Page 14 of Horizontal Tasting

“It’s been years,” she said. “And I always just did it on my own.”

The ice queen spoke. I resisted saying, ‘I can tell.’

After another squat, I moved toward her. “Can I show you?”

“So you’re a personal trainer too?”

“I was, a while back.”

She sighed as if the last thing on earth she wanted to do was give me permission to train her. “Fine.”

The second my hands touched her hips, I regretted agreeing to this. Only narrowly avoiding groaning aloud, the feel of her beneath my hands as perfect a fit as I’d have expected, I said, “Go ahead and squat.”

While she did, I guided her hips back. “Open your knees.” Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “Just slightly.”

I couldn’t avoid the suggestiveness in my tone. Flirting came innately to me, especially when my hands were on a woman like Rae’s hips. Thankfully, she wasn’t actually my client, so I let my imagination run wild.

“Like this?” she asked, her form much better.

“Yes. I’ll guide you with this set, then you can try for yourself.”

Each time she bent down, I envisioned her racking the bar and me pulling her toward me.

“Better. Two more.”

By the time her set ended, I nearly had to excuse myself. A few deep breaths and thinking of puppies, ignoring Rae in the mirror, and I was good to go.

“You did those fairly easily. Let’s add some weight. Though I don’t want to go too hard.” I cleared my throat. “Your focus should be on form now.”

I added two tens, and stayed away this time. But now, I knew precisely what was under that baggy tee.

“Did you lift heavy before?” She squatted the weight like it was nothing.

“I don’t know, it’s been forever since I’ve lifted weights. My friend suggested it.” She stopped so abruptly, I could tell there was more. I wondered what she left out. “So I joined here yesterday but asked for a trainer to get it right.”

“A good idea. Let’s do one more set, but we’ll add a few reps.”

Somehow, I got through another set of squats. Her form was perfect.

“You learn quickly.”

“I do.”

Oh man, Shaun really was going to owe me for this one. Instead of a quick run, I was being put through the Rae torture chamber. What a way to start a Monday morning.

I guided her to another section of the gym and explained proper form for weighted walking lunges. “Alright, let’s give it a try. Dip until your back knee nearly meets the floor. Walk over there, turn, and come back.”

We went through the lunges, impressed by how easily she did them. By the time we moved to the leg curl machine, I grudgingly admitted as much to her.

“For someone who hasn’t lifted in years, you’re crushing it.” She looked skeptical but didn’t say anything. “You don’t believe me?”

“I believe that you have an ulterior motive for saying so.”

“Such as?”

“That’s for you to know and me to guess.”

The tension, thick between us, crackled as I weighed my possible responses. It would have been easy enough if she weren’t Howard Watson’s daughter. Or taking over management of Sunset. But nothing I could have said seemed appropriate given the situation.


Tags: Bella Michaels Romance