Dammit, he was right. He was going to make it difficult to keep things casual between them if he kept reading her inside out like this.
Ivy dragged her butt out of bed and pulled her running clothes on. An hour and a half later, having run along the Willamette River with Sean, watching the sunrise over the city she loved so much, the cold fall air pumping through her lungs, a familiar peace settled in her heart. They didn’t talk as they pounded the pavement in unison. Sean’s long gait easily ate up the miles, but Ivy had built endurance over the last few years, and keeping up with him today was easier than the last time they’d run together. He also hadn’t set a punishing pace like last time, which helped.
By the time they’d arrived back at their apartments, Ivy was more revitalized than she had been in longer than she could remember. Between the sex, the sleep, and the run, she was ready and eager for another round with naked Sean.
Maybe he’d be open to showering together? Maybe she could lick the water droplets off his moist body afterward?
Her deliciously naughty thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Sean’s phone going off. His gaze darted down to the screen, and he instantly stilled. He held the phone in his hand, staring at it until it went silent, then continued to stare at it for another beat, before shoving it roughly back into his pocket.
To the untrained eye, it would probably have gone undetected, but Ivy had been checking Sean out for long enough now that she could tell by the way his jaw tensed slightly and his eyes darkened almost imperceptibly that he’d been rattled by the phone call. Something wasn’t right.
“You want to talk about that?” Ivy heard herself asking, regretting it immediately when a shutter came down over his eyes.
“Talk about what?” he asked casually, pushing her away with his denial.
If this was how he wanted to play it, she’d back off. Should have backed off. And yet, damn it, whoever had been calling him had ruined his mood in five rings flat, taking her plans for an erotic shower with it, and she wanted to know who it was.
“The phone call you stared down but didn’t answer. You looked at that caller ID like the Ghost from Christmas Past was calling. Thought you might want to talk about whoever it was.”
Maybe it shouldn’t have, but his casual shrug hurt.
“It was nothing. Long distance number. Probably some salesperson telling me I’ve won a free vacation.”
Okay, he was going to play it like that, was he? Ivy tried to ignore the pang of disappointment that rang through her at his evasiveness and failed.
Sean moved toward the door to his apartment. “Look, I’m gonna hit the shower, then I’ve got to head into the gym to finish a few things in the office, but maybe we can catch up later?”
His tone was neutral, but Ivy could tell when she was being blown off.
It shouldn’t have bothered her. It definitely shouldn’t have hurt. He had a right to his private business, which had been her idea really when she insisted that she wanted to keep this thing between them casual in the first place.
Honestly, it was hypocritical wanting to know all his business, considering the huge part of her life she hadn’t shared with him. But until this moment it hadn’t occurred to her that there was a part of his life he’d chosen not to share with her.
She lifted a shoulder. “Sure. Later.”
The silence echoed through the hallway between their apartments. And for the first time things between them were truly awkward.
As Sean watched her, she held her breath, hoping he might do or say something to bring back the light mood that had existed between them all morning. But instead, he went inside his apartment, leaving her alone in the hallway, wondering what had happened to make things change so quickly.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
On Tuesday morning, Ivy walked through the front door of the gym only to be faced with Wendy, Christine, and Erica leaning up against the reception desk, chins in palms, waiting for the firefighters to arrive for their training session. As had become a habit over the last few weeks.
“You guys are ridiculous,” Ivy said grumpily, swinging her bag off her shoulder and dumping it on the floor behind the desk.
“Somebody needs a pumpkin spiced latte,” was Wendy’s reply.
Ivy ignored her. She did need a pick-me-up, but hell would freeze over before she admitted that to these three. “What are you going to do in a couple weeks when the charity fight is over and the guys don’t show up for training anymore?”
“Ugh, I don’t know.” Christine sighed dejectedly. “Start a fire?” She glanced at Ivy as she twirled one of her boxer braids between her fingers.
“I’m hoping they’ll keep coming back. I mean, why work that hard to get bodies like they have and then drop it altogether? Maybe they’ll take some of my classes. I should tell Sean to give me a plug before he sets them loose.” Wendy flipped her straight, ebony ponytail over her shoulder as she turned to face Ivy. “Speaking of Sean. What’s the scoop on Saturday night?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ivy evaded. She hadn’t seen Sean since their awkward moment in the hall, which was unusual because they usually saw each other daily. She was trying not to read too much into it.
“So, you didn’t leave our girls’-night-out-turned-engagement-party early to go fuck his brains out in your apartment?” Wendy asked with a flutter of eyelashes.
“You know, for someone so sweet looking, you sure have a filthy mouth on you,” Ivy said, hoping more than anything to avoid the conversation Wendy was angling at.
