Ethan’s response popped up.
That sounds great. Once you’ve started seeing results, there’s nothing wrong with a baked potato. It usually depends what you put on it, how much you eat, and if skipping the potato will send you running to the nearest chocolate bar afterward. The potato is better. ;)
I hesitated with a grape midair. Shit. Grapes contained sugar.
I sent a quick text.
Hypothetically speaking, say I’m eating grapes now. Would that be bad?
Crap, I hadn’t thought of that. I loved to snack! But maybe I should’ve picked carrot sticks…
I was already screwing up, wasn’t I?
Ethan replied again.
Nope. I will never ever steer you away from fruit and berries. Are there better alternatives? Yeah. But you’re in the process of phasing out even worse foods. So while a bowl of blueberries would be less sugary, grapes are ten times better than chips or ice cream. Your body takes notice of every change, so this isn’t a mistake. It’s an improvement.
I exhaled. He could be as freaking vain as he wanted as long as he kept being a wonderful PT.
Before I could answer, he texted again.
In the future, when your body has adjusted to these changes, you’ll want to incorporate more challenges—because you’ll be ready. Too many people start off a diet or lifestyle change by setting the bar too high. The slightest misstep and they feel like failures, and if they fail once, they might as well order that pizza or open a bag of chips.
Oh boy, did he know the inner workings of my mind.
Feeling much better now, I sent him another message.
You’re amazing, Ethan. I just had to say it! Thank you. I think what I can do, without seeing grapes as a failure, is exercise a few minutes extra. I feel motivated. And I still have a million moving boxes to unpack haha. Thanks for checking in, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.
I hoped that wasn’t too forward—or that he thought I was flirting with him. I only wanted to be honest. He’d helped me so much already.
By the time I’d put away the grapes and moved my Coke Zero into the office where I wanted to get my workspace in order, Ethan had answered.
Looking forward to it. You have a great attitude. Goodnight.
Damn right, I had a great attitude!
I smiled to myself and got cracking.
When I walked into the gym the following morning, Ethan was clearly just finishing up his own workout. He was drenched in sweat, hanging out over by the weights, and his T-shirt was on the floor. God forbid he took a selfie where his abs didn’t show. The man didn’t even need to clench to flash that six-pack.
Maybe a dozen or so people were at the gym, with another group waiting outside the spin class area, and several of them had their eyes fixed on Ethan.
I scrunched my nose, feeling so out of sorts. While they eye-fucked him, which I was sure he was used to, I kinda wanted to feed him.
As much as I struggled to believe Gray—that Ethan was supposedly arrogant—I’d have to be blind not to see how different we were. I wasn’t talking about our physiques either. I showed up in leggings, a loose tee, zero makeup, and my hair in a haphazard bun. He still didn’t have a hair out of place, despite he’d just worked out, the logo across his pant leg told me he could very well be sponsored by Under Armour, and he drankfrom one of those shakers. Like, I bet he had a protein shake in there or something.
What must he think of me? Personally, that was. Behind the fantastic professional façade, he had to be judging me. Right? In no universe did I fit into his circle of friends, dates, or whatever.
He spotted me when I was some ten feet away, and he got off the bench he’d sat on and picked up his tee to wipe sweat off his face.
“Good morning.” I smiled politely.
“Mornin’, Natalie. You ready to work up a sweat?”
“Absolutely.” A burst of shock tore through me when I accidentally glanced at his chest, now that I was closer. Did he freakingshaveit? Oh my God, he shaved his chest. He actually shaved his chest.Why? Why would he do such a thing?
You’re being judgy again.
