By the time Kale completed the paperwork, Bree was under control and all business, not the least bit worried when Gil left to process the membership fee on the card reader in the office, leaving her and Kale alone. “So, Mr. Barlow, what days and times work best for you?”
“I close the marina at six during the winter. I can be here by six-thirty easily.”
“Monday, Wednesday, Friday good for a start?”
He nodded.
“This Friday work for you?”
He nodded again, and Bree penciled him in.
Gil returned and handed his card back to him. “Here you go.”
“Well, I guess I’m finished here.” He put the card in his wallet and shook hands with both of them. “Thanks for opening this place. I think it’s exactly what I need.”
“We’re glad to have you, and I look forward to working with you,” Bree told him. “And, if you get the chance before Friday, write down what’s in your refrigerator. We’ll start out with a look at how you eat.” She smiled at the grimace he made before he walked away.
Bree and Gil watched until he was out the door.
“You okay with him?” Gil asked.
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Gil shrugged. “I don’t know. You just seemed a little nervous.”
She shook her head. “Nervous? Hardly.”
“Yeah, he’s really not your type, is he?” She heard the taunt come into her brother’s voice. “Thankfully, you always go for those long and lean, sinewy guys.”
“I told you before, no client involvement. Even if my favorite hunky actor, Sam Heughan, walks through our door, I won’t give him a second look.” She closed her eyes and took a long breath to steel her resolve.
When she opened them, Gil was watching her, worry evident in his eyes. “Made you blink,” he said.
THE PARKING LOT of the gym was nearly empty. As he parked his truck, Kale was dreading the lecture ahead of him. He had his list of what’s-in-your-fridge to share with his new trainer, and from the looks of Ms. Not One Ounce of Extra Fat, she wouldn’t be pleased.
But he would face his punishment like a man. He deserved a lecture, though not because of the contents of his refrigerator. It wasn’t like he could control his freakin’ subconscious.
Wednesday night he’d gotten caught in the act of unabashedly checking out the ass of another guy’s wife. Oh, he’d covered well, but Bree Rice had seen through him, he was sure.
Married women were off-limits, sort of a “do-unto-others” standard he lived by.
But it wasn’t the ogling he was most ashamed of. It was the damn erections he’d woken up with for two mornings now, and the person in his dreams was his personal trainer.
Mrs. Gil Rice, he reminded himself for the twelve-gillionth time that day.
As he switched the ignition off, he closed his eyes and pushed Addy to the forefront of his mind. “I’m doing this for you, Addy.” He fixed her once again as his driving force.
Bree wasn’t difficult to spot through the weight room windows in her hot-pink and bright yellow shorts. Her back was to him, but Kale made a point of keeping his eyes focused on her top half this time. Gil, who was spotting her, acknowledged Kale with a nod as she lifted a barbell with a damn impressive amount of weight attached to each end over her head. Her movements were smooth, her posture perfect. She held the weight for a few seconds before squatting to settle the ends back on the stand.
She and her husband shared a high five, and he said something to her. She grabbed a towel and trotted out to meet Kale.
“Hi, Kale. You’re right on time.” Her face was flushed from exertion, making her smile seem to glow as they shook hands in greeting. “And you’re dressed and ready to go. I’m impressed.”
“I’m motivated for change,” he answered, keeping his eyes glued to her face and not allowing them to glance at the perfect cleavage peeking out of her sports bra.
“Then you might be my favorite client.” She laughed and the sound relaxed him. “So, did you bring your list?”
He pulled it from his jacket pocket in answer.
“Great. We’ll get to that later. I know you just finished work, and you’re probably anxious to get in a little cardio, so I thought we’d start you off with a half hour of circuit training. Then we’ll spend the last half hour going over your list and talking about some healthy eating habits. Sound good?”
“I’m putting myself in your hands.” Kale flinched inwardly at his unfortunate word choice. “Lead the way,” he added.
Bree escorted him to the circuit-training room, taking him from station to station, explaining how the weight machines and stationary bikes worked. The idea of staying on a machine for only one minute sounded weird, but once he got into the routine, it was nice in a mindless kind of way. Cycle hard for one minute, then, at the sound of the beep, move to a weight machine. Ten seconds to get the machine set. Another beep. Do as many reps as possible in one minute, then at the sound of the beep, move back to the bike. A full circuit around all the machines took twenty minutes, but with Bree’s ten-minute training on the machines, he found he was finished at precisely the time she had told him she’d be waiting. The woman was certainly efficient.
She met him at the door of the circuit room with a fresh towel. “I’m glad to see you’re sweating.” She really did look genuinely pleased as she led the way to her office. “Some people take it too easy in there.”
“Not me. I want to lose twenty more pounds by Christmas.”
He watched as doubt shadowed her light brown eyes. “That may be expecting a little too much. A healthy pace is one to two pounds a week.”
“Not fast enough. Two-twenty by December twenty-fifth.” That would be forty-three pounds from where he’d started.
“Sticking to a strict diet over the holiday season is almost impossible. I mean, it’s admirable you have such lofty goals, but I want you to be realistic above all else. Otherwise, you set yourself up for failure.”
“I won’t fail,” he assured her. “This is too important.”
She motioned to a chair in front of her desk and then scooted another one out from the wall so they could face each other comfortably with nothing between them. “Do you mind sharing with me what’s so important?”
Her tone was one a counselor would use, and, now that he thought about it, she was a counselor of sort. He decided to be completely up-front with her. “I’m trying to get my girlfriend back.”
Bree straightened in her chair. “By losing weight?”
Kale shrugged. “By trying to be a better me. I’ve gotten slack about a lot of things.” Honesty was one thing, but no way was he going to mention his depressed libido—especially with the woman who’d single-handedly jump-started it a couple of days ago. Married woman, he reminded himself. “I took her for granted. Let myself go. I figure a Christmas reunion would be the perfect gift to myself.”
Bree chewed her lip, obviously trying to decide what to say. “What you’re doing...what you’ve already done...is admirable. And I’m glad you’ve found something to motivate you. But...” Her eyes locked with his, and she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “It’s