I’m listening to a girl named Marie talk me through the workout even though I understand everything listed on the whiteboard just fine. People are passionate about thissport, and considering I’ve been to some gyms where they ignore visitors entirely, I welcome the friendly explanation.
Until suddenly, she looks over my shoulder, and her eyes grow wide.
“Stone!”You have got to be fucking kidding me.“I was wondering when your next day off would be. We have a visitor. Come say hi.”
Turning around, I give him a head nod. “Stone.”
“Hanlon,” he says, looking just as annoyed as I feel.
“Oh, so you guys know each other?”
“Unfortunately,” I say with a tight smile. “Marie, it was nice to meet you.”
I move on to talk to a couple of guys standing in the corner I’d love to disappear inside of, but before I can strike up a conversation, our coach enters the gym.
And God, he’s hot.
The girl at the counter must’ve told him a ‘drop-in’ is here because he scans the class until his eyes land on me, and then he makes a beeline toward me with his hand outstretched.
“Hey, man. Welcome. I’m Micah. I’ll be your coach. I saw your check-in forms…you’re not new to the sport and have no problem areas, is that right?”
“Hanlon,” I say, clasping his hand. “And yeah, that’s all correct.”
“Okay, great. Well, we’re glad you’re here.” I think he’s going to leave it there to go get the class started on their warmups, but instead, he asks, “Where are you visiting from?”
“Oh, uh, Vermont.”
“Cool. Never been there myself. Maybe after class, you can tell me more about it?”
I honestly can’t tell whether he’s hitting on me or just being friendly since I’m new, but either way, I’m out here for three months and am already planning on coming back to this gym,so having a friend sounds nice. And yeah, he’s still really fucking hot.
I decide to flirt a little myself…test the waters…take a chance.
“Sure,” I say, shrugging a shoulder. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“Might need longer than five minutes after class, then,” he says, his eyes drifting down my body as he talks.
Bingo.
My time in Ricochet Ridge just got a lot more exciting.
“You’re probably right,” I agree. “And we should probably hydrate while we talk. You know, people keep telling me the air out here is really dry.”
A slow, sexy-as-all-fuck smile spreads across Micah’s lips as his eyes scan me again.
“Yeah. Hydrating sounds good. I’ll grab your number after class.” He claps a hand on my shoulder.
I return his smile and nod. “I’ll be here.”
Am I aware of Stone watching this interaction? Yes. But seeing as Stone isn’t gay, I doubt he could pick up on the direction of the conversation from body language alone.
A minute later, Micah starts the warm-up.
Fifteen minutes afterthat, the class is instructed to grab our barbells and a jump rope.
Today’s workout: power cleans, double-unders, and toes-to-bar.
Perfect, because I shouldn’t have to modify anything for this one.
