“Hey,” John said, turning around and putting a hand on Alexei’s shoulder to steady him. “Look where you’re bloody going, mate. What the hell’s the matter with you?”

Alexei opened his mouth to reply, but his brain refused to supply any words. Instead, his eyes gave him away, as he couldn’t resist another glance in her direction.

Following his gaze, John smirked when he spotted just who had distracted Alexei so much. “The cute blonde, I take it?”

Alexei nodded, his face growing hot at the thought someone might have seen what happened. At the thought she might have seen. “Who is she?”

“Come on,” John jerked his head in the direction of the room they’d been heading for. “I’ll fill you in.”

Forcing himself to keep his eyes firmly on John’s retreating back, and not sneak another peek at the sexy blonde, Alexei followed him into the room that was full of workout equipment. The sounds of metal against metal, whirring pedals and grunting men and women filled the space. Though it wasn’t noisy, exactly, there was enough going on that the two men could talk without everyone overhearing them.

“That, mate,” John said, pointing with his thumb, “is Zoe. Not surprised you noticed her—she is bloody gorgeous. For God’s sake, don’t tell my wife I said that, though. She’ll have my guts for garters.”

Alexei raised his eyebrows. It was a bit rough and ready, but it was well-appointed and clearly well-used. Much better to have a place with regular, dedicated clients than some gleaming, spick and span monstrosity of a gym that nobody ever went to, or went more to lift weights and gaze lovingly at themselves in the mirrors than to actually do a thorough workout.

He continued following John along the carpeted area that ran around the nearest two sides of the wooden flooring, allowing people to access the rooms opposite the entrance without getting in the way of the people using the main space. It was currently taken up by what looked like an all-female kickboxing class. And they were good. He certainly wouldn’t like to piss any of them off—they could definitely handle themselves.

Alexei was just about to look away—he didn’t want them to think he was some kind of pervert for staring—when his gaze alighted on the instructor. She was a petite blonde, with a long, sleek ponytail sitting high up on her head, which swung as she walked from one student to the next, passing comment, suggesting improvements, and so on. He was so mesmerized by her that he forgot all about not staring. In fact, he forgot about pretty much everything, and let out an “ooof!” as he slammed straight into John’s broad, hard back.