Claim (Fury Brothers #5)

His gaze locked on my face.

Then I turned away and hurried into the night.

Alone. How I had to stay, whether I liked it or not.

12

BEAU

Iscrubbed a hand over my face as I headed down to the gym. I hadn’t opened this morning, Gio had, and the familiar sounds of workout music, thethunkof weights, and the slap of gloves was like a balm.

I’d slept like shit. Mostly thanks to my bad date.

Klara was lovely. She was sexy as hell, successful, easy to talk with.

And I hadn’t felt one speck of interest.

It was the reason I hadn’t asked her out when she’d first given me her number at a party a few weeks back.

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I walked toward my office. I nodded at my trainer, Chris.

But all I could think about was Bell’s face. The way she’d looked at me through the door last night, stricken and hurt.

She tried to hide it, but I’d seen it clearly.

And it had cut.

I was an idiot. Trying to get my mind off one woman by spending time with another.Stupid. It was unfair to both of them.

Then I spotted Bell and slowed.

She was wearing leggings again, and was bent over, cleaning a bench. I couldn’t pull my gaze off her ass.

Karina, one of our regulars, called out to her. The women chatted for a moment, and Karina handed Bell a take-out cup. I watched as she gingerly took a sip, then smiled.

Then she turned a little more and saw me. Her smile evaporated.

I set my shoulders back and approached. “Morning, Karina.”

“Hey there, Beau.” She tossed her braids over her shoulders. “I was just giving Bell one of my world-famous smoothies, now I need to get my workout done, and then head to class.”

“You’re studying?” Bell asked.

Karina nodded. “Hospitality and tourism management.” She tapped the cup in Bell’s hand. “Enjoy all that goodness.”

As the other woman hurried off, I looked at my new employee. “Morning, Bell.”

She nodded, and I saw her glance toward the stairs to my apartment… Like she was waiting for something. Or someone.

“Late night, boss man.” Chris slapped my shoulder as he walked past. “The brunette wasstunning, so I don’t blame you.”

“Mind your own business.” I glanced up and saw that Bell was gone.

My date had ended with me dropping Klara home. I hadn’t even kissed her.

Feeling pissed off, I headed for my office.

I paused in the doorway. The papers on my desk were now all in neat piles. I smelled the lingering scent of mangoes. Walking in, I rifled briefly through the paperwork. They were all in order—invoices to be paid, receipts, training notes that I’d written.