Chapter 23: Top-Tier Wild Card

After lunch, Lucas drove Claire back to the office.

By now, rumors about her and her boss had been circulating through the building for days.

Whether or not people actually knew her, they'd all started fawning the second it became obvious she and Lucas Kane were on unusually friendly terms.

Concern, favors, unsolicited kindness all of it, suddenly, in abundance.

Claire accepted every bit of it without guilt.

She had no intention of correcting anyone's assumptions.

She'd certainly never planned on actually being with Lucas long-term.

If people wanted to fawn over her for no real reason, that was entirely their business.

Why would she turn down free goodwill?

Once she'd waved off the last of her admirers, Claire settled at her desk, her mind drifting somewhere she didn't fully mean for it to go.

Lucas's face wicked one moment, unexpectedly soft the next kept surfacing in her thoughts.

She was thinking about him more than she wanted to admit these days.

That's not a good sign.

I'm supposed to be the one running this game, she reminded herself. Not getting reeled in by my own catch.

She needed to recalibrate. Fast.

The whole point had been variety plenty of romance, zero attachment.

Smart people don't fall in love. Not with anyone. Not even someone this good-looking.

No matter how well he treats me, or how outstanding he is that changes nothing.

Claire took a breath, picked up her phone, and messaged a personal trainer she'd been following for a while.

He was, by any objective measure, extremely good-looking built, polished, exactly the kind of face that did numbers on social media.

She'd been following his page for weeks and had finally gotten his contact info.

They agreed to meet at his gym that evening.

The place was well known for its lineup of attractive trainers every one of them broad-shouldered, cut, and clearly hired with more than just qualifications in mind.

Might as well make a productive evening of it, she thought, packing up for the day.

Right as she was leaving, a text came in from Lucas: Dinner tonight?

She turned it down without a second thought.

Dinner? She was busy.

Tonight was reserved for someone else entirely. Lucas could wait his turn.

When Lucas saw her reply, his expression darkened instantly.

He set his phone face-down on the desk, hard.

Not satisfied with that, he grabbed the glass ashtray beside him and hurled it to the floor, where it shattered into pieces.

After work, Claire went home, changed into workout clothes, grabbed a quick meal, and drove to the gym.

Inside, she spotted the trainer she'd arranged to meet.

Ethan Sutton was, without exaggeration, stunning.

Dark, tousled hair fell just over his forehead, framing a face that managed to look both boyish and dangerously appealing. His eyes were warm and narrow, glinting with an easy charm whenever he smiled.

A straight nose, a soft mouth the kind of face that looked airbrushed even in person.

At just over six-foot-three, his frame was pure muscle, an odd but compelling contrast against that boyish face.

He had the kind of build and bone structure that belonged in an ad campaign clean lines, an easy symmetry, youthful and mature all at once.

Fresh from a workout, his skin still held a faint, healthy flush, smooth enough that Claire found herself staring a beat too long.

His fitted trainer's uniform did absolutely nothing to hide what was underneath it.

Claire felt her face warm just looking at him.

Clean muscle, well-defined without looking exaggerated, a chest and stomach clearly built through real discipline rather than luck.

This, she thought, should honestly come with a warning label.

As she approached, Ethan flashed her a polite, easy smile. "Hi, I'm Ethan. Coach Ethan works too."

Before she could respond, a voice cut in from behind her, dripping with sarcasm.

"Babe. You came to the gym without telling me?"

Claire turned to find Julian standing a few feet away, his expression thunderous.

His eyes were locked on Ethan with open hostility, all his usual charm buried under a scowl.

Sensing the tension, Ethan asked politely, "And you are?"

Before Claire could explain, Julian stepped forward, pulled her against his side, and looked directly at Ethan with unmistakable possessiveness.

"She's my girlfriend," he said, arm firmly around her waist.

Realizing exactly what kind of impression that was about to leave, Claire immediately extracted herself and stepped toward Ethan instead.

"He's not my boyfriend. Ignore him completely."

"Coach Sutton, let's get started."

"Sounds good."

Ethan nodded, smiled, and led her into the first set.

Julian planted himself off to the side, his expression souring by the second, watching them both like a man barely holding his temper in check.

He stayed close, eyes locked on Ethan with open, simmering hostility.

Ethan, for his part, seemed entirely unbothered focused on Claire, guiding her through the session with easy professionalism, the two of them working well together.

Every so often he'd step in to correct her form, leaning in close enough that his voice brushed warm against her ear, his breath grazing her neck in a way that was probably more deliberate than it needed to be.

Every time Julian looked ready to march over and throw a punch, Ethan would smoothly reset the distance between them, perfectly polite, perfectly infuriating.

This guy is clearly doing this on purpose, Julian thought, jaw tight. He's asking for it.

Watching the two of them together, easy and comfortable, made his blood boil.

Claire. You are going to regret this.

Just wait until I get you alone.

The first woman he'd ever actually wanted, and she was standing here letting some gym trainer flirt with her right in front of him.

In that moment, Julian looked less like the composed, unbothered heir everyone assumed him to be, and more like a man barely keeping a lid on a full-blown tantrum.

No one back at Ashford Holdings would have believed it the family's notoriously aloof, untouchable heir, reduced to sulking jealousy in the corner of a mid-tier gym.