And my ass does look great, if I do say so myself.
But eventually, Kaede’s ready too, and we head out. “So, who’s the new trainer?” I ask as we climb into the car. “He good?”
“She came recommended by the head strength coach at Ohio State. His quote to me was ‘Jessica’s a hardcore bitch who’ll spout sunshine and blow rainbows while making everyone work their asses off until they beg for mercy,’ so I think she’ll fit in well. I’ve already set up a session for you with her for next week.”
“Gee, thanks,” I tease, looking forward to it.
We get to One Life, and things are looking good. The early morning crowd on the floor knows me on sight now, and a few of the regulars toss me friendly waves. Kaede talks to a few of them, especially Karen, a fierce grandma type who never misses a day, and Gus, a new dad who showed me approximately four hundred and twelve baby pictures the first time I met him.
The strongman area’s almost deserted, and we get started with the new logs. They’re not real logs but metal canisters complete with handles for our hands and posts on the sides to add additional weight.
Of course, Kaede does for his, putting on an extra fifty pounds on each side, while I’m perfectly happy with my empty log.
“How is it?” Kaede asks. “Light enough?”
“For me? It’s work, but yeah, I can handle it.” I look at his loaded log, frowning in jest. “So when are you going to stop messing around with the kiddie weight?”
He grabs me, scooping me up into his arms. “I guess I could just carry you,” he muses, dropping into a squat and thrusting up to stand again.
I whoop and hold on tight to his neck, laughing at his silliness.
“Mmm, not bad. You can be my workout.” He takes a couple of steps forward and then acts like he’s stumbling from my weight. He lets me sink to the floor, keeping me pressed against him. “Whew, I’m toast. You might be more than I can handle.” He gives me that sexy smirk that says he knows damn well that he can handle me with ease, and I am not talking about my weight.
“Don’t you forget it, honey.” I pat his chest and he laughs, popping me on the ass as I strut back over to my log.
The jokes, the teasing, the utter comfort with each other are another sign of our growing relationship. We’re secure in each other, in our love, in our future, and most importantly, in ourselves.
Seeing myself through Kaede’s eyes has helped me learn that I don’t have to be so armored all the time to be taken seriously, and he gives me a place to be safely vulnerable. And he’s learned that the difference between him and people like Ross and me was only in his mind, a matter of perception, not reality. If anything, his upbringing gave him a significant gift, a core of strength and resilience that many others don’t possess.
He grabs his log too, lifting it easily though it weighs more than double what I do, and begins his presses. I hold my log but don’t squat, just watching him instead. He is so damn sexy, all hard ridges of muscles but not too bulky, and when he works, the veins in his arms start popping and he gets covered with a fine sheen of sweat. Sexy . . . and mine.
I’m glad I’ve got clean panties in my gym bag. Because every workout with Kaede leaves me soaked with more than sweat.
I do eventually get to my reps, which Kaede watches with open desire, returning my ogling and leering looks. But between us, it feels like foreplay. It’s fun and sexy, playing with these strange, awkward devices as we work together.
Logs are followed by flipping tires, which is much harder for me, but Kaede coaches me through calmly, encouraging me and pointing out where I can improve.
“What’s next?” I gasp, sweat trickling down my chest to disappear into my top between my boobs. Kaede’s eyes follow, and I laugh. “Tonight, honey. I promise you.”
“Well, how about you grab a drink while I get the last movement of today set up?” Kaede asks. “The new toys are still against the wall.”
I wipe my face with my towel and nod, walking over to the fountain.
“Hey, Court,” Ross says, right by my ear. I jump in surprise, nearly bumping my head on the wall. He chuckles as I stand up, wiping my lips with the back of my hand.
“Hey . . . thought you had a doctor’s appointment.”
“We do. But it turned into this whole thing.” Ross rolls his eyes and points over to where Vi, Mom, and Dad are standing by the entrance, waving.
Dad’s looking around the gym in admiration, even though I know he’s been by quite a few times. He, more than anyone, knows what Ross has built here, and he’s proud of him. They’re doing better now too, talking more like business equals, though I think Dad still bites his tongue some, knowing that Ross will have to learn some lessons the hard way. But there’s no secrets between them anymore, and Ross doesn’t have that same need to prove himself to Dad. I think now he just wants to prove himself to himself.
I’m doing better with that too. Doing my best for me and no one else and trusting that it’ll be enough.
“Mom and Dad wanted to tag along,” Ross says quietly. He’s smiling, but his lips aren’t moving, like he’s afraid Mom will read them from across the room. “I think Mom plans on sneaking in for the ultrasound to get a peek of the baby’s gender.”
“If she does, it’ll be her death certificate. I think Archie and Vi’s mom would kill her where she stands if she ruins the reveal party.” I talk the same way, a habit created from Dad’s fancy dinner parties when we were kids and had to behave around all the adults in cocktail dresses and tuxedos in our living room.
“Archie, death for sure. Vi’s mom and Nana? Probably an ancient curse. Like that the baby spits up on her every time she holds him or can’t say Granny and decides to call her Ninny or something awful and embarrassing.”
I laugh. “It’d serve her right. Need me to run interference for you?”
Ross smiles. “Thanks. Dad’s on it.”
Suddenly, music starts playing loudly, bass bumping and thumping through the gym like the studio doors are wide open. “What’s that? There’s no class this morning.”
Yeah, I have the schedule memorized, a hazard of living with the owner and the gym being my second home. Or third? I do spend a lot of time here, but I’m at work for eight hours a day. Either way, I have it all down pat—gym classes, trash truck pickups at Kaede’s, work campaign deadlines . . . all in my computer brain.
Ross looks at Kaede, a question in his eyes too. Kaede holds his hand up “I got it. Don’t want you to be late.”
Ross gives Kaede a chin lift of appreciation, and we walk over to join Mom, Dad, and Violet. “Mom, you are not going in the ultrasound room.” It never hurts to give Dad a little backup. “It would be the actual start of World War Three between Vi’s family and you. And they’d have Archie on their team. Did I tell you what he suggested when I declared war on Kaede?” I shudder, even though I haven’t eaten shrimp since that day.
“I know, Courtney. I just want to go in for support,” she says blandly. I don’t believe her. Not a bit. Dad nods silently, telling me that he’s got this. I hope for Mom’s sake, he’s right.
“I’m so excited!” Vi nearly squeals, rubbing her belly. She’s definitely showing now, but on that edge where people think she might’ve had a bloat-inducing, gassy lunch or she might be pregnant. She’s taken to wearing slim-fit cotton dresses that hug her bump to show it off and make it clearer. As if announcing it within moments of meeting someone isn’t enough.
She tells us all about the measurements the doctor is going to take today, and I get lost somewhere around what the femur length means in the big scheme of things.
“Think Kaede’s okay?” I ask Ross, noticing that the bumping music is still really loud.
“Let’s go see. Once I have this munchkin, I’m going to be ready to shake with you some to lose the baby weight.” Violet never took Stacylynne’s class before she was pregnant, and I seriously doubt that she’s going to after either, but I love Stacylynne and will take
any opportunity to get another newbie addicted to her class.
We walk down the hall, and sure enough, the doors are propped open with weights, letting the music blast into the rest of the gym. Through the glass wall, I can see Stacylynne holding court on stage with a whole class of members doing one of my favorite salsa songs. Kaede is standing by the front, talking to Stacylynne, who’s got her hand over the microphone and waving at the crowd to keep going.
“Has she lost her mind? There’s not a class this morning.” Just in case, I check my mental schedule again, but nope, I’m not wrong. As if there were a chance of that.
Ross shrugs and leads me into the room.
“That’s it, people. Front, together, back, together,” Stacylynne cues then claps and does a helicopter move with one hand, flight attendant style, and the whole room turns its back on us. She runs down into the crowd, air smacking people on the ass as she goes. “Seduce me with your hips, chicas!”
Kaede looks at Ross with ‘what the fuck?’ in his eyes, and with a huff, he follows Stacylynne into the middle of the crowd, still trying to talk to her as she blows him off.
The music shifts into a sexy bachata and the group follows suit.
Ooh, I love this song.
I sing along in my head with Prince Royce . . . yeah, I know who it is.
And bachata. It’s so sexy, like Dirty Dancing grinding but with class and style.
The crowd shifts, doing a complicated U-turn move that used to confuse the hell out of me and always leave me facing the wrong way. But . . .
Kaede does it with ease.
Oh, my God! Kaede is dancing!
He steps to the right three times, bumping his hip, and then to the left with another bump. His eyes are locked on me, and that sexy smirk is stretching across his face.
He holds his hand out, calling to me with a wave of his finger. I shake my head, utterly confused by what is happening.
Someone shoves me from behind . . . Ross? Vi? Dad? And I find myself walking toward him. After a few steps, the music flows through me and I find the inner goddess Stacylynne talks about and my walk becomes sexy steps in time with the music. I bachata my way toward Kaede, and he takes my hand, his other going around my waist.
“How did you . . . ? When did you . . . ? You can dance!” I say, laughing in delight. But I accidentally step on Kaede’s toe and he cringes. “I can’t follow a lead. It’s different from dancing by myself.”
Kaede shrugs and keeps leading me back and forth. The crowd of people circles us, and Violet takes out her phone, recording us.
It’s madness. It’s crazy. It’s weird and wild.
None of these are things anyone would say about me. Or Kaede. We are rigid, structured, organized, cold, and detail-oriented to the point of obsession.
But somehow, here we are, dancing in the middle of a crowd, in the middle of a Zumba class, in the middle of the morning.
“I love you, Courtney,” Kaede says, but when I go to say it back, he disappears from my arms.
He collapses to the floor, holding his leg. “Ow, shit. I think I twisted my knee. This is why I don’t dance.” Kaede is wincing, tears threatening at the corners of his eyes.
I drop down beside him, lightly touching over his skin even though I don’t know what I’m looking for. It’s not like there are bones sticking out, and that’s the extent of my medical knowledge. If you can see your insides on the outside, that’s bad. “Are you okay? Do you need an ice pack?”
Stacylynne stops the music, and everyone watches, shocked to see tough guy Kaede down. We don’t want anyone to get hurt at One Life, but especially not our leaders.
“No, don’t need an ice pack. I’ve already got my Ice Queen.” Kaede’s voice has dropped from pained to low and sultry. I look up from his leg to his eyes.
Why is doing that bedroom voice in front of all these people when he knows it drives me crazy?
“And she melts for me and only me.”
Kaede moves to get up, and I stand to help pull him to his feet. But he stops halfway, the injured knee bent and the good one on the floor.
“Kaede? Can you get up?” I ask, pulling at his arm. “Do we need to call 9-1-1?”
“Courtney.” I blink, stopping what I’m doing and looking at him.
He’s smiling. Not that sexy smirk, not the teasing grin, but outright smiling like he’s the happiest man in the whole wide world. Confused, I look around.
Mom’s crying with Dad’s arm wrapped around her shoulders. Ross has one hand on Vi’s neck and one on her belly, where she’s laying her hands over his like they’re feeling the baby kick. Abi and Archie have their arms around each other.
Wait. Why are Abi and Archie here?
And Donna McWarren?
She’s here too, smiling and wiping at her eyes.
AJ is in the back of the crowd, with Kayla on his shoulders so she can see. She’s hanging on to his hair like the rat in Ratatouille, and he’s gripping her thighs to keep her stable but mostly looks like he’s never going to let her go.
Something’s up.
I know. I have this brilliant mind that can see ten steps ahead, usually, but right now, I’m at least ten steps behind.
“Kaede?” I whisper, not wanting to get my hopes up just yet.
“Courtney, honey. I love you. You are my rock, the strength I never knew was possible, the fire in my soul. You make me a better man. I can’t promise you a perfect life, but I promise to let you put as many pillows on the couch and bed as you want, feed you bacon mac n’ cheese and sprinkle cupcakes when you’ve had a hard day, and never forget an anniversary. I want to plan our lives together, live them out in color-coded, organized joy, and at predetermined times, forget everything and do spontaneous, crazy things together because sometimes, they work out in the best possible ways. You are not the Yin to my Yang. You’re the Yang to my Yang.” He shakes his head and chuckles. “That sounded better on paper. Ignore that part.”
I nod, tears rushing down my face and over my smile.
“I will do everything to make your days happy, your nights beautiful, and your life amazing. Courtney Andrews, will you be my wife?”
He holds up the ring. My ring. That I left on the nightstand this morning because we were coming to work out and I didn’t want to mess it up. I knew I would have it back one day, but I didn’t know it would be today. But this is the best kind of surprise, one only Kaede could give me.
I nod, not able to speak, and Kaede slips the ring on my finger. For real this time. People start clapping until a voice calls out over the noise, “It’s not official until she says the word.”
Abi, of course.
Lifting my chin, I look to the ceiling and open my mouth. “YES!”
The yell echoes off the walls, and the applause swells as Kaede lifts me in his arms, kissing me tenderly. When he sets me down, I feel people clapping us both on the back, and I turn to hug Mom and Dad, Violet and Ross, and everyone else.
“How did you know to be here?” I ask. My brain is swimming in happy, bubbly champagne and I couldn’t add one and one if my life depended on it.
“Kaede arranged everything. He’s been working on that dance for weeks,” Mom tells me proudly. “And he set up this whole flash mob thing. Abigail had to explain that to me because mobbing you didn’t sound like a good plan to me.” I laugh at Mom’s joke, even though she’s not kidding. She’s not exactly YouTube savvy.
Stacylynne nods. “He’s . . . got a different flow. That’s for sure. But he worked hard to get it right.” Her nice way of saying Kaede can’t dance. But I don’t care. I’m not all that great either, so we’re perfect together.
We are.
Perfect together.
I notice Violet rubbing her belly again and realize, “Oh, don’t be late for your appointment.”
Ross shakes his head and looks at Kaede. “I know everyone thinks she’s the brainiac of the family, but is she really this dense?”
Kaede laughs, putti
ng a hand on my shoulder. “Court, there was no doctor’s appointment. It was all part of my master plan to get you here on a weekday, which was damn near Mission Impossible itself.”
Ross laughs. “Well, there was a doctor appointment, but it was two days ago. And Mom was not invited. And I’ve got the B-shift today, be here open to close so you two can sneak off to celebrate since you’re already playing hooky from work.”
Oh. Oh! He really did think of everything, orchestrate it all, and pull it off. That is the sweetest, sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.
What can I say? A man with a plan does it for me.
Dad laughs. “Priorities, Court. Some days, it’s work. Some days, it’s not. It can’t be all work and no play.” He kisses Mom on the temple and she smiles up at him, completely in love. That’s what I want . . . years and years of knowing each other, growing together, and loving through whatever life throws at us. And I know I can have that with Kaede.
I can’t wait.
Once upon a time, both Kaede and I were solidly locked into the all work, no play camp. But I’m learning there’s a lot more to life than campaigns and corner offices. Kaede taught me that.
Chapter 31
Kaede
“Thank you so much for inviting me, Ms. McWarren,” Courtney says, more nervous than she’s been in a while. It’s funny. It’s not like this is the first dinner we’ve had here.
But it is the first since the proposal. I think Courtney is afraid my mom is going to grill her on taking care of her baby boy. I assured her that Mom is probably just happy to pass that torch on to someone else . . . anyone else.
Please, take him!
Court didn’t believe that a bit. I don’t either, but I figured exaggerating a bit would be forgiven because Mom is awesome and does take good care of me. And I return the favor, taking care of her.
My Big Fat Fake Engagement Page 36