She started to laugh all over again, and I turned around to see Gumby rubbing up against her chest, doing what I wanted to do.
I popped the top on the can, and Gumby left her like he’d never been getting scratches.
He arrowed to me, darting over my cast-iron skillet on the stove to stop directly in front of me, letting me know just how impatiently he was waiting.
“I know, I know,” I told him as he meowed in my face, placing his paws up on my shoulder so that he could reach my face, then rub his head along my chin.
“I think that he either really likes that food or likes you. I’m not sure which,” Fran teased.
I winked at her. “Most likely, it’s the food. And the fact that I’m giving it to him. I’m just sayin’.”
She waited patiently for me to finish up, then grinned when she saw my massive bag of shit that I picked up, like always.
“One of these days, I need a CrossFit bag. Make it official and all that jazz,” she told me teasingly.
I frowned, then held up a finger before moving into my bedroom.
“I ordered one of these, and it came with this tiny little baby bag that would never fit all of my shit,” I said. “I tossed it in the bottom of my closet.”
Hurrying toward my room, I found the bright pink bag that had been in my closet for I didn’t know how long.
Snatching it up, I walked back into the living room to find her once again petting the cat. The cat that had snarfed down his food like he didn’t get fed four times a damn day.
I rolled my eyes, then held the pink bag out to her.
“Wow.” She paused. “When you said tiny, I was expecting like a miniature version of yours. This is a full-size backpack.”
“A full-size backpack that doesn’t fit shit in it,” I agreed. “It’s yours if you want it.”
She hugged it close and grinned. “I’ll cherish it. And put the grips that you discarded in there.”
I rolled my eyes and held the door open for her to exit. Once she did, I waited to see what Gumby wanted to do, only to already see him heading for my bedroom. Which meant he’d sleep on my fuckin’ pillow.
Closing the door and shutting him inside, I locked it, then set the alarm using my phone.
When I turned around, it was to find Fran already leaning into the car and pulling out the grips I’d given her yesterday.
They were too big for her.
They were practically brand new.
But I’d wanted her to have them.
She didn’t need to know that I’d literally just bought them and had probably only worn them a handful of times.
She was doing me a favor by driving me around, anyway.
Not that she would’ve taken them had I told her that they were new.
So I’d fibbed a little bit.
“Works great,” she teased. “Now, I need to go get one of those pink jump ropes that are in the ads I’m seeing all over social media.”
I snorted. “Isn’t it fuckin’ weird that you think about something, and all of a sudden it’s in your news feed? I mean, literally, last night, I was thinking about how I needed to buy some new chalk for the gym. Fast-forward to this morning, and that’s all I’m seeing in almost all of my ads.”
“Last night, I told my sister that I wanted some new CrossFit shoes. This morning, I’m seeing some Superwoman ones, and I’m buying them.”
I snickered at her words.
“That’s the way of it.” I rolled my eyes and opened her car door for her.
The passenger side.
Turns out, Fran really hated to drive.
As in, she detested it.
Something I’d found out when she offered me the keys to her vehicle nine times out of ten when we were driving around.
Which was fuckin’ hilarious seeing as she ran errands for a living, which made her drive around town a lot.
“I’ve heard a lot about those. But you won’t get any of them. They sold out within the first day, I think,” I said as I backed out of the driveway and started heading for the gym.
Her car sputtered and coughed, and I said, “When I get mine back, we’re doing an ol’ switcheroo. Yours is going in, and then I’ll let you drive mine around while doing shit.”
Her eyes sparkled as she said, “That sounds like a mess.”
“Sounds like I owe you one,” I told her. “And this car sounds like it’s going to break down any second.”
She started to snicker. “It might.”
I looked over at her and winked.
When we got to the gym, it was to find Maria already waiting for us.
“I fuckin’ hate her,” I muttered underneath my breath, trying to keep it low enough that Fran wouldn’t hear.
But she did hear.
And she was snickering as we both got out of her car.
“I never thought I’d see you in a run-down ‘piece of shit’ like that, T,” Maria chided me.
I felt my eye twitch at the sound of her voice.
Maria and I had gotten married young. As in, she was seventeen with her parents’ permission, and I was eighteen. I went into the Army, and she went to college. We were together throughout all of that, and happy. But I now knew the reason we were happy was because we were separated from each other.
She was off at a university in Kentucky, and I was stationed in Louisiana until I was sent overseas. Then I was deployed.
When I finally got back home and spent some real time with Maria, I realized that I didn’t really like her all that much as a person.
Yet, I stuck with her anyway because shortly after we arrived back home with each other, she got pregnant. Only she miscarried. Which fuckin’ sucked.
However, we both dealt with that miscarriage differently.
Me by becoming a little more introverted and her by becoming a party animal that never could hear the word ‘no’ without throwing a fit.
When I started working as a detective, it was long hours, and it ended up being another blessing in disguise for me.
Sadly, that only made our marriage last just a little bit longer than it really should have.
By the time that I finally realized enough was enough, almost twenty years had passed.
Now, I was a thirty-six-year-old man that had just started his life over.
A thirty-six-year-old man who hated his ex-wife’s guts.
Even worse, I hated that she gave Fran shit, because I was really starting to like Fran.
A whole fuckin’ lot.
And as each day passed, I realized what I was missing with Maria.
A connection.
There was no spark with her. There was no desire to be around her as a person, or talk to her, or even wonder what she was thinking.
With Fran, I was constantly thinking about her. Worried about her. Wondering what she was doing or thinking. Hell, I wanted her badly, and I’d only known her for a short period of time. But somehow, I knew that if we ever became a couple, she wouldn’t go far without me by her side.
“A car is a car when you don’t have your own wheels,” Fran declared as she stopped between Maria and me.
I didn’t miss the glower that Maria sent Fran’s way for obstructing her view of me.
Nor did I miss Fran’s triumphant smile when she got let in the door first due to where she was positioned.
I didn’t feel even an iota bad that I let the door fall behind me instead of holding it for Maria.
Mostly because I needed to rush in the door and turn the alarm off.
At least, that was what I told myself.
Maria strode past where Fran had paused right inside the door, still in the glow of the outer light that only clicked on from five in the morning until seven in the evening.
It was only when I had the lights blazing that she came out of that uncomfortable stillness near the door.
Something that she did each and every morning.
I knew without a doubt that she was afraid of the dark.
Most did.
“Ew, assault bike and back squats?” Maria’s annoying voice cried.
Fran came up to my side and stopped within touching distance.
“I really freakin’ hate agreeing with anything she says.” Fran leaned in to whisper in my ear, causing my dick to harden in the sweatpants that I was wearing. “But those two sound awful.”
I placed my palm on her hand and pulled her just a little bit closer.
“You’ll live,” I teased.
And she did.
With three calories on the assault bike left to go in the workout, I stood next to Fran and practically hollered in her ear.
“Push!” I crowed.
“I’m giving it all I’ve got, Captain,” Fran wheezed.
I snickered as she pushed herself just a little bit harder.
Which happened to be just enough to get off the bike a second faster than Maria.
I swear to God, I saw utter glee in her eyes as she looked at the clock.
“Fuckin’ cheater,” Maria grumbled.
“No cheating here, ma’am.” Fran laughed. “Look. It’s actually at twenty-six calories and not twenty-five now.”
Maria rolled her eyes and went to the friend she’d urged to come today.
Fran came to me.
She grinned at me widely and then said, “If I don’t have a great ass after that workout, I’ll be asking for a refund on my membership.”
I burst out laughing.
Turns out, she didn’t need the workout to get a great ass. Because she already freakin’ had one.
CHAPTER 9
For a good time, call Fran.
-21-15-9
(CrossFit Girl Workout)
FRAN
Six weeks later
It was fitting that we were ending the bootcamp by doing a regular class. And that we were ending it with the workout called ‘Fran.’
Everyone groaned, seasoned and unseasoned members alike, when Taos turned the board around for everyone to see today’s WOD.
“Today’s workout. Twenty-one, fifteen, nine of pull-ups and thrusters,” Taos announced.
I looked at the board. Twenty-one pull-ups was doable. Twenty-one thrusters at ninety-five pounds. Fifteen pull-ups, fifteen thrusters. Nine pull-ups, nine thrusters. All as fast as you could possibly do it.
That sounded… truly awful.
I couldn’t think of a worse combination.
Pull-ups I’d finally gotten about three weeks after Taos had helped me initially. Now, though I could do them, I was very slow at them. And they came one at a time. Slowly.
“Hey, Fran,” one of the other bootcampers called. “If you don’t win this, you’ll have to change your name.”
Maria, who had joined the bootcamp class, again, despite being a ‘seasoned’ CrossFitter, snorted.
I wanted to turn around and stare her in the eyes and tell her that I was going to fuckin’ dominate her.
Most likely, I wouldn’t.
Most likely, just like everything else, we’d be close, but she would win.
Mostly because she’d done all these movements before and didn’t really need to be in the beginners’ bootcamp here.
She needed to be in a regular class.
However, being in a regular class meant that she couldn’t see Taos teach.
Which happened to be why quite a few of the seasoned CrossFit athletes dropped into these times. Because, apparently, Taos was a legend.
He was also a very good coach, athlete, and person. And I had a major crush on the man that only got worse as the days went on.
My body was electrified every single time we got into close contact. And swear to God. If he offered to have me, I would practically fall at his feet.
“Fran will rock this one. They are two movements that she’s very good at now,” Taos said firmly, completely dismissing Maria’s snort.
“Hell yeah, she will,” I heard someone say behind me. I wasn’t sure of his name, seeing as I was now in a stare down with Maria. “You should’ve seen her rock that last thruster workout.”
I had rocked that one. But only because it was a light weight, and I’d always been very good at squats.
Or anything that had squats in the workout.
“I’ll do my best,” I promised.
And it was a promise to Maria.
Mostly because she’d started to cheat lately to win, and it was really chapping my ass.
“We’re going to go in waves, because this is such an intense workout. You’ll have a partner that’ll count for you.” Taos echoed my earlier thoughts.
Maria’s eyes went hard as she looked away, her eyes searching for someone in the class that she knew that would lie for her.
There wasn’t anyone that would. Mostly because there were only five in the early class this morning since it was a holiday.
Funny enough, I got paired up with Taos, as Maria got paired up with an ex-Marine that was about seventy years old, didn’t give a single fuck who he pissed off with his words, and would sure the fuck make sure she didn’t cheat.
My eyes were gleaming as I turned to Taos.
He caught one look at my face and turned around before he started laughing, drawing the board closer to us as he did.
We warmed up.
We did Fran.
And we died.
I didn’t even care what place I got once I was done.
I only cared about the fact that I was currently dying, my lungs weren’t working correctly, and Taos was leaning over me looking at me with his pretty eyes.
“You okay?”
I had a feeling he had asked that multiple times.
I swallowed. “Yes.”
I felt a baby slap me in the face and turned just in time to have Vlad plant an open-mouth kiss on mine.
I quickly closed my mouth so that drool wouldn’t get into mine, and then endured it as Vlad rubbed his gummy mouth on me until he pulled back with a smile.
“I can’t even do Fran that fast,” Mavis whispered with reverence.
I didn’t know what my time was.
All I knew was that I was dead.
My lungs were screaming.
“Fran lung,” I heard someone say.
I must’ve said that aloud because they answered me like I had.
Eventually, the entire class finished, and I had four other people surrounding me on the ground, all of us breathing heavy.
Even poor Maria who, after I recovered slightly, I realized hadn’t been anywhere near me on time.
I kept that smile hidden away.
Taos and I talked and talked, right into the next class.
I held on to Vlad while I watched my sister work out, but Vlad didn’t want anything to do with me.
He was all about Taos.
Taos held him, didn’t care when Vlad pulled his beard, and ultimately only forced himself even deeper into my heart until I knew that I was in love with him.
I wanted him. Badly.
And I had a feeling that he wanted me, too.
“How do you feel about a couple’s competition?” he asked, looking at me with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
I frowned. “What?”
“Couple’s competition. Two people, girl and boy, compete among about fifty other gyms in the area,” he explained.
I frowned. “But Taos, I don’t have half the moves that would be required to do that yet.”
He shrugged. “Either partner is allowed to shoulder however much of the workout they want as long as both partners complete fifty percent of the load. For instance, if we were doing double-unders—which you have—and bar muscle-ups, you would just do all of the double-unders, leaving me with all of the muscle-ups.”
I was already shaking my head, but inside I was excited as hell that he’d asked me.
“I…” I paused.
“I’ll do it with you.” Maria sauntered up, her breasts practically falling
out of the shirt that she was wearing.
I moved until I was closer to Taos, practically touching him, and placed one hand on his chest to get his attention once again focused on me.
“I’ll do it under one condition,” I said.
“What?” he asked, his breath fanning across my face.
I leaned up until my lips were practically pressed against Taos’ ear—and oh, God, did he smell good—and said, “You promise to never, ever, never think that you did something wrong there. She was the one who left you. More’s the pity. She gave away something that was beautiful and didn’t even realize it at the time. Now, it’s too late.”
He pulled back, a look of happiness in his eyes. “You don’t even know the half of it.”
I shrugged. “I know enough to know that she was stupid. She let you get away.”
CHAPTER 10
Don’t rush me. I’m waiting for the last minute.
-Coffee Cup
TAOS
The next day, it was storming.
In fact, it was storming so badly that nobody in their right mind would be out in it.
However, I owned a gym, and we had a class scheduled that I again had been conned in to teaching. It wasn’t like I could just decide to stay home because the weather was bad, but no one had shown up for the five am class and it wasn’t looking good for the six am class.
In fact, they called for the storm to turn into ice by midmorning, and that was a pretty big deal seeing as it hadn’t snowed or iced in Paris in about seven years.
We were in a weird spot in Texas.
See, the north part of Texas got it all the time. But with us being more mid-Texas, the possibility of it getting cold enough here was something that didn’t happen all that often. Hence the reason for no snow in seven years.
Why did I know that it was seven years? Because that was all Fran had talked about last night during the workout.
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