He took her arm, pulling her along when she stopped to stare at him. “We better get ready for work. I’ll wait for you out front if I finish first.” He dropped a kiss on her cheek and strolled into the locker room. A quick look back showed her still standing outside the door, looking stupefied.

Dominic took a quick shower and dressed in his standard work clothes. He saw no sign of Gwen as he made his way to the front lobby to wait. He was just checking his e-mail on his iPhone when a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up with a smile expecting to see Gwen standing there. Instead, he was faced with two blond-haired women who looked as if they ate too little and exercised too much. He was also fairly certain that the overabundance of breasts barely contained by their skimpy tops were fake. Men knew that shit just by looking. Only his good manners kept him from jerking away when one of them rubbed her fingers along his biceps, purring, “Well, hi there, handsome. You must be new here because I would have remembered seeing you before.”

Dominic took a step back, trying to dislodge her hold on him. He had no problem with women taking charge from time to time in the bedroom, but an overly aggressive attempt at getting his attention did nothing for him. “I’ve been a member here for a while now,” he said politely.

The woman who continued to stroke his arm stepped closer to him while saying, “My name is Brandy, and this is my friend Misty.” He nodded his head at both women. When they looked at him expectantly, he grudgingly answered the unspoken question. “I’m Dominic. Nice to meet you.” He didn’t mean a word of it, but again, his mother had raised him to always be respectful of women if possible. Misty seemed content to let her friend Brandy do the talking while she stood twirling her hair and looking at him like he was her last meal.

“So, what time are you usually here, Dominic?” Brandy asked, seeming far too interested in his answer.

“I don’t have a usual time. I’m not here that often,” he replied, beginning to tire of the unwanted attention. Where in the hell was Gwen? He was past ready to get out of here.

Brandy giggled in a way that made his hair practically stand on end. She reached up to squeeze his arm. “Oh, come on, there’s no way you are in such great shape without hitting the gym every day. Maybe we could work out together. Misty and I also take some of the spinning and Zumba classes if you’re interested in those.”

Just as he was debating leaving and texting Gwen, he saw her walking slowly toward them. She took in Brandy’s hold on his arm, and he saw her mouth tighten and her eyes narrow. She looked like she was ready to kick someone’s ass, and he had a bad feeling it was his. Surely, she couldn’t believe that he would have the slightest desire for the stick figures standing far too close to him. She was the perfect woman to him. Her face was carefully blank as she stopped a few feet away. He had the feeling that she had been considering walking past without stopping. He gave her a soft smile over Brandy’s head. “Hey, baby. I was wondering where you were.”

Both Brandy and Misty swung around, staring at Gwen in shock. Dominic took the opportunity to step away from Brandy’s suddenly limp fingers and walk around to Gwen’s side. He dropped his arm around her waist, pulling her to his side. “Who—how do you know each other?” Brandy wheezed out, looking faint.

When Gwen remained silent, Dominic gave Brandy an easy smile, saying, “This is my girlfriend, Gwen. Have you met? She’s a regular here. She prefers the water classes though since everyone is so much . . . nicer there.” He dropped his hand to her hip, caressing her skin. “You can’t argue with the results, can you?” He turned to look into Gwen’s eyes, asking, “Ready, baby?” She nodded in reply, and he put a hand in the small of her back as they began walking toward the door. Over his shoulder, Dominic said, “Nice meeting you, ladies.” Yeah, like hell, but they looked too shocked to register the insincere tone of his voice.

When they cleared the doorway, Gwen pulled out of his hold and threw her arms around his neck. He had no idea what had prompted this unusual display of affection, but he wasn’t above taking advantage of it by pulling her even closer. “Oh, my God, thank you!” she squealed against his neck before dotting kisses there. “It was so nice to see those two speechless!”

Pulling back, Dominic looked down at her beaming face. “You know them?”

Still smiling, she replied, “We’re not friends, trust me. I used to go to one of the Zumba classes that they were in. It was horrible. Th-they made fun of me and were always so mean. I almost quit coming here at all because of them.”

“They’re the reason you started going to the water class,” Dominic mused, remembering her earlier comments about how uncomfortable she had been before making her new friends. He could easily see both Brandy and Misty being jealous of someone as beautiful as Gwen. They might not be able to admit it, even to themselves, but that was exactly the reason for their behavior. No matter how much they dieted and exercised, they could never hold a candle to the woman in front of him. She was a natural beauty—healthy, and luminous. No amount of money could buy those things. He couldn’t imagine any red-blooded man picking the other two over her.

“Yeah, the terror twosome,” Gwen said dryly. “They hated me from day one, and I never did anything to them other than be nice. I tried staying in the back of the class and off their radar, but it didn’t help. They always found a way to throw a tacky comment or insult at me. I’ve never hated anyone in my life, but I came close with them. I joined the gym to exercise and feel better about myself, but I found that they were actually causing the opposite to happen.”

“Baby, I told you that it was all jealousy even before I met them. They were choking on it when they saw you. You’re everything that they’ve always wanted to be. Never, ever let someone like that change how you see yourself because that’s what they want.”

“They were only jealous because you were with me,” she said softly as she absently rubbed his back.

He kissed her softly, keeping it somewhat PG-rated since they were still standing in the front of the gym. “That was just the final straw for them, sweetheart. They’ve been green with envy over you all along. How about I run by Starbucks and get us coffee on the way? I’ll bring yours to your office when I get there.”

“Oh, that sounds amazing,” Gwen moaned. Her breathy sound had his body twitching in an uncomfortable place as he helped her into her car. He followed her out of the parking lot and they parted ways at the light for his stop at the coffee shop. When he reached his destination, he sat in his truck for a moment, taking a deep breath.

He was in over his head with her, and a part of him was terrified. He’d shamelessly used the condom mishap to get close to her and stay there. Yes, there was an off chance she might be pregnant, and if she was, they would cross that bridge then. He would have wanted to take care of her regardless, though. She brought that out in him. He’d wanted her for so long that now that she had let him in, he wanted to shift from taking it slow to running like he was in a fucking marathon. In some crazy way, he had known that she was “the one” for him almost from the moment he saw her. He had never had that feeling before, not even close, which was why it had gotten his attention. He wasn’t a man who believed in nor had he experienced love at first sight. There had been moments of desire or lust, but that was it. With Gwen, he had been close to obsessed from the beginning. The feeling had been so strong that it had scared the hell out of him for a while. Hence, why he’d waited to make his move and almost lost her to his best friend. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. This last week with her had shown him that no matter how strong his feelings had been for her from afar, they were nothing compared to how he felt now that he knew her intimately.