Page 51 of Things We Hide from the Light
“No offense, but aren’t you supposed to be some kind of edgy badass?” Stef asked.
I tore my eyeballs away from the smoldering chief of police. “Huh?”
“I’ll admit, Studly Do-Right looks like he wants to walk over here, strip you naked, and bend you over a weight bench.”
My core clenched in involuntarily need.
“But I thought you were a play-it-cool-make-’em-beg type.”
There was nothing cool about the way I reacted to Nash Morgan. It was molten hot need laced with icy licks of fear. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but apparently some men make playing it cool impossible,” I admitted.
“You two gonna run your mouths all day or you gonna finish this set?” Mrs. Tweedy hollered. “Don’t make me add more wall balls!”
“And now everyone’s looking at us,” Stef muttered.
Everyone including Jeremiah and Nash.
I squared my shoulders. “We have to do this.”
“And we have to do it sexy.”
“You might as well take your shirt off then,” I said.
“Same goes. Maybe they’ll be so hypnotized by my pecs and your tits they won’t notice when we go into cardiac arrest.”
“Let’s try to avoid that part,” I suggested.
“I can’t promise anything.”
“Let’s go, kids!” Vernon called.
“Last set, best set,” Mrs. Tweedy shouted.
Stef gritted his teeth. “Come on. Let’s strip and sexy walk.”
“Drink.”
My eyes fluttered open and I found myself staring up into the startling blue of Nash’s. A water bottle dangled in front of my face.
I was too tired and thirsty to take offense to being ordered about.
I worked my way into a seated position. Nash was crouched down next to me, a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin and sucking his T-shirt fast to his chest. Jeremiah stood behind him looking amused.
I kicked Stef’s leg.
“Leave me alone to die, woman,” he said. He was facedown on the mat next to me.
I kicked him again harder this time. “We can’t die in front ofwitnesses.”
He peeled his upper body off the rubber and blinked at our audience.
“Need a hand?” Jeremiah asked Stef.
I scraped up enough energy to smirk as my workout buddy’s crush hauled him to his feet.
“I’m impressed,” Nash said as I finally gulped down the proffered water. “No one survives their first Sweating with the Oldies workout.”
“I wouldn’t say I survived,” I croaked.
