Chapter Four
Chloe was still amazed that the gym was now hers. It had sat empty since her former bosses were arrested, like a mausoleum waiting for someone brave—or stupid—enough to breathe life back into it.
She had just stepped out of her car when she spotted Leo and Kayne heading inside.
Good Lord, the man was a physical specimen.
He was slightly taller than Leo’s six-foot-four and solidly muscled.
The cargo pants he wore molded to one truly exceptional behind.
His shoulders were the broad, sculpted kind romance novelists got paid obscene amounts of money to describe.
He moved with the lethal grace of someone who knew exactly how dangerous he could be.
And that ridiculous hint of swagger in his gait .
. . it shouldn’t have been attractive, but it absolutely was.
Her pulse fluttered. Traitor.
Chloe grabbed her bag and followed them in, weaving around drop cloths and paint trays.
The building had good bones, better bones now that she was ripping out every trace of the monsters who used to run it.
Even now, thinking about what they’d done made her stomach twist. They’d stolen childhoods, destroyed trust, and died before facing a courtroom.
They’d killed themselves, or it was murder-suicide.
She had no idea which, nor did it matter.
Their victims were left with deep, lasting wounds and no path to justice.
The equipment had needed replacing. She’d donated the old machines to organizations around town that could use them without knowledge of the stain attached, including the Boys and Girls Club and community centers.
The new machines hadn’t arrived yet, which worked out since she was installing a luxurious, high-performance rubber floor and repainting the walls.
She’d bring many of her plants here to decorate the space, along with new ones.
Not only did she love them, but they looked beautiful and provided oxygen.
They made spaces feel alive. She’d be spending most of her time here anyway.
That made her think about where she was going to live. Chloe needed to get on the ball and hire a realtor. She could crash in her office since she’d have a sofa and her own bathroom, but that wasn’t a long-term solution. With everything happening, she didn’t have time to house-hunt.
The club was two stories with an open middle.
The second level featured a track that surrounded the opening and rooms for yoga, Pilates, and other classes.
She was having four rooms converted into offices.
She and Leo would have large ones with bathrooms, and two smaller offices would go to Danica and the future manager.
The only thing the club didn’t have was a pool. She was considering purchasing the property next to the building to install one once the club was operational.
Chloe glanced around. Still no sign of Danica.
She’d asked Chloe for a job, so she’d tasked her with running the charity she’d been thinking about starting once she began making money.
Chloe wanted it to focus on nutrition and health for kids and teens.
She’d asked Danica to draft an implementation plan.
So far, she’d produced exactly nothing, despite drawing a more-than-generous salary.
Leo thought Chloe was a sucker for hiring her half-sister, and maybe she was. But when it came down to it, they were related. Blood complicated things, but family was family.
Danica held a degree in marketing, which she’d received online.
Chloe didn’t know whether she hadn’t wanted to leave home or whether her mother hadn’t allowed it.
Chloe had never met the woman who had stolen her father away.
Truthfully, she hadn’t even thought about her for years.
Her aunt and uncle had become her parents in every way that mattered.
Her childhood had been full and happy, and she’d been loved.
Chloe’s aunt made sure they visited her mom’s grave on Mother’s Day, her birthday, and Christmas. Her mom was never forgotten.
Her aunt and uncle had moved to California a couple of years ago, and she missed them terribly.
When Danica had shown up on her doorstep, Chloe had nearly shut the door in her face. But it hadn’t been Danica’s fault that their father hadn’t wanted to be a parent to Chloe. Someone needed to break the cycle.
Chloe shook herself back to the present.
Her afternoon task was to hire a manager to handle staffing.
Danica wasn’t ready for that responsibility, no matter how much she wanted it.
This place was too important to gamble on hope alone.
It was a significant investment, and she needed to ensure it was successful.
Her concentration imploded the second Kayne turned around.
He and Leo stood near the gutted front desk, reviewing a clipboard as if they were preparing to breach a cartel compound.
Leo looked as he always did: focused, a little bossy, slightly frazzled from trying to manage her life.
Kayne looked like trouble wrapped in a package of steely muscle.
Good grief. Even his shoulders had shoulders.
Kayne was steady, solid, and perceptive enough to make her feel both safe and scrutinized.
It was annoying how much she valued that combination.
Dragging her focus back to her bag, she pretended she hadn’t just ogled him as if she had been raised in the wilderness and encountered her first man.
She hefted the bag toward her temporary office and tried to give herself a pep talk.
See? You’re calm. Mature. Not at all bothered by the dangerously handsome man pretending to date you for “security reasons.”
Her pulse didn’t get the memo.
“Chloe,” Leo called. “Good. You’re here.”
Where else would I be? Screaming into a pillow?
She swallowed the sarcasm and pasted on a smile. “So, you wanted to talk?”
Kayne’s gaze swept over her in one slow, assessing pass. It wasn’t the sleazy kind; it was deliberate, professional, and yet somehow intimate enough to nudge heat up her neck. He took her in as if she were a puzzle and he could see where she was strong . . . and exactly where she felt fragile.
It was unsettling and infuriating. But it was also hard to look away from.
And those eyes. Greener than they had any right to be. Light sea-glass green. Stop noticing that.
She folded her arms, pretending she wasn’t lightheaded. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“No one said babysitter,” Leo replied, which was exactly what someone who’d hired one would say.
Kayne’s mouth tipped in that amused almost-smile. It was maddening. “I’m here for threat assessment.”
“Don’t say that so loudly,” she hissed, glancing around. The contractor on the ladder glanced over. Wonderful. Now she was terrorizing the staff.
Kayne’s expression didn’t change. He was carved from granite, and somehow still ridiculously attractive granite. “We need to do a walk-through. Secure entry points. Assess blind spots. Upgrade locks on the service doors.”
“This is a gym, not Fort Knox.”
“With respect,” he said in that velvet-and-gravel drawl, “Fort Knox is easier to secure.”
Her pulse tripped. She hated it. She kind of loved it.
Leo nodded, proud of himself. She wanted to throw a dumbbell at him. “I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” She pointed at him. “You started this circus.”
Leo’s phone buzzed, and his expression flattened. “It’s work. I have to take it.”
Of course he did.
With an apologetic grimace, Leo was out the door, leaving her alone with Kayne Serruto, the human embodiment of temptation and tactical precision. A fact her nervous system noticed immediately.
Silence stretched between them. She felt an awareness, alive and electric. Chloe scrambled for professional composure. “Okay. Fine. Let’s do your assessment.”
Kayne dipped his chin and walked beside her down the long hall, boots quiet on the unfinished concrete.
His stride was deliberate and steady as a heartbeat.
The air buzzed with unspoken things. Nerves.
Attraction. Resistance. Curiosity. She felt as if she were walking through an electromagnetic field.
“You’re upset with Leo,” he said
She snorted. “Understatement of the year.”
“He’s trying to protect you, cher.”
Goodness, that voice with that accent. Someone needed to outlaw it. “I know,” she sighed. “That doesn’t make it less maddening.”
He opened one of the half-installed doors, sweeping the room with his gaze before motioning her in with a gesture that felt ridiculously intimate for something so mundane.
“He’s worried. With reason.”
Her breath hitched. “You actually think the altered picture was serious?”
He didn’t answer right away. His gaze met hers, steady and tender in a way that made her insides twist. Then his expression softened, not pitying, just honest. “I think someone is paying an uncomfortable amount of attention to you.”
The words were calm, but they hit her with a jolt of fear mixed with something dangerous.
She swallowed. Because, yes, hearing that from anyone else might have frightened her. But from him it steadied her. And irritated and confused her.
Damn it, and dangerously attracted her. It was a wildly inconvenient connection she absolutely did not ask for.
“Look,” she said, clearing her throat, “most stalkers are just keyboard warriors with too much time and too little life experience.”
His gaze sharpened. “And some of them aren’t, like Fraiser Talbot.”
A shiver raced up her spine. Not because he was fearmongering. He wasn’t. He was calm and factual. The calm made it real. She’d almost forgotten about Fraiser.
They moved through the dusty space in silence, and she realized something surprising. He wasn’t trying to crowd her or overwhelm her with macho speeches or scare tactics. He was simply there, observing and protecting. He was a wall she hadn’t asked for but sort of appreciated.
It was disarming. And maybe worse, comforting.
When she paused upstairs, leaning on a new doorframe, the confession slipped out before she could stop it. “This is all a lot. I’m sure Leo told you about the gym, my website, and the clothing line. Not to mention my face on billboards. I didn’t expect any of it.”
Kayne mirrored her pose across the frame, arms crossed over his chest, confidence radiating off him like a slow, steady flame.
“You earned every inch of it,” he said.
Her heart did a strange, startled flip. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.” His gaze didn’t waver. “I know you built something out of nothing. I know you’re stronger than you think. I know you don’t let people help easily. And I know letting someone else take point feels like you’re admitting weakness.”
Her breath hitched. Damn him for being right. “You got all that from what, five minutes together?”
“Six,” he corrected, lips quirking.
She huffed a laugh. “You’re impossible.”
“Most women say irresistible.”
“Oh, I bet they do.”
His grin sent heat curling low in her stomach. For a fraction of a second, she forgot all the reasons why this was a terrible idea. Kayne was dangerously charming.
Dangerously everything.
She straightened abruptly. “We should get back to the assessment.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They turned the corner and nearly collided with a worker carrying lumber.
“Sorry,” the man muttered before hurrying past.
Kayne shifted subtly and protectively, tracking the man until he disappeared down the hall. Not jumpy, not paranoid. Just aware.
“See?” she joked weakly. “Construction is dangerous enough. Throw in stalkers and my insurance premiums are going to skyrocket.”
Kayne chuckled. “Cher, your insurance premiums are the least of my concerns.”
Her pulse tripped again. How did he do that with a single sentence? “And what is your concern?” she asked, voice breathier than she intended.
He stopped. So did she. He looked down at her as if he saw every fear, every strength, every crack she tried to hide.
“You,” he said quietly. “Keeping you safe.”
The words hit her like a hand closing gently around her heart.
He stepped back a second later, as if he hadn’t just said something life-altering. “Next room?”
She nodded quickly, fighting a blush. “Next room.”
But as they walked, a truth settled inside her with a slow, steady bloom of heat: Kayne didn’t have a horrible personality or a flaw she could latch onto for safety.
Which was exactly what her already chaotic, stalker-shadowed life did not need.
Which meant she was in far more danger than Leo realized.
Because somewhere between irritation and attraction, Chloe had become incredibly, catastrophically vulnerable to the one man she was supposed to pretend to want.
She was doomed.