Claiming Sarah (Ace Security #5)(10)

And almost got run over by a man coming out.

He muttered, “Excuse me,” under his breath and pushed past her without a backward glance.

“It’s okay,” Sarah said, even though she knew the man wouldn’t hear her, since he was already halfway down the block.

She entered the gym, heading for the front counter, but stopped.

Standing behind the desk was none other than Felicity Sinclair herself. Sarah recognized her from the internet searches she’d done. She had short blonde hair and was wearing a tank top that showed off the multitude of tattoos on her arms. She wore a huge grin on her face as Sarah resumed her approach.

“You must be Sarah,” she said, still smiling.

“Uh . . . I am. How’d you know?”

“Just a guess. Cole’s waiting for you.” Felicity eyed the medical scrubs she was wearing. “Did you bring something to change into?”

Sarah panicked. She’d thought she could wear the scrubs because they were loose and comfortable. Was she supposed to have brought something else? “No. Should I have?” she asked. “I can come back another day.” In fact, that sounded awesome. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, after all.

As if she could hear Sarah’s inner thoughts, Felicity came around the counter and put her hand on Sarah’s arm. “What you’ve got on is fine. Heck, you should probably come to one of the lessons wearing heels and an LBD.”

“LBD?” Sarah asked.

“Little black dress. I mean, this is self-defense, and you won’t be wearing comfortable clothes like those at every moment. You have to be ready to defend yourself no matter what you’re wearing.”

Sarah wanted to tell her that she pretty much wore the scrubs all the time, and that she didn’t even own an LBD, but she simply nodded. Felicity was already steering her down the hall, so her escape window had closed. The other woman continued to chat about nothing in particular as she led her to where Sarah assumed Cole was waiting.

“Have fun,” Felicity told her as she opened a door.

Sarah smiled at her and said, “Thanks.” She walked through the door—

And froze in her tracks as she stared.

The room wasn’t overly large, though it was obviously used as an aerobics room or some other sort of group-workout space. There was a mirror covering the far wall, making the room look bigger than it was. There were mats on the wooden floor . . . but it was Cole who’d immediately caught her attention.

He hadn’t seen her enter and was currently doing pull-ups on a bar to her right. His back was mostly toward her, so she could stare to her heart’s content.

His tattooed biceps bulged as he pulled himself up, then lowered himself down. He had on a pair of black shorts, a white tank top, and athletic socks and shoes. His body gleamed with a sheen of sweat.

He was literally a walking wet dream—and Sarah swallowed hard. She wasn’t sure she could do this. The idea of learning how to protect herself, just in case, was one thing; the reality of having to get up close and personal with Cole as he trained her was something else altogether.

She could admit it.

She was officially intimidated.

Sarah turned to leave, but the movement in the mirror must’ve caught Cole’s attention, because he dropped to the floor and turned.

“Sarah,” he said with a smile as he approached.

She smiled awkwardly at him. There was no doubt Cole was handsome, but when he turned that thousand-watt smile her way, he was devastating.

“Hi,” she said somewhat lamely.

“Hi,” he returned. “It’s good to see you.”

“Uh . . . you too.”

“How was work?”

“Fine. It was work.”

He’d gotten close enough now to touch. He reached out a hand, and Sarah automatically raised hers to shake. His warm fingers closed around hers—and shockingly, she wondered what he’d do if she leaned in and ran her tongue up the side of his neck.

Chastising herself for the bizarre thought, Sarah tried to concentrate on what Cole was saying, and not on how delicious he looked in his workout clothes, or whether or not he had tattoos . . . everywhere.

God, this wasn’t her. She wasn’t like this!

Why Cole was affecting her this way, she had no idea. But she had to get herself together.

It seemed as if Cole held on to her hand longer than was appropriate, but she could have been imagining things. He dropped her hand before she could wonder too much about it, and said, “What exactly do you do?”

“I’m a CNA. Certified nursing assistant. I help patients with just about anything and everything. Repositioning them, taking blood pressure and temperature, answering their calls, explaining medical stuff that they don’t understand, feeding them, cleaning the rooms and bed linens, assisting with medical procedures, dressing wounds . . . to name just a few things.”

Cole nodded to her outfit. “That explains the scrubs.”

Sarah shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Do you like it?”

She furrowed her brows. “Do I like it?”

“Your job.”

She nodded.

“You don’t want to move up and become a nurse? Or a doctor?”

She appreciated the fact that he’d tacked on doctor to the end of his question. Most people thought of doctors as male, when that was just stupid. There were plenty of female doctors. She shook her head. “No. I like talking with people. I like spending time with them, getting to know them. Especially the ones who don’t have much family visiting. So many people are lonely, and I’d like to think I make a difference in their lives in my own way.”