“Let him do this, Lin Su. Let him manage his program, his routine and his goals. Let him have control of this.”

“But you have to be in control!” she insisted.

“I won’t be in control, I’ll be a trainer. A coach. I’ll watch his vitals and reactions, slow him down when it’s warranted, push him harder when that’s warranted. But Charlie should feel this belongs to him.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Nothing fancy,” he promised. “Treadmill, bike, elliptical. We’ll work up to some weights. Your timing is good—my trainer is coming on Sunday. She’s very talented, especially with young people. She runs a training institute in Boulder and gets Olympic contenders in their early years for workshops and summer sessions.”

“You’re preparing for your race! This must be inconvenient!”

Blake couldn’t help but laugh outright. “You’d do anything to get out of this, wouldn’t you? I just told you it was perfect timing. I’ll be starting at 4:00 a.m. every day. Charlie isn’t going to intrude on my training at all. I’m excited about this. I think this is an excellent thing to do.”

“I wouldn’t want to take your focus off your race...”

“Lin Su, this is what I do. When I’m done racing, it’s part of my long-term plan to be a full-time trainer, maybe with a training facility of my own.”

She frowned. “I’m not sure I know what you do. I mean, I know you’re a professional athlete but...” She shrugged.

“Well... I do a lot of things now, but...” He took a breath. “I was on the high school track team and was able to use that to get help with college tuition. I thought that would be the extent of it but I kept racing. I raced after college, picked up some medals, kept racing. I got a job in a lab where they liked athletes so I trained while I worked, kept entering races, won a few, took a couple of years off work to go to the world championships, picked up a couple of medals and moved up to training for the Ironman races. That’s where I started making a living at it. Racing has been my primary job for five years...more like six.”

“Charlie says you have world records,” she said.

“Not in the Triathlon, just in some individual events,” he said. “But I haven’t set any triathlon records. I hold a couple of running records, but I didn’t win the full race. I’m going to before I retire, though.”

“What would that be?”

“The best Ironman time is eight hours, three minutes, fifty-six seconds,” he said. “Someone’s going to break eight hours.”

She gasped at the thought. “Maybe it will be in Tahoe!”

“It won’t be there,” he said with a chuckle. “Not at five thousand feet. But we’ll get there.”

“Is that your ultimate goal?” she asked.

He could see he had her complete interest. “That’s a short-term goal.”

“Why? It sounds so monumental!”

“Oh, it is,” he said. “But I can’t take that one and retire. And I can’t do this forever. At some point my joints or back or something is going to get hurt, slow me down. I’ll probably always race, but not as a full-time job, not as a way to earn a living. I’m transitioning. I’ve done some public speaking and I’ve set up a nonprofit foundation with a partner.”

“Your trainer?”

“No,” he said, and then he laughed. “Gretchen has her own business and our goals don’t exactly match. No, there’s a guy I kind of grew up with. Jimmy. He’s the brains of this operation. We come from similar beginnings and we’re both driven by similar ideas.”

“He’s an athlete?” she asked.

“Not even a little bit. Oh, I think Jimmy walks toward the coffeepot at a good clip and he has a powerful focus but he’s a legal weasel. We did time in a couple of foster homes together as teenagers. Then we landed at the same college for a while. He’s brilliant. I’m a jock.”

He could tell she was trying to take it in, still not sure what he was getting at. That was okay. There was plenty of time. He put his hand over hers. “Lin Su, this is a good thing you’re doing for Charlie. I think I know kids pretty well—he’s ready for a little independence. Ready for a challenge. If you let go a little bit, he’ll thrive. Don’t be scared—we’ll keep a close eye on him, make sure he doesn’t get in over his head. By Christmas you’ll see a big change. Give him a good ninety days and everything will be better—not just his asthma but also his frame of mind. His confidence will get a good shot in the arm, too.”

“Do you know anyone more confident than Charlie?” she asked with a laugh.

“Around us, yeah, he’s solid. We don’t know how he is around other people, especially kids his own age. It’s a constant uphill battle for a fourteen-year-old boy, trust me.”

He gave her hand a squeeze, reluctant to let go. Her hand was small in his, warm and soft. She turned her hand over and held his for a moment.

“Thank you for doing this,” she said. “Thank you for everything you’ve done. You’ve been very kind to me and Charlie.”

“It’s a privilege,” he said. It’s a privilege? Where the hell had that come from? He wanted to say something much warmer, much more intimate than that. He wanted to say something sexy.

She pulled her hand away from his. “Should I send Charlie over this afternoon, then?”

“Sure. I mean, give him time to unwind after school. I’ll stay here today instead of coming next door for the afternoon report. Charlie won’t want to discuss this in front of everyone. We’ll do it one-on-one.”

“You do have good instincts about kids, don’t you?”

“I’m interested in kids and athletic programs. In some cases it can save their lives. You know?”

“Like in Charlie’s case?”

“That would be a good example. It can also get them out of trouble, build self-esteem, help them sleep at night and have something to look forward to in life.”

She stood from the table. “I hope all of that works for Charlie. I’ll catch up with you after you’ve had a chance to talk.”

He let her out, softly closed the door behind her. And leaned his forehead against the door.

Crap.

She was controlling, manipulative and secretive. She was fiercely determined to have her way, and beneath that beautiful face and little body, she was powerful. There was an iron will in there. Almost unnaturally strong. She obviously had identity issues that she’d unwittingly passed on to her son and he’d put his money on some serious abandonment problems, as well. She had calm hands, a gentle step, was sweet spoken when it suited her and had a sharp tongue when it didn’t. He hadn’t even witnessed this crazy Asian temper Charlie referred to, yet he had no trouble picturing it. There was a Zen-like serenity about her, unless she was pissed off, then look out. Don’t turn your back. She was a very complicated woman. Untangling her would take a lifetime.

And he didn’t care. He wanted her.

* * *

Lin Su entered the house quietly. Mikhail was sitting on the deck alone, his feet propped up on the deck rail on this sunny afternoon. She checked on Winnie, sleeping restfully, then went into the guest bath, closing the door softly behind her. She looked in the mirror. Her cheeks had a slight rosy blush. She reached up and pulled the stick from her bun, letting her hair fall down her back. She pulled it over one shoulder and combed it with her fingers.