Page 30 of In Safe Hands
“Why change?” His gaze ran over her current outfit of yoga pants and a baggy T-shirt. “What you’re wearing is fine.”
It would take too long to explain the rules of fitness fashion to him, especially since she was fairly fuzzy on them, herself. All she knew was that her clothes were shapeless, smeared with various food items, and smelled like sausage. “Door?”
Although he rolled his eyes, he turned toward the entrance.
“Thank you!” she yelled as she dashed up the stairs.
After a quick change, Daisy hurried out of her bedroom. An attack of nerves hit at the top of the stairs, and she came to a screeching halt. Despite no longer smelling like pork products, Daisy regretted not being the one to answer the door. She hovered for a moment before forcing herself to descend to the first level. From the sound of the voices, Chris had already escorted them to the training room, so at least she didn’t have to worry about everyone watching her come down the stairs, debutante-style.
The mental image made her giggle, but she cut off her laughter as soon as she heard how nervous she sounded. Not allowing herself to hesitate at the bottom of the stairs, she marched through the open gym door.
The room went quiet as soon as she entered, and Daisy hid her cringe, forcing a smile instead. There were a lot of people, and they were all staring at her.
“Daisy!” Of course Lou was the one to speak. Just in the short time she’d known Lou, Daisy had already realized that silence was the other woman’s nemesis. “I know I’ve already seen this place, but I’d forgotten exactly how awesome it really is. Thanks for letting us do this.”
“No problem.” Her voice cracked in the middle and squeaked at the end, so she cleared her throat, hoping her next attempt wouldn’t make her sound like a pubescent boy. “It’ll be fun to have new sparring partners.” Even as she said it, though, doubt filled her as her eyes settled on a bearded giant. Despite her years of training with Chris, there was no way she could take on that one. She’d have to go with flight, rather than fight, if he got hostile.
“The big guy you’re really hoping not to go up against is George Holloway.” Lou’s mind-reading made Daisy blush as she nodded to the oversized man. “Next to him is his girlfriend, Ellie. You probably know Ian and Rory, since they’re your neighbors.” Daisy did kind of know them, although they looked different close up. “And you’ve already met me and Callum, so I think the introductions are done, and we’re ready to be turned into human weapons.”
Ellie laughed at that, and a few of the others smiled. When Chris stepped forward, drawing everyone’s attention, Daisy gave a silent sigh of relief.
“Sorry, Lou. No human-weapon creation today. I need to get a sense of what each person’s conditioning and skill levels are, so we’re going to do some circuit training. Ellie, I know you’re still recovering, so just do what you can. If something hurts, stop.” She nodded, her hand raising to hover above her breastbone.
As he explained each station, Daisy listened with half an ear, sneaking glances at the visitors. Ellie and George were a mismatched pair—her so slight and elegant and him such a typical mountain man. Although the two weren’t touching, they stood close. One of George’s hands held the pull-up bar above their heads, tilting his body forward slightly and giving the impression that he was hovering over his girlfriend.
Turning her attention to Ian and Rory, she marveled at how striking they were. Ian could’ve been a fitness-apparel model dropped into her home gym, and although Rory wasn’t traditionally beautiful, there was something about her bearing that demanded attention. Her face serious, Rory was listening intently to Chris’s instructions, but Ian caught Daisy’s look and raised his eyebrows in question.
Embarrassed to be caught gawking, she shook her head and focused on Chris, knowing she was red from her forehead to her upper chest. Daisy was aware she was an antisocial recluse, but she didn’t have to prove it to everyone in the first ten minutes of them meeting her.
With a clap of his hands, Chris sent them to their stations. Seeing that the treadmill was free, Daisy hopped on and arrowed up the speed. Once she was running at her usual warm-up pace, she was free to look around again, although she tried to be more discreet about it this time.
Standing next to the heavy bag, Lou and Callum were chatting with Chris as they wrapped their hands. Rory and Ian had chosen the jump ropes. As Daisy watched enviously, they competed with each other to see who could do the most doubles in a row.
At the pull-up bar, Ellie was struggling to raise her chin over the top when she winced and lowered herself until she was hanging from the bar with her arms fully extended. Grabbing either side of her waist, George lifted her until her face and most of her chest was above the bar. At first, Ellie’s eyes rounded in surprise, but then she started laughing.
“That’s one way to do assisted pull-ups,” Chris said wryly before turning back to Lou. He watched her throw a straight punch and then corrected her form.
An uncomfortable feeling built inside Daisy as she watched them—watched everyone, in fact. It wasn’t envy of their comfortable twosomes, but more a longing, a wistfulness, as if she were looking at a picture of something she would never have. Her foot caught on the edge of the belt, making her trip. She caught herself before falling, but it reminded her to pay attention before she ate the floor and experienced true humiliation.
“You okay?” Chris called from across the room, where he’d moved next to Ellie, George, and the pull-up bar. She gave him a wave, wishing he hadn’t called attention to her little bobble. Unable to keep her attention away from Chris for very long, she kept darting glances in his direction. Daisy frowned. There seemed to be some tension between Chris, Ellie, and George. She made a mental note to ask Chris for the story later.
Pulling her attention away from the threesome, Daisy increased the speed to her normal running pace. When she looked up from the digital display, she almost tripped again. Callum was standing right next to the treadmill.
“Hi?” Her voice was uncertain.
He nodded toward the display. “Good pace. Do you swim?”
That was random. “Um…not really. I took lessons when I was a kid, but I don’t have much opportunity now.”
“Huh,” he grunted.
“Why?”
“Your fitness is impressive. You’d make a good candidate for the rescue dive team.”
Daisy was glad her legs were running on autopilot, since she would’ve stopped and been dumped off the back of the treadmill otherwise. “I don’t really…well, leave the house. Ever.”
His next grunt was dismissive, as if she’d just told him she couldn’t dive because she had a head cold. “Too bad.” With a final lift of his chin, he returned to where Lou was practicing uppercuts.
