“Scary.” She picked up her pizza again and cleared her throat. Rosie and Dan broke apart. “So Rosie told you she was a couch potato, and you saw her as a great way of building your client base.”
Jordan’s eyes narrowed, but Rosie laughed and gazed at Dan with adoration.
“He doesn’t need more clients. He already has a waiting list.”
“And yet here you are with muscles, so presumably you somehow jumped to the front of the queue.” Flaw number one, she thought. It wasn’t very professional to bump her sister up the list.
“I always make clients with medical issues a priority.” Dan poured more water. “I knew I could he
lp her. It’s all about finding what motivates people. That’s the best part of the job.”
“And he was so great to work with,” Rosie said. “You know how much I hate exercising. I’d so much rather lie on the sofa eating doughnuts and watching movies, but Dan made it fun. He made me want to get fitter. Those sessions turned into the best part of my day. We talked about everything.” She reached for his hand. “Do you remember that night we did a late-night session and we talked for so long that the entire gym had emptied and the place was dark?”
Dan smiled. “I remember.”
Katie licked her fingers. The pair of them couldn’t stop touching. How did they ever get anything done? “And how did you get home after your late-night session?”
Rosie looked puzzled. “Dan took me home.”
“Oh. Okay.” So at least he’d seen her sister home safely. She couldn’t find fault with that. “And what first attracted you to Rosie, Dan?”
Rosie choked on her food. “What sort of a question is that?”
“An intrusive one,” Jordan said.
For a guy who supposedly lived a chill, outdoor life, he seemed extraordinarily tense.
He’d seemed pretty relaxed in the car. Maybe it was her. Maybe she brought out the worst in him. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had that effect on a man.
Dan ignored him. “First time I saw Rosie she was doing battle with a treadmill.”
“It was a complicated machine,” Rosie said. “All I wanted to do was run.”
Dan leaned forward. “Running is good, of course, but fitness is about more than cardio. I knew that if I could get Rosie working with weights, it would help her. Remember that first day?” He smiled at Rosie. “You had your hair pulled back in a ponytail, and half of it had escaped. I spent my whole time surrounded by these super groomed, super confident women who are all CEOs or lawyers, and then you showed up—and you were so different. So gentle, and kind.”
Oh yeah, Katie thought. That was Rosie.
Rosie wasn’t looking at her. She was looking at Dan. “And you had muscles like I’d never seen before. I felt intimidated.”
Katie frowned. “Intimidated?”
“Intimidated by his fitness levels.”
“Okay, so you fell for his luscious body and his promises to turn you into a fitness goddess.”
“Not only that. He was so easy to talk to.”
Dan leaned forward and kissed her. “It took me about ten minutes to figure out that Rosie was as smart as she is beautiful.”
Katie took another slice of pizza. Had anyone ever looked at her the way Dan was looking at her sister? No, they hadn’t, and if they had she would have sent them for testing. “So looks are important to you?”
“Not particularly, but if you’re asking if I find your sister beautiful, then yes, I do.”
Katie chewed. “You’ve worked in the same place for a long time?”
“Five years. Before that I coached rowing, before that I rowed myself, when I was in college.”
“Do you own your own place?”