So she danced her feet off, grinding her ass into the lap of a perfect stranger. And when he slipped his hands around her waist and spun her to face him, she kissed him, knowing it wouldn’t make her heart race or her toes curl. Not like with Mitch. No one made her feel the way he did. But it had been so long since she had connected physically with someone, since she broke up with Chris two months before, and despite the fact that there was no spark whatsoever, his lips felt good on hers.
After Mitch, the string of endless guys had never inspired the kind of physical reaction that he had. They had simply been a means to an end—a way to lose herself in the feel of someone’s hands on her body, overwriting all of the times Mitch had done the same thing, until hopefully, one day, she would forget how it felt for him to hold her. But she constantly worried that there would never be another Mitch again, that no man would ever put his hands on her and elicit the same reactions Mitch had been able to.
She wouldn’t be going home with this stranger, but she could let herself have this one makeout session, this one night of very public intoxication, in this dim LA club with EDM pounding from the speakers, drowning out the constant noise in her head.
Tonight, she could let herself slip. Just this once.
Tomorrow, she’d get her head back on straight.
Back in Detroit later that week, Lexie found herself at the gym with Amelia. Brent, Berkeley, and Cole usually joined them, but the boys were on a road trip to Canada, and Berkley flew up for a few days to watch their game in Toronto, so it was just them.
Amelia had an exercise science degree and had become the de facto personal trainer for Lexie and Berkley. After forcing Lexie through an exhaustive lower body strength training session, they were now on the floor in front of the wall of mirrors at their gym, moving through a yoga flow to cool down.
“So, how was LA?” Amelia asked conversationally as she pushed back into downward dog. Lexie’s quads were screaming at her, but she followed Amelia’s lead, grateful for the stretch she felt along the backs of her legs.
“It was good,” she said on an exhale as Amelia lowered them into a plank position. “It was really great to see Kimber.”
“Aww, I bet. I’m glad she’s doing so well. I miss her, but it’s good to see her thriving.”
“Yeah, she definitely is. Obviously her pictures on Instagram are veritable thirst traps, but seeing the transformation in person was pretty shocking.”
Amelia smiled as she effortlessly lifted into cobra. “I’m proud of her. She actually reached out and asked me for some tips when she decided she wanted to get back into shape.”
It irritated Lexie how easy Amelia made this fitness stuff look, but she supposed she’d been doing it long enough that it was almost second nature now.
“Yeah, she told me when she’s not working, she’s always outside, biking, surfing, those sorts of things.”
“Okay that’s good. Diet and exercise are important, but they have to be done right,” Amelia said. “I saw you guys went to a hockey game, too,” she added.
“Ames…” Lexie warned. “Leave it alone.”
“What?” Her friend asked innocently. She smoothly pushed back into downward dog again, then dropped down onto her hands and knees; Lexie followed her lead, thankful to give her arms a bit of a break.
Amelia slowly rounded her back and curved it inward in cat-cow but gave Lexie a sidelong glance, waiting for Lexie to tell her about the game Kimber had dragged her to.
“The hockey game was fine,” Lexie said, watching in the mirror that dominated one entire wall of the gym as her biceps flexed and extended.
“Did you…” Amelia broke off as she pressed back into child’s pose. This position was Lexie’s favorite when she was allowed to let her upper body drape over her lap, stretch her arms above her head, and relax into her breathing for a few moments.
Then Amelia pushed back up, dusting her hands off. She turned to Lexie on her mat, biting her lip, clearly debating whether or not to ask the question Lexie knew she was dying to ask. But Lexie refused to give her the satisfaction of helping her out, so she waited, taking several long pulls from her water bottle to pass the time.
Finally, Amelia said, “Did you see Mitch?”
A pang shot through Lexie’s heart at the sound of his name. “I saw him on the ice while he played, yes.”
“That was it?”
“That was it.”
“How did he look?”
Lexie sighed. Amelia wasn’t going to let this go. “He looked fine. In case you forgot, he was the one who left. He decided his life would be better without all of us in it. I don’t understand why you care.”
Amelia cast her gaze down, chastised, but said quietly, “I don’t understand why you don’t. You love him, Lex. Or at least, you did.”
“No I didn’t.”
Amelia made a face, clearly unimpressed with the lie. “Don’t bullshit me, Lexie.”
