Page 36 of A Lifetime in 30 Days
“But you have an excellent trainer,” he told her with a grin and a wink. “So just relax.”
She tried, but that wink had set off a whole other—not fit for a gym—set of thoughts. At least, until he’d finished with what he called “stretching exercises,” one of which had required her to bend as far forward as she could go comfortably. She knew this was really the touch-your-toes exercise and hadn’t wanted to embarrass herself so quickly in the process, by one, not making it nearly close enough to her toes, and two, being out of breath when she stood up straight. So she’d given it only half the effort, until Aden stepped up behind her and placed his hand at the small of her back, where he applied just enough pressure to push her down farther.
She groaned at first, but then, when that same hand started to move slowly, back and forth over her back, she relaxed, took a deep breath, and tried to go lower.
Later, when she was on the treadmill and he was leaning against the wall across from her, arms folded over his chest, she frowned. “You should be on that other machine, not watching me like you think I’m gonna hop off here and make a run for the door.”
The twenty-minute session he’d programmed into the machine had just started, so the stride was slow enough that she could still talk normally.
“Nah,” he said with another one of those slow, sexy grins. “I like the view from here.”
“I’m starting to think this wasn’t about me feeling better, but more about you getting free looks at me stretching, bending, and jiggling all over the place.”
He laughed then, a hearty sound that ripped through the air and had a couple other people in the space looking in their direction.
“You might know me a little better than I thought,” he said when he was finally able to contain some of his chuckling.
She shook her head. “Actually, I don’t,” she said.
Sobering slightly, he asked, “Do you want to? Get to know me better, I mean.”
At one time, before that step show and the meeting of the man she did not want to think about any more tonight, her answer would’ve been a quick-assHell yes. Now, though, she needed to be cautious. And while it might be a little too late for that train of thought in the physical sense—considering they’d both gotten to know each other pretty well in that area over the weekend—on a bigger scale, she had to practice some common sense where he was concerned.
“I want to know why me,” she said. “Why now?”
“Maybe our time is now,” he replied. “And a better question might be, Why not you? Why wouldn’t I be interested in a smart, beautiful woman who’s loyal and ambitious and a pretty decent bowler?”
“I’m a good enough bowler to have helped beat your team in two games,” she replied, and felt the burn in her thighs as the machine beeped and she had to pick up her pace.
“Touché,” he said. “Is it my turn to ask a question?”
“Sure,” she said, because she wasn’t certain how much longer she’d be able to talk normally.
“Have you been involved with anyone seriously since you and Caleb separated?”
Oh, wow, she hadn’t expected that question. And really, she could probably use the fact that this inclined uptick in pace was hindering her conversating abilities, but that would be cowardly. “No,” she replied, and knew exactly what was coming next.
“Why?” he asked.
She wouldn’t look at him. Kept her gaze forward to the window that overlooked this corner of the city. From the outside, all the windows were tinted, which she personally liked. She never understood why people would want to be all hot and sweaty on a treadmillandbe in a window on display at the same time. This way, she could see out, but nobody could see her sweaty boobs bouncing and thighs swishing as she struggled to maintain the next steps on this thing.
“I didn’t want to,” she replied.
“Why didn’t you divorce him?”
Damn. Damn. Damn.She hadn’t expected that question either.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Yes, you do.” His words were a challenge, and she hated each one. Hated that he was calling her on a point she’d battled with for far too long.
“I planned to,” she said, still not looking his way. “This birthday is my new beginning, so one of the things I’d planned to do next month was get a lawyer and start the proceedings. I probably could’ve just filed the paperwork myself and had him served, but he might have fought it, so I wanted to be prepared.”
And look at her now. Caught off guard by Caleb’s death and the other legal problems he’d sent her way.
“You’re right,” he said. “He would’ve fought it.”
Her head jerked in his direction then. “How do you know? Did he tell you something about it?”
