by Amy Johnson
“Huh?” was all she could manage. He handed the ice pack off to Stacy and positioned himself in front of her taking a seat on the desk.
“Mrs. Malone?” He tried again. The man was so big she had to tilt her head up further to see his face. Tilting her head hurt like hell, so she instead had a conversation with his crotch.
“Uh huh.”
“My name is Tom Stratton. I own the gym. It seems as though you suffered an injury during your aerobics class. You apparently got knocked in the head with a weight and now you have a nasty bump on your forehead.” That would explain the ice, Megan thought. “We were just discussing calling an ambulance. I would feel a lot better if you had a doctor check you out.”
“Oh no, I’m fine. I just need a minute or so to get my bearings together,” she told his crotch.
He sighed. “Stacy and I are going to take you to the emergency room. We need to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”
“I don’t have a concussion. I wasn’t knocked out. I fell asleep.”
He raised one brow and the corners of his mouth tipped up. “During aerobics?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that kind of unusual?”
“No. I’m Narcoleptic. I can sleep anywhere. You know driving, scuba diving, mowing the grass, aerobics.”
Tom looked at Stacy and then back at Megan. They were both trying to hide their amusement and be sympathetic. “Mrs. Malone, it’s company policy that you be seen and it would really, really ease my mind if you were.” He paused and placed his hand on her knee. Her skin prickled with goose bumps and she tried to contract her pelvic muscles. Please God no more embarrassing moments. Not a repeat of Sergio.
“It’s not necessary.” She swung her legs down from the desk, knocking his telephone off in the process. She stood on wobbly legs and struggled to balance herself. “I’m fine. See?” Just as the last word came from her mouth, her legs gave out and she flailed her arms to try to keep from falling again. In one swift move he had his arms around her waist preventing the fall. She hung there motionless.
“You’re going to the hospital,” he said, and before she could open her mouth to protest he hurled her up into his arms and started to the door.
“No, wait. I feel like I’m going to…”
“It’s okay Mrs. Malone. Just relax.”
“No you don’t understand. I think I’m going to…”
“Megan, shut up. He’s right. You’re going to the hospital,” Stacy interrupted.
“But…” was all she could get out before the cheesecake she had eaten earlier forced its way out of her mouth and onto Tom’s chest and Stacy’s hair. “I think I’m gonna throw up,” she finished.
After Tom and Stacy had cleaned themselves up and retrieved Megan from the chair once again, Tom carried Megan to his truck. “I can walk,” she argued but Tom ignored her and, once there, buckled her in.
“I want to ride with Stacy,” she protested. She was too embarrassed to ride with Tom. She’d knocked herself out at his gym, talked to his crotch, and barfed up an entire strawberry cheesecake on him. Humiliation was not a strong enough word to describe how she felt.
“No!” Stacy snapped. “I don’t have passenger side air bags and I don’t want puke in my car.”
“Air bags?”
“Yeah, you’re an accident waiting to happen. So go happen with him. I’ll meet you there.”
“Stace?” Megan said to Stacy’s already departing back.
Tom patted her knee. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to rape or murder you. I’m just going to get you to the hospital.”
“I’d prefer the rape and murder,” Megan said and closed her eyes.
The drive to the hospital was quiet. Tom hadn’t said one word about her barfing on him, nor had he been rude or demeaning. He just cleaned himself up and treated her with the same careful concern he had before she got sick all over his shirt. He was probably afraid she’d sue the skin tight spandex off his butt.
She rolled her head towards the driver’s side to take a better look at him. His profile was mesmerizing; strong jaw line, straight nose, almond shaped brown eyes. And those lips. Those full, full lips. She lowered her gaze to his bare muscular arms and the way his chest filled out his tank top. He was physical perfection. I bet he’s passionate, she thought, and her mind wandered to how it would feel to have those eyes undressing her, those round lips on hers, those muscular arms caressing her… Her gaze found its way to his crotch and her mouth went dry. ‘Stop it!’ She told herself. She glanced underneath her bottom in the seat.
“Did you lose something?” Tom inquired.
“No, I was seeing if you had a towel covering the seat?” If he thought that was weird, he didn’t let his face show it. “What for?” was all he said.
“You don’t want to know,” Megan answered, and rode the rest of the way squeezing her knees together and praying silent prayers.
After what seemed like an eternity at the hospital the doctor confirmed that she had not suffered a concussion but she needed to take it easy the rest of the day. He wrote her a prescription for pain killers and Stacy drove her home. Stacy, being Stacy, was sweet enough to not bring up the whole ordeal. Stacy just walked her inside the house, fed the dogs and Spot, and left Megan on the couch with the remote control and cordless telephone. “Call me if you need anything,” she told Megan before she left.
Megan now sat on the couch rotating the hospital ice pack to various sore joints and her injury. If she had the energy she’d run to the store and buy enough ice to fill her entire bathtub because every bone, muscle, and joint in her body was on fire. Even her eyelashes hurt. And she barely made it past the warm up!
Spot stared at her from his bowl with an amused look on his face.
“Don’t start with me or you’ll be kitty food,” she told the fish.
Her telephone rang and she reached to answer it moaning at the fire that shot through her joints. The caller was her mother. Her day went from bad to worse.
“Are you okay?” her mother asked, her voice thick with concern.
“Fine, why?”
“Well, Mildred’s daughter Kelly works out at some gym and she said that you were hit in the face with a weight bench and had to be carried out of the gym on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital.”
“She exaggerates.”
“So it’s true?” She yelled for Megan’s father so she could tell him the news. “Why didn’t you call your father and me? And why were you riding around town with a strange man? Were you going to the gym to impress this guy? Are you having an affair?” Megan imagined her mother clutching a rosary to her chest. “You know God frowns on adultery. What will people think? We’ll have to move to another town and …”
“Mom!” Megan interrupted. “I wasn’t riding around with a strange man. And I’m not having an affair.”
“But Carol and Sandy were out walking their dogs when they saw you in a big green truck with a man with a pony tail. And why on earth would a man want a pony tail anyways…”
“Mom! He wasn’t a strange man. He owns the gym and he was just taking me to the hospital.”
“You shouldn’t lie to your mother, Megan. Kelly said you went to the hospital on a stretcher. And you know better than to ride with strangers. You could’ve been raped and thrown in a ditch.”
“I asked him to rape and murder me. The idea didn’t appeal to him.” Mom should be in Hail Mary mode by now.
“Megan? Are you taking drugs? Do you want me to make you an appointment for therapy? I’m going to call father Edmond to pray…”
“Mom, I have to go. There’s a bus speeding by.” She hit the off button on the phone before her mother could respond.
The phone rang again almost instantly. Figuring it to be her mother she let the answering machine pick it up. It was Adele informing Megan she wasn’t invited to any more of her aerobics classes. “Oh Damn,” Megan thought, like she was heartbroken over that. She should have Adele br
ought up on attempted murder charges because the woman had obviously tried to kill her this morning with the warm up exercises. The real workout was just to make sure she finished her off.
But Tom. Now he was something else entirely. Sweet, sexy, patient, and gorgeous as hell, but modest about it. Even covered in strawberry puke he was still a magnificent sight. She would have to send him an “I’m sorry I dented your weight with my head and puked all over your luscious body” card. Did Hallmark make a card like that? She’d have to check. That was her last thought before dozing off into a dreamless, dead sleep.
Chapter FourMegan awoke to the doorbell and put her pillow over her head. It was probably her mother with Father Edmond and the entire prayer team from church. They were probably here to exercise the demons that were obviously possessing her and making her do such horrible things like riding around with gorgeous, strange men and carrying squishy panties in her purse.
The doorbell rang again.
Megan sighed, stretched, and began trying to think up her best lie. Dealing with her mother wasn’t going to easy. She would probably go to hell for lying to her mother. And for committing adultery. Sort of. By the end of the week if her luck continued she’d probably have broken all 10 commandments and God would send the Grim Reaper himself to collect her butt and drag her to hell.
The damn doorbell rang again.
“I’m coming!” she yelled impatiently. “Hang on dammit!”
Megan hauled herself off of the couch and to the foyer. Pushing the curtain aside on the window she looked out, her heart almost stopped beating. It was Tom. He was standing there looking delicious in jeans and a t-shirt with his gym’s logo on the front. His thick black hair hung loose on his shoulders. He looked like a little like Antonio Banderas and a lot like trouble.
Megan immediately began fluffing her hair and straightening her clothes. Satisfied that she looked like hell and had no time to do anything about it she opened the door.
“Hello Mr. Stratton,” she said.
“Mrs. Malone.”
“You can call me Megan.”
“Okay, Megan. How are you feeling?” He was still standing on the porch and her manners finally kicked in so she gestured for him to come inside. He entered and she closed the door behind him.
“I’m fine. You didn’t have to come all this way to check on me.” He held up a small white bag with an RX symbol on it.
“I wanted to. Plus I have your prescription from the hospital.” He paused. “May I take a seat?”
“Oh, of course,” She gestured him to the couch where he handed her the bag. “Oh, Tom, you didn’t have to do this. I appreciate it but it wasn’t necessary. What do I owe you for this?”
“Nothing. You were injured at my gym. It’s the least I can do.” When she opened her mouth to protest he waved her off and said, “I’ll also make sure the hospital bill is paid for and you have a lifetime membership at the gym for free.”
“Tom, I have insurance that’ll cover the bill and I won’t be returning to the gym.”
He frowned and she continued, “I don’t think I’m an exercise kind of person. Plus I’ve sort of been uninvited.”
“By Stacy?”
“Adele.” His frown returned. He was even sexy when he frowned, God help her. “She called and left a message that I was not invited to her classes anymore. I don’t blame her. I screwed up her class and made a fool of myself. Even if she hadn’t called I’d be too embarrassed to go back.”
“Don’t worry about Adele. I’ll take care of her. She has no right to treat you like that.” Megan waved her hand in the air to dismiss the Adele issue. The last thing she needed right now was that woman pissed off at her. Adele would probably hunt her down and make her do pushups until her eyes bulged. She rubbed her eyes at the thought. Tom patted her knee and looked at her with concerned eyes.
“Is your head hurting?” he asked.
“Yeah, a little.” She retrieved the ice pack from the table and held it to her head.
Her head did hurt but the ice wasn’t for that. The ice was to cool her off from the heat that was burning through her from Tom’s hand on her knee. Putting the ice pack directly on her crotch would probably be a telltale sign that he was making her hot so she just held it to her head and tried ignore her stirring hormones.
Tom removed the medication from the bag and popped off the lid. “Maybe you should take one of these. It should dull the pain.” He handed her a pill.
“Thank You.”
“Where’s your kitchen?” She looked at him, her expression blank. “Water. I’ll get you a glass of water.”
“Oh, through that door.” Tom went to get the water and Megan watched his perfect backside leave the room. When she was sure he was gone she applied the ice pack to her crotch hoping to extinguish the burn there. He re-entered the room with a glass and sat down beside her, handing her the water.
“Thank you,” she said after she swallowed the pill. He reached for the ice pack in her lap and lifted it back to her head. She stilled herself at his touch and their eyes met. Her heart was leaping out of her chest and she had to remind herself to breathe. She jerked her gaze over to Spot, who was watching with a sneer. Thank God he couldn’t talk because he’d probably call her mother and tattle on Meg. Her Mom would probably try to have her fitted for a chastity belt.
“Megan?” Tom’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and back to his gaze.
They stayed looking at each other for a full minute, neither speaking, his hand still holding the ice pack to her head. He finally spoke. “Have you eaten?” She shook her head. “It said on the bottle not to take these on an empty stomach. We need to get some food in you.” Great, so she could puke on him again.
“I was just going to throw together a salad,” she lied. She was really going to devour another cheesecake or something chocolate. Anything but salad.
“Why don’t you lie down and I’ll make you a salad. What do you want on it?”
Oh, how about whip cream and you shirtless and…
“Oh, that’s okay. I’ve already taken up enough of your time…”
“Nonsense,” he interrupted. “Now just relax and let me feed you.”
“I’ll help. Or at least keep you company and show you where everything is.” She stood and started to the kitchen. He fell into step behind her, placing his hand on the small of her back as if he was trying to steady her. Just friendly contact she told her hormones. Nothing to get excited about.
He went to the sink to wash his hands while Megan dug around in the refrigerator pulling out vegetables. He found the knife and cutting board in the dish drainer and began rummaging through the cupboards. He caught Megan watching him.
“Vegetable drainer?” he asked and she retrieved it for him and watched as he began putting the veggies in it. He had such masculine hands, yet he seemed to move so gracefully in her kitchen. He moved the bowl to the sink, turned on the water, and reached for the sprayer.
“NO!” Megan shouted just as he pushed the trigger on the sprayer that had been broken for over two years. Tom jumped back at her shriek while the sprayer shot around in the sink like a tornado drenching everything in its path with water. “It’s broken,” she said. “The lever thingy sticks and it gets water all over everything.” Including Tom in his tight shirt which now was stuck to his bulging chest outlining every hard muscle and curve.
“I see that.” He flipped the water lever off and offered her a dish towel to dry her face with.
“I’m so sorry, Tom. First I puke on you and then this. If you were sane you’d get out of here quick before something else drastic happens.”
“This isn’t drastic, Megan.” He closed the space between them. “It’ll dry. Can I use your dryer?”
She nodded, too embarrassed to speak. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, giving her an erotic view of his chiseled chest, now glistening from the water. Megan took a step back and applied the ice pack to her crotch.
Tom grinned and held up his shirt.
“The dryer. Right.” She led him into the pantry where he tossed his shirt in the dryer and hit start. He then went back to the kitchen and began preparing the vegetables.
Megan stood in the pantry contemplating the possibility of drowning herself in the washer. Convinced that her thighs were too big to fit in there she rejoined him in the kitchen and sat down at the table casually letting the icepack find its way back to her crotch. Good Lord, she was losing it.
“…I wish I could change your mind about the gym,” he was saying. “I’d love to see you come back.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But I think I’ll stick to exercising at home where I can’t make a complete ass out of myself.” She closed her eyes as she remembered how stupid she probably looked when she knocked herself out. Gyms didn’t have video cameras did they? If she saw herself on, ‘World’s Most Bone-head Videos’ someday she’d have to drive her car off a cliff.
“It was just one of those things. Nothing major.” Yeah right! “It’s really Adele’s fault. If she’d taught you correctly none of this would have ever happened. All you need is a good teacher.”
“No, what I need is a miracle.” He frowned, set the knife on the counter, and joined her at the table. He took her hand in his and rubbed it gently. “I’m a mess,” she said.
“Tell you what. You come back to the gym and I’ll train you personally.” She shook her head but he continued. “You can drench me with water or puke on me whenever you please.”
“You’re sweet, but you heard Stacy; I’m an accident waiting to happen.”
“So, I’ll wear a hard hat and up my insurance policy.” She smiled and he added, “And I’ll wear a cup.” The thought of him in a hard hat made her dizzy. Or maybe it was his lack of shirt. Or the pain pills. Probably all of the above.
“Okay,” she said finally. She’d tell him ‘no’ later, when she could do it on the phone.
He smiled. “That’s my girl.” He removed his hand and went back to preparing the salad.