Luke had to bite back a laugh at Jordan’s angry growl. “All right, Prep School. Calm down.” Jordan lay down on the bench and reached for the bar, and Luke stood behind him to give him instructions. “Lift it slow and even on both sides.”
“I know.” The words came out through gritted teeth.
Right away, Luke could see Jordan was barely able to lift the bar. It wouldn’t do any good to call him out on it, as Jordan was the type who’d rather hurt himself than admit defeat. The man was way too stubborn.
“You know, we should probably have started out with some sit-ups and stretches first, to warm your body and loosen up.” That sounded plausible to him and wasn’t too obvious.
Jordan pushed through five more lifts before setting the bar back on the rack. His flushed face already shone with a damp sheen of perspiration, and his breath puffed out heavy. “I could handle it, Lucas.” But he looked happy to get off the bench.
Lucas, huh? No one called him that, but it sounded right, coming out of Jordan’s arrogant mouth. “I saw, Prep School. But I’m running this show, and I say to the mat now.” He strode over to the workout mat and sat down. “Sit-ups. Let’s do fifty of them.”
Jordan stood over him for a minute, and Luke couldn’t help but stare. The man had a perfect ass, which today was encased in a pair of thin nylon shorts that left little to his imagination. Luke’s traitorous cock hardened.
Focus, buddy. You’re not here to score. “Hands behind your head. Keep your core tight and your feet flat. Look up at the ceiling and lift, using your stomach muscles, not your back.”
“I’ve done sit-ups, Lucas. I know how to do them.” Jordan’s black scowl only spurred Luke to goad him further.
“You may think you know, Prep School. Now I’m showing you the right way.” He placed his hand on Jordan’s abdominal muscles to make sure he was doing it right. At his first touch, the man nearly jumped away from him. “Calm down. I need to check your form.”
Uncertain blue eyes met his.
“Do a set of twenty-five for me now.”
Jordan blinked, then jerked a nod and lay back. Luke kept his palm flat on Jordan’s stomach as the man rose, then lay back. Underneath his fingers, the slippery fabric couldn’t hide the tautness of Jordan’s stomach or the heat from his body. As he counted in his head, Luke could hear Jordan’s exhalations and feel the clench of his stomach muscles. The man’s body was all lean, sinewy muscle, with very little mass to him. Luke wondered how the softness of Jordan’s bare skin would taste, and lost himself in the thought of licking down Jordan’s—
“Lucas.”
He blinked and jerked his hand off Jordan’s body. “Why do you call me Lucas, when everyone calls me Luke??”
Jordan shrugged. “I don’t know. I decided Luke sounds like a cowboy, and you’re a city boy.”
Not really, but what the hell. Luke nodded. “So your form is decent. I’d have you do three sets of twenty-five sit-ups to build core strength. What you need to do is concentrate on strength. As I suspected, you have little to no muscle mass.”
“I’m not built like that. Keith tried to build me up and failed.” His gaze dropped to the mat, and his fingers twisted the edges of his shorts.
“I’m not trying to build you up, Prep School. I want to make you stronger.” Luke watched him carefully. Now that he was so physically close, Luke noticed the slight tremble in Jordan’s fingers and the occasional twitch of muscles in his arms and legs. “Hey, are you all right? You’re shaking.”
As if he hadn’t heard him, Jordan remained staring at the ground.
“Jordan, man. Are you all right?” A bit afraid that he’d pushed him too far between the lifting and the sit-ups, Luke shook Jordan’s arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Huh? What? Nothing.” Jordan blinked and rubbed his eyes. “I must’ve zoned out for a moment.”
Something definitely was off, and it frustrated Luke that he couldn’t figure it out. “Well, let’s do some stretching, and then we can see about some free weights.” He paused. “Does that work for you?”
“Yeah, sure.”
He took Jordan through a routine of free weights and noted in his phone the weights and reps. “So do you think this is something you can handle? I think if you do this three times a week and eat properly, you’ll regain your strength. Maybe even become stronger.”
“Sure, it’s fine.” Jordan’s phone buzzed. As they walked back to the locker room, he checked it, and Luke saw him bite his lip and hesitate over returning the text.
“Bad news?”
They entered the locker room, and Jordan slumped down on the bench, indicating Luke should sit next to him. Jordan rested his elbows on his knees, bracing his head in his hands, obscuring his face from Luke’s view.
“No, merely another obligation I’ve been ignoring for months that I shouldn’t have.” Jordan’s eyes met his through the fall of his hair. He blew out a gusty breath and sat up straight. “See, for years, we all visited Drew’s grandmother, Esther, on Sundays. We’ve known her all our lives. She raised Drew and his sister, Rachel, after their parents were killed. Esther’s almost ninety and still going strong, but we like to keep an eye on her.”
“Sounds nice, if you’re into all that family stuff.” He wasn’t, since you can’t want what you never had. Luke leaned back on his hands and continued to listen.
