Page 20 of On the Edge

“My husband is incredibly distracted right now, and is a complete and utter fool. Jackson, I’m so sorry,” she says, reaching across the table and taking my hand. My eyes snap back to her. “He literally didn’t put two and two together. Like he didn’t realize thatthisNate, the one replacing him on the team and the one he agreed to sublet our condo to, wasyourNate.”

“He’s notmyNate,” I insist, at the same time Petra asks, “Distracted about what?”

Lauren looks at Petra. “Oh, uh, just this whole process of building the house. It’s been ridiculous, all the freaking decisions. And there were quite a few things not done how Josh wanted, so since we’ve moved in he’s been focused on working with the contractors to get everything right.” She looks back at me. “But that doesn’t excuse this. I never should have put Josh in charge of subletting the condo with everything he’s already doing at the house. Do you want me to evict Nate?”

I smile, a little laugh escaping as I take in all five feet five of Lauren and picture her trying to kick Nate out of his new digs. “You know what, it doesn’t even matter,” I say, because I’ve finally accepted that I’m not going to get out of training him and still keep my job. “We work together all day. It’s not like we’re going to be hanging out at home too.” But in my mind, all I can think of was the way Nate’s eyes grazed over my body in the elevator earlier tonight. It was a look I recognized, even as I’d tried to so hard over the past years to forget it.

This has the potential to be so, so dangerous.

CHAPTER7

NATE

Park City, Utah

“Dude,” Jeff says as we undo the straps from our waist so we can roll the weights attached to them back to the start of the sprinting strip that runs through the gym. “I heard you were at Toast on Friday night with a ridiculously hot blonde.”

“Did you now?” I say, refusing to give him any more information.

“Yeah, Steve said he saw you having dinner with ... how did he describe her ... a Kate Upton lookalike?”

I had assumed it was a safe bet that I wouldn’t run into any of my teammates at restaurant known for its champagne bar.

“Hmm.” I consider Zach’s assessment. “Yeah, I can see the resemblance.”

“Soooo?” he says, drawing the word out as we walk, bent at the waist, each rolling our heavy disk weights back toward the start line. “You dating someone?”

I glance down at the end of the track and see Jackson there, arms folded in front of her as she glances down at a clipboard she’s holding. “Don’t be a gossip,” I tell Jeff, hoping that stops this conversation before Jackson hears anything she shouldn’t.

“You had dinner with a Kate Upton lookalike and you think we’re not all wondering who she was?” he asks, his voice louder than I’d like as we inch closer to Jackson.

My realtor is newly and, as far as I can tell, happily married. She lives with her husband in Salt Lake City, and her real estate firm specializes in properties in Park City. But she’s also a curvy bombshell with gorgeous white-blond hair, so I’m not surprised that tongues have been wagging around the Center after I was apparently seen with her.

“She’s just my realtor,” I say, and Jackson’s eyebrows raise in a way that would be imperceptible were I not watching her so closely. In my peripheral vision I notice Jeff glance over at me before he follows my line of sight.

“Oh,” he huffs out under his breath. That word can mean so many things, but he doesn’t elaborate; instead, he peels off to rack his weights as I approach Jackson at the end of the track.

“Does this mean you’re moving out of my building?” she asks as I stack the weights at her feet.

“Ahhh,” I say, standing with my hand over my heart. “You already miss me, and I’m not even gone yet.”

“Just hoping this means I won’t have to run into you outside of work,” she says, and narrows her eyes. I can’t get the vision of her in the elevator on Friday night out of my mind. Those legs that went on for days clad in thigh-high boots, and that ridiculously short sweater dress that brought out her green eyes. I’d never seen anyone look so sexy showing so little skin.

When I don’t respond with more information, she pushes on. “So, were you looking for a new place to live?”

Clearly we’re at the fishing for more information stage, and while I’m not sure if she’s curious about my hot realtor or whether she’s actually hopeful I’m moving out of her building, I know it will drive her crazy if I don’t give her answers. So I reply, “Not exactly.”

“What kind of real estate were you looking at, then?”

“The kind I can invest in,” I say, then reach down and pull the hem of my T-shirt up to wipe off my face.

A small hiss of air escapes her lips. “Keep your clothes on, Davenport.”

I eye her over my shirt and don’t miss the fact that she’s totally focused on my abs, or the way she licks her bottom lip before pulling it between her teeth. “Eyes up here, Shanahan,” I tease as I drop my shirt and jerk my chin up. She meets my gaze, her eyes giving away nothing. “You know, for someone in a serious relationship, you sure have a hard time keeping your eyes off me.”

“I’m your physical therapist, Nate. It’s literally my job to watch your body. But maybe you could make this less awkward for both of us and just keep your shirt on.”

“Keep your eyes off my body and you won’t have to feel awkward about it,” I say and shrug, literally for no reason other than I know it’ll piss her off.

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