Unwrapping Holly

I blushed, even though it was just the two of us. “Thanks.”

When it came to friends, Jocelyn was one of the better ones. Cute, funny, level-headed… and tough. New York tough. The kind of tough I learned all about when I moved out here two years ago, from my sheltered little town in Southern Texas.

“Treat it like a date,” Jocelyn advised. “You haven’t had one in a really long time. A good one, anyway.”

“You don’t think that would be unprofessional?”

“Do you really care?” Jocelyn smirked.

I thought about it for a second. “I care about losing him as a client.”

She waved me away dismissively with one hand. “Shop with him. Flirt with him. Enjoy yourself for a change. If he flirts back, you know the drill. And if not?” She shrugged. “He’s gay.”

I laughed so hard I almost spit my coffee. “He’s not gay!”

Jocelyn threw me her most seductive wink. “Then go have fun with him.”

Three

HOLLY

“C’mon, three more reps!”

I pushed hard, through the pain, feeling the burn in my thighs as the platform above me moved smoothly up and down. I always loved the leg press machine. The sheer amount of weight on each side made you feel like you could put up really big numbers.

“Two more…”

Except today, when I was doing it for the first time in months.

“Another two…”

“Hey!” I grunted. “You said that last rep!”

“Yeah, well you half-assed that one,” Donovan barked. “I don’t accept half-reps. If you followed through you’d be done by now.”

I reached down into my core and pushed, shoving the weights away and finishing out my set. My perfectly-sculpted trainer engaged the locking clamp just as my legs went limp.

“There you go,” he smirked back at me. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

I gave Donovan my dirtiest playful look. “No. It was absolutely perfect.”

“Perfection is when I can bounce a quarter off your ass,” he shot back. His look went stern. “But you already know what I’m going to say next, don’t you?”

“Yeah yeah,” I acknowledged. “It wouldn’t hurt this bad if I came on a regular basis.”

He nodded as he threw me my towel. “Damn straight.”

I mopped my forehead as I looked Donovan up and down. As always he was flawless, from his square jaw and handsomely stubbled chin right down to his powerful biceps and rock-hard abs.

Jesus, did his arms get bigger?

It was the first time I’d actually seen him since my breakup. The first time I could really drink him in without feeling guilty, as if I were doing something wrong. Our playful banter was something I looked forward to during our sessions. It was cute and funny, and it also kept me in line.

“Fitness is like a relationship,” he finally winked. “You can’t cheat and expect it to work.”

In reality I wasn’t cheating. I’d been coming the last few weeks, I’d just been avoiding him.

“You avoiding me, Holly?” he squinted.