Chapter 196: Gym Session With Rachel [FIXED!]

Rachel slid into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut, tugging her half-open jacket closed over the sage-green sports bra like she’d only just realized how much of it was on display.

Liam started the engine and glanced at her.

She’d said yes. Half an hour ago she’d been crying into his shoulder over a plate of eggs, and now she was sitting in his car in brand-new leggings, ready to walk into a gym she’d sworn off more times than she could count. He hadn’t had to beg or bargain. He’d suggested it, she’d complained for about a minute, and then she’d gone to get dressed.

He was really glad she’d come. More than that, though, he was surprised by how easily she’d gone along with it. Most people needed a reason, a plan, or a week’s notice. Rachel had just needed someone to ask.

It was refreshing, in a way.

He stole another look at her while she fiddled with the air vent. Her ponytail swung every time she moved her head, and the soft green fabric clung to her in all the right places.

"How is a woman who looks like this single?"

It made no sense on the surface. She could walk into any bar in Seattle and have her pick of the room by the end of the night. But Liam knew better than most that looks could only get someone so far. Attraction brought a man in. It didn’t make him stay.

And after last night, Liam had a better idea of what kept men from staying.

He hadn’t taken Darren’s warning seriously at first. Darren was cautious by nature, and Liam had figured he was just being protective. But last night had changed that. Rachel hadn’t been careless by accident. She’d been hoping for something, and it wasn’t hard to work out what.

A child.

Liam didn’t think it was malicious. If anything, it made a strange kind of sense. She was lonely, her marriage was falling apart, and her days had gone empty. A baby would fill every hour of them. She’d be too busy caring for another human life to sit in the dark staring at a ceiling fan.

He understood it. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it yet.

"You’re quiet," Rachel said.

"I’m driving."

"You can talk and drive. I’ve seen you do it."

"I’m concentrating. This is a very complicated road."

She looked out the windshield at the perfectly straight, empty street. "Uh-huh."

"There could be a deer." Liam snuck in.

"In the middle of the city?"

"City deer are the worst kind. They’re bold, and they charge right at you like you owe them your life."

Rachel laughed and shook her head. "You’re ridiculous."

"You say that to the person who was just in you."

She settled back into the seat and pulled one knee up, then seemed to remember she was supposed to be sitting like a respectable adult and put it back down. "So what am I actually doing today? Treadmill? Those bike things?"

"Something like that."

"That’s not an answer, I need an answer!"

"It’s the start of an answer. Let me be mysterious!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Liam."

"Rachel."

"Am I going to die?"

"Probably not."

"Probably?"

"Almost definitely not." He kept his eyes on the road and his face as straight as he could manage. "Very low chance."

"I’m getting out of the car."

"We’re going forty miles an hour."

"I’ll roll."

"In those leggings? You’ll ruin them and might give the pavement a boner with your fine self."

She looked down at herself, considered it, and sighed. "Fine. I’ll stay. For the leggings."

Rachel had a sheepish smile, showing the compliment had an effect on her.

"Smart choice."

He kept the conversation light the rest of the way. He asked about her favorite foods. She asked whether he’d ever actually liked working out or had just been brainwashed. He told her he’d been brainwashed, and she said that tracked. He didn’t ask about Marcus, the building, or last night. She’d had enough heavy for one morning, and he wasn’t about to ruin the mood by digging into anything personal.

There was one thing he did feel a little bad about, though.

Mike.

Liam had already decided. The moment they walked through the doors of Pike Peak Fitness, he was handing her straight over to Mike. Six foot six, bald, a white beard, and built like he’d been carved out of a mountain. The man had once carried Liam into the gym over his shoulder while Liam screamed for help in the parking lot.

Mike would take care of her. In his own way.

Maybe he’d go easy on her because it was her first day. Maybe he’d take one look at her nervous smile and soften.

Liam thought about it and doubted it. Mike didn’t seem like the kind of man who adjusted his program for anyone, woman or man. He believed in pain the way other people believed in vitamins.

Rachel was absolutely going to hate him by the end of the hour.

Liam pressed his lips together, but a small giggle escaped anyway.

Rachel turned to look at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You just laughed."

"I thought of a joke."

"Tell me the joke."

"You wouldn’t get it."

She stared at him with deep suspicion. "Why do I feel like the joke is me?"

"I’m sorry," Liam said, and he meant it more than she knew.

"For what?"

He turned into the gym parking lot and nodded toward the entrance, where a very large, very bald man stood by the doors with his arms folded.

"You’ll see."

-

By the time they’d parked, the man by the doors had gone back inside.

Liam held the door open for Rachel and scanned the gym floor out of habit. Treadmills humming, plates clanking, a few regulars grinding through their sets near the mirrors.

No Sophia.

He wasn’t surprised. After everything she’d been through over the past few days, the gym was probably the last thing on her mind. She had a security team outside her house and a brother to look after. Squats could wait.

Part of him was relieved, honestly. Rachel was nervous enough already without meeting Sophia on her first day, another woman he was involved with.

Then he saw Mike crossing the floor toward them.

Liam sighed immediately, before he could stop himself.

He’d skipped days. Several of them. And Mike had a memory like a tax auditor.

"Liam!" Mike’s voice carried across the gym like a foghorn. That wide, warm smile was already on his face, the one that made him look like the friendliest giant in Seattle. It was a lie, of course. Mike was gentle right up until the moment he started training you. After that, he was something else entirely.

Liam glanced at Rachel. She’d taken a half step behind him, eyes traveling slowly up all six and a half feet of Mike, and her grip had tightened on the strap of her water bottle.

He couldn’t blame her. Everyone reacted that way the first time.

"Mike," Liam said. "Good to see you."

"Is it?" Mike’s smile didn’t move. "You have not been here."

"I’ve been busy."

"Mm."

Liam cleared his throat. "Listen, I brought someone new. This is Rachel. It’s her first day, and I’d like you to train her."

Mike turned to Rachel and gave her a polite nod, his eyes resting on her face for a moment before returning to Liam. "Welcome, Rachel. No problem." Then, to Liam: "She is your girlfriend?"

The question hung there.

Rachel could have answered. It would have been easy. No, just a friend, or It’s complicated, or even a laugh to brush it off. But she didn’t say anything. She looked at Liam and waited.

Liam noticed. He smiled.

"Why not?" Liam wanted to play into her fantasy.

"She’s my woman," he said, his voice firm. "Treat her well."

Rachel’s stomach did something it hadn’t done in years. A flutter, warm and sudden, rising right up under her ribs. She kept her face perfectly neutral and studied a weight rack like it was the most interesting thing in the building.

It didn’t mean anything. It was just something he’d said.

She didn’t believe that for a second.

Mike looked at Liam with new interest. Liam hadn’t struck him as a man who went for a woman with real curves. Most men in this gym chased whatever the magazines told them to chase. But Mike had always believed it took a real man to appreciate a fuller woman. Seeing Liam stand by his choice without a flicker of embarrassment earned him something he rarely handed out.

Respect.

Then Mike kept staring at him. And staring.

"What?" Liam asked.

"You will continue the programme."

"Sure. Yeah. We’ll pick up from where we stopped."

Mike shook his head slowly.

"No," he said. "Not where we stopped. Where you should be today."

Liam’s smile faded. "Mike, I missed almost a week."

"Yes. So today you lift what today’s programme says." Mike clapped a hand on his shoulder. "No catching up. No starting over. The programme did not stop because you did."

Rachel let out a small, delighted snort.

Liam turned to her slowly.

She shrugged, innocent. "What? I’m being treated well."