“Yeah. Is that weird?”
She shakes her head. “Not at all. I’m just surprised.” A teasing smile pulls at her lips. “I never thought you’d be into Jane Austen.”
“I was seeing this woman a while ago and her favorite movie wasPride & Prejudice. It was honestly really good. I didn’t know it was a book until she told me. I thought it could be fun to read.”
Kendall flashes the most beautiful smile. All the nerves inside of me instantly ease.
“Jane Austen is my hero,” she says. “I lovePride & Prejudice, but after that, we have to readPersuasion. I think it’s way better.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Really?”
She bites back a smile as she nods.
“I can’t wait to read that one too then.”
“I’m curious to see which one you prefer.”
I grin. “We’ll find out.”
My biceps and chest are on fire as I push the barbell up. I’m on the last rep of my last set on the bench press and the muscles in my torso are trembling.
I rack the bar and take a second to catch my breath. Normally I’d have rock music blasting in my ears to power me through my workout.
But today I’m listening to the audiobook ofPride & Prejudice.
I’m only a few chapters into the book, but I’m pretty into it already. The main characters, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, had a pretty unpleasant first meeting. It’ll be interesting to see how these two end up together.
When I sit up on the bench, I see my teammate Mack Mason walk across the gym over to me.
I pull out my earbud.
“Hey, can you spot me on the bench press?” he asks.
I tell him sure and walk over to the other bench press. We nod “hi” to our other teammate Wes Casey as he takes a breather between sets at the squat rack.
I help Mason load up the barbell. As he sets up on the bench, I stand over the bar.
As he pumps out rep after rep for his first set, I listen as Mr. Darcy insults Elizabeth’s looks and refuses to dance with her at some ball. Damn. That’s harsh.
I glance down at Mason gritting his teeth, his arms shaking as he struggles with his final rep. I grab it and help him rack it. He sits up and hunches over, catching his breath.
I glance around the gym. If my teammates knew that I was listening to a romance novel while working out, they’d give me so much shit.
I smile to myself. I wouldn’t care. This book is pretty good so far. And it’s something I get to do with Kendall.
Mack knocks out a couple more sets on the bench press before hitting the exercise bike. I take the one next to him. When we finish our cooldown, I head to the mat to stretch.
“Rocking out to Sabrina Carpenter again?” Wes says as he takes the other side of the mat to stretch.
“Nope. Audiobook.”
He brushes his sweaty dark hair out of his face. “Since when did you start listening to audiobooks?”
“Since today.”
He hinges forward slightly as he stretches out his quad. “Are you trying out audiobooks because you still haven’t learned to read?”
I throw my sweaty towel at his face. He groans and throws it back at me.
