He was still confident in his ability to get Chloe into his bed―and very soon—but he must not be making the smoothest of moves on her. After the fiasco in the pool, she hadn’t come out of her room, not even when he’d knocked on the door. He hadn’t exactly known what he was going to say, but he wasn’t too worried about it. Nick had never had problems before with knowing exactly what to say.

She couldn’t avoid him for long. When she did emerge, he would be sure to give her his full brigade of flirting, attention, and focus. If she could still avoid him, then he’d have to figure out something new. His moves had always been legendary, but if she could resist, the world would have something seriously wrong within its sphere.

Patience wasn’t a virtue Nick possessed, so as he waited for her to show up for their morning session, he found himself glancing at the clock, wanting to know exactly what she was doing and how soon they would be together.

All this obsessing over a woman was strange and a bit disturbing. He knew this, but he couldn’t seem to do anything about it. He also knew he wouldn’t be stopping it anytime soon. His brothers would have a heyday at how he was behaving if they could see it. Luckily, they weren’t around.

But the one definitive was that Nick wasn’t going to lose this mission. He wasn’t the type of guy who accepted defeat, even when all the cards were in favor of the opponent. And right now, Chloe was most certainly his opponent―he was the predator and he would strike.

Nick had to admit, if only to himself, that he sort of liked the effort he was having to put into this one-sided relationship. It was a challenge, and he was a sucker for a woman he couldn’t obtain. Of course, that hadn’t been the case for him with that one girl in basic training. No matter how hard he’d chased after her, he hadn’t gotten her to give him the time of day. He still wouldn’t have accepted defeat then if she hadn’t been sent to another country. Even then, he’d been tempted to chase her down, show up at her base with roses, and see if it made a difference. Eventually, with the distance, he’d simply lost interest. He wondered if that would be the case with Chloe. He somehow doubted it.

He refused to accept the same results from her. She was attracted to him, as her kiss the night before had clearly shown him. She was just hella good at containing how she felt. He simply had to get her to let down her guard long enough for him to sneak past her defenses. Nick had every confidence he’d be able to do just that.

The smooth steps of Chloe walking on his tile floor alerted him she was drawing near. Much to his surprise, his heart rate picked up as he leaned against the kitchen counter and waited for her to turn the corner. When she did and looked up, their eyes connected and he felt it all the way to the soles of his feet. That kind of connection wasn’t often felt by two people, and to ignore it would be foolish. Nick so badly wanted to push himself from the counter and walk to her, pull her into his arms, and take her pink lips, which were open the slightest bit as she gazed back at him.

Soon. He was now determined even more than before to heal as quickly as possible. He didn’t enjoy his limitations. They didn’t allow him to do what he wanted as soon as an idea popped into his mind.

“Good morning,” he said, his voice a low drawl. He enjoyed the flash of heat that instantly sparked in her eyes. Nick wondered why she was fighting this so badly.

“Morning,” she answered after a long pause. Her voice was crisp, and it looked almost as if her feet were weighted down as she took her first step closer to him. She picked up her pace and passed right on by as she moved to the coffeepot and poured herself a hot cup.

Nick watched her slip a bagel into the toaster, all while avoiding looking at him. Her stubbornness made him smile. Maybe he had to rethink his entire philosophy on who he was attracted to. Stubborn, smart, and prickly was looking pretty damn good to him since meeting Chloe.

“What’s on the agenda today, doc?” he asked her.

“Stretching, then a few hours in the pool,” she told him.

“Mmmm.” He didn’t add more, and only then did she look up with narrowed eyes. She set her cup down, ignoring the bagel when it popped up. Placing her hands on her hips, she gave him a stern gaze.

“I’m going to make this perfectly clear. You stepped so far over the line yesterday, if it had been a cliff, you’d be crushed on the rocks below. I am used to men trying to prove their manliness after an injury, flirting and coming on to me. If you think I’m impressed, you’re very much mistaken. What would impress me would be you admitting you’ve been injured, and then allowing me to help you without all the macho posturing. Do we understand each other?”

Nick was completely taken aback by her speech, and he was stunned to realize she was somewhat right. Not completely, of course, but somewhat. He was unbelievably attracted to her, and he was pushing hard to get her into his bed, but maybe he was wrong in how he was going about it. It had been a long time since his hand had been slapped for misbehavior, but Chloe had done it pretty damn impressively.

“I think we understand each other quite well,” Nick said with a genuine smile. His change in attitude seemed to knock her off-kilter. He noticed her fingers trembling when she picked up the cup and took a sip of her cooling coffee before setting it back down again. In silence, she grabbed her bagel, slathered on cream cheese, and took it, and her coffee, to the breakfast bar.

“I’ll let you finish your breakfast while I get warmed up,” Nick told her.