Sweat (Sweetbriar Lake #1)

by Rebecca Jenshak

  They finished filling the cart with items from the list, and Elle thanked him profusely.

  “See ya soon, Elle,” Ryan said, handing her the food list.

  Their fingers brushed at the exchange, causing Elle to jump in reaction and fumble the paper. Every time he touched her, her whole body reacted. She waved awkwardly and swerved her cart to the checkout line, putting some much-needed space between them.

  Lemon meringue, strawberry shortcake, blueberry cobbler. Nope, turns out nothing sounds as delicious as Ryan Calloway.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE NEXT MORNING, Elle showed up at the gym five minutes early with a full face of makeup. She had woken up fifteen minutes earlier than necessary to conceal and contour her face to perfection. And since it didn’t make sense to go to that much effort without also agonizing over her outfit, she’d squeezed herself into her best yoga pants and workout tank top.

  She strutted through the parking lot of Fit Club and said a silent prayer that her efforts of looking the part of a gym enthusiast would somehow make her less clumsy and self-conscious. She was a successful and independent woman. Surely she could pull herself together for an hour workout with her new hot trainer. She couldn’t be that out-of-shape. Could she?

  Her confidence faltered a bit as she spotted Ryan leaning casually against the front desk. His gaze was turned down to the clipboard he held in one hand; the other rested lazily on the front-desk counter. He peeked up and met her eyes, a lopsided smile working its way across his face.

  She ran a hand over her neat ponytail, begging her heart rate to slow down. She had never been so affected by a man’s looks before. She couldn’t put her finger on it. He was gorgeous, yes, built like a damn god, but good-looking men had never made her feel so off-centered before.

  Ryan straightened and stepped away from the desk. His gaze traveled the length of her body from head to toe, then back up again. His easy gait showed no sign that her presence impacted him in the slightest. “Good morning, Elle. Ready to have some fun today?” he asked with a hint of humor in his voice.

  Elle nodded, afraid to speak. She followed him through the gym, watching as every eye turned toward him. Men waved or nodded their head in acknowledgment, and women, old and young alike, let their gazes follow him as he moved. Who could blame them?

  Twenty minutes into the workout, Elle knew she had made a big mistake with the makeup. She wiped a damp hand over her forehead to stop the sweat from streaming into her eyes and said yet another silent prayer that her mascara was waterproof and not running down her face. Ryan had just run her through a warm-up, and her legs were already quivering beneath her weight. He had done the routine with her, yet she was the only one who looked like she’d stepped out of the sauna.

  Ryan handed her a towel as he led her to a quiet corner of the gym. “Now that you’re warm, we’re going to do a circuit workout.” His voice was smooth and glided over her skin the way she would like his fingers to… Oops. Did he just ask a question?

  “Sorry, what?”

  “I was just asking if you were familiar with circuit training?”

  She shook her head and he continued in his ultra-serious trainer voice. “They’re great because they give a full-body workout, and you’ll build muscle and tone while getting in cardio too.”

  She did her best to mop up the sweat on her face and arms as he grabbed a jump rope, a medicine ball, and a mat and placed them in a line before her.

  He pointed to the equipment as he described the circuit. “First station is jumping rope for one minute then squatting with the medicine ball at chest level, pushups, and finally walking lunges.”

  Elle groaned louder than she meant to, eliciting a grin from Ryan.

  Seemingly unfazed by her response, he picked up the jump rope. His biceps flexed with every rotation and his shirt lifted slightly revealing just a hint of his chiseled abs. He demonstrated each one, citing the proper form and where she should focus her attention to make sure she got the most benefit.

  Her breathing hitched as he brought attention to every muscle using his body as a guideline.

  “Ready?”

  His voice brought her back to reality and the chore before her.

  “Y-yes,” her voice wavered, but she picked up the jump rope and took a steadying breath. She had no idea if she could do any of these exercises, but she was determined not to let him see how out of shape she was, even if she killed herself trying.

  “How long have you been in Sweetbriar?”

  She felt the weight of the beaded rope in her hand, trying to remember the last time she’d used one. Grade school? “About six months,” she replied.

  Ryan nodded, indicating she could start. She turned the rope over her head, jumping as it neared the ground. One, two— Holy shit, this sucks. Elle focused all her efforts on not tripping over the rope. By some miracle, she made it through the minute without stopping.

  “What brought you to Sweetbriar?”

  She caught her breath while considering the best way to respond without sounding too pathetic. “Work.” She bit the corner of her lip and moved to the next exercise, hoping to avoid any further inquisition. This line of questioning could only lead to the real reason she was in Sweetbriar. Brock had cheated on her, and she had fled to her mother. That wasn’t exactly something she wanted to get into with the gym god.

  At the thought of Brock and the ball, Elle threw everything she had into the workout. She couldn’t believe it when an hour had passed, and Ryan was raising his hand for a sweaty high five and congratulating her on an awesome effort.

  He grinned at her and scribbled a few notes on his clipboard. “Great job. You survived. How does it feel?”

  She wiped her forehead with the towel, watching the remnants of her foundation bronze the white terrycloth. “I feel great, actually. Like I might collapse at any second, but great,” she said, smiling up at him.

  They walked to Ryan’s office where he continued to compliment her hard work. He seemed genuinely impressed, and she blushed at the attention, thankful her face was too red from exertion to display her discomfort.

  Inside his office, Ryan gave her some more of his printouts filled with solo workouts she could try during the week and a few recommendations for group classes too.

  Elle held on tightly to the banister, her legs shaking uncontrollably, as she descended the stairs. Despite every muscle in her body quivering with exhaustion, she felt the best she had in months and couldn’t wait to do it again. This was why people became fitness addicts.

  As she opened her locker and pulled out her work clothes and toiletries, she looked in the mirror and all good feelings vanished. “Well, there goes that,” she said out loud. Her eyeliner and mascara were streaked down her face, her foundation was blotchy, and even worse, it looked like the makeup and sweat combination was doing a number on her usually clear complexion. Already, a few small, red dots had surfaced.

  “Waterproof mascara is your new best friend,” said a petite brunette girl standing at a locker next to her. She was bare-faced and stunning.

  Elle would have been inclined to hate her if it weren’t for her easy smile and sassy tank that read, Shut Up and Squat!

  Elle laughed nervously. “Thanks, I guess I should have thought of that.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s happened to all of us. I’m Claire by the way,” she said, handing Elle a pack of makeup wipes.

  Elle took one and handed the container back. “Thank you,” she said, scrubbing at her raccoon eyes. “Elle. Nice to meet you.”

  “You were training with Ryan, right?” Claire said with a grin. “I saw him torturing you. It looked rough. Ryan’s the best though.”

  Elle collapsed onto the bench. “My entire body is going to hurt tomorrow, isn’t it?” she asked.

  Claire nodded. “I understand the need for full makeup around him, but trust me, your skin will thank you if you don’t,” she added a warm smile and headed out of the locker room.
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br />   After a heavy hand with the concealer and foundation, Elle made it to work looking the part of a successful and put together lawyer.

  Coffee and oatmeal in hand, she sat down at her desk and started drawing up papers for Maggie’s bakery. With any luck, she could drop the paperwork off this afternoon and fit in a short visit with Maggie. She had found a great little spot to rent downtown, not far from Morgan & Associates.

  When the lunch hour rolled around, she had barely even looked up from her computer when Julia came by, purse in hand.

  “Oh, shoot. I totally spaced. I forgot we were having lunch today. I got all wrapped up in this project,” Elle said, motioning at the computer screen in front of her.

  “Grab your purse and let’s go,” Julia said, clapping her hands above her head. “It’s Taco Wednesday!” Julia’s tone indicated she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Not that Elle had considered saying no. She felt a tiny bit reluctant indulging in tacos instead of the salad she had brought to work, but going out for tacos had become a Wednesday lunchtime tradition. Besides, she had worked out this morning. One small victory at a time.

  The Taco Shop was only a block away from the office, so Elle and Julia headed out on foot in the direction of the small restaurant.

  “So, you met with Ryan? How did it go?” Julia walked quickly, her stiletto boots clicking on the sidewalk.

  Elle wrapped her scarf around her neck, hiding from the wind. “It was good. He’s nice and very professional.”

  The truth was Elle wasn’t sure how to describe Ryan yet. He was a bit of a mystery to her still. Handsome, charming, serious, professional… sexy — God, was he sexy.

  Julia laughed. “Yes, he is both those things, but usually the first thing people say when describing Ryan is gorgeous. The man is a little bit of heaven in this small town,” Julia said, looking up to the sky and placing a hand over her heart. She looked to Elle, apparently for confirmation. “What? You don’t think he’s hot? Come on. I know you’re still all caught up in Brock, but surely you can at least admit another man is eye candy?”

  “Yes, of course he is,” Elle admitted. “It’s just… gorgeous guys like that never seemed worth it to me. They were always the flaky, egotistical ones in high school and college. I’ll take an average-looking guy who doesn’t think the world revolves around him over a super-hot guy any day.”

  Elle’s thoughts drifted to Brock. He was good-looking but nowhere near the same league as Ryan, yet he had done some pretty shitty things to her. She frowned. Maybe her logic was flawed.

  Julia held open the door, and Elle was greeted with a warm blast of air. “Yeah, well, Ryan is super hot, but he’s also a pretty decent guy. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone around town who doesn’t like him.”

  They waited in line and ordered their usual taco bundle, then collected their meal, and headed to a small table in the back where they could watch foot traffic on Main Street.

  Elle cleared her throat and decided to dig for more information. “So, did you already know Ryan, or did you meet him at the club? He’s a good trainer.”

  “Everyone in Sweetbriar knows Ryan. He was sort of a big-shot football player in high school, but I only met him after I joined the gym, and he started training me,” Julia said between bites.

  Elle felt her phone buzz in her coat pocket and pulled it out to find a text. She hid her excitement, focusing on the words and not the sender.

  Ryan: Hey, here’s one of the recipes I mentioned the other night. Let me know what you think.

  Julia nodded toward the phone. “Let me guess. Brock wanting to set up a Skype sex session for later tonight?” She gave a wicked grin and finished off the last bite of a taco.

  “Ha. Ha,” Elle said, shaking her head. “No, actually it was Ryan. He texted me a recipe to try.”

  “What?!” Julia yelled, causing several heads to turn in their direction. “He texts you and sends you recipes?”

  She ducked her head from the unwanted attention. “It’s no big deal. He said he’d send it to me later when he had time.”

  Julia narrowed her gaze, eyeing Elle carefully. “I’ve been a client of Ryan’s for more than six months, and he’s never EVER sent me a text or an email.”

  Elle fidgeted in her chair. She wanted to ask more. How did Ryan treat his other clients? Had Julia dated him? Was Ryan dating his blonde bombshell co-worker? Instead, she went with denial.

  “Trust me. It’s nothing. He’s just trying to help. I’m a bit of a lost cause on the healthy cooking,” Elle said, eyeing her last bite of delicious taco.

  Julia shrugged. “If you say so.”

  AFTER LUNCH, ELLE walked the two blocks to what would soon be Sweetcakes, the home of Maggie’s bakery. The building was a lot like the one Morgan & Associates was housed in with a brick exterior and white awning. Elle found Maggie inside directing several men to place tables and chairs around the front of the store.

  “Wow, you’ve really whipped this place into shape fast,” Elle said as she admired the shop.

  The inside was decorated with quirky odds and ends. The tables and chairs were purple, and the floors were a white tile with a yellow-brick-road motif that led to the display counter. The display counter held several empty cake and cupcake stands in bold colors and prints. No decorations were on the wall yet, but it already felt fun and vibrant.

  “You made it!” Maggie enclosed Elle in a quick hug. “What do you think of the place?” she said as she raised her adorned and jingling bangled arms and gestured at their surroundings.

  Elle turned, getting a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of the space, imagining customers lined out the door. “It’s really great. I love it,” Elle said in amazement.

  Maggie grinned and motioned for Elle to follow her. “Come, try some of the samples,” she said, weaving through the workers still placing items around the store.

  The back of the bakery was filled with boxes, some still taped shut and others laid open with supplies tumbling out. Pans and bowls were strewn about on the counters, and gold and silver trays were filled with bite-size samples.

  Maggie lifted the gold tray. “The Sweetcakes special,” she said, holding the delectable bites up to Elle’s face. “Lemon cake. Try one.”

  Elle placed the lemon-cake bite in her mouth, closing her eyes to savor every crumb. “Oh my God, this is to die for. This is worth the extra calories, all one billion of them.”

  Maggie sat the tray down and grabbed a box then handed it to Elle. “These are for you. More samples.” She grinned as Elle looked at the carton wide-eyed. “I thought maybe you could take them to the office or give some to your friends, anyone you can think of. I’m going to stand out front today and tomorrow with handouts.”

  Elle took the box, solemnly promising herself that she would not eat another. Today. At least today. “Thanks. That’s a great idea. If you have cards, I’ll hand those out, too.”

  Maggie’s jewelry sparkled in the sunlight as she moved around to a small desk and gathered a handful of business cards. “Y’all are so nice here. I just love Sweetbriar,” she said as she offered over the cards.

  Elle smiled, realizing she’d been mistaken for a local. “The State inspector will be here in three days,” she said, holding up three fingers, “and then we can finish up the bakery license. Call me if you have any questions.”

  “You’re a lifesaver. Thank you for everything.” Maggie caught Elle off guard with another big hug.

  Yep, Maggie was going to fit right in here among the tight-knit, in-your-face community. Elle had been hugged more in the past six months by near strangers than the rest of her twenty-seven years combined.

  Elle stopped back by the office to drop off the cake samples so she wouldn’t be tempted to polish off the container on her drive home. Clive’s door was closed, and Julia was nowhere in sight, so she packed up her office and then went to the kitchen to leave the cake and a few business cards.

  “Whatever you have smells delicious.�
� A small voice came from the corner.

  Elle opened the box and offered it to Amanda. “Try one. You won’t be sorry,” she said, smiling as Amanda’s eyes lit up with excitement.

  “Oh my gosh, these are divine,” Amanda said, nibbling a small corner of the sample she’d picked up. “Where did you get them?”

  Elle pointed in what she hoped was the direction of Sweetcakes. “New client opening a bakery a couple of blocks over.”

  “Is she going to be open before the ball? I’d love to see if she can put together some desserts for the event,” Amanda asked, setting her sample down half-eaten.

  She glared at the cake, willing Amanda to eat it before she snatched it up for herself.

  “I’m sure she’d be happy to have the business. Here. Take one.” Elle handed Amanda a card, her eyes still laser-focused on the half-eaten confection.

  Amanda smiled, looking over the card. “Thanks, I’ll do that.”

  Forcing herself from the smell of lemony goodness, Elle floated out of the office on a sugar high. It felt great to have spent her day helping someone make their dreams come true. Now it was time to work on her own dreams.

  She pulled into Fit Club with the after-work crowd and snuck up the stairs to the group exercise room. She relaxed a bit when she noticed Claire waiting outside the room, wearing another one of her cheeky tank tops. This one read, Will Sweat for Tacos.

  Claire waved her over as the room opened and women began filtering inside. Elle closed the distance between them, thankful for a familiar face, and they entered the class together. Ryan had insisted that she’d like the instructor and had assured her that barre was popular among “girls like you.” She had fully anticipated walking into a room of soccer moms, or frumpy twenty-somethings who smelled of fake tanner and dry shampoo, but it turned out Ryan was right. This looked like her people — or her people with a lot more fitness aptitude.