Page 14 of Against the Clock

“Okay,” he said before I rushed out of the room and to the bathroom.I peed quickly and then climbed back into the bed, thankful that Rosie had stayed asleep.

I rolled onto my side and watched her for a while, memorizing every little detail on her face the same way I had when she was born and again when Justin died.I hadn’t realized just how much I had taken for granted being able to look at him when I wanted to or feeling the comfort of his embrace when I needed it.I promised myself that I would never allow that to happen again and that I would try to soak up every single moment, regardless of how little it seemed at the time.

A few hours later, I woke up to the sunlight filtering in through the curtains and rolled over to check the clock on the nightstand beside me.It was just after six, and I needed to get up and shower before I woke Rosie up.

Slowly I rolled out of bed and grabbed the duffle bag from the floor before tiptoeing down to the bathroom.I didn’t bother going to the living room to see if Roman was up yet before I opened the bathroom door and went inside.I quietly shut it behind me, not noticing that the light was already on before I turned around and found Roman wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

His brown hair was still wet from the shower, and his tanned, muscular body glistened beneath the water beads.

“Oh my God!”I whispered loudly, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest.I covered my eyes with my hand, dropping the duffle bag to the floor.“I’m so sorry!I should have knocked first!”

“It’s fine, Quinn,” he chuckled.“You can open your eyes.I’m not naked.”

“It’s okay,” I laughed nervously.“I can just go so you can finish up.”

I turned to open the door, not bothering to uncover my eyes, and hit my arm on the knob.

“Son of a bitch!”I tried not to yell, so I didn’t wake Rosie, hoping that the sound of me whacking the door hadn’t already stirred her.

There was shuffling behind me, and then I felt his hand on my shoulder as he pulled my hand from my eyes.

“It’s safe,” he teased.

I opened my eyes and found him wearing a fitted t-shirt and joggers, which looked ridiculously good on him.

“Is that what you wear to train people?”I blurted out as my eyes traveled over his body again.

“Um, yeah?”

He pulled his lower lip between his teeth, watching me as he waited for my eyes to finally land on his.

“Sorry,” I muttered.“I didn’t mean to stare.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Was I?Because I was pretty sure that had he not busted me checking him out, I would probably be fantasizing about him teaching me how to do some sort of sexy pull-up at the gym.

I lowered my head and looked away as I felt the heat creep up my neck and spread across my chest.

“The shower is all yours,” he said, extending his arm in that direction.“There are towels under the sink.Be careful with the water—it gets hot pretty quickly.”

He smirked and walked out, closing the door behind him.I couldn’t be sure, but I was pretty positive there was some sort of sexual innuendo laced in his comment.

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