Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Our very own Bobcats bungle up the first game of the AHL season. Scott, we’ll see if it was just first-night jitters or if this is a trend that continues. Their new trade, Elijah Sager, did put on a good show but made some mistakes that—” The TV clicked off. Was there a power outage? All the lights were still on…
“Don’t torture yourself with local news. Unless there’s a live car chase being broadcast, it’s not worth it.”
I nearly stumbled from hearing Gabe’s voice. I gripped the handrails and lowered the speed, narrowly avoiding being launched by the treadmill and turned into a human cannonball.
That would have been really embarrassing. And painful.
But mostly embarrassing.
“I didn’t even hear you come in.”
Gabe smiled, his icy blue eyes half-covered by an all-white Bobcats cap. He had a shadow of dark scruff growing in around his jaw. “I’ve been told I have quiet footsteps.”
Funny, because dream-you has extremely loud orgasms.
…Does the real you have the same?
Damn it. Where was a spray bottle filled with ice-cold water when you needed it?
“I’ll get you a collar with a bell to put around your neck for Christmas,” I teased.
Gabe didn’t seem to find that funny. He huffed and walked past me toward a bench. This room was smaller than the weight room. There were a dozen treadmills, some ellipticals, a few StairMasters, and a couple of other random pieces of equipment that were mostly overflow from the weight room.
Great. I was already annoying him.
I checked the time. I still had another thirty minutes left for cardio, but I wanted to wrap it up. The less time I was alone with Gabe, the better. I didn’t want to continue making a fool of myself.
I brought the treadmill to a slow stop. There was a mirror that stretched most of the length of the wall in front of me. A sweat mark formed on my chest, darkening the white T-shirt. I ran a hand through the waves in my hair and fluffed it up a bit like a preening bird. Gabe sat on the edge of the bench, but he wasn’t working out. He leaned slightly forward and had his eyes locked on mine through the reflection. A muscle in his perfectly angled jaw twitched. His nostrils flared, and his head cocked, but his stare didn’t break. It wasn’t an analytical stare or an aggressive stare, but it did make me uncomfortable.
Only because I could feel myself start getting hard.
“Alright, I’m out,” I said, waving goodbye.
“Hold up.”
I stopped and turned on a heel.
“Can you spot me?” He smiled at me.
I arched a brow. He only had two forty-five plates on the bar. “You can’t bench-press that?”
“My shoulder gives out sometimes.”
“Really?”
“Happened once. Back in high school.”
“That’s not sometimes.”
“It’s one time. That’s enough. Now, come and spot me.” He lay down and reached up for the bar as if I’d given him an answer.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bench, moving to stand behind it. This was ridiculous. I could lie down and have him bench-press my entire body weight, and I doubt he’d even break a sweat. Still, for some reason, I decided to entertain him. Not like I had much else to do today.
“Ready?” I asked, avoiding Gabe’s direct eye contact. This position, with him on his back and his face so close to my dick, definitely did things to me. Things I didn’t want happening to me right now. It didn’t help that Gabe looked extra attractive. His cap was low, his light blue Under Armour shirt fit tight around his muscles, and his five-inch-inseam shorts were thin and bunching up around his crotch so that his meaty thighs were on full display.
Gabe pushed up on the bar. I ghosted my fingers underneath the center of the steel bar, but—as I had assumed—Gabe had absolutely zero trouble benching the weight. He finished his set and smiled up at me. “Thanks, buddy. Your turn.”
I ignored the tickle in my core. Gabe slid off the bench and swapped places with me.
Now I was the one lying down, looking up at a cocky and annoyingly handsome man. He licked his full lips. The warm lights above him made his skin glow, traced shadows along the veins that went up his big biceps.
I sucked in a breath, as if preparing myself for the light weight, and inadvertently got a whiff of Gabe.
And wow, did he smell good. It was an odd thought that I’d parse out later with a therapist, but I wanted to slide myself up and bury my face between his thick and hairy legs, drowning myself in his scent and having him squeeze me with his thighs until I passed out.
My dick pulsed. I closed my eyes.
“Want me to drop them down to tens?” Gabe asked, knowing damn well I could do double this weight, just like him. This wasn’t a real workout to him. This was a game.