He nodded slowly.“Nice.You came prepared.”
“Are you joining me?”she asked, stuffing her ponytail into a bathing cap.
“I’m dressed for it if I have to be” — he gestured to himself — “but I’ll start off guiding you from the side.Rinse off over there before you go in.”
Misty ran a quick shower and snapped on a pair of goggles before making her way back to the edge of the pool.She dipped a toe in the water and flinched.“Colder than I thought,” she said.
Spencer didn’t look moved by her plight.“It’s heated to the low eighties, and it’s going to get worse for you if you stand there building it up to this scary thing in your mind.Better to jump in and get your blood moving.That’ll warm you up.”
She closed her eyes as she lowered herself into the water, only to have them fly open as the water splashed her swimsuit and skin.“Yikes!”
“Well, don’t just stand there.”Spencer’s eyes looked brighter, and — Was that a smile?It lit up his face and would have been gratifying if it hadn’t been at her expense.“Take a walk from one end to the other to start.”
“That’s it?Just walk?”That sounded a little too easy.Not halfway across, though, it was clear that this called for more effort than she would have exerted above the water.She started to lift her arms above the water.
“Don’t do that,” Spencer called.“Hold your arms the same way you would on land.I wouldn’t walk around like that.”
As if to prove his point, he raised his own arms to shoulder level and started pacing the pool deck.“Don’t I look silly?”
“What if I was carrying groceries?”He did look ridiculous, especially having gone back to resting drill sergeant face, but she didn’t feel like conceding yet.
“I’d say not to do it that way.It’s bad for you.”He dropped his arms.“Just walk like a regular person but working against the water.”
Misty was almost sorry Spencer had decided to walk like a regular person, as he’d put it.By moving his jacked arms away, the demonstration had called attention to the cut of his waist and his muscular legs.The whole thing gave her something to think about as she put her arms back in the water to finish her walk.
“Good,” Spencer said when she got back.“Can I see you swim next?”
“Which stroke?”
“Whatever you want.”Misty took off, hoping he wasn’t timing her.It had been too long since she’d been swimming and wasn’t expecting to set any new speed records.At least she was starting to feel better in the water.Instead of being shocked by the cold, the temperature of the water was soothing against her skin, which was starting to heat up as she moved.
She looked up to see Spencer watching contemplatively.He didn’t say anything, though, so she kept going for a few more laps.When he waved her to stop, he was holding a pair of wide, webbed-looking gloves.She got back to her laps singing theJawstheme, but it faded out as she realized just how much more work her arms were doing.A few laps later, Spencer had her switch them out for flippers on her feet.
By the time their session was up, she’d be amazed if she could move her limbs the next day.She swam a few lanes over to the ladder so she could climb out instead of hefting herself out of the water.
Spencer was waiting with a bigger towel than usual.He held it open, and Misty was reminded of how her dad would sometimes hold her mom’s coat on winter days.Maybe that was why it felt so oddly intimate as she stepped forward to have it placed on her shoulders.But Spencer stepped back once it was on, leaving her to dry herself and consider that the intimacy only went so far.Either that or she’d only imagined it.
****
“Hi, Misty.”Spencerfelt himself smiling as she approached him at the gym entrance the next day.
“Hey!”She nudged one of his bare biceps.“Welcome to the gun show.”
The remark reminded him that he’d swapped out his usual gym t-shirt for a tank top.He felt a flare hit his cheeks, and a brief smile flitted across his face.“It’s hot out, and you look dressed for it too.”
She glanced down, as if she’d forgotten she was wearing only a sports bra with shorts that showed off toned thighs and calves.“Okay, I admit I wanted to show off a little.I haven’t had abs like this since high school track.”
Spencer had no way of knowing what she’d looked like back then, but he could see that the past few weeks had literally made their mark on her.The lines of muscle were carved into her pale abdomen, standing in stark contrast to her soft-looking skin.He bit the inside of his lip to get a grip on himself.
She was looking at him expectantly, as if waiting for a response.He’d gotten so far in his fantasies that he’d missed it.“Sorry, did you just say something?”
“Nothing important.Just admitting that it was nice to be in a bathing suit yesterday.”
It had been nice to see her in a bathing suit yesterday, and he forced himself to remember why that had been.“If you could do all that underwater, you’re going to have a much easier time of it at the surface without the resistance of the pool around you.Did you like doing it?”
“I did.”
“Then let’s add it to your rotation, go in the pool on one of the days you’d usually do cardio.I might even suggest going swimming the day before you shoot your video.But for now, let’s see if and how it helped you today.It’s recap day.”
