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summer.”
    “Okay,” he agreed, not believing it would really happen.
    “You’ll have to get a rate sheet out so we can pass it around the complex.” She was charging headlong into the idea at a speed that had Carter’s stomach plummeting. “And I bet Evan has lots of contacts with his event planning business.”
    “Cali,” he interrupted her. “Slow down. It’s only an idea.”
    She squeezed her eyes closed. “Sorry. I guess I got a bit excited for you.”
    There was no way he couldn’t chuckle at her eagerness to help. Maybe it was the mother in her that always had her jumping in whenever someone needed it. Or maybe it was just her good heart that made that happen.
    “Don’t worry about it.” He started to move toward the weight machines. “I appreciate the support.”
    “No problem,” she said with a smile. “It was good seeing you.”
    “You too.”
    With a backward wave, she headed toward the locker room, and he blew out a long breath of relief. There were times when he was positive they were all going to find out about his duplicity. Keeping up the fake job was trying at times, but he refused to give up the normalcy he’d found and the friendships he’d developed with the other condo residents. It was a small slice of ordinary that balanced his life.
    He’d never been ashamed of what he did for a living. But most people weren’t so accepting, even if they were into whips and chains.
    He snorted at the thought as he eyed the open equipment. He’d only recently put together the six degrees of separation that an oddly high number of people from their condo unit had with the BDSM club The Den. Including sweet Cali and her boyfriend Jake.
    The pieces had all fallen together after Tyler had left the escort agency and started working and basically living at the club with one of the owners. Thankfully, the man had never gone into detail with anyone on how they knew each other.
    Carter had been going to The Den with a client once a month for over a year. The whole submission thing wasn’t really his kink, but the man paid well and extra for him to play the part. He was pretty good at it, if he did say so himself.
    He settled on the lats machine, set the weight, gripped the bar over his head and started his routine. The burn increased through his muscles when he started the second set. His goal was always strength and maintenance, not building bulk. It was his experience that the majority of men preferred toned and cut over mass.
    And that had his thoughts circling right back to Rock. He’d been looking forward to seeing his body. It wasn’t often that he got to have sex with a man as fit and handsome as Rock. But then, Rock had been younger than his regular clients. His hourly rate usually narrowed his clients down to middle age and older, wealthy men who could afford to satisfy their desires in private.
    This is stupid . He gave his head a hard shake before moving to the butterfly machine. It was likely he’d never see Rock again. There was zero point in overanalyzing the entire situation. The man had issues that had nothing to do with Carter.
    It didn’t matter how many times he told himself that. It didn’t stop him from wishing he could’ve helped him. Somehow, he felt like he’d let Rock down. The tip he’d tossed on the table before he’d fled had soured Carter’s mouth. He wouldn’t think of why.
    No, he wouldn’t think about it, at all. Period. He’d done everything he could and he’d learned long ago to let the crap go or he’d end up buried beneath all of the shit called life. And he refused to let that happen.
    He’d scrambled too long and hard to ever get buried again.

Chapter Four
    Rock scanned the bank of screens that lined the wall four high and seven wide. His gaze skated down and back in a pattern that was ingrained at this point. With every room at The Den monitored, he’d become an expert at identifying issues, potential problems and Scenes gone badly.
    Fortunately