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We load up the bar, making sure the weights on each side are balanced, and I situate myself under it before hoisting it up on my shoulders and planting my feet. I feel James’ presence close behind me, and in our reflection, I see his hands hovering close to my hips as I dip down, making sure to go as low as I can while keeping good form, before pushing myself back up to standing position. I do it nine more times, counting in my head and regulating my breathing, then re-rack the bar. My glutes are burning, but it feels great to be doing this again.

“Damn, Ivy, that’s impressive,” James commends, and his praise makes me beam.

I hear Brady scoff next to us and mutter to Madeline, “Come on, babe, let’s go do something else.”

I bite my lip to hide my smile, then take a long swig of water before doing two more brutal sets of squats. James is behind me the whole time, and I find myself wondering if he ever checks out my ass when I do this sort of exercise. I brush the thought aside quickly, though.He’s old enough to be your dad, Ivy, get a hold of yourself. Last night was just a weird fluke.

CHAPTER FOUR

MY MIND ISleft reeling from yesterday, and I keep screwing things up at work because of it. James’ touch, his words, his body pressed against mine. I can’t get it out of my mind. It’s like one day he was an intimidating, stern father figure, and the next he was a sexy, muscular, slightly older man.

The eight hours of work seem to go by exceedingly slowly with emails to send and tedious forms to fill out, but I’m finally free at five ‘o clock. I race home, only to spend a couple hours constantly checking the clock until it’s late enough for me to go to the gym. I’m actually excited to go again after yesterday’s incident. Not only that, but I’m getting back into a steady routine, and my body and mind already feel so much stronger.

I show up at the gym at 8 p.m., and James is at the desk. The bell rings softly when I enter, and when he looks up and sees me, his lips quirk up in a slight but noticeable smile. Butterflies assault my stomach as I return his half-smile and head to the treadmill. There are a few other people here, which subdues the tension a bit. I wonder if he can feel this electricity between us too; It’s like, all of the sudden, he’s all I can think about. There’s just something so alluring about him . . .

When I finish my warm-up on the treadmill, walking for ten minutes longer than normal, I head to the tricep dip machine and see Brady and his girl walk through the door. At this point, I assume that he intentionally wants to bother me, but I came mentally prepared today with newfound confidence. His girlfriend goes to the treadmill and proceeds to take a few selfies while he heads over to the pull-up bar. He takes the long way around, intentionally walking in front of me and flicking his blonde hair off his forehead. I roll my eyes and ignore him, choosing to instead focus on the music in my headphones and my workout.

What I don’t expect is for James to casually walk from the other side of the room over to the adjacent pull-up bar only ten feet or so from Brady. I intently watch them from the corner of my eye as they do pull-ups not far from each other, both acting like the other doesn’t exist. I can see both of their biceps flexing, my eyes flicking back and forth between them, but somehow James makes it look effortless despite the veins straining against his forearms and neck. It’s clear after a moment that they’re competing against each other in an unspoken race, and it’s such a silly thing, but I’m also interested to see who will win. James definitely has more experience, but Brady is the type to focus on making sure every muscle possible is visible under his 10% body fat. James is muscular too, but in that rugged sort of blue-collar man way. Their faces redden as they continue hoisting themselves up, sweat dripping down their foreheads, but they keep going until Brady eventually drops down in defeat. James does five more pull-ups for good measure, and I can’t help but grin. Before he can notice, I start another set of tricep dips and keep my head down as I finish my set.

Brady looks pissed as he marches across the room to Madeline. I’m trying to hold in my laugh when I turn and make eye contact with James, who winks and runs his hand through his sweaty dark hair. I take a swig of water to hide my grin. I thought he was hot before, but seeing him outperform Brady like that made him that much more appealing. Maybe it’s just due to my pettiness, or maybe it’s because I hadn’t expected him to win a physical competition against someone fifteen (or more) years younger than him, but I have a strange feeling of excitement when he’s around now, a sort of anticipation at the potential of every interaction.

“James,” I say sweetly, half-yelling to him across the room and taking out my headphones, “do you think you could spot me again?”

He flashes a smile and nods, then follows me as I turn and walk toward the bench press. I load up my weights on each side, then lie down on the bench, plant my legs on either side, and slide underneath the bar. James is already standing there waiting for me to start, and I try not to think about how close he is or how focused his attention is on me. I stare up at the ceiling as I push the bar above my chest, up and down, and focus on controlling my breaths. Once I hit ten reps, I rerack the bar and breathe deeply. My gaze lifts to James as he stands over me, and he’s watching me with a burning intensity.

He crouches down before I can start my next set, his face only inches from mine. I can barely see him in my peripheral vision since I’m still laying on the bench, but I can feel how close he is. His voice is low when he finally speaks. “I really shouldn’t say this, but I love seeing you in this position. Laying here, legs apart, panting for breath underneath me. You’re doing such a good job, Ivy.”Wait, what?!But as quickly as it started, it’s over, and he’s standing back over me with a small smirk on his face while I attempt to keep my jaw from hanging.

Oh. My. God. Did he really just say that? I’m now all too aware that his cock is only a couple feet (if even) from my face while he spots me as I do my second set, then my third. My pussy throbs as I replay his words over and over in my head, my chest heaving with heavy breaths and lifts.

When I finish my sets, I notice that Brady is over in the corner teaching Madeline how to properly do bicep curls. He glances my way at the same time, making awkward eye contact and quickly looking away. But this time,heseems to be the one feeling awkward. I, on the other hand, feel great and am beginning to care less and less about Brady now that James has caught my attention.

“Do you need me for anything else?” James asks.

“Not right now, and not here,” I reply, and he seems to catch my not-so-subtle innuendo even though I keep a straight face. He raises his eyebrows slightly but says nothing, then walks back to the desk as he notices another patron about to leave. It’s getting late, and soon enough the gym will be empty again, depending on how long Brady and Madeline decide to stay.

I decide to take my time on the rest of my exercises, not wanting to go back to my apartment and be alone with my thoughts. I put my headphones back in and zone out as I continue my exercises. I’m lying back on the bench doing dumbbell chest flys when my leg jolts to the side, knocking off my stability and making me overextend one arm and drop the dumbbell. I set the other one on the floor to the side of me and sit up to see Madeline straightening herself after apparently “tripping” on my leg. She’s walking away, but turns her head, laughs, and says, “Oops, sorry,” insincerity and malice lacing her tone.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yell, ripping out my headphones and standing to face her. There’s a twinge in my back shoulder blade as I move, but I barely notice it as I burn with rage.

“Woah, woah, what’s going on?” James gets to us quickly and steps between us before I have the chance to hit her like I so desperately want to. Brady arrives a second later.

“This bitch kicked me and made me lose my balance while I had fucking weights over my head!” I shoot her a death glare.

She puts on her best fake pout, no doubt thinking she’ll get away with it, and whines, “I just tripped! It was an accident.”

“Bullshit! We’re the only three people working out here and you just so happen to walk close enough to me to ‘accidentally’ trip? I don’t think so.”

“I was going to a machine just over there,” she whines again as she points. “I’m sorry if you’re insecure enough to think your ex’s new girlfriend would care enough about you to even look your way.”

I want to smack the look of fake, exaggerated pity off her stupid face.

Brady must sense that I’m about to go nuclear, because he grabs Madeline’s arm and mutters, “Let’s just leave. It’s not worth the fight.” He won’t even make eye contact with me, and for good reason. He knows it takes a lot to get me this angry.

She scoffs, gives James another fake pout for good measure, and follows Brady’s lead out the door. James immediately turns to me. “Are you okay?” His hazel eyes are filled with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, letting out a long, deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. As my body slowly returns to its normal state, I feel the twinge in my shoulder blade again and reach around my shoulder with my opposite hand to rub it. The pain isn’t awful, but it’s definitely uncomfortable, as if I pulled a muscle. It must be evident in my expression, because James furrows his brows and moves to step behind me.

“Where does it hurt?”

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