Chapter 60: When she needs help she comes to me.

Volume 2: Dangerous in Training

Mason Clark hefted his workout bag from the back seat of his pickup truck and headed into the land of temptation. He blinked and rubbed a bit of the grit from his eye. After a two-week gig playing bodyguard with the Aegis Group team to the sandbox and back, he was ready to slip back into his Central Standard Time habits. Which always started the same.

Up early to the gym, where he would spend an hour thinking of ways to keep to himself and not talk to her.

Hannah Stevens. His former physical therapist. The woman with the magical laughter. And the one woman he had to stay away from per his commanding officer's orders, who also happened to be Hannah's over-protective father.

Mason checked in at the front desk, stashed his stuff in the locker room, and hit the elliptical for a short warm-up. The morning news played a reel of hopped-up bullshit that didn't matter to a handful of people who didn't care.

His joints were stiff after back-to-back fl