Never Say Never

by Rachael Sommers

  But when she glanced up, it was the woman who was grinning down at her. “Need a spotter?” she asked. “It’s cool if not, but I thought I’d offer before one of these know-it-alls did.”

  “That’d be great, actually.” She did a few reps, feeling the burn in her muscles as her arms tensed and flexed. She set the bar down when she was done and sat up, shaking out her arms. She was going to be sore tomorrow morning. “I’m Emily.”

  “Megan.” She held out a gloved hand to help Emily up, and they swapped places. Megan increased the weight, and Emily watched the muscles in her arms work as she raised the bar above her head.

  She was hot, and she was strong, and when Megan caught her staring, Emily blushed and looked away.

  “So how come I haven’t seen you around here before?” Megan asked, reaching for her water bottle. “You new in town?”

  “Pretty new,” Emily answered. “I moved her a few weeks ago. I’ve been here before, usually at night, though.”

  “Not a morning person?”

  “Not really, but this morning I just felt like a change,” she lied, deciding that Megan didn’t need to hear about her real reason for being there. She realized it was the first time she had thought about Camila for a while—maybe coming to the gym had been a good idea after all.

  “Well, I hope it’s a change you keep making,” Megan said, and Emily wondered if she was flirting. “It’d be nice to see you here again.”

  She was about to reply when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She fished it out, prepared to press ignore if it was her sister—Cassie would definitely understand if she saw Megan—but it was Camila.

  “Sorry, it’s my boss,” she said to Megan. “Hello?”

  “Emily, sorry to call you so early, but something’s come up. Can you come over a little earlier this morning? Or pick Jaime up from the office?”

  “Uh, sure,” Emily answered. “I can actually come over right now if you want me to.” She glanced down at her sweaty workout clothes. “Although I’d need to use your shower and maybe borrow some clothes. I’m at the gym,” she added by way of explanation. “I can pick him up from your office, if that’s easier.” She wished she had said that first—what if Stephen was still at Camila’s apartment?

  “No, the apartment is fine. Of course you can use the shower.”

  “Then I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Thank you, Emily.”

  She slipped her phone back in her pocket, unsure if she was prepared to see Camila again so soon.

  “Have to go?” Megan asked.

  Emily nodded. “Unfortunately. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

  “I sure hope so.”

  When Emily reached the door, she turned to see Megan watching her go. Instead of blushing at being caught, Megan winked, and Emily smiled. She walked to the subway with a spring in her step.

  When she got to Camila’s apartment, she was in the kitchen on the phone, hand on her hip. When she saw Emily, she stopped midsentence and stared at her for long moment. Emily wondered if she had imagined Camila’s call and she wasn’t actually supposed to be there, but then Camila blinked and carried on talking like she had never even stopped.

  She hung up a moment later and turned back to Emily. “Sorry to drag you out here so early.”

  “It’s fine, honestly.” Emily shrugged out of her jacket and draped it over the back of a chair, and she could have sworn Camila was staring again. She wondered if maybe she should have kept her jacket on to cover the fact that Emily was just wearing a sports bra under it. Maybe Camila thought that was inappropriate, but it wasn’t like she’d planned this. She felt like she needed to apologize and folded her arms across her stomach to cover herself. “Sorry. I didn’t bring any other clothes with me.”

  “That…” Camila dragged her eyes slowly down Emily’s figure and—wait, was Camila checking her out?

  Was Camila flustered by her lack of clothing?

  Was she dreaming?

  “That’s quite all right.”

  Emily dropped her arms back to her sides, watching Camila swallow as she glanced at Emily’s abs before clearing her throat and looking away.

  “You can use the shower in my bathroom.” Camila recovered quickly, ruining Emily’s fun, and led her down the hall. “I’ll find something for you to wear.”

  Emily braced herself when Camila opened the door to her bedroom, half expecting to find Stephen inside, but the room was empty.

  It was the first time she’d been inside, and it looked exactly like she expected: expensively decorated, spotlessly tidy, framed pictures of Jaime dotted across the walls.

  Her gaze lingered briefly on Camila’s bed as she imagined Camila lying in it, naked, her hands twisted in the white sheets, Emily’s lips on her skin.

  Camila pointed out the bathroom before she disappeared. It was the fanciest shower Emily had ever used. She had no idea what half the buttons did and only dared adjust the water temperature to make it hot enough to ease the ache of her tired muscles.

  She didn’t know what to do with the idea that Camila might be attracted to her—at least to her body. All night she had tried not to think about her because there was no way anything could happen between them—except now she wasn’t so sure.

  But just because Camila was physically attracted to her didn’t mean she wanted to act on it. And all of her reasons for not getting involved were still valid—Camila was her boss, she loved this job, and she loved Jaime, and she didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

  So nothing had changed, not really.

  Except she could be happy about the idea that Camila thought she was hot, at least when she was wearing workout clothes.

  Maybe she should do it more often.

  When she emerged from the shower, wrapped in a fluffy towel, she opened the bathroom door to find a stack of neatly folded clothes.

  The sweatpants (that Camila Evans even owned a pair of sweatpants surprised Emily) were a snug fit and stopped halfway down her calves, but she managed to get them on, and she was reasonably certain she could bend over in them. The sweater was also a little tight, but it beat spending the rest of the day in her sweaty gym clothes.

  She returned to the kitchen where a sleepy Jaime, still in his pajamas, waited for her at the breakfast bar. Camila was almost ready to leave.

  “Sorry about the clothes,” Camila said, her gaze lingering on Emily a little longer than strictly necessary. “It was either those or some of Chris’s clothes. If you prefer, I can get you something of his.”

  “No, these are fine,” Emily assured her. “Would it be okay if I got my sister to swing by with some of my own clothes later, though? I don’t really want to wear these on the subway.”

  “Of course.” Camila laughed. “I’ll let the doorman know you might have a visitor.” She glanced at her watch. “I should really get going.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Oh yes.” She leaned down to kiss Jaime on top of his head. “Just the latest fire to put out. I wish people would think before they tweet. I’ll try not to be too late tonight, but no promises. I’ll see you both later.”

  After Camila left, Emily turned to Jaime.

  “Hey, buddy. You ready to get dressed, or do you want breakfast first?”

  “Food!” he declared, and Emily laughed, lifting him onto a stool at the breakfast bar.

  “What do you want? Should we make pancakes?” She was hungry too, and Camila had always told her to cook anything she wanted. Jaime nodded enthusiastically, and Emily stood with her hands on her hips and studied the multiple cupboards. “Okay, well, help me out here, buddy. Do you know where your mom keeps the mixing bowls?”

  “In there!” He pointed to one of the lower cupboards.

  “Well done, Jaime.” She grabbed one of the large plastic bowls and a f
rying pan from another cupboard. “Now, do you know what goes into pancakes?”

  “No.”

  “No? Your mom never made them for you?”

  “Yeah, but I forget.”

  Emily grinned. “Okay, well, we’ll make the easy kind because I’m a terrible cook, so we just need flour, eggs and milk.” She gathered the ingredients and quickly made up a batter while the pan heated on the stove.

  Pancakes was one of the few things she felt confident enough to cook for Jaime without giving him food poisoning, and before long there was a stack ready to eat. They both dug in.

  “What do you want to do today, little man?” she asked him as he helped her put the dishes in the dishwasher. “You want to go to the park?”

  “Okay!”

  “I’ll have to get some clothes first.” She remembered her current attire. “Let’s get you dressed, then I’ll call my sister. Are you okay with my sister coming over? She’s really nice, I promise.”

  She took him to his room and picked out some clothes, then called Cassie.

  “Hey, Emily.”

  “Hey, Cass. You’re not working until this afternoon, right?”

  “Uh-huh. What’s up?”

  “Will you do me a favor?”

  “Depends what it is and what I get out of it.”

  “I need you to go and pick up some clothes for me and bring them to Camila’s place. And what you get out of it is the chance to see the inside of her apartment.”

  “Sold!” Cassie said immediately. “But why do you need clothes? Oh, my God! Did you stay over last night? Did you sleep with her?”

  “No!” Emily snapped back, then lowered her voice, conscious of Jaime in the room with her, pulling on a pair of black jeans. She lowered her voice. “I did not sleep with her. I was at the gym this morning when she called to ask me to come over early, so I didn’t have time to get a change of clothes.”

  “A likely story.”

  “You are impossible.”

  “And yet you still love me. I’ll bring your clothes, calm down. Anything in particular?”

  “Whatever you grab is fine. Do you need the address?”

  “Nah, I already stalked where she lives. I’ll see you in about half an hour. Oh man, Maia’s going to be so jealous.”

  Chapter 8

  Emily went to the gym again on Sunday morning accompanied by her sister and Maia.

  Her stomach fluttered in a way it hadn’t in a long, long time at the thought that she might run into Megan again. It was nice to think of someone romantically besides Camila, someone she might actually have a shot with.

  After half an hour with no sign of Megan, she decided to check out the weight room.

  “Why would you want to do that?” Maia asked when Emily told them where she was going. “It’s full of dudes who think they know better than you.”

  “No reason.”

  “There’s a reason.” Cassie was onto her immediately. “There’s a definite reason.”

  “No, there’s not.” Emily was a terrible liar.

  “Then we’ll come with you.”

  “What?” Maia protested. “Ew, no. Why would we do that?”

  Cassie ignored her protests and followed Emily down the stairs.

  “You owe me for this, Jones.”

  “I’ll buy you dinner,” Cassie promised.

  Emily glanced around the weight room; Megan was nowhere in sight. She was disappointed but decided to do some reps on one of the machines anyway. Now that she was there, she might as well get something out of it.

  Plus she enjoyed confusing her sister, who seemed to be desperately trying to work out why Emily was there.

  “Oh hey.” She heard a familiar voice behind her, and Emily turned to see Megan. “You came back.”

  “I did.”

  “And you brought friends?” Megan glanced at Cassie and Maia, who were staring openly at Megan. “Was I not a good enough spotter for you?” Megan teased.

  Emily felt her face get hot. “What? N-no, you were great.”

  Cassie covered her face with her hand, and Emily hoped that Megan hadn’t noticed.

  “This is my annoying sister, Cassie, and her girlfriend, Maia. And this is Megan. We met the other day.”

  “Wanna be workout buddies again?” Megan asked, and Emily nodded. She needed to get her away from Cassie as soon as possible, for one thing, and for another, she was definitely not terrible to look at. “Awesome.” Megan’s graced her with a dazzling smile and led her to one of the machines. Emily looked straight ahead, refusing to look back at her sister.

  “Your sister and her girlfriend make a cute couple,” Megan commented as Emily did a bench press.

  “Yeah, they do. I’m glad they found each other.”

  “And what about you?” Megan asked. “You have someone waiting for you at home?”

  “Nope.”

  “Seriously?” She raised an eyebrow. “A girl as cute as you?”

  Emily pressed again, hoping the effort would explain the flush on her face.

  “Why the hell not?”

  “New to town, remember? I haven’t had a chance to meet anyone yet. Well,” she added, “except for girls at the gym who think I’m cute.”

  Megan grinned. “Hey, I just call it like I see it.”

  They traded places, and God, Megan had great arms. It felt good to flirt with a hot girl.

  “I feel like we’re being watched.”

  “Oh, my God.” Emily looked up to see Cassie and Maia lounging on the machine opposite, completely obvious to the fact that they were spying. “I am so sorry.”

  “It’s cool.” Megan laughed. She set the bar down and sat up. “Is there a reason?”

  “Because their only goal in life is to embarrass me in front of attractive women.”

  “You think I’m attractive?”

  “Have you seen you?” Emily asked, her voice rising, and Megan grinned again. “I’m going to tell them to leave.” She marched over to Cassie and Maia. Cassie gripped Emily’s arm.

  “Um, excuse you,” Cassie whispered. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us about the hot woman you met at the gym?”

  “Because I knew this would happen!” Emily hissed. “You two are unbelievable.”

  “We are unbelievable?” Cassie asked. “Us? What about you? How could you hold out on us? Good God, Emily, look at her!”

  Emily instinctively turned her head. Megan was watching them, amused.

  “If you don’t ask her out, I’m going to do it for you.”

  “I was getting there, and then she saw you both staring. Now go away and stop being creepy.”

  “I want every detail as soon as we get home!” Cassie called out as they left, loud enough for Megan to hear. Emily stared after her with daggers in her eyes.

  “Again, sorry,” she said when she was back at Megan’s side.

  “It’s fine. This is the most entertainment I’ve had in ages. And to be honest, if my sister were here, she’d be doing the same. She also enjoys embarrassing me in front of gorgeous women.”

  Emily’s face grew hot for the umpteenth time that day.

  “So, um, do you maybe want to grab a drink one night? See each other outside of a room full of sweaty dudes?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Megan’s eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled.

  “Next Saturday?” Emily suggested.

  Megan pushed her lower lip out. “I have to wait almost a whole week to see you again?”

  “My job is kind of unpredictable. I never know what time I’ll finish, and I wouldn’t want to mess you around if it ended up being late.”

  “Okay, that’s fair,” Megan said. “But what’s wrong with tonight? Or do you already have plans?”

  “I’m supposed to have
dinner with my sister, but believe me, she will be delighted if I cancel on her for this. So tonight is good.”

  “Great,” Megan replied. “Gimme your phone.”

  Emily handed it over. Megan typed in her number and sent herself a message.

  “I’ll text you and we can sort the details.”

  “Sure.”

  “See you later.” Megan kissed Emily’s cheek and walked away.

  Cassie and Maia ambushed her right outside the door.

  “Tell us everything,” Cassie demanded.

  “Well, I have a date tonight…”

  Megan glanced back at the sound of squealing, a smile on her face.

  * * *

  “Are you nervous?” Megan asked later that night, sitting opposite Emily in a booth at the back of a bar. The leather seat was cool on Emily’s bare legs, and she fiddled with the tiny umbrella on the rim of her glass as she decided whether or not to tell the truth.

  “Yes.” There was no point in lying.

  “Why?”

  “Because you make me nervous!”

  “What?” Megan cocked her head. “Why?”

  “Because I haven’t been on a date in ages, and you’re very pretty, and your confidence is a bit intimidating.”

  “Can I tell you something? I’m nervous too.”

  “You are not.”

  “I am! Because this is also my first date in ages, and it’s with a pretty woman who finds me intimidating.”

  “I didn’t say being nervous was a bad thing!” Emily was surprised at how much she was enjoying herself. “Is this really your first date in a while?”

  “Yeah.” Megan stared off into the distance. “I, uh, got out of a relationship not so long ago, and I’m only now getting back into dating. I’m not really looking for anything serious right now—I thought I better say that sooner rather than later in case you are.”

  “Not really.” Emily shrugged. “My last relationship was…well, kind of a mess.” Which was an understatement. “So casual is good. Probably what I need right now.”

  “Then I’m glad we’re in the same place.”

  Emily was too. She wasn’t ready for a relationship, but some casual fun might get her mind off Camila.