Page 105 of Game Changer

He could see why it was called ‘The Poets’ Trail’, he was more inspired with each mile they walked and he regretted not bringing his guitar. He made a mental note to come back with a notebook early some morning and see if any lyrics came to mind.

“Do you doanyexercise at all, Lis?” Jeremy questioned loudly from twenty feet ahead. If looks could kill, Jeremy would have been dead – twice over. Lisa’s piercing glare shut him up for all of a second before he started again. “’Cause it kinda seems like this is the first time you’ve done exercise. Y’know, ever.”

“Jeremy. I swear to the almighty…”

She’s cute when she’s scowly.

“You can’t say you’re going to injure me, Lis. You’re probably going to stroke out in the next few minutes. And webothknow you have zero chance of catching me.”

Angry leprechaun.

“You realize he’s an athlete, right? He exercisesdaily. How the hell do you plan on keeping up with him in bed, when you can’t even keep up on a slow and easy walk?”

Lisa’s cheeks flushed even redder and AJ threw Jeremy a warning, ‘knock it off’ look.

“What the hell is it to you how my sexual endurance is, Jer? Don’t you think my stamina in the bedroom is just atadacross the line?”

Uh oh. Very angry leprechaun.

“Dude. It was a joke. Maybe I was a smidge across whatever imaginary line you’re trying to insist is there. But, at the same time, it really wouldn’t hurt for you to move once in a while. Walking to the kitchen for a margarita refill doesn’t count as exercise.”

Lisa rolled her eyes so hard AJ was sure she’d pulled a muscle.

“I thought Americans were against ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment?” she grumped.

“Canadian,” called Jeremy still far ahead of the two of them. “We’re fine with it,” he joked. “Though we probably apologize about it.” He walked back towards Lisa, clearly not giving up on the exercise thing. “I’m sure we can findsomethingyou’d enjoy doing, Lis. So you don’t like walking, there are other kinds of exercise!”

She gave him a skeptical look and a raised eyebrow. “Why the hell do you even care? How does my not exercising relate to you?” she sighed, clearly exasperated.

“Eh, I kinda like you alive?”

Careful, Jer. Your caring is showing.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Lisa’s mouth and AJ could tell that she was trying to stay annoyed at Jeremy for overstepping, while still being touched by his clear, though unorthodox concern for her health.

AJ couldn’t help but smile. Despite the teething problems between Jeremy and Lisa in the beginning, he was incredibly happy to see how close they’d grown. While they were trying at times, he knew that they’d managed to forge a strong bond – even if neither of them liked to admit it.

“I’m hungry.”

He’s always hungry.

“So let’s go grab lunch,” Lisa announced.

***

What the hell did she just say? Is she speaking English?

AJ must have had a confused look on his face.

“Tae is tea, AJ,” Lisa explained with a half-smirk, half-grin. “McCooey wants to know if you want some tea, Pim?”

“No, thank you,” he answered quietly.

The red-head Lisa called ‘McCooey’ turned to Lisa and said, “Not from around here, eh?”

Lisa giggled and shook her head. “Visitors, Liane. From the U.S. and Canada.”

“And you took them to Costa del fucking Newry? Are ye wise?”

---