“Fran will rock this one. They are two movements that she’s very good at now,” Taos said firmly, completely dismissing Maria’s snort.
“Hell yeah, she will,” I heard someone say behind me. I wasn’t sure of his name, seeing as I was now in a stare down with Maria. “You should’ve seen her rock that last thruster workout.”
I had rocked that one. But only because it was a light weight, and I’d always been very good at squats.
Or anything that had squats in the workout.
“I’ll do my best,” I promised.
And it was a promise to Maria.
Mostly because she’d started to cheat lately to win, and it was really chapping my ass.
“We’re going to go in waves, because this is such an intense workout. You’ll have a partner that’ll count for you.” Taos echoed my earlier thoughts.
Maria’s eyes went hard as she looked away, her eyes searching for someone in the class that she knew that would lie for her.
There wasn’t anyone that would. Mostly because there were only five in the early class this morning since it was a holiday.
Funny enough, I got paired up with Taos, as Maria got paired up with an ex-Marine that was about seventy years old, didn’t give a single fuck who he pissed off with his words, and would sure the fuck make sure she didn’t cheat.
My eyes were gleaming as I turned to Taos.
He caught one look at my face and turned around before he started laughing, drawing the board closer to us as he did.
We warmed up.
We did Fran.
And we died.
I didn’t even care what place I got once I was done.
I only cared about the fact that I was currently dying, my lungs weren’t working correctly, and Taos was leaning over me looking at me with his pretty eyes.
“You okay?”
I had a feeling he had asked that multiple times.
I swallowed. “Yes.”
I felt a baby slap me in the face and turned just in time to have Vlad plant an open-mouth kiss on mine.
I quickly closed my mouth so that drool wouldn’t get into mine, and then endured it as Vlad rubbed his gummy mouth on me until he pulled back with a smile.
“I can’t even do Fran that fast,” Mavis whispered with reverence.
I didn’t know what my time was.
All I knew was that I was dead.
My lungs were screaming.
“Fran lung,” I heard someone say.
I must’ve said that aloud because they answered me like I had.
Eventually, the entire class finished, and I had four other people surrounding me on the ground, all of us breathing heavy.
Even poor Maria who, after I recovered slightly, I realized hadn’t been anywhere near me on time.
I kept that smile hidden away.
Taos and I talked and talked, right into the next class.
I held on to Vlad while I watched my sister work out, but Vlad didn’t want anything to do with me.
He was all about Taos.
Taos held him, didn’t care when Vlad pulled his beard, and ultimately only forced himself even deeper into my heart until I knew that I was in love with him.
I wanted him. Badly.
And I had a feeling that he wanted me, too.
“How do you feel about a couple’s competition?” he asked, looking at me with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
I frowned. “What?”
“Couple’s competition. Two people, girl and boy, compete among about fifty other gyms in the area,” he explained.
I frowned. “But Taos, I don’t have half the moves that would be required to do that yet.”
He shrugged. “Either partner is allowed to shoulder however much of the workout they want as long as both partners complete fifty percent of the load. For instance, if we were doing double-unders—which you have—and bar muscle-ups, you would just do all of the double-unders, leaving me with all of the muscle-ups.”
I was already shaking my head, but inside I was excited as hell that he’d asked me.
“I…” I paused.
“I’ll do it with you.” Maria sauntered up, her breasts practically falling out of the shirt that she was wearing.
I moved until I was closer to Taos, practically touching him, and placed one hand on his chest to get his attention once again focused on me.
“I’ll do it under one condition,” I said.
“What?” he asked, his breath fanning across my face.
I leaned up until my lips were practically pressed against Taos’ ear—and oh, God, did he smell good—and said, “You promise to never, ever, never think that you did something wrong there. She was the one who left you. More’s the pity. She gave away something that was beautiful and didn’t even realize it at the time. Now, it’s too late.”
He pulled back, a look of happiness in his eyes. “You don’t even know the half of it.”
I shrugged. “I know enough to know that she was stupid. She let you get away.”
CHAPTER 10
Don’t rush me. I’m waiting for the last minute.