and its equipment if I was going to plan decent classes.
Finally, my irritation got the better of me. “What is your problem?” I asked, a little harshly.
Heath paused with one foot on the stairs. He didn’t turn to face me, and he didn’t answer.
“Seriously,” I pressed. I was annoyed, and frustrated. If he already disliked me so much, I’d rather get it out into the open and deal with it like adults. “What is with your attitude?”
“There’s no problem,” Heath said. He didn’t turn around.
This was so fucking annoying. I rolled my eyes, even though he wasn’t looking. “Don’t bullshit me.”
He flinched a little, and then turned around to face me, but didn’t meet my eyes. “I’m just—” Heath cringed at the shaky sound of his own voice. “I’m just not good with new people.”
“That all?” Some of the frustration bled out of me. I didn’t want to actually upset him. Maybe I’d been wrong about the Kid. Maybe he really was just shy. But I couldn’t get a good read on him while he was busy staring at his shoes. “Can you at least look at me?”
Heath glanced up, his brown eyes flashing, but quickly looked back to his shoes. Like it was too challenging to hold my gaze.
But he’d done what I asked. Thinking back to his exchange with Blade in the office upstairs, I couldn’t help but wonder… What if it wasn’t a question?
“Heath,” I said in a low, firm voice. “Look at me.”
Just as I’d hoped, his gaze snapped up to meet mine. His brown eyes were a little wide, unsure, like he wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing.
Like he was waiting for more direction.
Arousal curled sudden and hot in my gut. So my instincts had been right. He wasn’t just a pretty face and a cute ass—he responded beautifully to the slightest order. Like my voice was drawing something out of him he hadn’t realized was there.
As much as I wanted to follow this development, now wasn’t the time, nor the place. I wasn’t here for my own desires. I was here as the vice president of the Liberty Crew, and I was here to repair the relationship between our two clubs. Messing around with their newest member when he clearly didn’t realize what I was doing—or likely what he was doing—was not going to help.
“Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Can we start over?” I extended my hand for a shake. “I’m Dante. Vice president of Liberty Crew. I own the bakery in Junee, Stella’s.”
To my surprise, Heath accepted the handshake without much hesitation. “Heath,” he said. “Or—the Kid.”
His hand was so small it nearly disappeared into mine. That sparked a powerful protective urge in me, interwoven with a thread of desire. He peered up at me, brown eyes peeking through his long lashes. God, I wanted to take him apart and find all the other ways his body fit with mine. As our gazes met, his lips parted the barest amount.
Then, as if he realized what he was doing, he snapped his jaw closed and pulled his hand from mine. “Nice to meet you.”
“The tag suits you,” I said.
Heath gave me a look, like he was waiting for me to crack a joke about his age, or his appearance.
I wasn’t being facetious, though. I had no interest in teasing him. The handle did suit him, with his youthful appearance and sharp edge of attitude. Even though the spark I felt for him couldn’t go anywhere—not while I was working with Hell’s Ankhor, and not while Heath was so tense around me—I still wanted him to open up to me, and be comfortable around me, and I knew that poking fun at him was not the way to go about that.
“Thanks,” Heath said after a moment, and rubbed the back of his neck like he was a little embarrassed. “Did you want to, uh” —he gestured around the gym— “look around, or anything?”
“If you don’t mind,” I said. “I’ll be spending a fair bit of time down here, I figure.”
“We usually train here, or in the backyard if the weather’s good,” Heath said.
“You’ve got mats?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Heath said. “They’re in the closet next to the locker room. Do you want—” He hurried over to the closet.
“No, no,” I said, even though the sight of him eagerly pursuing a task for my benefit doubled the spark of heat in my gut. “Just wanted to make sure you had them.