‘Nice try, sweetheart.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘What horrors do you have planned?’
‘You’ll see.’ He was determined that by the time she left the island she’d feel fitter, healthier and more empowered than she had when she’d arrived.
She harrumphed and slouched over her muesli, but her gaze wandered out towards the light gleaming on the water and it made her lips lift and her eyes dance. Being here—taking a break—had already been good for her.
But he wanted her to have fun too. A workout this morning followed by play this afternoon. That seemed like a decent balance.
* * *
‘You want us to what?’
An hour later Audra stared at him with such undisguised horror it was all he could do not to laugh. If he laughed, though, it’d rile her and he didn’t want her riled. Unless it was the only way to win her cooperation.
‘I want us to jog the length of the beach.’
Her mouth opened and closed. ‘But...why? How can this be fun?’
‘Exercise improves my mood.’ It always had. As a teenager it’d also been a way to exorcise his demons. Now it just helped to keep him fit and strong. He liked feeling fit and strong.
He waited for her to make some crack about being in favour of anything that improved his mood. Instead she planted her hands on her hips and stared at him. She wore a silky caftan thing over her swimsuit and the action made it ride higher on her thighs. He tried not to notice.
‘Your mood has been fine since you’ve been here. Apart from your foul temper when you first arrived.’
‘You mean when the police had me in handcuffs?’
She nodded.
‘I’d like to see how silver-tongued you’d be in that situation!’
She smirked and he realised she’d got the rise out of him that she’d wanted, and he silently cursed himself. He fell for it every single time.
‘But apart from that blip your mood has been fine.’
She was right. It had been. Which was strange because he’d been an absolute bear in Nice. He’d been a bear since the accident.
He shook that thought off. ‘And we want to keep it that way.’
‘But—’ she gestured ‘—that has to be nearly a mile.’
‘Yep.’ He stared at her downturned mouth, imagined again that mongrel Farquhar shoving her in a cupboard, and wanted to smash something. He didn’t want to bully her. If she really hated the idea... ‘Is there any medical reason why you shouldn’t run?’
She eyed him over the top of her sunglasses. ‘No. You?’
‘None. Running ten miles is out of the question, but one mile at a gentle pace will be fine.’ He’d checked with his doctors.
‘I haven’t run since I was a kid. I work in an office...sit behind a desk all day. I’m not sure I can run that far.’
He realised then that her resistance came from a sense of inadequacy.
‘I mean, even banged up you’re probably super fit and—’
‘We’ll take it slow. And if you can’t jog all the way, we’ll walk the last part of it.’
‘And you won’t get grumpy at me for holding you back?’
‘I promise.’
‘No snark?’
He snorted. ‘I’m not promising that.’
That spark flashed in her eyes again. ‘Slow, you said?’
‘Slow,’ he promised.
She hauled in a breath. ‘Well, here goes nothing...’
He started them slowly as promised. It felt good to be running again, even if it was at half his usual pace. Audra started a bit awkwardly, a trifle stiffly, as if the action were unfamiliar, but within two minutes she’d found a steady rhythm and he couldn’t help but admire her poise and balance.
That damn ponytail, though, threatened his balance every time he glanced her way, bobbing with a cheeky nonchalance that made things inside him clench up...made him lose his tempo and stray from his course and have to check himself and readjust his line.
At the five-minute mark she was covered in a fine sheen of perspiration, and he suddenly flashed to a forbidden image of what she might look like during an athletic session of lovemaking. He stumbled and broke out into a cold sweat.
Audra seemed to lose her rhythm then too. Her elbows came in tight at her sides...she started to grimace...
And then her hands lifted to her breasts and he nearly fell over. She pulled to a halt and he did too. He glanced at her hands. She reefed them back to her sides and shot him a dark glare. ‘Look, you didn’t warn me that this is what we’d be doing before we hit the beach.’
Because he hadn’t wanted her sniping at him the entire time they descended the hill.
‘But they created exercise gear for a reason, you know? If I’m going to jog I need to wear a sports bra.’