Blindsided (Fake Boyfriend 4)

“So, you’re helping Miller get back on his feet?” Amelia asks.

“His leg, actually.”

Amelia laughs as if Talon’s cracked the funniest joke in the world.

“We also need to recondition the rest of him.” He glances at me. “Give him a really hard workout to build up the muscles that have deteriorated since he’s been on his ass for the last four months.”

I narrow my eyes at him. I don’t know whether to be pissed at him for judging me or turned on by his implication. Either my brain’s in the gutter or Talon’s trying to torture me. I’m gonna go with torture, because he’s Talon.

“Did you just call me fat?” I quip.

“Hey, if the shirt fits … or doesn’t, in this case.” He gestures to the muscle tee I normally work out in.

“It’s supposed to be this tight,” I argue.

“Mmhmm.”

Amelia’s still laughing like Talon’s so cute. “Are we ready to add more weights to the leg press today?”

I grunt. “Yeah.”

“Wait,” Talon says, “he was limping before. Is the leg press a good idea?”

For someone who said he was gonna push me hard, he’s certainly singing a different tune suddenly.

“He’s still on light weights, but he needs to start working the leg more,” Amelia says.

“Could that do more damage? Wouldn’t it be better to recondition the rest of his body first and save the leg until last to make sure it’s all healed?”

Amelia smiles. “I promise I know what I’m doing. If you wanted to maybe grab coffee sometime, I can explain the treatment plan in more depth with Miller’s levels of advancement and where he should be at.”

I freeze.

“He has set goals and a timeframe to hit them,” she continues. “I’d be happy to go over all of that with you.”

I bet she would.

I try not to look at Talon, but I can see out of the corner of my eye that he’s trying to gauge a response from me.

“Sounds great, seeing as he hasn’t discussed any of this with me.”

My heart sinks. Did he just accept a date with this woman?

“I’d love to discuss Miller’s program with you.” Amelia’s voice is all breathy. Apparently, she doesn’t give a shit about client confidentiality … wait, is that even a thing with physiotherapists?

“Why don’t you do it right now, seeing as both of you are talking as if I’m not here anyway.” And that comes out super harsh. Great.

“Ignore him,” Talon says. “He’s cranky because I didn’t let him have coffee on the way here.”

“Oh, I understand,” Amelia says. “I’d be cranky without coffee too.”

Yeah. Because coffee is the reason I’m an asshole today. Let’s go with that.

“We can all go to lunch one day to discuss it,” Talon says. “Miller and I are basically inseparable.”

Uh-oh. I know that tone. I know that innuendo.

Does he seriously want to have a threesome with my physiotherapist?

* * *

Talon’s renting an apartment for the off season not far from my mom’s house, and as we walk into the gym in the basement of the building, I tell myself to let the Amelia thing go. My mouth doesn’t listen.

“You can’t be that naïve,” I exclaim.

“She did not ask me on a date.”

“She so did,” I argue. “You’re dating my physiotherapist. And you practically asked her to fuck both of us.”

Talon sighs in exasperation. “She was being polite, and no, I didn’t.”

“She was being unprofessional, and yes, you did!”

Talon’s lips quirk. “Are you jealous?”

“No,” I say too quickly.

“You so are.”

“So what if I am? Aren’t I allowed to be?” My question may come off as rhetorical, but it’s really not.

“No. You’re not allowed to be,” Talon snaps.

“Why not?”

“Why not?” he yells and then glances around the empty gym.

It’s a small private gym, only open to the residents of the building, but anyone could walk in at any minute. “Because I thought we’d already discussed this before the Super Bowl. You’re not dating anyone else, and neither am I. So, I don’t know why you’d assume I’d say yes to a date with you right in front of me.”

My mouth slams shut.

Talon’s smugness is back. Although I have to wonder if it’s just a constant thing bubbling under his skin that he can break out at a moment’s notice.

“I didn’t realize that was the exclusivity talk,” I say quietly.

“Are you dating anyone else?” Talon asks.

“Fuck no. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, it kinda sucks that you think I would.”

“It’s not … that. It’s just … I don’t know. You’re you.”

“Wow. I must be an asshole in your eyes.”

“I’ve never known you to do the exclusive thing. Hell, I slept with all of your college girlfriends with you right there.”

Talon slumps. “Is this going to be an issue with us while we figure this thing out? Or do you want to get it out of the way right now?”

“Get what out of the way?”