Стейси Кестуик - Wet

I nodded my agreement and sipped from the cold bottle, looking down the path to the beach. Not much going on down there either. Most of the younger crowd was either still asleep or hung over from the night before. Only the families with small children and the retirees were out this early.

Theo leaned his elbows on the bar. “Up to anything exciting this week?”

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Not really. I still don’t know many people around here other than Rue, and she travels for work a lot.” Rue helped companies manage their online presence, mostly through social media, but she sometimes helped design websites too. This week, she was in Chicago, consulting with a new gourmet popcorn company.

Really, it was sad. I’d been here for five-and-a-half months and barely knew anybody. Of course, I had spent the winter wallowing in self pity and doughnuts, until my dwindling savings account forced me to reevaluate my hermit-like tendencies and seek actual employment. True, I had been a wedding photographer in Nashville, but capturing a bunch of lovesick fools promising each other forever wasn’t real high on my to do list these days, and it took awhile to build up a client base with photography. With my lifeguarding background, and Rue’s connections to the manager at the Edge, she’d managed to hook me up with a job. It was enough to keep me busy and put some money back in my pocket while I figured out my next move.

“Want to hit the gym with me tomorrow morning?” Theo offered. “I had a client cancel his training session, so I have an opening. No charge, and it’ll get you out of the house for awhile.”

“You’re a trainer?” I was surprised. Theo’s logoed t-shirt was snug enough on his frame for me to recognize he worked out, but I didn’t realize he took it so seriously.

He looked wounded. “Yes. Is that so hard to believe?”

“No. Well, maybe.” I squinted at him. “You’re just so nice.”

“You can be nice and still get good results. But I can do mean too, if that’s how you like it.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“What time?” I asked, giggling at his face.

“Seven.”

“Seven?”

“I’ll even take you to breakfast afterwards, my treat.”

“Can we get Krispy Kreme?” I brightened.

He looked confused, like the two couldn’t possibly go together. “Doughnuts? After a workout?”

“What’s the point of burning all those calories if you can’t indulge a little?”

“We’ll get doughnuts if you don’t wimp out during the session,” he countered.

“Deal.”

The next morning, I dressed carefully for my workout. Compression leggings to show off my legs, a new shockingly bright pink sports tank, and my hair pulled back in a perky ponytail. You could always count on cute guys being at the gym, Theo included. It wouldn’t hurt to look my best. I even swiped on some waterproof mascara before walking out the door.

Theo was on the treadmill when I walked in, and he raised his eyebrows as he looked me up and down. “You here to look pretty or break a sweat?”

“Can’t I do both?”

“We’ll see, I guess,” he said. He looked like he was regretting the invite, but I could hang with the best of them. He’d figure that out soon enough.

He stepped off the treadmill and used the bottom of his damp top to wipe the sweat off his brow. I got a quick peek at his abs. Better than I expected. He dropped his shirt and caught me looking, grinning at me.

After filling up my water bottle at the water fountain and grabbing a towel, I was ready. We started with a one mile jog on the treadmill to warm up, and then he had me do a series of twisting lunges using the Bosu ball. Moving on to upper body, I swung a small kettle ball until my arms felt like jelly. I kept trying to glance around at the other guys in the free weight area, but Theo kept us on the mats in front of the mirrors on the other side of the gym. We’d run through several of the leg machines, and I suffered through squats holding a barbell on quads that were ready to collapse. I turned toward the mirror again, trying to check out the guy using the captain’s chair.

Theo snapped his fingers in my face, jerking my attention back to him. “Sadie! What is going on with you? Yes, you look hot. Yes, the other guys are looking at your butt as you squat. Happy, now?”

I flushed and stared straight ahead while I finished out my set, focusing on my form while he watched me. We switched to crunches on the decline bench until my abs screamed for surrender. Finally, he took mercy on me, and I sat on the mats, stretching out my legs and moaning.

We didn’t talk much until we were settled at a table at Krispy Kreme, with hot coffees in hand and a small box of warm, freshly made doughnuts between us. Theo tilted back in his chair, studying me. “So,” he said. “What was all that about at the gym?”

I looked at him, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

He shot me a pointed look. “You were acting like you’ve never seen a guy flex before. You were practically drooling at one point.”

Okay, I thought I had been a little more subtle than that. “It wasn’t that bad,” I protested.

His lips quirked. “If you say so.”

I studied the steam rising from my latte and chewed my lip, and Theo folded his arms across his chest, waiting me out. “I’m just not doing well in the guy department,” I admitted.

He let the legs of his chair drop back down and chuckled. “I find it hard to believe you’re having trouble attracting a guy.”

I picked up a doughnut and nibbled, the glaze melting against my tongue. Heaven . Stalling, I watched Theo devour a doughnut in three bites, trying to decide if I wanted to discuss the details of my stagnant love life.

“Oh God!” he groaned in ecstasy, his mouth full. “These are amazing.” He grabbed another one and inhaled it while I tried not to laugh. He took a swallow of coffee, picked up a third doughnut and dipped his chin down. “You know you want to tell me. You’re a girl. You’re dying to talk about it.”

I made a face at him. “Fine. But if I tell you, you can’t make fun of me.”

“Promise.” He put one hand over his heart and held up the other like a Boy Scout.

I sighed and gave him the condensed version of what happened with Asshole and my strike-out with Jared. “And then, to top it off, as I was doing the walk of shame, I ran into this guy West again, who clearly had a better night than me and—”

“Wait. West?” Theo interrupted me, raising his eyebrows. “West Montgomery? Are you the girl who attacked him on the beach?”

I felt my cheeks warm. “I did not attack him,” I said through gritted teeth. “I was trying to save him. And how do you know about that?”

“I was surfing with him earlier that morning. When he came in to grab breakfast, he was talking shit about some girl launching herself at him in the water, and that he had to drag her back out. Said it was a shame he didn’t get a chance to do mouth-to-mouth.”

I didn’t think it was possible to turn any redder. “Right,” I mumbled, trying not to picture West’s lips fused to mine, sharing the same breath. “So, anyway, my luck with guys has turned to crap. I think something’s wrong with me.”

Theo shook his head. “There’s something wrong with everyone. You’re fine.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s wrong with you?”

His eyes turned sad, and he didn’t answer right away, fiddling with his doughnut. “I let the right girl get away,” he said, almost sounding embarrassed. “I was too chickenshit to make a move, and by the time I was ready to, she was already with somebody else. I missed my shot.”