“Let me guess, an old girlfriend?” Kay tried and failed to keep the interest out of her voice.
Eli’s laugh rumbled through the interior of the vehicle. “I wish. She was way out of my league in high school. And she’s happily married now. But I have no shame admitting that if she hadn’t married her high school sweetheart, I would have eventually made a move. She’s exactly my type.”
Kay swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat. Why should she care if Eli was carrying a torch for some old classmate? A classmate who was apparently gorgeous and a great dancer. It wasn’t like he was her boy
friend or even a casual date.
He was there with her because protecting people was his job. She was just the unlucky duck who’d attracted the attention of a psycho and needed protection. It shouldn’t matter to her one way or the other if Eli thought this Janet was the best thing since sliced bread.
Right. Nothing to be jealous about at all.
KAY WALKED INTO the studio, shocked to see that the room was almost full. It was a wide space with bamboo flooring and large, open windows. Multicolored strobe lights pulsed with the beat of the salsa music blaring from the speakers.
After signing her in under a guest pass and getting Hope settled in the nursery, Eli had given her a quick tour of the multistory workout complex. By the time they looked at the schedule, he realized they were going to be late for the class she’d wanted to take. He’d seemed excited that it was one of Janet’s classes and promised to introduce her afterward. Kay wasn’t sure if she’d mustered up the appropriate level of faux-enthusiasm.
Just one more thing to look forward to, she thought. Not only was she going to dance around until she was a sweaty, exhausted mess, but she’d have to meet the perfect Janet afterward. Maybe she should have just stayed home.
Tank would have left her in peace to read a book.
“Okay class, let’s get started,” a voice yelled out. The other students lined up in rows. Everyone chatted excitedly as the music turned up even louder. After storing her things in one of the cubbyholes at the back of the room, Kay took a place off to the side. Several students were stretching their arms overhead and doing dance steps to limber up. Kay hadn’t checked to see if this was a beginner’s class, so she could only hope she’d be able to keep up. She wasn’t much of a dancer and definitely wasn’t a triathlete like some of the other women in the class appeared to be.
“Welcome, ladies, to Zumba!”
There were three teachers at the front of the room. The instructor who spoke was thin and blond with very perky breasts. The one to her left was curvy with wild, curly hair. She looked biracial like Ridley and Raina. The one on the right was the same shade of skin as Kaylee and had a similar body shape with full breasts and wide hips. Even though it shouldn’t have mattered, the sight made Kaylee feel better. At least this dancing stuff wasn’t only for skinny girls. Maybe she could do this.
“It’s time to move those feet. Let’s warm up.” The blond instructor started stretching right to left. The class mimicked her movements.
Kay clutched her towel and energy drink in trepidation as she copied the movement. This was a lot more intimidating than she’d expected. She’d envisioned a few people in a room dancing. Not a huge crowd that looked like extras from a music video. At least she was in the back, so hopefully no one would notice her awkward moves.
Absently Kay wondered if the blond woman was Janet. Eli had made a comment over Christmas that he was glad she didn’t look like Raina, so she assumed the girl on the left wasn’t his type. However, she’d caught him checking out her chest more than once, and the blond woman looked like she’d had some surgical enhancements in that area. Plus the blonde had that perfect, thin body with the gap between the thighs. She looked like she spent as much time in the gym as Eli obviously did.
Exactly the kind of body that Eli would think was perfect.
The tempo of the music picked up and Kay stumbled as the whole class executed a turn. She picked up her feet and tried to emulate the way the person in front of her was moving. Was it left, right, left? Or right, left, right?
Just when she thought she had it, the whole class turned in the opposite direction and Kay stumbled into the person next to her.
“Sorry!”
The girl didn’t even seem to hear her because she was turning in the other direction. Her breath was coming faster now and not just due to embarrassment. Her lungs burned and her thighs ached. How was everyone else moving their feet so fast?
Kay moved to the side to get a better view of the instructors. To her shock and surprise, the teacher on the right was moving and shaking better than the skinny instructors. Kay watched, mesmerized, as she executed each step with perfect grace. Her hips seemed to have a seductive sway to them. Kay looked down at her own body and swung her hips. Some of the steps were easier when she put her hips into it.
Maybe she could enjoy this after all.
ELI WAS IN the middle of a dead lift when the first call came in. After several rings, it went silent. He blew out a breath and squatted again. The phone beeped, indicating he had a new voice mail. He ignored the sound and tightened his abdominals as he stood back up.
Eli gritted his teeth, relishing the burn and stretch of his muscles as he worked his back. He considered his body to be a machine, a tool in his arsenal just like his Beretta or his SUV. Honing it was part of his job and necessary so it would perform as needed. There were other “performance” benefits of a healthy body, as well. Not that they’d come in handy any time soon. Kay couldn’t handle seeing his kind of endurance.
All the more reason he needed to work out his tension in the weight room.
When the phone started ringing again, he set the bar back on the rack and rummaged in his gym bag. He pushed aside a towel, an extra weight-lifting belt, and a change of clothes before he found it. He’d missed the call again. When he saw the caller ID, he hit the button immediately to call Tank back. He’d asked the man to contact him with any news about Hope’s father. If he was calling now, it meant he must have found something.
“What have you got for me?”
“Hey, boss. I’ve been keeping tabs on Banner and something finally popped. It appears our guy thinks he has what it takes to be a senator.”
Eli planted himself on an empty weight bench. “That’s quite a jump for a guy who owns a bunch of strip malls.”