bother?”

“You’d never use this if someone was attacking you, not unless you were really advanced in martial arts or self-defense.” He shrugged. “But it’s the last class. I want you to have a little fun. I mean, the class needed something punchy to liven it up.” He grinned. “Get it? Punchy?”

“Oh my God. Please stop. No more talk. More action. Now come at me.”

He rotated his head, cracking his neck. Then he stretched his arms over his head. Seeing her obvious impatience, he held up a finger. “Hold on. I’m preparing for the role of a lifetime.” After another annoying minute that felt like half an hour, he gave her an irritating leer and advanced. “Hey there, little lady. You sure are pretty.”

“You going for cowboy or southern thug?”

He blew out a breath and muttered, “Bitch and moan, bitch and moan.” After clearing his throat, he tried again. “I’m looking for a good time. How about you and me go into a dark, dangerous alley and have hot monkey sex?” He grabbed her shoulder. “And I mean now. I won’t take no for an answer. Not even if you pay me. Because I’m mean. I’m hungry, and I’m… What are you doing?”

Instead of trying to move away, Zoe slid closer and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He froze. “Uh, Zoe?”

Off-balance, just the way she wanted him. She tilted her face up for a kiss. When he leaned down to meet her, she slid back and, in the same motion, pulled him down, then used her legs to kick him up and over her. Not exactly what he’d shown her, but she’d tried this move before at her friend’s gym, and the modified leverage worked.

He landed flat on his back with a hard thump. She rolled to her hands and knees to face him, grinning with victory. But he lay with his eyes closed, unmoving.

“Gavin?”

Nothing, just the slightest rise and fall of his chest.

Oh hell. What if she’d hurt him? Waiting for him to catch his breath grew worrisome. “Hey, lightweight,” she teased, anxious, “wake up.”

When he still didn’t move, she hurried to his side and looked for possible injury. She put a tentative hand on his neck, and he pounced.

Gavin rolled her under him, pinning her to the floor with a triumphant smile on his stupid, handsome face. “Well, well. How the tables have turned.”

“You cheated,” she sputtered.

“Oh? Really? I was just taking a cue from my supposed victim.” He settled against her, and he felt heavy, solid.

She squirmed under him, as much to distance herself from the arousing heat building inside her as from his actual presence.

He snorted. “Really? This is how you escape from a jerk bent on harassing you?” To his credit, he didn’t lower his whole lower body to crush her, yet he held her too easily.

“We never got to floor work,” she muttered, unable to look away from his eyes. Lord, they really were smoky, mysterious, alluring… “So what do you suggest, Professor?”

He glanced from her eyes to her mouth, then leisurely back up to her gaze. “I suggest you try to distract me again. Then you should definitely knee me in the balls.” He grimaced. “So let’s say you did, and I’ll get off you now.”

She clutched his shoulders when he would have moved, and he tensed. “You mean, like this?”

He immediately dropped like a rock and shoved his thighs between hers, so that her knees splayed on either side of his muscular legs. A nice move. No way to knee him this way, she thought with a moment of humor. Then she met his gaze and stopped breathing.

The look he gave her… She was afraid of going up in flames.

“Like what, exactly?” he asked, his voice husky, his face so close she could count each individual eyelash. And man, he had a forest of them, shuttering the sudden brilliance of his stare.

“Huh?”

His lips curled. “You said, ‘You mean, like this?’ Like what, Zoe?”

The rumble of his voice vibrated through his chest to hers. Caught like a doe in the eyes of a hungry wolf, she dared not blink.

Then she amended her analogy. More like a hungry she-wolf staring up into the eyes of a rangy buck. You’re mine this time, Smoky. “This,” Zoe whispered, as caught in his spell as she’d ever been. She tugged him closer, until she felt the warmth of his mouth against hers.

Zoe didn’t do spontaneous. She didn’t kiss men she didn’t know that well. She didn’t instigate passion until she’d thought through every possible outcome of such a union. Aubrey lived for the moment. Her twin had grabbed life by the tail and pulled with all her might. Yet Zoe couldn’t stop herself…and she couldn’t find it in her to care that she was acting so contrary to her nature.

Like magic, she melted under Gavin, lost in his taste, his touch. To her delighted surprise, he didn’t turn aggressor. Rather, he followed her lead. She deepened the kiss, then heard him groan and yanked his shoulders closer, pressing them together as tightly as two people could be, running one leg against a muscular thigh spreading her wide.

She teased with her tongue, sliding inside his mouth, stroking, licking, and clutching the steel-hard biceps that had gone so tense beneath her hands. To her astonishment, she felt light-headed. And not just from a lack of air.

Whoa. Hel-lo, chemistry. She ended the kiss and blinked her eyes open. He leaned his head back, his eyes closed, as if savoring the moment.

Her entire body tingled, with an express heat centered squarely between her legs, where he pressed most insistently. He had grown more than happy to see her, and that shocking fact sparked a return of the old Zoe.

Did he make out with all the girls on the floor of the gym? Was this par for the course when being “courted” by Smoky Donnigan? Did rolling on the mats lead to rolling in his sheets? Big assumption for Gavin to make, despite her instigating the kiss.

He’d played possum before going on the attack, but no playing pretend now, not with that lead pipe nudging her in just the right spot. She shivered when he did it again. Jesus. She wanted him to mount her right here, right now.

So not standard procedure for Zoe York, dateless extraordinaire.

He opened his eyes, and the pale brilliance snared her. Then he cleared his throat and said in a husky voice, “Great moves, Zoe.” He ran a finger over her cheek, and that unexpected tenderness threw her. “So what now?”

She could handle sexy, raunchy, carnal. But gentle? That unnerved her. So she smiled up at him, then surprised him for the second time that day. She ran her foot up and down his leg again. Unfortunately, that had the side effect of shoving him harder against her.

He sucked in a breath, and she pretended she wasn’t gearing up to orgasm.

Then she rolled him under her in the next second. She sat up, straddled him, and pinned his forearms to the mat.

Leaning over him and panting, she watched him grimace and catch his breath.

“You okay?”

“No.” He sounded hoarse. “Shit, don’t move.”

She realized his predicament at once. He remained huge and aroused, and her position wasn’t helping. She sat with her legs spread, her dampened crotch directly against his erection. Talk about arousing—embarrassing. Geez, woman. Quit thinking with your ovaries.

“Oh,” she said breathlessly.

“Yeah, oh.” He chuckled, then groaned again when that rumble vibrated, shifting him against her. “So what now, Mistress?” The wicked look he shot her breasts made it hard to breathe. Her nipples clearly stood out against her shirt, even through her stupid sports bra.

“Stop it, you lech.”

“Hey, I’m the innocent one here. I’m flat on my back, being taken advantage of by a stronger, fiercer competitor.”

“Please.”

“Please what? Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

She tried not to laugh, tried even harder not to realize how sexy she found his arousal. “Shut up. I’m in charge now, buddy.”

“Do you own a whip? Chains? Black leather? Because I am dying for a little more of your dominance, Mistress Z.”

She snorted. “I thought I was Pink Yoga Pants.”

“You have many names.” He sighed and stared at her chest. “None of which I can recall right now, because you’ve scrambled my brain. I’m so intimidated by your strength, your power, your amazingly beautiful breas—”

“What the hell is going on in here?” Landon barked from the doorway.

Zoe froze.

So did Gavin.

She started to rise when Gavin gripped her by the arms. “Don’t move. Please,” he added in a low voice.

Realizing that if she did, evidence of their play would be all too apparent, she remained where she was, totally out of sorts. Zoe didn’t do public displays of affection, and she sure as hell didn’t roll around on the floor with an aroused hottie who felt like he had a ten-foot pole in his pants. Where the hell had he been hiding that thing, anyway?

“Zoe?” Landon asked, now frowning.

“Ah, well, I missed the last self-defense class.” The hands holding her relaxed, letting her once more control him. But the heat of his palms caused a shiver deep inside her. “Gavin was showing me that throw move you guys did.”

“What throw move?” Landon seemed to be confused.

“You know, the one where you lever your opponent over…” Her voice trailed off. “So you never went over that?”

“Hell no. We did show the class a couple more advanced wristlocks and leg sweeps though. Some stomps, smashing your opponent’s face with your foot, heel, whatever’s handy.” He coughed. “Guess you’re working on more advanced techniques. Ah, well, I’ll leave you guys to it. Gym’s starting to get a little more crowded though.” He nodded to the glass walls on either side of the doorway, then closed the door. Yet that didn’t prevent him from watching them as he walked away.

Oh hell. How many people have walked by and seen us kissing?

Zoe glanced back down at Gavin, who watched her with an expression she couldn’t read. How would she get herself out of this predicament when she could feel her cheeks heating to a bazillion degrees? And good Lord, he was still hard beneath her.

“What?” she asked, not sure whether to belt him for conning her or applaud him for tricking her into…what, exactly? Kissing him? Rolling around with him? Feeling up a potential lover before dying when her cheeks spontaneously burst into flame and her head exploded?

“Would this be a bad time to ask you out again?” Gavin asked, sounding casual, as if he didn’t lie directly beneath her dampened crotch. “I’d planned on leaving you alone, because even I’m not so dense that I couldn’t see you just wanted me to quit bugging you. But now…” He swallowed when she shifted, and she stopped breathing. She still held his arms down, and her chest was all too close to his face.

“Well, you did scam me.” She tried her best not to look discomfited.

“Hey, I showed you a killer good move.”

“Which I ran with,” she agreed, grinding over him again, now a little annoyed he didn’t seem more embarrassed about their situation. Once again she wondered if he did this with all the gym girls.

“Stop it,” he rasped.

“Make me.”

“Shit. Come on, Cruella. I don’t have an extra pair of shorts with me.”

“Oh, I like that one. Is that one of my many names?”

“Seriously. I’m about to lose it,” he warned. Yet he made no move to throw her off.

She felt for the guy. At least if she had an orgasm, no one would know. But in his athletic shorts, the evidence would be tough to miss. “So you’re asking me out again? What? Is that, like, the twentieth time?” She slowly inched higher on her knees, no longer pressing against him.

He let out a relieved breath. “Nah. Eighteenth, tops.”

She couldn’t help smiling at him. “You really are persistent. A tick that keeps burrowing until he’s fat with blood.”

“Such an image. I’d prefer something a little more seductive. Like a gentleman feasting on his lady in all the right places.”

“Lovely.” She stood on her knees over him, with only their thighs still touching. She did her best to keep her eyes on his face.

“Hey, I’m the victim here. I was just trying to be a good teacher, showing my young pupil how to master the martial arts.”

“By getting your hands all over me?”

“Well, I’m also a guy.” He grinned. “Besides, you really did throw me.”

“True.” If only he’d be less charming… Yet she was glad he hadn’t given up on her. Well, hell. She couldn’t help it. She glanced down at his package and felt dizzy.

“I did do my best to be an obnoxious tough guy with plans to defile your body, like you told me to.”

“You did.” She had to work to pull her gaze from his shorts. Did he stuff socks in his jock? It couldn’t be that big, could it?

“See something you like?”

She shot her gaze back to his face, embarrassed all over again when he should have been the one wanting to hide his face.

His laughter sounded hoarse. “Look, I’m sorry. I can’t help it. Stand over there, and it might go down.”

She rose to her feet, not sure why he’d had to ask her to do that when a normal woman would have shot off him like a rocket. That made her think of going off like a rocket, as in orgasm. She blushed even harder.

He groaned. “I’m sorry I’m embarrassing you.” He said again, “Worst timing ever, I know. But that date? I swear I’ll be a perfect gentleman. I’ll wrap myself in a girdle. And I won’t use any moves on you.”

“I won’t let you use them,” she shot back, refusing to look weak.

“No surprise there.” He rolled over onto his belly and groaned into the mats.

She saw him trying to regain control and admitted she liked the fact she’d pushed his buttons. And okay, she’d really liked sitting like a queen on top of all that maleness. Her rules, her date, her sexy man to dispute the notions her aunt and twin had of her.

“Okay.” She nodded. “You got yourself a date.”

He looked up at her in surprise. “I do?”

“Yeah. But no more of this.” She waved her hands at him. “This is a gym, for God’s sake. Not a whorehouse.”

He bit his lip.

“What?”

“Whorehouse? Do they even use that term anymore?”

“How the hell would I know?” She could still feel him under her skin.

“Never mind. Not important.” He leaned up on his elbows, looking more in command of himself, as if he had nothing to hide, just hanging out on the floor. “How about Thursday night?”

“Okay.” Should she dictate the plans for their date? She normally did. Maybe this time she’d try something different.

He watched her, looking for what, she had no idea.

To set him straight, she explained, “But I’m not going out with you for happy Zoe time.”

“Huh?”

“No sex, buddy.”

He flushed, finally. “Yeah, well. This was…an accident. Forget it.”

“You mean you don’t normally roll around in the gym with a poker in your shorts?”

He laid his head down and groaned. “No, I do not. Tell no one about this, and I swear I’ll buy you a kick-ass dinner.”

“With dessert?”

“Sure, whatever. Now go away so I can be presentable again,” he said, his words muffled.

“Well, at least you’re more presentable than you were the other day in that fire engine–red gym shirt.”

“I know.” He paused. “Tell me I didn’t look like a stop sign while wearing it.”

“I was thinking more like a yield sign, actually. You know, because you have nice lats, your back like a V.”

“Thanks, I think.” He turned his head, glanced up at her, and turned back to the mat, swearing softly. “Now go away. You’re not helping.”

She walked toward the doorway, her awkwardness vanishing with the emergence of his. “I’ll leave my cell number with the front desk.”

“You do that,” he said, sounding pathetic.

Zoe laughed. Talk about mastering the art of self-defense. Zoe, one. Gavin, zero.