Claiming Sarah (Ace Security #5)(3)

He’d run after her, and luckily, she’d agreed to come back to the gym.

The walk was done in silence, which gave him an opportunity to study the woman beside him. She had brown hair, currently up in a haphazard bun, and beautiful hazel eyes. He would bet everything he had that they’d change colors based on the light around her. She was wearing a pair of wrinkled scrubs, indicating that she worked in the medical field. Her shoulders were hunched, and she made sure to stay far enough from him so their arms and hands wouldn’t accidentally touch.

They arrived back at the gym, and Cole held open the door for Sarah and followed her inside. His professional gaze assessed her overall form from behind. She was very different from the carb-hating, protein-loving clients who frequented the gym. She might not have the muscle strength to execute some of the more advanced self-defense moves, but she could still do some damage to someone intent on doing her harm.

Ignoring the way Carrie was staring at him in shock—he’d never run down a client before, begging her to let him help after claiming he had no time to see her—Cole gestured for Sarah to go down the hall into his office.

He winced at the mess when he entered behind her. Felicity was always giving him crap about the condition of his office, but it hadn’t ever bothered him . . . until now. Until he wanted to impress this woman for some weird and unknown reason.

He hurried past her to the small love seat against the wall and gathered up the papers that were on the cushions. “Please, make yourself comfortable. I need to go give Carrie the questions for the interview.”

He stood patiently in the middle of his office, waiting for her to sit. She lowered herself gingerly to the very edge of the couch, as if she were ready to bolt if he so much as twitched in her direction. She was still gripping her keys in her left hand, and Cole hated that. Not that she was prepared to defend herself, but that she felt she needed to arm herself against him. He didn’t know her story, only the little bit that Logan had told him, but he had a feeling whatever she was worried about was bad.

“We really can reschedule, Cole,” she said, raising her eyes to his. “If this is going to disrupt everyone, I can come back later.”

“It’s fine,” he said, trying to reassure her. “My staff is used to things being crazy around here. I’ll be right back.”

He waited until she nodded, then dropped the papers he’d collected from the couch onto his desk, shuffled a few of them around until he found the interview questions, and headed out of the room.

He was back less than five minutes later, and saw that Sarah hadn’t budged from her position. She was still perched on the edge of the cushion and still had her keys in her hand. But now her eyes were closed—and he could see her torso swaying as her body struggled to stay upright.

Cole watched her for a beat, unexpectedly filled with emotions he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

It was more than concern for a woman who was obviously at the end of her rope. There was something about Sarah—her wariness, her vulnerability—that touched him deep inside. She immediately reminded him of Felicity. Uneasy, scared, hanging on by a thread . . . but he sensed a spine of steel, stronger than even she could ever know.

However, even after spending only a few minutes in Sarah’s presence, Cole knew she was very different from his best friend.

Felicity never hesitated to tell someone what she thought. If someone pissed her off, they knew it. She wasn’t mean about it, but she had no problem speaking up. She also frequently walked through the gym scolding the patrons for not cleaning the equipment after they’d sweated all over it. If someone told a story and had their facts wrong, she was the first to point it out. She was outgoing and outspoken, even more so now that the stalker who’d been after her for more than a decade was no longer a threat.

Sarah seemed far more subdued. She’d had every right to read him the riot act, but she hadn’t. She’d politely let him off the hook, even though he’d been a dick. Yes, he was tired and overworked, but that didn’t give him the right to be an asshole. And he had been.

“Sarah?” he said quietly as he pulled a chair over and sat in front of the couch.

He might as well have yelled the word for the effect it had. Her eyes popped open, and her back went ramrod straight. He saw the second she realized where she was and who had spoken, as her body sagged in relief, even though she quickly hid her emotions. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I took so long.”

“No, I’m sorry for falling asleep on you. It’s been a long day.”

Cole found himself wanting more information. He wanted to know where she worked, what she did . . . if there was anything he could do to make her day better. But instead, he got down to the reason she was there in the first place. The sooner they finished up here, the sooner she could go home and get some sleep.

“I don’t have a lot of information on your situation. You were referred to me by Logan Anderson. All I know is that you have an ex-husband who’s been harassing you?”

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t ever been married.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Logan must’ve misunderstood,” Cole said. It was possible. Ace Security got a ton of emails and messages every day asking about their services. When Logan had emailed Cole to tell him about Sarah and ask if he would teach her some self-defense, Logan probably got her case confused with one of the others he’d been looking into. But for some reason, whatever was going on with her had struck a chord in Logan, if he’d reached out for Cole’s help.