“Oh, come on, it’s not that funny.” He lowers his voice to that same deep, purring tone he used when he was coaching me a few minutes ago, and my whole body starts to tingle. “If you’ve nevertried before, how do you know it’s not for you?” Butch wraps his thick fingers around my nonexistent bicep and gives it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll even throw in three free personal training sessions to start you off.”
“Okay,” I answer breathlessly.
Wait. Did I just say that? That couldn’t have been me agreeing to not only set foot inside a gymon purpose, but also to let someone elsewatchme work out. Abort, abort!
I open my mouth to take it back, but Butch’s entire face lights up before I can say anything and I swear his body vibrates like a puppy wagging its tail. The man is a behemoth. He must be the size of a gorilla and twice as strong. That “one gorilla versus a hundred men” question floating around social media hasn’t taken men like Butch into account. He wouldn’t even have to fight them, he could just pound on his massive chest and the gorillas would scatter. But somehow, he looks… cute?
Fuck. I can’t say no and disappoint him.
“Yeah?” he asks. “You’ll come back and sign up? Do you want to go back now?”
“No, we’re waiting for food.” I laugh.
“Oh, yeah. Duh. Plus, I have a client coming in soon. What about later? You could come back in a couple of hours? Do you live nearby?”
“I can’t today, but… um… I could come back tomorrow morning?” What the hell am I doing?
“Promise?”
“Sure, I promise.” The barista sets my drinks down along with a bag of Danishes and a small box with Butch’s cupcake. “I should probably…” I hold up my stuff and tilt my head in the general direction of my apartment.
He nods. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” I agree, still in a daze, still convinced I just accidentally made a verbal agreement to give a gym fifty dollarsa month for the rest of my life, and still positive that this has been by far the strangest morning of my life.
CHAPTER TWO
PERCY
My hands are stilla little shaky and my heart is pounding as I jog up the stairs to my apartment. I could maybe blame both of those things on the fact that I’m pathetically out of shape and I speed-walked most of the way back from Sweet, but the horny ache between my legs definitely can’t be attributed to exercise. Hell, if exercise made my fun bits tingle like this, I’d have started doing it regularly a long time ago.
I shake my head at myself and juggle the coffees and bag of Danishes into one hand so I can unlock the door. I am absolutely not going to do something as cliché as develop a crush on the first buff gymbo I’ve ever met. Although, okay, maybe that’s exactly what happened, and I totally got honey potted into agreeing to a gym membership.
Ugh, it was that deep, encouraging voice though, gently coaching me on how to properly arm wrestle. That should not have been as sexy as it was, but damn I want to hear him instruct me how to do everything.
“Good, good, good, that’s right, slide the key right into the slot nice and easy.”My dick gives a little twitch, and I swallow down a groan as I shoulder the door open and then kick it closed behind me.
“Jun-oh,” I laugh as my roommate appears right in front of me, still bleary eyed with bed head. Their short hair is sticking up on one side and they’re dressed in an oversizedThe ClashT-shirt that comes down to their mid-thigh. Their eyes drop to the coffee and the paper bag in my hand.
“Gimme,” Juno grunts, snatching both and immediately tearing the lid off their cup so they can guzzle down the caffeine without being limited by the stupid little hole. Their superhuman immunity to scalding hot beverages never ceases to amaze me. I’ve seen them eat pizza rolls right out of the microwave too without even having to do that stupid open-mouthedha-ha-hathing when the lava-temperature filling bursts out of the puff.
“You’re welcome,” I deadpan, taking a sip from my own chai latte. “It’s a wonder you’re still single with manners like that.”
They give me the finger and keep gulping for another few seconds before lowering the cup, wiping their hand across their mouth, and eyeing me curiously.
“Why do you look so flushed and sweaty? You just had an adviser meeting, didn’t you?”
Heat rises in my cheeks, and I shrug.
“It’s surprisingly warm out and I ran most of the way home so your coffee wouldn’t get cold,” I lie.
Juno eyes me suspiciously for another second, then shrugs and tears into the Danish. I kick off my shoes and set my latte on the little table next to the door where we toss our keys and our mail.
“So, how’d it go?” They mumble around a mouthful, following me down the short hallway and then stopping in mydoorway to lean against the doorframe. I strip my sweater over my head, trading it for a more comfortable T-shirt since I’m going to be spending most of the day at home grading papers.
We’ve been rooming together since our freshman year of college when we were both assigned to share a dorm. I don’t know if it was ironic or just kismet that we were paired together in the female dorms and before the end of our first year we both realized we didn’t belong there. We helped each other work through our gender confusion, supported each other when we each came out to our families, and have even played home nurse for each other after various surgeries. So, changing with Juno standing in the doorway doesn’t give me any pause.
“Weird but fine.” I toss my clothes on top of my dresser since they didn’t actually get dirty and pull on a pair of joggers that wouldn’t know the meaning of jogging.
