Sexy Living by Regina Cole (19)

Rob explained the problem on the way to the gym. Stacey gripped the armrest as he wove expertly through traffic. He was a good driver, but the thick of the Atlanta rush hour meant there was much more traffic than she was comfortable with so soon after her recent traumatic experience on the road. Her knuckles were only a little pale, though, and her stomach had tensed only halfway.

“So, this teacher hauled off and hit a student?”

“As far as I understand it, yeah.” Rob checked his mirrors before hitting his turn signal and easing into the left lane. “Brandi didn’t have time to get me the details. This Flowers guy came highly recommended, and I know the guy he used to teach for. I just don’t understand how he could have lost his cool like that.”

“It sucks,” Stacey agreed as he took the exit off the highway. “I hope the gym doesn’t suffer because of it.”

Rob sighed as he stopped at the end of the ramp, waiting for the traffic to clear so he could turn. “We’ve got enough problems without this happening.”

“What do you mean?”

He shot a quick glance her way before easing off the brakes. “I shouldn’t bother you with it. Not when you’ve got so much stuff of your own going on.”

She didn’t deny it. “My project is on hold, yeah. It’s ready to go, but unless the city council gives me the green light, I can’t do much of anything but twiddle my thumbs. Dr. Colt won’t release me back to work for another week and a half. I’m going insane without my job to keep me occupied. So, help me out and distract me. Tell me about your problems.”

“Sounds kind of tough to be away from something you’re so passionate about.” He evaded her question.

His unwillingness to talk stung a little, but she brushed it off. “It is. But my CT scan was clear, the awesome lawyer you found for me is convinced that this case won’t ever make it to trial, and my bruises are turning a beautiful shade of mustard yellow now. Oh, and I’ve got the sexiest nurse this side of the Mississippi. Yup, things are pretty hellish for me at the moment.”

As a move, it wasn’t particularly bold, but damn if it hadn’t taken all the guts she had to lay it out there for him. She was rewarded by a crooked smile as Rob pulled into the parking deck near the gym.

“You think I’m sexy, huh?”

“You fishing now?”

“Depends,” he said, pulling his keys from the ignition. He slid the sunglasses up, revealing the amusement in his gray eyes. “Are you the bait?”

Jesus Lord. Her stomach flipped as she daringly leaned toward him. “I’d like to be.”

Her heart thumped so hard against her ribs she was afraid he could hear it. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and she held her breath, praying, hoping, waiting for him to close that gap between them and brush her lips with his own.

But just then, a cop car pulled to a stop across the street, its red and blue lights flashing against the building.

Rob moved back, and Stacey’s sense of loss was palpable.

“To be continued,” Rob said as he opened the door.

“It better be,” Stacey said under her breath as she pushed her own open.

Rob moved much more quickly than Stacey could with her bruised leg. He came back to walk with her, but she waved him toward the doors.

“Go, I’m fine. Promise.”

He frowned, but walked quickly toward the entrance anyway, leaving her to follow.

When Stacey pushed through the front doors, the sight that greeted her was definitely tense.

Rob was standing in front of the counter, toe-to-toe with a guy at least four inches shorter, fifteen years older, and thirty pounds heavier than him. The man was red-faced, his gray-streaked hair frazzling around his head as he gesticulated wildly. “Come on, man. How do you expect me to do my job if you don’t respect my methods? That kind of attitude doesn’t belong in my class, and I won’t tolerate it!”

“I don’t give two shits what kind of attitude he gave you. You do not ever—ever—lay a hand on a client of this gym. And the fact that you have means that you are no longer employed here. So get your shit, and get out, and do not ever come back.” Rob’s voice was as cold as liquid nitrogen and stronger than steel. Stacey shivered a little as she sank into one of the chairs by the smoothie bar, glad it wasn’t her that he was mad at.

There was a police officer talking to a young guy in a sleeveless shirt and basketball shorts, along with Brandi, the woman who was supposed to have been Stacey’s trainer. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but there were obvious red marks on the guy’s arm. Shit. Had the teacher done that?

Another cop entered the building then, and he pulled Rob and the angry teacher aside. A small group of people were gathered outside the front glass windows. Stacey watched the scene unfolding with a sickening feeling in her stomach.

This wasn’t good. No wonder Rob had been so cagey about it. The gym hadn’t been here that long, and this kind of thing wouldn’t exactly endear it to the neighborhood. A business’s reputation could get made or broken so easily.

She pulled her purse into her lap and looked down at it, tracing the curved edge with her finger. She’d been so preoccupied with getting back to work, to her projects, that she hadn’t considered what Rob was doing about his time off work. Was this partly her fault? Rob had taken off so much time to be with her, to watch her, to nurse her back to health. Hell, he hadn’t even asked her for a dime. She’d offered to chip in for groceries, for takeout, but he’d insisted on doing it all. How was she supposed to feel about all of this? His business needed him, and all she could do was think about her own shit.

A sound from the people outside drew her attention, and she examined the crowd with a critical eye.

Maybe there was something she could do.

* * *

Rob lifted his hands in the air, and stepped back several paces as Dylan Flowers, the Krav Maga instructor, lunged for him. The man was beyond all reasoning, and had started screaming after Rob had informed him for the fifth time that he was fired.

“Settle down, or I’ll put the cuffs on you right now.” The officer stepped between them, his hand splayed as he warned Dylan off. “I need information, and I need it now. Who is in charge here?”

“I am. I’m Robert Liston. This is my gym, I’m the owner.”

The officer pulled a small notebook from his upper pocket and flipped it open. “Can you spell that for me, sir?”

Rob nodded. “Liston. L . . . I . . .”

Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned his head to see as he continued spelling. Stacey. She was outside, and the small crowd of lookie-loos were gathered around her as she spoke. She was making large, sweeping gestures, and though her back was to him, he could almost see how animated her features were. What the hell was she up to out there?

“Mr. Liston, I’m going to need more information from you later. For now, I need to talk with this gentleman here. Is there somewhere quiet we could go?”

Rob tore his gaze away from Stacey’s antics, and nodded. “There’s a classroom right here off the hallway on the left side. You’re welcome to use that for as long as you need it.”

The officer nodded, and escorted Dylan away from the milling onlookers at the front of the gym.

Standing alone for a moment, Rob took a deep breath to ease his frustration. There was no one working out now; everyone who wasn’t standing around waiting for more sparks to fly had already gathered their things and left. The machines were empty, with the exception of one lonely ambler on a treadmill in the corner, whose headphones were on; he seemed not to care if the roof was falling down around him.

Healthy Living did not need this. They were just starting to make some strides, to get membership numbers up where they needed them to be. If this little incident cost him his business, he would be sorely tempted to murder Dylan Flowers. The teacher hadn’t even had a good reason to go after the student. All the student had done was to mention how one of the moves Flowers had modeled looked like a sexual position. It was a harmless joke, and Dylan had taken it completely wrong and then tried to throttle the guy.

Rob shook out hands that he just now realized had been curled into fists. A buzz in his pocket distracted him momentarily, and he pulled his phone free.

The text from his mother was a welcome relief, at least. He didn’t have to worry about his dad for the moment. One issue off his plate, and the cops had Mr. Flowers’s anger management issues in hand. Just one more thing to worry about: Stacey.

He turned on his heel and walked out the door, just in time to hear someone ask Stacey, “So, the whole thing is a police exercise?”

Stacey nodded, her smile bright. Rob’s melancholy began to lift. Hell, that was an incredible idea. It might even work.

“Yes, in coordination with the Atlanta Police Department, the city planning department has implemented a strategy planning session with local businesses. To help them respond to an emergency, we’ve got actors and other professionals in to help employers prep their staff for incidents that can pop up.” She turned and saw Rob standing there, and grabbed his arm. “Rob, I mean, Mr. Liston here, agreed to be our first ‘guinea pig,’ and he’s quite pleased with how his staff has handled this little exercise. Aren’t you, Mr. Liston?”

She pegged him with a stare. The message was clear in Stacey’s brilliant blue eyes. Lie. Lie your ass off, and you might just get out of this unscathed.

“Yes, it has been a really enlightening event. My staff has handled the exercise with aplomb, and they will each be receiving great feedback on their performances. They responded to the threat with calm and clear heads.”

A woman at the back of the crowd, who had been looking through the front windows while Rob was speaking, piped up with the question, “Do you guys do Pilates here?”

The relief that blanketed his shoulders nearly caused his knees to buckle, it was that strong. He shook off the feeling and pinned on his most pleasant expression. “Yes, we offer yoga, Pilates, and several other classes here, including some MMA classes.”

He mentally crossed Krav Maga off the list. It had been hard enough to find Dylan Flowers, and it would be a long time before he trusted himself enough to hire another teacher for that particular class. Too bad, because the Krav Maga class had had one of the higher initial enrollments.

“How much does it cost to join? This is a really nice place.”

“I like how they’re so prepared for an emergency. I mean, I work at a gun store, and we’ve never had any kind of training like that. It would be helpful, with some of the crazies we get in there.”

Rob fielded each question, his incredulousness and relief growing with each one. This whole disastrous situation had just turned into the best membership drive he had ever had. He glanced over at Stacey, whose calm expression fed his ever-growing gratitude toward her.

She was incredible. He had just wanted to keep her close, so he could keep an eye on her, protect her, and what had she done? She had protected him. She had done her best to save his business while he was in there trying to keep from killing the idiot who’d started this mess. He owed her big-time.

“Yes, once the exercise is over, we will be more than ready to accept applications. As a matter of fact, I’ll gather up some information packets for each of you who are interested and you can bring them by later once you’ve filled out the forms. Thank you.”

Stacey hobbled inside, and Rob followed. As he gathered up new member information packets, he nodded toward the bank of tables by the smoothie bar.

“Thanks for that. Now, please sit down, you need to rest some. You’ve done an amazing job, you’ve earned a break.”

Stacey’s smile wrapped around his heart and tugged. “I just wanted to help a little bit.”

“You helped a lot. Now, go and sit. I need to finish this dog and pony show before we lose our audience.”

Rob returned to the thinned-out crowd, and handed out packets to the prospective new clients. And as he returned, and saw Stacey with her back toward him, he had to fight the urge to wrap his arms around her.

Weird. Who would have thought?