“Here he is, boys!” Closing my eyes, I inhaled as Don’s voice, filled with humor, washed over me. I parted my lids to see Don, Corey, and Carter standing in front of me, workout gear on and all.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Carter looked between the trio and was the first to step up. He came over to me, placing an arm around my shoulders. “We’re here to support you, Harvard. That’s the type of men we are,” he joked.
I shoved him off of me.
“Oh come on, Harvard. Don’t be like that!” Corey started.
“Yeah, if it weren't for us, that douche over there would still be trying to put the moves on your woman,” Don added.
I hated them, but at the same time, my eyes narrowed as my head pivoted toward the only other male in the class. He glanced over at us but quickly turned away when he saw us looking. I heard the cacophony of laughter from the damn goof troop and ignored them. I knew they were looking to bust my balls. Instead, I moved past them to see Angela just finishing her set up for the class. Her lips moved and those pearly whites shone when she saw me.
“I thought you decided to sleep in.”
“Caught in traffic.” I spent the night at her place again but had to run home to get my workout gear and uniform. I was heading head straight into work after the mid-morning brunch we planned to attend after this class.
Her smile grew. “Glad you made it in time.” With that, the heavy bass of the music started pumping through the speakers. I took one last glance at her before moving to an empty bike in the front row. It wasn’t directly in front of her where I usually like to sit, but it still gave me an obstruction-free view of her, which was all I needed to stay motivated during class. Not even five minutes into class I heard Corey yell from the back of the room to turn it up. His yell was followed up with grunts and whoops of agreement from his two sidekicks. I pulled my lips in, grimacing at the three of them, causing them to break out into laughter. Surprisingly—or maybe not so surprisingly?Angela took on the challenge. In fact, she turned the volume up slightly and directed us to stand as we cycled. Despite the commotion from the guys, my eyes zeroed in on her. For the next fifty minutes, I sweated and burned off the extra energy that always seemed to manifest itself when I was in her presence. When class finally ended, the smell of sweat and heat permeated the room.
“Great class!” Angela remarked, her pecan skin glistening with sweat. As if my reaction to her wasn’t already a growing problem, I felt my mouth water at the thought of licking the sweat off her. I briefly wondered if we could skip brunch and head back to her place—since it was closer—for a doubles shower.
“And we had some special guests today. They weren’t too bad themselves,” she continued, holding out her hands toward the guys who bowed at the applause they received from other participants.
“I should’ve kicked them out for you,” I told her, but I was eyeing my brothers from the station?two of which appeared to be getting two women’s phone numbers from the class. And Don seemed to be easing over toward a third woman.
Angela giggled, and my eyes zeroed in on her once again. “They were terrific. They showed up to bust your balls, huh?”
I grunted.
“They’re your family, too. You knew it’d happen sooner or later.”
I peered down at her, noting the caring tone of her voice, and I remembered the words I said to her that night after having dinner with my parents.
“You handled their antics pretty well,” I commented. Despite the rowdiness of the fellas, Angela commanded the class with ease.
“I enjoyed it. They were kinda fun.”
I frowned.
“Aww,” she started, wrapping her arms around my waist loosely, and reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss my chin, “don’t be like that. You’re still my favorite firefighter in spin class.”
In spite of myself, my lips twitched, but I refused to let out the laugh that wanted to escape. Instead, I bent down to kiss her lips.
“Cut that shit out! There are kids around for Christ’s sake!” Don’s voice boomed.
I popped my head up, glaring at him, and wanting to wipe the dumb smirk off his face.
“Thanks for coming to class, guys!” Angela interrupted, her arms still around my waist.
“Anytime. Though, we just wanted to bust this guy’s chops since he’s so mum about you two,” Carter admitted.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angela’s head pivot back toward me, but I kept my eyes focused the three assholes in front of us.
I pointed my finger at Carter. “You don’t need to worry about my lady and I. But good for you for coming to workout. You were looking a little slow on that last call yesterday,” I returned.
Don and Corey covered their mouths and let out whoops of laughter and a round of, “Oh shit!”
“If you say so, Harvard.” Carter turned those blue eyes toward Angela. “Angela, you might wanna give this guy a little break at night, if you know what I mean. I had to practically toss him out of his bunk the other day when we got a call. Sleeping like a baby and I doubt it’s from spin class.” Carter’s eyebrows wiggled up and down at the same time I took a step toward him, my possessive side coming out. But before I could complete my first step, I was stopped by Angela’s arms tightening around my waist.
