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a friend of his sister, to boot. She’d tried to seduce him, and he’d done the only thing he could live with—he’d tried to protect her by pushing her away. He’d done the right thing, what he saw as his duty. How could she hate him for that?
    Knowing she had some reparations to make, Hayley headed toward the gym’s entrance.
     
     
    The pain burned in Mitch’s calves, screaming at him to stop. As always, he ignored it. Eight hundred meters to go and he’d reach his goal of five kilometers. If he kept pace, he’d cover the distance in under twenty-four minutes, his best time yet.
    Besides, running cleared his mind, helped him focus. And what he needed to focus on right now was Hayley and how to steal her away from that reprobate Ty Butler.
    He could seduce her, of course. Mitch was confident he could entice Hayley into bed if he put in the required effort, even if she was still mad at him for not taking her up on that particular offer two years ago. After all, she wouldn’t still be angry if he meant nothing to her, would she?
    But as much as Mitch wanted Hayley sexually, bedding her wasn’t going to be enough. Hayley had always been more to him than a potential sex partner.
    Reaching down to the electronic panel, Mitch upped the speed by another half a kilometer per hour, successfully distracting himself from that thought. The second he did it, a voice came out of the dim light at the edges of the gym.
    “Slow down before you hurt yourself.”
    Startled, Mitch stumbled a little. The fumble screwed up his rhythm, making it impossible to maintain the pace he’d set. He felt his body careening off the back of the treadmill, but could do nothing to prevent it. His attempts to stop himself from falling face-first into the machine annihilated his balance. Toppling backwards, Mitch landed on the floor on his rear.
    “Mitch!” Hayley rushed forward and fell to her knees by his side, a concerned expression on her face. “Are you okay?”
    “Not really.” Winded, Mitch croaked the reply. “Did you have to sneak up on me?”
    “I didn’t sneak. I was watching.” Mitch cocked a brow as he looked at her, and a little color stole into her cheeks. “Not like that . I was worried about you.”
    Mitch’s momentary pleasure at the thought that she might have been ogling him vanished. “I’m only thirty-four. I wasn’t going to have a heart attack.”
    “I know how old you are, a whole ten years older than I am.”
    Mitch scowled when he saw her lips twitch. Was she making fun of their age difference? It was one of the reasons he’d used to point out why a relationship between them wouldn’t work, but at the time she’d dismissed it as unimportant. Had she changed her mind? Did she think him a pathetic, old, pompous wind—
    “Anyway, I wasn’t worried about your physical health. Anyone can see you’re in great shape.”
    The way her gaze flickered over him stilled Mitch’s litany of concerns. Hayley didn’t look at him like she thought he was too old for her. She looked at him like she was thinking of eating him for breakfast. Mitch’s blood, already heated from the strenuous exercise, caught fire, pulsing through his veins like a river of lava.
    Energy crackled in the air between them as Mitch afforded Hayley’s body the same attention she’d given his. Their positions, her kneeling on the floor beside his seated form, brought her chest to his eye level. Mitch stifled a groan as he realized there was nothing between her white tank top and her skin. No lacey outline, no cotton cups—no bra . His gaze snagged on the twin circles of dark pink flesh clearly visible through the top. As he watched, they puckered, their tips extending toward him as though begging to be touched.
    Abruptly, Hayley stood, breaking the erotic spell that had wound around him. “What are you doing in here, Mitch?”
    “Running?” Mitch tried not to sound irritable as he stated the obvious, but the strain of his cock chafing