A dreamy look crossed Elaine’s face. “Yeah… I know what you mean. John’s built like a brick shit house, isn’t he? So big, and muscular. Mmm. Shame he’s married…”

Breathing an inward sigh of relief that the attention had been taken away from her and the so-called Viking, Zoe brought the topic back around to the reason they were there. She helped Elaine and her sparring partner tweak some of their positioning and movements, then headed for the next twosome before the conversation could be brought up again.

As she passed the doorway leading to the gym, she couldn’t help sneaking a glance in that direction, and caught a tantalizing glimpse of the blond. He was removing his T-shirt in preparation for his workout. There was a vest beneath it—more was the pity—but Zoe was still able to briefly drink in the sleek muscles of his arms and his well-defined shoulders. She bit her bottom lip to hold in the moan that wanted to escape. He wasn’t as buff as many of the blokes that frequented the gym—but in her opinion, that was what made him so attractive. Bulky, bodybuilder types did nothing for her—never had.

Tall, athletic and toned, an impressive stature with underlying strength, on the other hand…

Yes, Blondie had most definitely piqued her interest, and was the first man in a long time to have done so. Not because she didn’t like men—she had plenty of them as friends—but because when it came to relationships, things inevitably got complicated. Her dual careers, the fact she was so busy all of the time… her life and schedule just weren’t conducive to romance. Add her additional ‘preferences’ to the mix and it was little wonder she’d been single for ages—men just didn’t ‘get’ her, and certainly couldn’t handle her. She’d decided a while back that if she couldn’t find someone to meet all her needs, then she’d just go without. Rather that than being in an unfulfilling, unsatisfying relationship.

Zoe’s gaze had been drawn to the tall blond guy from the moment he’d come into her field of vision. Scratch that—her gaze had been dragged to him, like it was magnetized or something. Not that that was a bad thing—looking at him was certainly no hardship. Fortunately, she was good at watching people in her peripheral vision, so she was able to keep track of him without staring directly. Which was just as well, because before long he was staring directly at her. The sensation of his gaze on her made tingles erupt all over her skin, and it took some work to keep her concentration on what she was doing.

That became especially difficult when—still from the corner of her eye—she saw the lanky hunk collide with John Bates’ back. He’d been so intent on staring at her that he hadn’t noticed John stop walking to let someone pass—hence the crash. The two men exchanged a few words, then carried on into the gym room, meaning her smirk went unnoticed.

Unnoticed by the objects of her amusement, anyway. One of her more eagle-eyed—not to mention utterly nosey—students spoke as she approached her and her partner. “You noticed him too, huh, Zoe?”

“Noticed who?” she replied coolly, adopting her most wide-eyed, innocent expression.

Unfortunately, the student—a tall, slim brunette called Elaine—wasn’t buying it. She snorted and rolled her eyes, somehow still managing to keep a grip on the pad she held while her partner kickboxed seven bells of hell out of it. “Get real, Zoe. The bloody Viking. I saw you checking him out—not that I blame you. He’s lush. I’d climb him like a damn tree!”

She shrugged. “Oh, him.” She refused to rise to Elaine’s jibing—the woman had been coming to Zoe’s classes for long enough that she’d learned how to handle her and her busybody ways. Overreact, and she’d latch onto it and poke and prod relentlessly at a topic until she’d learned everything there was to know. She’d actually be very good at torturing prisoners and spies for information—she could probably break even the hardiest of spirits. The only way to go was nonchalance. “I wasn’t checking him out, actually. I was just laughing because he wasn’t looking where he was going and he slammed right into John’s back—a mistake that would have put a smaller bloke on his arse.”