“You know the usual. Ice, elevate, heat. Take it easy until my run tomorrow morning,” I joked. “Honestly, it’s not that bad. It was just a twinge. It feels better now.” I stretched it, and sure enough, “No pain. Just tight,” I shared.
“Right. Okay.” He ran his fingers through his hair before scratching the short stubble at his jaw. “Let’s go,” he ordered, and I frowned.
“Where?” I asked, and I felt like my feet were about to start floating up in the air from the smile he gave me.Shit! Again, not that girl.
“You’ll see.” He winked, and my insides got all warm and gushy. Twenty minutes later, we were at a town home just outside of the campus. Jeremy had me settled in the middle of the most oversized, comfortable sectional.
“What is this place?” I asked. The guy was full of surprises. When he’d driven us away from the campus, part of me had worried he was up to something. He was; it just hadn’t been as nefarious as my wild imagination had led me to believe.
“My family stays here when they come into town. Usually, it’s rented out as an Airbnb.” I licked my lips.
“Smart,” I mumbled. “Passive income is important.” He grunted at my words before coming to kneel in front of me.
“One to ten, how much is it bugging you?”
“You pre-med now or something?”
“Humor me, Reynova.”
“You first, Fletch.”
“No, mi Cielo.” He smiled, shooting me a look, and I returned his smile. “Still a business major, but I’ve played sports my whole life like you have.” I opened and shut my mouth, ready to ask questions about why he chose business and what he wanted to do with it in the future but decided against it. I was already getting way too close and chummy with a guy who was bullying me into fake-dating him.
“How bad is it?” he pressed, taking my silence for pain.
“It’s like a two. Hardly there. I promise.”
“Maybe we take a day off tomorrow and no morning run?” His suggestion had me turning to look at him.
My mind went directly back to that first day in the summer when I’d been stretching, so early in the morning the sun hadn’t even started to rise. He’d walked out of our building andstarted to stretch across from me, very much in a space where I could see his large strong body flex and strain. I’d thought it a coincidence.
The two of us were athletes after all, and it wasn’t like I didn’t know who he was. I was pretty sure the whole campus knew the star baseball players, especially the two on my floor who had recently transferred from back east earlier in the year and helped the team win first place in our division. I’d politely jerked my chin at him and, when I was ready, had started to jog. Slowly, because my muscles had felt tight that morning and, without missing a beat, about ten paces behind me, the sound of his heavy footsteps sounded. My lips quirked upwards at the reminder.
How many runs had it taken him to talk to me? How many had it taken me to realize it wasn’t just some weird over-achieving athletic dedication we had to our sport that had him out there?
“Our run?” I laughed. “You mean the one you stalk me and follow me on? Because we both know you can probably go faster.”
“You like me following you,” he said, as if it was fact, and I couldn’t get myself to argue with him. “Plus, I don’t mind the view.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled. My cheeks felt hot at the compliment. Not that I needed one. I knew I had a great ass.
Our runs were one of those things I probably shouldn’t like that he’d started to do. But when he kept running after I turned down his date invitation, I’d been… relieved. There was something nice about knowing he was behind me, especially in the early mornings when the sun was not out yet, had made me feel safe. No. That wasn’t true. It wasn’t just the idea of anyone behind me but that it was him.He makes me feel safe.
“What do you want to eat?” He asked. I looked at him.
“You cook, too?”
“I do, but I was thinking I’ll order food, and you can soak in the tub while we wait for it to get here.”
“And let me guess, you’re going to be in there with me?” I smirked because there was no way he was this good. He leaned forward, and my breath hitched, lungs seized for a long minute.
“Dirty girl,” he rasped. “I’m going to get a workout in. There is a gym in the basement. Missed weight training this afternoon since I was busy watching a soccer game.”
“Oh.” I blinked. “Okay, umm… anything works.”
“Anything?”
“I love Thai food after a game,” I shared.
