Page 60 of Fit for Love

“If only we had a blender,” he says wistfully.“I’d make a killer smoothie with what we have.”

I sip the dry-fruit emulsion water.“Looks like you have a backup career option as a chef.”

He smiles.“I give people advice on what to eat, and they often say, ‘But that won’t taste good,’ so I have to be ready with recipe ideas that contradict such statements.”He looks thoughtful for a second.“You know, maybe that should be the next feature of ThriveFit.”

“Food?”

He shakes his head.“We can already track calories and nutrition, but we don’t offer recipes.It might be nice if you could give ThriveFit healthy ingredients, and it suggested what you could make… It might require AI or something like that.I’ll have to talk to my sister about this.”

Huh.Who knew that watching a man come up with improvements to software could be such a turn-on?

“My brother works with AI,” I tell him.“Maybe I could put you in touch?”

Assuming we leave this swamp alive.

Ashton’s eyes light up.“That would be amazing, thanks.”

“It’s no big deal.”Cameron will be happy to get more business for his company.

“So, what about you?”Ashton asks.“Doyouhave a backup career?”

“No.”But if I were crazy enough to tell him about my secret source of income, this would be a great time.“It’s fashion or nothing.”

He nods.“That’s being focused.It should only help.”

“I’m not sure I’m focused enough,” I say.“Tierre has got me so busy at work that I haven’t had the time to sit down and come up with my own ideas.”

Ashton sweeps a hand over the dingy room.“Take advantage of the enforced downtime.”

“I already have,” I admit, and then tell him about my VersaWear idea.

“That sounds great,” he says.“I have countless clients who’d find such a thing useful.In fact, when it’s finished, I’d be glad to plug VersaWear for you.”

Seriously, how many of those damned fireflies did I swallow?

“That’s too generous,” I say.“I’m not sure I can accept.”

He waves that off.“Let’s make a deal.When you’re done, let me check it out.If it’s as good as it sounds, it would actually help my business to promote it.”

“It would?”Sounds too good to be true.

“Whenever I make my clients happy, especially the celebs, it obviously helps my business.”

“I guess… Well, if I make my VersaWear design a reality, you’ll be the first person I ping.”After I unblock his number, that is.

“Perfect.”He nods toward the window.“Now, how about we celebrate our pact by watching the sunrise together?”

“Sure.”Though it sounds a bit too romantic for my sanity.

As we leave the cabin and head toward the water, the sun just starts to peek over the horizon.

“From where should we watch it?”I ask.

“The boat has seats,” he says.“Let’s watch from there, and once everything is sufficiently illuminated, we can look for keys.”

“That works.”I have no idea why I do this, but I grab his hand—and am rewarded with the predictable sensual zings that always accompany his touch.

Squeezing my hand tenderly, he walks me to the boat, where we take our seats side by side, our knees touching.

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