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“Fancy meeting you again,” I say with sarcasm. “If I didn’t know better I might think you’re stalking me.”
“And you know better, do you?” he asks, a wicked gleam in his eyes that is not only a little dangerous, it’s also a lot hot.
“How long have you been a member of this gym?” I ask, a hand propped on my waist. I know my stance oozes accusation.
“Just joined,” he says, shamelessly smirking.
I tilt my head. “Coincidence? I just re-joined last night after leaving the soup place.”
He continues smiling.
My eyebrows go up. Of course he knows that somehow. Did he follow me?
“Confession?” he asks.
I wait, braced.
“I’m gonna be making Columbus home base for a while. Saw you walk over here from the soup joint last night and… lightbulb went off.”
“Uh huh,” I nod sagely, “So, Derek… I don’t typically like to make assumptions, but I’m thinking my assumption here about you is probably not far off.”
“Probably not,” he returns, then casually sips from the water bottle in his hand. I watch him twist the cap back on and then he volleys with, “Just like my assumption probably ain’t wrong either. That you ducked out of the coffee shop pretending something came up because you were uncomfortable with the chemistry between us.”
“I’m engaged,” I state. “Though I know I’ve made this fact clear to you directly more than once as well as to someone else in front of you another time, so…” I give him a pointed look.
“How’s the book so far?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t dug in.”
“Have a drink with me, Chloe.”
I blink, taken back. “A drink?”
He rises and takes a step forward, putting us toe to toe. I look up at his face. He’s so close I can smell his soap on his freshly showered skin. So close he’s all I see.
This feels dangerous. Wrong. And yet … something else. Something I’m not sure I have the capacity to acknowledge fully.
“I’m not sure I’m in a state to be seen outside a gym,” I say self-consciously instead of doing what I should do. Walk away without responding.
My hair is wet, I have no makeup on my face. I’m in jeans and a plain tee.
He smiles. “I disagree.” He touches a tendril of hair that’s hanging over my ear. “But we don’t have to be in public if you’re not comfortable with it. We can have a drink at my place instead.”
I blink a couple times and then I shake my head. “I can’t. I… I’m-”
“Engaged. I know.”
“You know but you just don’t care?” I ask.
“There’s something here.” He gestures between us. “I think we both know it. And I want to explore it.”
“Meaning?” I ask.
“Meaning, come for a drink with me, Chloe,” he says, dark eyes searching mine.
I’m against the wall beside the locker room door and he’s close enough to kiss, if I get up on my tippy toes and lean forward just an inch.
“Not your place. Somewhere public,” I amend.
