When a door slammed in the distance, he didn’t miss a step. Roman glanced over his shoulder in time to see a shadow drift close to the open door. A very feminine shadow. His stomach tightened, just enough to remind him that it was important to get his and Frankie Bettencourt’s professional relationship off to a good start. Well, a better start than he’d managed yesterday.
Tension snapped through the air like a downed electrical wire when she stepped into the room.
“Good morning.” He flashed a smile, ignoring the irritated glint in her big green eyes. “Great space. You’re an early riser, too, then?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” Her eyes flashed. “Too much going on in my head.” She set her bag on the floor by the door and unzipped the oversize gray hoodie she wore.
Roman glanced away, but not before he received confirmation that Frankie Bettencourt was in amazing shape. Her shorts and sports tank reminded him of the sunset, yellows and oranges blending into a rich fire red. The muscles in her arms, her legs and her stomach hadn’t left much room for anything else. She had curves everywhere a man like him preferred. She was oh, so...healthy.
Roman blew out a breath and focused on the readout on the treadmill. Yeah, healthy. That’s how he needed to think about her. Besides, he had the feeling if he even thought the word knockout she’d return the favor with a right hook. “I’ll be off this in a few minutes.”
“Take your time. It’s my elliptical day.”
Given the clock had just hit 6:00 a.m., he chose to attribute her clipped tone to the early hour rather than his usurping her promotion. He kept focused straight ahead, but out of the corner of one eye he could see her stretching and warming up before climbing onto the one machine he preferred to avoid.
“Great space.” Roman rolled his eyes.
“So you said.”
So he did. Normally he could talk to anyone about anything, but for some reason, finding a comfortable topic to break the ice with Frankie eluded him. “Good to know the mayor recognizes the importance of firefighters keeping physically fit. He authorized some great equipment.” He could hear her snort over the whir of her machine and the beeps of programming. “What?”
“The only thing Gil Hamilton recognizes is the importance of his own existence.”
“Meaning?” Was this attitude part of the small-town mentality Chief Granger had warned him about?
“Meaning Gil didn’t authorize funds for any of this. It’s mine.”
“Yours?” Roman nearly tripped and, deciding to hold onto his dignity, eased up on the speed and incline. “All this is yours?”
“Some people collect snow globes. I like exercise equipment. Keeping it here instead of my spare bedroom forces me to get up in the morning. No excuses. I’m happy to let any of the volunteers use it. Not a lot do, other than Ozzy Lakeman. He usually comes by in the afternoon after his shift at the sheriff’s station. I hope that’s something you’ll continue to allow.”
“Yeah, sure. Makes sense.” He slowed the treadmill a bit more and took a deep breath. “It’s a good idea. Is there a gym in town?”
“No. There was a while back, but it closed. No one’s thought to reopen. There’s another workout room at the Flutterby, and some basic equipment at the youth center, but not many tourists think about exercising during vacation, so.” She shrugged. “This is it.”
Roman stepped off the treadmill and reached for one of the hand towels he’d brought from his bathroom. He watched her, swinging her way to nowhere on that machine, sweat popping out on her face, her long, wavy ponytail bobbing behind her.
“Am I right that you all stick to the usual twenty-four hours on, forty-eight hours off schedule?”
Frankie shrugged. “That’s always been the idea, but it’s difficult with only two full-timers. Bud’s let me do twenty-four on, twenty-four off. But you can always get ahold of me on my hours off.”
“That’s a tough schedule.”
She shrugged. “I’m used to it. It’s a necessity, mainly, since we don’t have as full a company as we used to.”
“More retirements?”
“Budget cuts,” Frankie corrected.
“You all being pretty efficient doing your jobs probably made the powers that be assume you could get by with fewer people.”
“More like the powers that be don’t have any idea what the job actually entails.”
That made more sense. He’d seen his share of politicians who thought they knew what was best when it came to budgetary needs for infrastructure they had no practical experience with. “I didn’t see Mayor Hamilton’s name listed as a volunteer.”