“It’s great.” Ray shakes his head, almost in disbelief. “If you would have said that this gym would be doing this well, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“You don’t believe in your own business skills?” I ask.
Ray was a business major in college, not because he didn’t know what else to do (the jock stereotype), but because he was genuinely good at it. He had all sorts of side hustles in college, which allowed him to live in a nice-ass apartment off campus by himself instead of with me or the other guys. Not that he would have lived with us anyway, since he’s also one of the tidiest dudes I know and, well, the rest of us weren’t. It would have been like a grown-ass man and his unruly sons living together.
I don’t think our friendship would have survived if we did live together, and I know I couldn’t have opened this place on my own. I’m basically just the wallet in this situation, but I trust Ray enough to be that hands-off. It’s his dream, after all, and this place is his baby. That’s the best part of my inheritance — I’ve been able to help out the people in my life.
“Nah, it’s just my first official business. I expected to fail.” He shrugs and leans back in his chair again.
Mabel comes trotting in a few moments later and loses her shit when she sees Ray. He’s big enough for her to fit on his lap without crushing him, so she hops up and rests her head on his shoulder.
“Well, not every entrepreneur has to fail the first time.” I move the papers away from Mabel’s rapidly wagging tail.
“Those challenges you set up are helpful, too. People really like them. It’s early, but we should think about doing a big one around New Years’.” He absently rubs Mabel’s back.
“Why don’t you actually join in?” I ask. “They’re fun.”
He shrugs, hardly changing his expression as Mabel sniffs and licks his bald head for a second. “I dunno, man.”
“What, you scared they’ll kick your ass?” I ask.
“No,” he laughs. I can’t imagine him not being in insane shape, even though he only really got into fitness the summer before college to lose weight. He’s so competitive that he’d kick his own ass if it meant winning.
“So, go assert your dominance.” I cross one ankle over my knee.
He pauses for a second. “It’s just that girl I mentioned. The cute Latina chick with the short hair.”
“Oh, Krissy?”
“Yeah. You know how I get.” He nudges Mabel off his lap. “I don’t think I can balance being a respectable business owner and trying to make moves.”
“I can be your wingman.” Despite his confidence, he has next to no game with women if he’s left on his own. It’s embarrassing for everyone involved. He’s even said I’m the only reason he got laid in college.
“Easier said than done without liquor.” He glances at his phone. “Shit, my parents are in town and want to get dinner. I should head home and get changed.”
“Okay. Need me to manage anything?”
“Nah, I think Aaron’s got it under control.”
He stands, and we walk back out to the front to say our goodbyes. Just as Ray walks out, Nadine walks in, digging through her bag for her membership card, unaware of my presence. I’m glad she hasn’t noticed me yet, because I can check her out. She’s in a dark green sports bra and leggings, her cleavage popping out ever so slightly. She notices and tugs on the strap of her bra, mumbling to herself as she reaches farther into her bag.
I slide behind the check-in counter since Aaron’s stepped away.
“You don’t need your card,” I finally speak up. “I can check you in.”
“What?” She looks up, surprised to see me, but not necessarily displeased. “Oh. Um, thanks.”
“No problem.” I type her name into the computer and check her in. “How’s it going?”
“I’m okay. How are you?” She asks, her cheeks coloring.
“Not bad.” Better now that she’s actually talking to me.
“You’re here a lot.”
“I’m the co-owner. And maybe you’re here a lot too if you see me all the time.” I smile, enjoying how much more her face flushes when I do.
She nods, looking down at her feet for a second like she’s deep in thought.
“I like to work out,” she finally says.
“Want to work out with me?” I ask. I’m not sure why I do since my body’s exhausted from yesterday but being with Nadine sounds better than going home and doing nothing. And breaking down her walls sounds infinitely better than awkward post-sex conversation with Jade. My weekend clothes are workout friendly, so I don’t even have to go home to change.
“Oh. Um, what kind of workout?” she asks, her wide brown eyes confused.
“I dunno. Whatever you want to do. Show me what got you so in shape.” I step around the counter.
“It’s nothing crazy. I mean, I’m sure you do a lot more than I do,” she laughs, clutching the strap of her bag. Her smile is more ‘aw, shucks’ than straight-up embarrassed now.
I shrug. “I don’t care. Just show me.”
“Well, okay,” she says with a shrug in response. “Let me put my stuff away.”
I follow her to the locker room area, which has two doors, the men’s to the left and the women’s to the right. Since it’s Sunday evening and we close a couple of hours earlier, it’s not busy at all. I go into the men’s room and splash a little water on my face at the sink. I look fine, aside from the places where I cut myself shaving. I head back outside, where Nadine’s standing with her water bottle, staring off into space.
“I usually start on the stair stepper for twenty minutes,” she explains, pointing toward the cardio area.
“Let’s go, then.” I gesture for her to lead the way and she does.
She picks the machine second from the end and turns on the TV, and I take the one against the wall.
“I kind of hate this part, so I always watch some TV.” She pauses with her hand on the TV remote. “Did you want to talk or anything?”
She looks up at me with a weird mix of hope and terror that almost makes me laugh. Her eyes are so expressive that even if she doesn’t want to reveal how she feels, I can’t help but notice anyway. It’s a double-edged sword. I know she’s always wanted to come across as cool and collected, but that would mean she’d lose that appealing, enthusiastic side of her personality.
“Up to you. I’m just along for the ride.” I adjust the speed of the machine to start slowly.
“Okay.” She pulls two Bluetooth headphones from her bra and pops one into her right ear as she starts to step on the climber.
She punches in a channel number, and a cooking show pops up, then I punch in the same thing. I don’t have my headphones on me, and we’ve made it so you can only listen to the TVs with them.
“You watch this show?” she asks, her eyebrow going up. It’s neatly arched and full, but I can tell she’s not wearing any makeup.
“I have no idea what this is, but I’m following you today.” I glance at the screen before looking back at her, finding her focused on her screen. The stair stepper shows off how nice her ass is in her leggings, and it takes a lot of energy for me to peel my eyes away. “When in Rome.”
“Seriously?” She stares at me, waiting for me to confirm I’m joking, but the confirmation never comes. “Well, fine. Take a headphone.”
She hands me one of the headphones, and I put it in my ear. Tense music blares in my ear immediately, even though someone’s just trying to turn over a piece of meat on a pan. Seriously? How hard could that be? I bite my tongue. I can’t shit all over this show. Nadine would kill me. That would be like walking into someone’s house and complaining about their carpeting.
“What did I say about flipping that steak too soon?” An intimidating woman in a chef’s coat shouts at the person on screen. The guy flipping the meat looks up at her like he’s just been caught stealing.
“What is this?” I ask, keeping my voice even.
“I
t’s a show where people who are terrible cooks learn how to cook,” Nadine replies, speeding up on her machine a little. “If you hate it, you don’t have to watch.”
“It’s fine. It really is. I’m not trying to start shit.” I hold up a hand in a gesture of peace, and she retreats a little. I turn up the speed on my machine too. “But how hard could making a steak be?”
“Have you ever made one?” she asks, a smile in her eyes.
“No, but I can figure it out, I guess.” I turn my attention to the screen again.
“That’s what these people think, and they’re on this show,” she points out. “It’s insane. I don’t understand how they could make it to adulthood and not be able to cook like a box of pasta.”
“You don’t need to know how to cook these days. There’s Seamless and pre-made stuff.” I glance at her speed and match it. “That’s how I’ve been able to survive.”
“You can’t cook? At all?” She looks at me like I’ve just said I think the moon is fake. Not just the landing — the whole damn thing. “Come on, Noah.”
She says it like we’re friends, and it makes me stupidly happy.
“I can make a beautiful cup of ramen noodles and an egg that’ll make you weep.” The same guy who flipped the steak too early drops it on the ground, and the music swells. “With joy, I should add. Not because I’ll burn your house down if I do.”
“That’s it?”
“More or less. I’m a pro with the microwave. I’m pretty much a Michelin star chef.”
“Wowwww,” she draws out the word to make it as dramatic as possible, smiling at herself.
“Wow, you’ve still got some sass in you,” I fire back at her, grinning.
“Still?” She tilts her head to the side, truly confused.
“Yeah. I know I was a prick when we were kids, but you always sassed me back,” I point out.
And it was cute, which is why I poked at her like an idiot.
“I’ve never thought of myself as sassy,” she murmurs, turning her attention back to the TV.
“It’s not a bad thing,” I add.
“Hm,” is all she says to that.
We watch the show in silence for another fifteen minutes, and surprisingly, I learn a lot. First, I learn that I really don’t know shit about cooking, and second, I learn that I don’t even cook eggs correctly.
“Ok, done with the cardio,” Nadine announces, slowing to a stop.
“You don’t want to finish the episode?” I stop too.
“No.” She hops off the machine. “You like this?”
“I’m chastened. I really don’t know how to cook,” I chuckle, stepping off also. Standing on flat ground, I’m significantly taller than her again. “Want to teach me?”
“I don’t know if I have the patience for that,” she says with a teasing snort.
“So, I’m a lost cause?” I ask. Did that come out too flirty?
“Of course not. But I’m not the one to save you from yourself. Google’s a magical thing.” She plucks the headphone she loaned me out of my ear and tucks it back into her bra. I think that’s the closest I’ll ever get to touching her tits again. “Let’s go to the weight area.”
She abruptly turns on her heel and walks past me.
Shit, I was staring at her tits.
I catch up with her at the squat rack, and thankfully, she doesn’t seem to want to rip my face off all the way. But she’s flushed again, and I’m not sure if it’s out of embarrassment or something else. She doesn’t tell me off, though.
“I do squats, deadlifts, and bench press,” she explains, pulling off the weight that someone else had left on there. “I’m just doing some warmups.”
“No problem.”
I watch her position herself under the bar and pause.
“Is everything okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re just looking at me really hard,” she says, adjusting her position.
“Just watching your form,” I explain. “Your lift form, I mean.”
She gives me another skeptical look that makes me grin and does some warm-up squats. I look past her head, so I don’t stare at her ass again. From what I can tell, she really does have solid form.
Once she’s warmed up, she puts weight on the bar, far more than I would have thought she could lift. Not to play into stereotypes, but most women in the gym shy away from lifting heavy weights. She lifts the weight with just enough effort to show me that she isn’t just showing off. I’m impressed.
Too bad that makes the stupid, macho part of my brain want to show off.
I follow her along through the whole workout, lifting at least fifteen pounds heavier than I would do if I were by myself. I’m not exactly killing it, but the thought of taking the weights off is like a kick to my ego’s dick. Even so, I know she knows I’m struggling a little bit. She keeps giving me that look, the incredulous one, with a tiny smile.
Once we’re on the last set, she finally says something.
“Did you feel the need to lift heavier for some reason?” she asks.
I blush like a damn schoolgirl.
“Nah, just wanted to push myself,” I grunt, taking a deep breath before I start my set of bench presses. Jesus, I’m going to fucking die under here.
“Sure,” she says, snorting. “I swear. Every time I’ve worked out with a guy, they feel the need to show off.”
“You work out with guys often?” I ask, and I realize I sound jealous.
“Not often, but when I do…” She gestures toward me, smirking.
“Okay, fine.” I slide out from under the bar. “Maybe I’m being a macho ass.”
“Wow, you’re admitting it?” She giggles. “Growth.”
“Well, you called me out.” I roll my shoulders back, my muscles already tight. “That’s everything?”
“Yep.” She takes a long sip of her water. “Um, thank you for joining me.”
“Yeah, it was a good workout.”
We stand there, uncomfortable silence coming between us again, both of us unsure of what to do. I’m not sure if she wants to keep hanging out or not, but she isn’t leaving, so I’m not sure what she wants.
“Is Mabel here?” she asks.
“Yeah, she’s probably back in Ray’s office sleeping. Want to go see her?”
“Yeah!” Her face lights up.
The gym has mostly cleared out, so no one sees us head back there. Sure enough, the door is cracked, and Mabel’s curled up on her bed in the corner. She lifts her head when we come in and wags her tail. Nadine reaches down, and Mabel makes her way to her feet, stretching her back legs in the process.
“We went to the dog park before we came here,” I say.
“Are you tired, sweetie?” she asks Mabel, scratching under her chin.
She’s bent over, and goddamn, it’s like my eyes and her ass are magnetically drawn to each other. Being in the small office makes it even worse. I sit down on the edge of the desk, perpendicular to the two of them, to give us a little bit more distance.
“She’s so calm,” Nadine says to me. “Was she hard to train?”
“Ehn, not really. I’ve had her since she was a scrawny little puppy, so she’s pretty well socialized.” I watch Nadine sit in the chair I had sat in earlier, and Mabel steps between her legs to get more petting. Mabel’s a sweet dog, but she’s looking at Nadine like she’s in love with her.
“I never would have imagined you having a little puppy.” She cups Mabel’s head in her hands and runs her thumbs along her cheeks.
“I found her in a box with her littermates on the side of the road.” I stare at the plaque on the wall instead of Nadine’s breasts and cross one ankle over my knee. I feel a slight boner coming on, and I’m not sure if I can stop it.
“That’s so sweet of you,” she murmurs, looking up at me. Her eyes are soft, almost in admiration.
“I couldn’t help myself. She was cute as hell and needed someone.”
“
She’s still super cute.”
There’s another break in the conversation, and it starts to wear away at me. It’s not like before when Nadine first came back into town, where the awkwardness and hostility threatened to tear the whole area apart. It’s companionable and only amplifies her presence. My eyes keep coming to rest on her, her messy dark bun, the slight sheen of sweat over her sexy shoulders and chest. She’s relaxed and happy, and all I want to do is get closer to her.
I’m not sure if she would object to it if I did make a move. Last time I made a move — well, we made moves toward each other — we were at my place all those years ago. And to say that ended badly would be the understatement of the century.
“I should probably head out, I guess?” she says, breaking me out of my zoned-out state. She seems unsure. “I don’t want to keep you here if you have stuff to do.”
“No, it’s all good.” I stand up off the desk. “I don’t really have anywhere to be.”
She stands too, sweeping dog hair off her hands. Her chair scoots back and pushes the door closed a little bit more. She clutches her elbows, clearly unsure of what to do with her hands. We stare at each other for another few moments, waiting. I know I’m waiting for an opening, but I’m not sure if she’s waiting for something else.
“When you mentioned that you work out with guys sometimes, did you mean—”
“It wasn’t with a boyfriend or anything,” she interrupts quickly, squeezing her own elbows a little harder. “Is that what you meant?”
I nod slowly. Hell, she brought up the boyfriend thing, so at least we’re on the same wavelength. That emboldens me, and I take a step closer to her. Before I can talk myself out of it, I pull her closer and kiss her.
She doesn’t immediately recoil, so that’s a win, but I can sense a little trepidation. I slide my tongue along her bottom lip, and she relents, leaning up against me. I taste the saltiness of her sweat, which only reminds me of kissing her shoulders as I fucked her all those years ago. I cup the back of her neck and deepen the kiss, sliding my free arm around her.
She rests her hands on my chest, letting me support her with my free arm. She feels just as good as I remember, maybe even better. Her lips are soft and full when I nip them, and she moans a little like she couldn’t help herself. God, that little sound makes the semi-boner I had start to grow into a full one. We’re close enough together that I know she can feel it. She brushes against me purposefully, breaking the kiss a little to nervously giggle.
One Night Flame Page 13