She’d been too busy replaying last night’s super-hot-sex in her head.
Peripherally she knew he still stood exactly where he’d been the moment she walked in the bar. He wasn’t moving. Nor was she. So…the putty thing was to be achieved how exactly?
She looked up as the bartender placed her drink on the bar, catching his eyes. He smiled. She blinked. Of course. How could she have forgotten Nadia’s “no fail” four-second eye contact rule?
Ignoring the still-looking bartender, Abbi glanced along the bar to where Joe stood. Her gaze collided with his. Held. Desire thrummed within her. Could he feel it? Could he read the message she was sending?
One. Two. Three—
His gaze suddenly shifted, beyond her. His brows lowered even as his eyes widened. He actually flinched and then tensed up all the more.
Abbi blinked. She hadn’t even made it to the four seconds, hadn’t done the look down and back up thing.
It had failed. With the one guy supposed to be guaranteed for her tonight.
But his attention was so totally on something else. Someone?
Her skin had gone as cold and clammy as if she’d dived into Arctic waters. But Abbi slowly turned her head to see just what was so interesting behind her.
A woman. She was beautiful. Very tall, slim. She had the athletic sort of physique that would fit right in at Joe’s gym. Not that Abbi was jealous of that. It was the way he was looking at her that sucked. He was looking at her like he was starstruck or something. And the woman?
Looking right back at him. Totally floored.
Abbi turned back to her drink, her hands freezing but her cheeks flaming. She lifted her vodka and took a huge swig. It burned. But not as much as she wanted.
No way was she walking up to him now. No way was she staying. She glanced at him again. He was still looking at that woman. Abbi couldn’t resist another glance over her shoulder at her again too.
Yeah. Tall, willowy. Striking.
Swallowing the hideous disappointment, Abbi turned back, unable to stop her glance from sliding to Joe once more. He’d managed to tear his eyes from the other woman. Now he was watching her. He knew she’d been looking at the other woman. He knew he’d been caught. And that she was bummed.
How freaking mortifying.
Just as she stood up from her stool, he walked toward her.
“Come here often?” he asked roughly.
“Seriously? That’s the best you’ve got?” She didn’t want to do this anymore.
She got that this was just an arrangement for him, but to know that she was still so boring, he couldn’t even get through a few lousy lessons without being distracted by someone more…whatever that other woman was more.
Joe said nothing. There was no easy smile. No tease. It was like he was a different person.
“I’m leaving,” Abbi muttered.
“I’ll come with you.”
“Don’t feel you have to,” she suddenly snapped. “Especially if there’s someone else you’d rather talk to.”
He took her hand, hard, and started walking. Furious, Abbi refused to make a scene in front of other people. Refused to make a scene at all. He was a free agent, could do what he liked. And she’d tell him so, as soon as they were alone.
As the door to the bar slammed behind them she wrenched her hand free of his and marched in the general direction of her apartment.
“That wasn’t what it looked like,” he called after her.
She said nothing. Couldn’t just yet. It wasn’t her business anyway, was it? This wasn’t about them sharing anything other than their bodies. He had every right to a private life. And if he’d seen another woman he was intensely interested in?
“She’s my sister.” He ground the words out, like it was the last thing he wanted to say.
Abbi stopped still on the sidewalk and swiveled to face him. “Your sister?” She’d had no idea he had a sister. Instinctively she knew he didn’t mean a foster-family sister. She re-framed that episode in her mind. That woman’s height? Those long limbs? He was talking flesh-and-blood family. Abbi marched back to him and grabbed hold of his arm. “Why didn’t you talk to her?”
Hell, he hadn’t even waved. He’d stared at her for such an intense moment. And that woman had seen him too. But then Joe had looked away. He’d collared Abbi and gotten the hell out of there.
Why?
“I’m sorry, this lesson was a bust,” Joe said shortly, ignoring her question.
She wasn’t sorry. She was dying of curiosity. But even more than that, she was desperate to help him somehow. Because he was hurt.
She held her breath, trying to figure out what she should do or say or whatever. But Joe was definitely feeling crapola. She could see it in his tense stance, in the way he wouldn’t meet her eyes, in the uncharacteristic gruffness of his voice.
“Do you want to go back to the bar?” she asked softly. “I can grab a taxi home…if you’d rather go back alone…”
“I’d rather you didn’t…”
The guy actually looked awkward. But somehow she didn’t think he’d want to grab a coffee and sit and talk in some late-night cafe.
What did he do when he wanted to escape? Oh, she knew. But she wasn’t confident enough to lay one on him. Not yet. Maybe some other exercise might have the same effect? Admittedly not in quite such a satisfying way, but it was worth a shot, right?
“Why don’t we go to the gym? I could play on the equipment,” she said. “I’m never going to do that in the daytime, you know.”
A short laugh burst from him. “Okay. Sure.”
It was only a few minutes’ walk to his gym. Kicking her shoes off as soon as they got there, Abbi stepped into the gym floor area, fascinated to explore the big space when there was no one else there.
She ran a hand over one of the exercise machines that was on the perimeter of the circuit and glanced over at him. “Show me some moves?”
She liked the idea of watching him work out while butt-naked. She could watch every one of those amazing muscles flex. But she might have to wait another five minutes before asking him to strip. He still looked way too uptight.
He shook his head. “I’ve already taken a class today.”
“Only one?” She looked at the machine again. “Pity.”
“You can come along to a class anytime.”
Oh, she so wasn’t ever going to do one of his classes. She walked farther into the workout area and came across a container full of balls.
Bingo.
She grabbed one, turn
ing to quickly throw it to him.
He caught it instantly, with one hand. Of course.
“You like one-on-one?” she asked.
“You know I do.”
And no doubt he also knew she’d be absolutely hopeless at it. Which she was. But that didn’t stop her from trying. The guy knew all her most embarrassing secrets. So what if he saw her panting and unable to catch a damn ball?
But she did catch the ball as he threw it back. She turned and ran, attempting to dribble the ball, but only letting it bounce the once before she just held onto it and ran, giggling as he quickly caught on and chased her. She ducked in behind one of the exercise machines, into a space too small for him to follow.
“That’s not fair,” he waggled a finger at her.
“I know, and now I’m stuck anyway.”
“Come on out, I won’t bite.”
“Much.” She laughed and threw the ball back at him. “Do you miss playing?”
“Nah.” He spun the basketball on his finger. Then stopped and sent her a rueful smile. “Okay, sometimes.”
She’d thought he must. It had been such a big part of his life. “You still see your teammates?”
He shook his head. “They’re busy. Need to focus.”
She frowned. “You’re not in touch with them at all?” But suddenly she knew the answer before he said it.
“After that injury…the team was better off getting on without me,” he said, bouncing the ball a few times as if testing it. “I’m not bitter, though.” He gently lobbed it back to her. “The accident was unfortunate, but I’d been so lucky ’til then. I got a real good platform to build on.”
“That wasn’t luck,” she said softly. She stole out from behind the machine and picked up another of the balls, sucked up the guts to ask the question. “So you don’t see your sister much either?”
There was a moment of silence. To fill it, Abbi threw that ball at him. He caught it, then bounced both a few times.
She held her breath but didn’t ask more; if he wanted to say anything else he would. She hoped he would—she seemed to have developed a stalkerish interest in everything about him. But she knew he was probably more likely to turn the tone back to sex.
Which would also be fine. They’d been heading back there pretty quick anyway. And frankly, she just wanted to see him smiling again.