Page 58 of By The Book

16

SWEAT ROLLED DOWN Shari’sthroat and tickled before hitting the already damp neck of her gray cotton tank top. Amanda Marshall pounded in her ears through the earpiece of her smartphone as she pedaled up an impossibly steep hill while her stationary bike added insult to injury by goingnowhere.

With only a week to go before the wedding, Shari was fiercely focused on her exercise program. Although, in truth, she was really liking the way the extra workouts made her feel. And now that she was getting naked with Luke on a regular basis, a little tighter muscle tone was a goodthing.

She stared at her own perspiring reflection in the mirrors of their apartment building’s grandiosely named Fitness Spa. The spa consisted of this room, with its one bike, universal gym and a smattering of free weights, a small sauna, andwashrooms.

Luke was a man who liked to see what he was doing. He enjoyed making love to her in patches of sunlight, with the bedroom lights burning, in candlelight—anything but darkness. At first she’d assumed it helped him follow the book’s instructions, but now she suspected he just liked looking at hernaked.

She pedaledfaster.

If it weren’t for the mirrors she wouldn’t have realized she had company. She saw movement and turned her head to see Luke stroll in with a casual wave in herdirection.

He’d known she’d be here tonight because she’d told him, so he obviously wasn’t surprised to see her. She, however, was quite surprised to seehim.

He had a towel draped around his neck, and was wearing black workout shorts and a ratty old T-shirt with a rip under onearm.

His hair was in its usual disarray, looking as though he’d just crawled out of bed, but she was beginning to think the mess was from running his hands through it while he worked. Also, like her, he had a stubborn natural curl that needed time and styling products to achieve a decent style. The only hair-care product he used was shampoo. His styling involved a vigorous toweling after which he just left his hair to dry. She didn’t think a comb ever got involved in theprocess.

Ridiculous that his tumbled, tangled hair should look so sexy, but itdid.

She didn’t slow her pedaling or remove the earphones, too suspicious of his coincidental appearance to want to encourage him. But, after that single wave, he ignored her and headed for the universalgym.

It was strange to have company while she worked out here. Not many residents used the facility. If they were into gym workouts, they mostly went to the bigger, glossier gyms down the road that offered acres of equipment, nonstop classes and personal instruction. She didn’t come in here herself all that often, and she rarely saw anyone else when she did. So it was suspiciously odd that Luke had suddenly decided to work out here. Still, maybe he came every day. She didn’t know for sure that he didn’t—he’d simply never mentionedit.

Anyway, he gave her something to look at besides herself sweating in themirror.

He was leaning back on a narrow, black-vinyl bench, pushing the weight bar from his chest to the full extension of his arms. She loved watching the fierce concentration of his face, the muscles bunch and stretch in his arms and the expansion and contraction of his chest as hebreathed.

She watched him work his way around the apparatus in an obvious routine, so maybe he did use the gym on a regularbasis.

After half an hour he’d almost completed a second circuit and her preprogrammed cycle was over. She pedaled idly as her breathing returned tonormal.

She felt warm and loosened up. Warm everywhere, in fact, as she watched Luke. Oh, that man had a body on him. She was thinking she’d give them both an extra workout. She’d invite him up to her placelater.

She pulled her earpiece out and asked, with what she hoped was nonchalance, “What are you doinglater?”

He glanced at her from upside down, his quad muscles bulging as he hoisted weights up and down with his feet. “Why?”

She sent him as sexy a look as she could manage with sweat-damp tendrils of hair in her face and her clothes sticking to her. She sipped water to clear her dry throat before answering. “I was thinking I’d shower and slip into something morecomfortable.”

He settled the weights back in their cradle with a metallic click and rolled to standing. He moved toward her with a panther’s easy grace, and she felt desire snake through her belly along with a quiver ofuncertainty.

“I like you sweaty,” he said and, reaching out a hand, traced his index finger slowly across her chest where her breasts swelled lightly over the neck of her tank top. Her skin was damp and extra sensitive from her workout and she sucked in a sharp breath as she felt the slight roughness of his finger track its slow path. She watched them in the mirror, mesmerized, and saw her nipples pebble against the damp cotton almost before she felt the tingling, tightening sensation. His gaze glued to hers in the mirror, he put his finger in his mouth and suckedit.

A shudder went throughher.

“I definitely like you sweaty,” he said in a low husky voice before blocking out her reflection by claiming hermouth.

She tasted the salt of perspiration. Hers? His? Mingled, probably. Their lips were slick with it, and as he rubbed his lips back and forth against hers, she felt an urgent wave of desire swampher.

She clutched at him and felt the heat coming off his body through the warm, damp T-shirt, then his hot damp skin as her fingers found the rip in hisshirt.

He kissed her jaw, ran his lips down her throat, and she watched in the mirror through half-slitted eyes. His head was so dark against her whitethroat.

Desire was already clouding her senses and it must have slowed her reflexes, because before she could stop him, he grasped the hem of her shirt and yanked it high, revealing her black sportsbra.

“No. You can’t,”she mumbled. “Somebody couldcome.”

---