groaned. “I am, too.”
“No, you’re not.” He moved to the end of the mat and held her feet down. “Now try it.”
She executed one whole crunch and asked, “Satisfied?”
“Not yet.” He braced one palm on her knee and rested the other on her belly. “Give me ten more.”
Erica struggled to answer his command, all the while trying to ignore the placement of his palm. A large palm lingering right below her belly button, sending all sorts of randy thoughts into her brain. Maybe crunches weren’t so bad after all.
“Faster,” he barked out. “Tighten those muscles. Keep your legs slightly open. Don’t stop now. That’s it. You’re doing great. Work it, babe.”
“Anybody home?”
When Kieran glanced over his shoulder, Erica braced on her elbows and raised herself up enough to see an extremely attractive, exceedingly tall, brown-haired man dressed in business casual standing between the open doors.
Kieran stood and swiped a hand over his forehead. “What’s up, Aidan?”
“I had lunch with Whit today and he asked me to drop this by on my way home.” He held out a rolled paper tube and offered it to Kieran. “It’s the updated blueprints for the south location.”
“We’re almost finished,” Kieran said. “If you want to wait around a minute, we can have a beer in the apartment.”
“No thanks. Corri’s holding dinner for me.” The man leaned around Kieran and of all things, winked at Erica. “From what I heard a minute ago, I’ve interrupted something a hell of a lot more interesting than having a beer with your brother.”
His brother? Erica dropped her head back on the mat and shut her eyes tight for at least the tenth time this evening.
“She’s a client, Aidan,” Kieran said. “I’m training her.”
“Training her for what?”
“Shut up, Aidan.”
Erica ventured a look to see the man grinning as he slapped Kieran on the back, hard. “Never mind. It’s none of my business. Carry on, and take your time.”
With that Aidan left, closing the doors behind him while Kieran muttered a couple of expletives that were not nearly as shocking as his brother’s assumptions. And Erica, like any self-respecting, thoroughly mortified woman in the throes of exercise stupor, sat up and did the only thing she could do—laugh.
It began as a slight chuckle before transforming into a raucous chortle. Kieran stared at her like she’d grown a second head as she held her aching sides and tried to catch her already labored breath. After a time, she finally composed herself enough to quiet down.
“Are you done now?” he asked.
She released one last chuckle, which earned her a serious glare from Kieran. “Sorry for laughing, but I found his assumptions pretty funny.”
“Believe me, you wouldn’t laugh if you had to endure Aidan’s harassment. And take my word for it, he’ll be doing plenty of harassing in front of the whole family tomorrow during Sunday dinner.”
Fond memories of a better time flitted through her mind. A time when she and Jeff had joined their families for weekend meals before Stormy was born. “You have dinner with your family every Sunday?”
“Most Sundays,” he said as he propped the tube against one wall before walking to the nearby weight bench. “With all the siblings and their kids crowded into the house, sometimes it’s complete chaos. I like to take a break now and then.”
“Exactly how many siblings do you have, aside from the three I know about?”
“All total, four brothers and one sister, all but one married with kids.”
Erica couldn’t begin to imagine having such a large family. “Wow. I only have one brother living large and single in Seattle, and I haven’t seen him in three years.”
He picked up a weight and with one hand, worked it with ease, his biceps flexing with the effort. “What about your parents?”
“My dad’s a farmer, my mother raised the kids and kept the house running smoothly. She lives to spoil my father. I don’t think either of them could survive without each other.” Erica didn’t look forward to the day when either of them had to find out if they could, in fact, survive.
“Sounds like we have similar backgrounds.”
“Guess you’re right.” She hugged her knees to her chest, trying hard not to stare at the continued play of Kieran’s muscles. “How many nieces and nephews?”
He set the weight aside and casually draped both arms on the bar suspended over the bench. “At the moment, three nieces and three nephews, but that’s subject to change at any time. My brothers have made procreation a sport.”
If they looked as good as Kieran and Aidan, she doubted they had any trouble picking willing teammates. “How do you keep up with everyone?”
“I have a chart in my den. Every time someone pops out a kid, I fill it in.”
She didn’t even use a spreadsheet for her finances. “Really?”
He grinned. “I’m kidding. If you’re around enough, it’s not hard to keep up.”
As much as she’d enjoyed getting to know more about Kieran’s life, reality set in when she glanced at the clock on the wall. “Stormy should be here any minute.”
He strode back to the mat and held out his hand. “You’re finished for the night, so you can get up off the floor now.”
After she allowed him to help her up, Erica kneaded the palpable knot between her shoulder and neck. “It’s times like this I wish I could give myself a good massage.”
“Did you pull something?”
“No, but I have a huge knot right here,” she said, touching the place. “Guess I wasn’t doing the crunches correctly after all.”
Instead of saying I told you so, Kieran took her by the shoulders, turned her around and started rubbing the sore spot. “How’s that?”
“Feels great.” And it did. Really great. “You’re pretty good with the massage technique, O’Brien.” She flipped her ponytail over the opposite shoulder to give him more access. “But I’m better at it.”
“I’m sure you are, and I intend to find out in the near future when you give me my massage.”
Erica couldn’t wait, possibly at her own detriment.
While Kieran continued to work her sore muscles, thoughts of the encounter with Aidan O’Brien returned, threatening to send Erica into another fit of laughter. “You really didn’t find it the least bit funny, having your brother stop by while you’re chanting, ‘Tighter. Work it, babe. Spread your legs’?”
He
