He walked into the gym and did a quick survey of the space. It was well outfitted, especially for an apartment complex gym—two each of ellipticals, treadmills, and stationary bikes, and a number of different weight benches and free weights. In some open space in front of the mirrors, he spotted Ellie and Audrey. They tossed a medicine ball back and forth between sit-ups. He had no interest in talking to Audrey again, so he mounted a treadmill in the back by the door and hoped neither of the women noticed him.
Before starting his run, Ammon put his earbuds in and queued up his phone to catch up on the family Marco Polos. His sisters usually posted cute videos of his nieces or nephews. Ammon and one of his brothers-in-law were in the midst of a bad pun contest, but he hadn’t thought of one yet to send on.
In the middle of a rant from his youngest sister, Eve, about the rising price of the “good” wheat bread at Costco, he heard, “Hey, Ammon.”
He considered for a split second pretending he hadn’t heard his name. It was probably Ellie, because why would Audrey want to talk to him? But he wasn’t entirely sure. He hadn’t spent enough time with either of them to recognize their voices.
He paused the video message on his phone and glanced up. Ellie gave him a cat’s smile. He felt a little like prey. Audrey examined the medicine ball in her hands with fake interest. He waved and turned the treadmill up to a brisk jog.
“Can you help us?” Ellie said louder.
Ammon motioned to his earbuds and shrugged a universal I can’t hear you. He most certainly did not want to help them. He’d just spent the last fourteen hours of his life interacting with people, and he was an introvert to a fault—another reason he maybe should not have picked an area of medicine that required interacting with people. He should have gone into research so he could hide in a lab all day. Now he just wanted to exercise in peace. He should probably get his own set of weights so he could lift in his apartment.
Ellie rolled her eyes. “I know you can hear me.”
Ammon stopped the treadmill and pulled out his earbuds. “What?” he said a little too loudly. He hoped he was selling this I couldn’t hear you thing, but he made the mistake of glancing at Audrey, who scowled. His acting obviously needed work.
“We want to do a pull-up contest but need an unbiased third party to count,” Ellie said. “Audrey likes to cheat.”
“I do not,” Audrey replied, glancing at Ammon out of the corner of her eye.
“Will you help us?” Ellie asked.
Ammon was proud of himself for not rolling his eyes. “Yeah, sure.” He got off the treadmill and joined the two women.
“Audrey will go first,” Ellie said to him.
“I don’t think Ammon is an unbiased third party,” Audrey quipped.
Ammon grinned; he couldn’t help himself. “For this, I will be,” he said.
Audrey shook her head but didn’t say anything.
They moved over to the pull-up bar along the wall. Audrey stood in front of the bar and took a few deep breaths before grabbing hold. Ammon tried not to notice her feminine curves in her fitted gym clothes as she hung on the bar, but he was only human. And Audrey was without a doubt a beautiful woman.
He didn’t want to be caught checking her out, so he focused on the back of her head and her mess of red curls as he counted her pull-ups. Her first three seemed pretty effortless, which was impressive, but he wasn’t about to let her know that. The next three seemed to take some concerted effort, her arm muscles quaking. On her seventh pull-up, she let out a very unladylike grunt as she pulled her head above the bar. This woman was hard-core.
Once she cleared the bar, she dropped off and let out a large whoop of satisfaction. “A new personal best!” She exchanged high fives with Ellie. Her gaze didn’t even travel in Ammon’s direction, and he wondered why Ellie had really called him over.
Audrey took long sips from her metal water bottle. “Your turn,” she said to Ellie, still ignoring Ammon.
“You know what? My wrist is bothering me,” Ellie said. “I probably shouldn’t.”
“Oh, come on,” Audrey said, recapping her bottle. “You know it’s really just a competition with yourself.”
Ellie gave a noncommittal shrug before turning to him. “Ammon, why don’t you go instead.”
Oh. That’s why Ellie wanted him here. To cause trouble. Freddy had warned him about her. Ammon studied Ellie for a second. It was basic physiology that he would be able do more pull-ups because he was a man and in great shape. Beating Audrey didn’t seem like a good idea since she already didn’t like him. And it would be too obvious if he purposely lost to her. Ammon had five older sisters and knew the last thing a girl wanted was to have a guy let her win. He really had no good options here.
“I’ll pass,” he said.
Audrey quirked a brow. “Are you afraid to win or lose?”
“I wouldn’t lose,” he said, a smirk he couldn’t stop forming on his mouth.
“And you think I’m so insecure I’d be upset if I lost a pull-up contest?”
Why’d she have to goad him? Ammon pressed his lips together. “Fine.” He moved to the bar and climbed on. He hung for a moment, adjusted his grip, and did his first pull-up. “One,” he said unnecessarily loudly. “Two.”
He took a quick peek at Audrey, who folded her arms over her chest and appeared unimpressed. He did the next five quickly and easily. “Seven,” he said. Should he stop or really push himself? He probably had ten more left in him. Ugh. He never knew what he should do to please women like Audrey. He stole another glance at her. She raised her eyebrows in challenge. Fine.
He dropped his left arm and pulled himself up with just his right. “Eight.” He kept his attention trained on Audrey and switched arms. “Nine.” Then switched arms again. “Ten.” He gave her a cheeky grin. “Eleven.”
She scoffed and turned away. “Show-off,” she muttered as she headed for the door.
Ammon hopped off the bar, feeling a mixture of pleasure and annoyance. He’d gotten to her. Again.
Ellie watched her friend leave. “I think I miscalculated,” she whispered under her breath. She turned to Ammon and gave him a false bright smile. “See you Saturday? Maybe?”
“What’s Saturday?”
She gave another noncommittal shrug and followed after Audrey.
Ammon let out a deep breath. He truly didn’t get women. Another reason he’d probably picked the wrong field of medicine.
Chapter 5
Tuesday morning, Audrey walked into the clinic at five minutes to eight, the familiar scent of cheap coffee, musty carpets, and disinfectant greeting her. The waiting room was already full, women and a few men flipping through magazines or scrolling through their phones.