Page 58 of Gym With Benefits

With barely any feeling left in my thighs, I scrambled back over to my side of the truck, the leather cool against my searing skin. My hands shook as I started pulling on my discarded clothes, shoving my head through the neck of the crop top first. When I reached toward the rearview mirror for the black lace dangling there, Dane’s hand shot out, snatching my underwear before my fingers could close around it.

“These are mine now,” he said, stuffing them into his pocket.

I glared at him, but the indignation lacked teeth. He more than earned his keep just now. I pulled my workout tights up over my bare hips without the underwear, the slick synthetic fabric instantly absorbing the moisture soaking my core. I leaned my head against the passenger window, staring at the concrete rafters and wondering how the hell I became the person living this life. My world contained no multi-million-dollar yachts or pristine Greek vacations like the ones clogging Amberleigh's Instagram feed, but I currently possessed more excitement than I’d experienced in my entire life up to now.

While I remained trapped in the buzz of the afterglow, trying to gather the scattered remnants of my dignity, Dane spoke up. His voice held a flat, casual certainty.

“I know you fucked Brock.”

My head snapped around, but there was nothing I could say.

“And Hunter,” he added, his eyes fixing on mine.

I swallowed hard. My mind raced through the options, searching for a denial, but my throat was seized up with shock. Before I could formulate a single defensive syllable, he continued, sparing me the necessity of a confession.

“I don't want you telling them about this.”

The request blindsided me. “Why not?”

“I just don't,” he said without looking at me.

Then he fixed his seat, turned the key, and pulled the Bronco out of the parking space.

21

Jess

David tugged my arm, guiding me toward the far end of the bar so fast my heels nearly clipped the edge of a ceramic planter.

“Don't look now,” he muttered, his eyes locked straight ahead as he intercepted a passing waiter and grabbed two glasses of champagne. “Mark from Compliance just walked in. If he tries to talk to me about that mistake from the Christmas party last year, I'll throw myself off the balcony.”

“Mistake? You bragged about that one-night-stand for weeks.” I took a sip of my drink and let the cold bubbles dull the noise in my head. “This is a crisis of your own making.”

“A crisis I’ve managed by actively avoiding him at every turn, thank you very much.” His gaze swept over me with the critical, intensely focused eye of a man who spent three hours orchestrating my appearance. “And speaking of flawless execution, look at you. I'm a genius. The baby blue makes you look less like a basement rat and more like an heiress.”

I fidgeted with the neckline of the slinky, backless dress he’d picked out, feeling more exposed than I would’ve liked. David had literally forced me into the damn thing, then went ahead and did something miraculous to my hair.

“It's too much. This is the first time Hunter’s seeing me outside the gym. I'm gonna scare him off.”

“Please,” he scoffed, swirling his glass. “You clean up like a dream. Embrace it.”

I took a gulp of champagne, wishing the floor would open up and swallow me instead. The transition from sweating in Capitol Fitness to standing in a glass penthouse atrium at Fisher Investments felt too fast. The residual ache from the back of Dane's Bronco still lingered deep in my thighs, a secret counterweight to the elegance of the room.

“I look desperate,” I muttered, my fingers tightening around the stem of the glass. “He's used to seeing me all sweaty and messed up in compression tights. He's gonna think I'm insane.”

“Oh, honey,” David said, his tone dropping into a mischievous purr. “By the look on his face, I'd say that's the least of your concerns tonight.”

I followed his gaze to the entrance.

Hunter stood by the double glass doors, detached from the crowd of corporate suits surrounding him. The transformation hit me low in my abdomen. His usual unruly dark hair lay slicked neatly into a classic James Bond style, exposing the clean lines of his jaw. The tailored tux hugged his broad shoulders and narrow waist with perfect precision, replacing his casual ease with sophisticated elegance. His piercing blue eyes scanned the room, bypassing the ice sculptures and the string quartet until they locked onto me.

The instant our eyes met, his gaze ignited. An open, blazing hunger flared in his expression raking over me from head to toe.

David let out a soft chuckle, patting my arm before he began to drift out of view. “Good luck.”

Hunter stopped a foot away, his mouth slightly open in awe. He looked vulnerable, sweet, and so thoroughly smitten it made my knees ache. “Jess. You look... I don't even have a word for this. You're breathtaking.”

My cheeks burned under the expensive blush David had applied. I smoothed the dress over my thighs, aiming for casual indifference and missing by a mile. “What, this old thing?”