Well, heck. Jade had said the gym was a great place to meet men. Apparently, she’d been right.
“It’s a free country.” I smiled.
He placed the already wet towel around his neck and climbed onto the other machine.
I started my workout, and having Dominic next to me turned out to be a godsend. No way was I letting him see how out of shape I was. I kept at it, never succumbing to my desire to stop and go pass out somewhere. I stayed on the elliptical with the program I’d chosen for the full half hour, and to my surprise, I got it done.
I got it done!
I’d forgotten how great a decent workout felt. Though I was breathing rapidly, I could still talk when he asked me where I lived.
“You must be new around here,” I replied. Everyone in Snow Creek knew the Steels.
“Yeah. Just moved here a couple of weeks ago. I’m looking for a house to rent. You know of any?”
I did, actually. Bryce’s house. Bryce and Evelyn had been worried that they wouldn’t be able to rent it to anyone in town because of who his father had turned out to be. Were they even interested in renting it? Or did they want to sell?
I didn’t know.
“I might,” I said. “I’d have to check with the owner first, though. They might want to sell.”
“I could buy if it’s the right property. I just want to get out of the hotel.”
“What do you do?”
“I work here,” he said. “I’m a personal trainer.”
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“I just worked out next to a personal trainer? I’m a little embarrassed right now.”
“Why? You did great.”
“I haven’t exactly been coming around regularly,” I said.
“I can help you with getting back into shape,” he said, smiling. “Of course, I’m not cheap.”
That wasn’t a problem, though it was clear he had no idea who the Steels were. He must have had his head down the few weeks he’d been in town.
“What do you charge?”
“If you go through the gym, it’s one hundred dollars an hour. But I do take private clients.”
“How can you do that if you work here?”
“I’m an independent contractor. I have a gym membership just like everyone else. I made sure I could still work privately when I took the job.”
“How much for private clients?” I asked.
He smiled. His perfectly straight teeth were a beautiful contrast to his tan skin. “Depends on the client.”
He was going to play coy. I sure was out of practice. I hadn’t dated in a while and not seriously since college.
Then there was Bryce.
Though we’d had panty-melting sex, we’d never actually had a date.