Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“That’s impossible. I don’t even know you, so you can’t do anything to upset me.”
“No? Then why does it feel like I have?”
I wanted to argue with him, but as we got to the diner, I stopped and turned toward him. “You don’t have to lie to me. I’m not under any illusion about what I look like. You’re going to teach me how to swim, and I’m going to keep letting you. Lying is not going to change that, unless you don’t want to help me.”
And with that, I spun on my heel and walked straight to work.
Chapter Three
Peter
I should let it go.
All day long I couldn’t help but see the hurt in Niamh’s eyes, and I didn’t know exactly what had put it there, but I did know it pissed me off. She looked so damn hurt.
I didn’t know what I lied about.
I’m not usually so distracted and not when it came to female bullshit. Niamh had confused me. For the rest of the day, she played on my mind. Even when Carl was giving me a hearty slap on the back for getting more people to sign up at the gym. It didn’t come as a surprise to me that more women wanted to know if I had planned to become a personal trainer.
All I knew was how to train myself. I knew nothing about being a personal trainer or doing that kind of shit. I’d read through the paperwork Ivan sent me, and it seemed pretty straightforward. My only problem was, my goal was to get Niamh, and the only way to do that was to blend in.
So, against my better judgment, I began to take on a few more potential clients. Carl had given me the files on every member who wanted a personal trainer. He had everyone fill out detailed applications to help us better understand their personal goals. It made a lot of sense, and seeing as Niamh was also my client, I had gotten hers as well. Sitting alone in one of the many offices, I glanced at Niamh’s file. The lies of her name were there, but I noticed she didn’t lie about anything else. Standard information was there, including where she currently lived. I knew this information. When it got to her goals, she had simply indicated she wanted to be half the weight she was now. That was all. It didn’t tell me why she was pissed off.
By eight o’clock, I still wasn’t any wiser. I did, however, have three women I now had to train. Each of them had an appointment tomorrow. I’d start my day with Niamh, which also meant I’d become the guaranteed coffee-and-breakfast collector for the staff. I could walk Niamh to work, get the food, come back, eat breakfast, then I had Colleen from ten until twelve. Then I had lunch break. Anna, from one to three, then from four until six, I had Caitlynn. Two of the three women were married.
I already had a rough idea of what I was going to do, but right now, I was more interested in dealing with Niamh and her lack of tact.
Tonight, the diner closed at nine. I didn’t mind waiting.
Staring into the diner from my car, I watched as Niamh worked around the room. There were still several customers, and she kept the fake smile. Seconds passed, then minutes, and I expected boredom to sink in. Watching a woman work was not my idea of fun, and yet she worked that room so well. Every now and then, she’d tuck some of her long brown curls behind her ear.
She looked exhausted. This morning, I had worked her body, trying to do the whole muscle-memory trick. I didn’t know if it would work, but it would be better than allowing her to drown.
My cell phone began to buzz, and I didn’t even bother to look at the caller. There was only one person who would call me.
“Hello,” I said.
“Settling in?”
“Yes.”
“Have you put a baby inside her?”
“I know you think our sperm is magical, Volkov, but remember, it still takes time.”
“So what you’re telling me is you’re losing your touch?”
Even though I couldn’t see the bastard, I knew he was finding this humorous. I wasn’t entertained, not even a little. This was a job. Nothing else.
“I’ll get it done,” I said.
“What is your progress?”
“I’m teaching her how to swim,” I said. “That is my job.”
Ivan laughed. I didn’t find the humor in this.
“Do I even want to know?” Ivan asked.
“No.”
Again, the laughter.
“Do you need me to come home? I could just grab her, we could lock her up in one of Ive’s cages, and we could get what we want that way?” That sounded way more logical to me than getting a woman to fall in love with me so I could knock her up.