BRADLEY

She was more right than I care to admit.

Lexi is clueless about the gym. And grumpy, as promised.

When I told her it was time for pushups, she thought I was talking about ice cream. When I mentioned dumbbells, she thought I was talking about a person. When I asked her to walk on the treadmill, she yelled at me about not wanting to be a hamster on a wheel for at least five minutes.

She called me a monster for dragging her out of bed, and then went on to describe how evil I was for subjecting her to cruel and unusual punishment. But the real cruel and unusual punishment of the whole morning had been the moment I’d knelt next to her to demonstrate a proper sit up and my hand had accidentally brushed against her ass.

In yoga pants.

Instant recipe for disaster.

I’ve never done a hundred sit-ups faster in my life, but it was either that or have Lexi think I’m a huge perv who gets turned on with a slight knuckle graze against her hip.

After we finished, I took the longest and coldest shower of my life.

Even so, I’d never had more fun during a workout—ever.

When I finish up in the men’s locker room, I’m surprised to find Lexi’s still inside the women’s. I spent a long time in that shower, and I have to wonder what on earth she’s doing in hers.

I’m about ready to put out an APB on a woman of her description when she pops out of the dressing room with a grin on her face.

“I figured out a way you can pay me back for all this,” she says, jaunting past me with a hand on her hip. “For this cruel and unusual punishment.”

“We already have a deal.”

“What? That you have to eat every item on the menu? You poor thing. I haven’t even been charging you.”

“I’ve been leaving tips double the cost of the meal.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she says, shifting her toe on the floor. “That wasn’t why I made the deal.”

“I know, sorry, hey. I shouldn’t have said anything.” I reach for her wrist and wrap my fingers around it. The way she’s looking now, I’d do whatever she asked of me. So, I tell her that.

“Anything?”

“Say the word.”

“Great. My brother’s birthday party is in two weeks. Come with me.”

“Lexi...”

“You said anything.”

“Anything for you.”

“Lucas is my brother, and he used to be your best friend. Why are you so opposed?”

“We haven’t talked!”

“Neither had you and I. Does that mean we should go back to staring awkwardly at one another?”

“For the record, I never stared awkwardly. And the answer is of course not, but—”

“No buts. Explain what the huge problem is, and I’ll consider letting you off the hook. Otherwise, I’ll assume there’s no problem except you don’t want to go with me.”

“That’s not it at all, and you know it.”

“What’ll it be, Bradley?”

I grit my teeth. The thing is, I don’t really have anything against Lucas. Except for my own idiocy. He tried to visit me in the hospital once, and I’d snapped at him. He’d said something about feeling sorry about my knee, and I’d reamed him out. Something about not wanting his pity.

Unlike Lexi, he didn’t come back to try again. Which sucked at the time. I’d already been feeling like half of a person—a man without a career, a passion, and a stupid knee. Yeah, I’d pitied myself. Yes, I know plenty of other people have it worse, but that still didn’t make it a fun time for me.

So, on top of wallowing for myself, I’d wallowed because of Lucas, too. I’d liked that Lexi kept coming back, trying to get me to open up to her. I take full responsibility for being the idiot in this situation and the reason for our extended silence.

But Lucas—he should’ve come back. Tried again. Smacked me on the head and told me to apologize. Something. Anything. The fact that he’d never given me a second thought had left a sour taste in my mouth. That’s not what friends do.

I look up, determined to put my foot down. But there, in Lexi’s pretty green eyes, I see more than a glimmer of amusement or a test of my dedication to this—whatever sort of relationship we have between us.

There’s a want—an ask—there, so to my surprise, I find myself agreeing.

“You’ll come?” She jumps up and down. “Really?”

“You couldn’t seem to find that sort of energy when I showed you how to do a pull up.”

“Because I was conserving my energy.”

“Right.”

“Please promise me you’ll try to have fun.”

“You’ll be my date, right?”

“Well, it’s not a date, date, but yes,” she says, pausing for a smile. “I’ll be your date.”

“Then it will be fun.”

“Are you going to talk to Lucas?”

My eyebrow inches up. “Do I have to?”

She blows a big breath of air from her lips. “You’re only coming for me, huh?”

“Yes.”

“I’d really appreciate it if you tried to make an effort with him.”

“He clearly doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“Well, if you make an effort and he rejects you, we’ll know that for a fact. Right now, all I’m hearing is you’re too afraid to talk to him.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Then that settles it.” Lexi reaches out and straightens my t-shirt. “We have a date.”

“If you’re hoping to get our group back together, the same way things were before, I wouldn’t hold your breath,” I warn. “Even if we convince him to come back, things have changed. We’ve changed.”

“We won’t know if we don’t try, right?”

I groan.

“Speaking of trying new things, will you be swinging by the diner this afternoon?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Great,” she says. “We can carbo-load for our next workout.”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“It’s science.”

I call a truce, mostly because I’ll carbo-load all day long at the diner. Pancakes and waffles. Oatmeal and fries. I’ll eat ketchup by the spoonful for the chance to sit next to Lexi all night long.

She starts toward the door. Before I can think, something comes over me, and I reach for her hand. I link my fingers through hers, noting the hesitation on her end. It lasts only a second, and when she glances over her shoulder, her lips have curved into some semblance of a smile.

“Let me walk you out,” I say. “I wish I could drive you to the diner, but I have to be here until Leo shows up.”

“Uh, hello?” She waves a hand. “Twenty first century. Women are allowed driver’s licenses. I can drive myself.”

“It’s not about the driving,” I tell her, picking up my pace to join her side. “It’s about tagging along for the ride.”

“And why would you want to do that?”

She curls toward me, smelling of sweet flowers and honey. Her hair is still damp, her face free of makeup, and it’s complete temptation to skip work and follow her anywhere. Everywhere.

I lean in, press the slightest kiss to her lips, and then hold there as I whisper against her cheek. “There’s a pretty great view of a woman I happen to enjoy.”

“Down, boy,” a voice comes from behind me. “Didn’t realize we had speed dating on the premises.”

Leo’s voice grates against me, my heartbeat racing as I turn to face him. I honestly hadn’t given a whole lot of thought to the fact that I’m in the lobby of my own business.

At the sight of his smug smile, I’m jarred by how much I dislike being in the same room with him. It’s more than time for me to move on now, to bigger and better things. Hell, I don’t even need a bigger space, I just want my own.

“Leo,” I say, struggling to keep my voice even. “Didn’t expect to see you here so early.”

“I guess you didn’t,” Leo says, his eyes traveling and lingering over Lexi. “Feel like introducing me to your friend, Brad?”

It has my blood boiling the way he looks at her. Maybe I’m oversensitive this morning, but there’s an interested gleam in his eye, and I don’t like it.

“Lexi,” she says, smiling and extending her own hand. “Bradley and I go way back.”

“Bradley.” He smirks at the name. “I guess so.”

“What brings you around this early?” I ask. It’s a battle these days just to be civil.

Even if he’s not skimming off the company somehow, he’s keeping a secret from me. I lost my livelihood once because of an accident. I’m not losing my career a second time because of a stupid mistake and the wrong choice of partner.

“Swinging by for a quick sauna before my massage,” he says easily, his eyes switching back to me. He’s got a spray tan that makes him look like an Oompa Loompa, and he’s sporting a gold necklace visible at the plummeting neckline of his t-shirt that’s nearly showing off his nipples. He always did care about his appearance, he’s just never been such a douche-canoe about it before. “You taking off early?”

“Just walking Lexi out.”

“I can see myself out,” she says, offering me an apologetic glance. “I’ll catch you later, Brad.”

I nod, my jaw working overtime as she slips through the front doors leaving one finger wave behind before disappearing around the corner.

“You didn’t tell me you were dating anyone.” Leo crosses his arms, leans against the wall behind him. “The infamous Lexi, huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on, man, I’ve known you for years. Lexi this, Lexi that. Then these last few years, nothing.”

Leo and I had met as fellow gym rats a few years before my injury. I’d never brought Lexi around him for this very reason. He likes pretty things, including gorgeous women. Even if Lexi hadn’t wanted me back then, I certainly wasn’t letting her fall into Leo’s grasp.

“We grew apart. And now we’re friends again.”

“Simple as that, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Do you have a problem with me?” Leo takes a step closer, lowering his voice. “Look me in the eyes, Bradley.”

My gaze had been darting around without my noticing. Mostly because I didn’t trust myself not to lose my shit in the lobby of our business. I have certain lines that I prefer don’t get crossed, and making a public fool out of myself or my business partner is one of them.

But if he wants to play this game, I’ll go along for the ride.

Raising my gaze, I meet his. “I don’t know. Do we have a problem?”

“What are you insinuating?”

“Not a thing. I was standing here, talking to my friend. You walked up. End of story.”

“She’s a friend, huh? Sure looked like more to me.”

I inhale, then let the air sizzle out slowly. “I’m not trying to argue with you, Leo. We’ve never talked much about personal things. Leave it alone.”

“I’d leave it alone, but it appears to be interfering with the workplace.”

“Interfering with the workplace?”

My blood pressure is rising, and I look through the windows debating how long it’d take me to get outside. If he keeps egging me on, it’d probably be best to just leave. Unfortunately, I don’t always act on what’s best for me.

He raises his eyebrows, waiting.

So, I lay into him. “What about your three cancelled shifts last week? We had a budget meeting for tomorrow, but apparently you’re too busy to make that one, too. As a matter of fact, we could have it now, if you’d prefer. I’m available.”

“I see that.” He nods toward the door, insinuating Lexi. “But I bet you wish you weren’t.”

My fist reaches out, curls around the front of his stupid t-shirt. “Leave her out of this.”

“Protective over someone who doesn’t want a relationship,” Leo says. “If I’m understanding this correctly?”

“You don’t understand a thing.”

“You’re ruining my shirt.”

I open my fingers, releasing him from my grasp. As he steps back and dusts himself off, I realize with alarming clarity how far things have deteriorated between us.

When we launched the business together, we were both so focused on making the gym a success, we threw ourselves into it entirely. He was coming off a bad breakup, and me, the injury. It had been our lives for that first year.

Then we’d started to see success, and I’d kept on as I always had. Leo, however, had changed. The wedge between us must’ve gotten bigger over the years while I’d turned a blind eye. I don’t love to talk about feelings and shit, so Leo and I did a lot of sweeping our problems under the rug. Kitty’s not the only one who loves rugs.

Now, however, the rug is getting to be pretty damn bulky.

“Cancel the budget meeting tomorrow,” I say. “Do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Leo calls after me. “Throwing in the towel?”

I don’t respond as I storm out the front doors. Pulling out my cell, I hit Bill’s number. When he answers, I glance behind me, but Leo’s gone.

“I need something,” I tell Bill. “Now.”