“One thirty-five.”
He gave her a dubious stare. “That’s more than you weigh.”
“I can press one-three-five. Five sets of ten.”
He set the weights. “Show me.”
She set, regulated her breathing, began. By the last set her muscles burned like acid, and the sweat ran like a river. But she did her fifty.
“Not bad. Towel off, hydrate. You’re up, Blondie.”
“You’re actually going to make me do that?”
“You’re stronger than you think.” But he adjusted the weights, dropped them down to ninety pounds. “Try that. Three reps to start. Rest, three more.”
Guzzling water, Riley watched Sasha struggle through—grit and guts, and yeah, more muscle than she’d had a couple months before.
“Three more.”
“You’re a bastard, Doyle.”
“You’ve got three more.”
She had three more, then let her arms fall. “Can it be over?”
“Good work. Stretch it out. Hit the showers.”
“Thank God.” Sasha crawled off the bench, sat on the floor.
Riley took her a bottle of water, sat beside her. “You couldn’t have done one rep of ninety the day you walked out on the terrace of the hotel in Corfu.”
“I never dreamed of doing one rep of ninety. Ever. I like yoga, maybe some Pilates.”
“Both excellent, in most circumstances. We’re going to need to get in some tumbling practice with Annika later.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let me wallow in this pool of my own sweat for a minute.”
Riley poked a finger at Sasha’s biceps. “You got guns.”
Lips pursed, Sasha flexed. “I kind of do.”
“Not kind of do. Girl, you are cut.”
Sasha tipped her head to Riley’s shoulder. “Thanks. I’d trade all of it for a two-hour nap followed by a gallon of coffee. But thanks.”
“Come up.” Rising, Riley held out a hand. “We’ll hit those showers, get that coffee. I could chew the beans by this time.”
• • •
By the time she’d showered off the night, the workout, dug out a sweatshirt, cargoes, pulled on her beloved Chucks, the smoothie was a distant memory. She needed food, and plenty of it. Coffee—enough to swim in.
She smelled the coffee as she jogged down the back stairs, followed that siren’s song. Sawyer stirred something in an enormous bowl while Annika stirred something else in a smaller one.
Riley scowled at Sawyer. “I figured you’d have it fried up by now.”
“Needed to shower.”
“Sex in the shower is so nice,” Annika said with an easy smile. “But it takes a little time.”