She laughs and tosses her head back. “I think he had to go to urgent care for his arm.”
I laugh. “I didn’t hit him that hard. Shit.”
“He said he’d be here.”
I lower my leg and fix my ponytail. “He has a water aerobics class starting pretty soon, doesn’t he?”
Morgan smiles. “In a bit, with the women’s class.”
I put my hands on my hips. “I can’t believe they let him in.”
She pulls her hair into a ponytail and looks at me. “I had to pull some strings. They didn’t want to let him in for obvious reasons.”
I scrunch my face up. “I wouldn’t want a guy in my class staring at my rolls.”
She sends her eyes heavenward. “Rolls. Yeah, right. Anyway, it’s Rod. He is one of the girls.”
I giggle. “He said the guys ‘intimidate’ him.”
“Ivan told the gym that Rod is gay so they’d let him into the women’s class.”
I cover my mouth and muffle, “Oh, dear God! That is hysterical!” I drop my hands. “Can you imagine what those women are thinking of him in that class?”
“Yeah. They’re probably thinking they’re manlier than he is.”
“I just hope he doesn’t do anything to prove himself otherwise.”
She scowls. “You mean like a boner?”
I cringe at that gross thought. “Yes.” I grab Morgan’s wrist and twist it so I can see her watch. “Damn it. I have my class with Shane in five,” I groan and pout, close to stomping my feet.
“Lucky you. I’m going to hit the elliptical. I just hope I don’t throw up on it.”
“That would also be funny.”
“You’ll be the first person I find if it happens.”
I laugh. “Have fun.” We walk out of the women’s locker room and into the noisy gym, where most of the weight machines are located on the first floor. Music is blaring and metal is clanking against metal.
Rod is waiting against the wall. “What the fuck takes you chicks so long?”
I burst out laughing and Morgan soon follows. I wheeze between gasps, “What are you doing? Sweatin’ To the Oldies?” Rod is wearing a blue headband, black wristbands, a Brad Paisley shirt, and super snug, yellow shorts. I think they’re girls’ size, not even women’s.
“Shut the hell up, you bitches. I lost my locker key. I only had some of my gym shit in my truck. So, Jim, the guy at the desk, loaned me a pair of shorts they had. He’s a friend, so I took them.”
My eyes shoot over him and I struggle not to lose it before I can say, “I don’t think he’s being that great of a friend to you, Rod.”
He glares at me. “Yeah. I’m rethinking all of my current friendship statuses, Hadders.”
“What you really should rethink is those shorts. They give a whole new meaning to the name, Dick Rod,” Morgan states with a horrified look on her face, her eyes locked on his crotch.
“Why in the fuck are you staring, Morgasm?”
“It’s like one of those car accidents you can’t look away from,” she utters, lost in a trance.
Rod lowers his towel and frowns. “Screw you, both!” He walks away from us as we howl with laughter.
“Oh, come on! We’re just playing with you, Peter! Don’t get hard!” Morgan shouts at Rod, who gives her the finger over his head, causing us to laugh even harder.
After we catch our breaths, I walk to the small gym rooms that are used for the personal training sessions. Leaning against the heavy wooden door, I shove into it and go in. My personal trainer, Shane, has his back to me reading a clipboard. Happy Monday to me.
Without turning to see who it is, he says, “And there you are, Miss Beckett. I was wondering when you were going to exalt me with your attendance.” Fucking jerk.
“I’m two minutes late. I’m sorry.”
He turns around and raises a haughty eyebrow at me. He has on a gray tank top and black shorts. “Because those two minutes really don’t matter now, do they?”
“I’m here. Let’s just get the show on the road.”
“Start with your warm up stretches.” He looks down to his clipboard while I take my place on one of the red mats. Even though Shane is a total douchebag to me, he is nice to look at. He is brawny, not as big as Ivan, but he is definitely muscular. His hair is the color of Finn’s eyes, but Shane’s eyes are blue, I think. I try not to look into them for fear I might see Jack the Ripper, The Big Bad Wolf, The Wicked Witch of the West, Loki, or Satan himself. His hair is also floppier than Finn’s and he’s constantly tossing his head to move it out of his eyes.
“Rough weekend?” he asks and I look up at him from my place on the floor.
“No.”
“You’re unusually slow today. Ivan said you went to a club with him and his girlfriend last night. Care to elaborate?” Who is he? My father? I feel like I’m in high school.
I grumble and lean forward to touch my toes. “Not really.”
“I also hear you went to some kind of kite party?” he asks scornfully.
I regard him sourly. “Festival. A kite festival.”
“Same difference. He said Finn Wilder was there with you. Are you two friends?”
“He’s my boyfriend. You know he is. I’m sure Ivan has told you that.”
“No. You’re not our central topic of conversation, actually.” Asshole.
I look at my shoes and mutter, “That’s a relief.”
“So you and Wilder serious?”
I pull on my feet and stretch. “Yes.”
“Hmm. I didn’t think he dated just one woman.”
I glance up at his arrogant expression. “He does date one woman. Me.” Shane’s a conceited bastard, but unlike my cocky boyfriend, this dick isn’t charming about it at all. He’s irritating and abrasive. How is sweet Ivan even friends with him? He must’ve lost a bet or something.
“That’s not what I’ve heard. I have a friend who works with him and he says Wilder is a notorious womanizer.”
I frown and defend him, “That’s not true.”
He laughs. “Like you would really know.”
“I do!” Fucking son of a bitch!
“My friend says Wilder has been seen on several occasions with different women in his car in the parking lot at work on dates.” Finn would not do that to me. I know he wouldn’t.
I growl, “Not a chance. I think I know my boyfriend of three years, Shane.” I hope…
He shrugs. “Whatever. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I swing my head up to him, my ponytail slapping me on my cheek. “I won’t,” I snap.
He tosses his clipboard onto the floor, away from us. “Okay. Get up.” I stand and he circles me like a cagey panther. “Three sets of lunges. So, three years? Isn’t he going to marry you?”
I hate that obligatory question, especially from people I loathe. I roll my eyes and grumble, “I don’t know.”
He laughingly scoffs, “You don’t know? I thought you just said you knew him.”
“I’m not talking about this anymore.” Finn is right. I need to get a new trainer, if there are any. Damn it!
He smacks my knee. “Bring your knee out more. Why? Is it touching a nerve?”
I look straight ahead to avoid his hard gaze. “It’s none of your business, that’s why.”
“Oh. I see why it bothers you. He doesn’t want to settle down. He likes his freedom, not that marriage would probably stop him anyway.”
I whip my head to glare at him. “Why are you trying to piss me off more than normal?”
“I’m only trying to fire you up, Miss Beckett. You’re still lagging. You wouldn’t want to be out of shape for the Finn Wilder, you know.” I do know…
“What about you? Don’t you have a girlfriend whose life you want to ruin? You probably wouldn’t want to marry her. You know, tie yourself down, and commit your life to one woman.”
“On the contrary, Miss Beckett. I would be man enough to do that if I had a special woman i
n my life. I don’t, but she’ll come along someday.”
“Right,” I grouse and switch legs.
He smugly smirks and crosses his arms. “The question is: Is Finn Wilder man enough?”
Shit.
Did I mention how much I wish Shane Parker would die in a fiery, freak jumping jack accident?
One can only dream.
CHAPTER 21
I’m towel-drying my hair when my cell phone rings. Running out of my blue bathroom, I slip on the small throw rug, smacking my arm into the door frame. Damn it! I still manage to make it to my bedroom to pick up my phone off my bed before it goes to voicemail.
“Hey, baby,” I greet breathlessly.
Finn hesitates before responding. “Hey. What’s going on? What are you so out of breath?”
“Just trying to catch the phone before I missed you. I fell.” I rub my arm and laugh.
“Baby, I would’ve called you back. Are you okay? You didn’t break a bone, did you? Do I need to come home?”
“No. I’m fine. Just banged my arm.”
“I wish I were there to kiss it for you.”
I giggle. “I wish you were here, too.”
“Other than that, how was your day?”
“As you can see, it was shitty after I left you.” I’m really not in the mood to rehash Shane. That would ruin the rest of my night. “How’d the rest of your porno go?”
He laughs. “Porno? Yeah. That’s exactly what I was doing at a park. Doing a porno. I was doing that before the shoot.”
I laugh. “Was that before or after you were with me?”
“You’re funny.” He laughs again. “It was good. Though, nobody would stop asking me who I was ‘hanging’ all over.” He actually sounds amused.
“I’m sorry. It was a last-minute, spontaneous thing to do and I shouldn’t have done it. I feel really bad.”
“Becks, it’s okay. In fact, I’m glad you came by.”
“Why? You were working and I interrupted you.”
He loudly inhales. “I always love seeing you. You know I want even more of you,” he says quietly.
Not knowing what to say to that, I ask, “What were people asking?”
“The number one question was who you were. I had to tell everyone at least twice that your you’re my girlfriend. I didn’t even get tired of repeating it.”
I laugh, utterly amazed that he finally revealed his biggest secret, or at least is starting to. “I’m sorry everyone kept doing that to you.” I regret springing myself on him and his coworkers, but I’m not sorry for wanting to be a part of his life.
“Baby, really. It’s fine. I have to admit, I was nervous at first, but I’m glad I finally introduced you to Milo and Pam. Milo told Artie, our director, that I should’ve have had you in the spot with me.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we’re a ‘cute’ couple.” I can hear Finn’s smile through the phone, if that’s probable.
“We are?” I ridiculously grin and hop around in a circle next to my bed.
“I don’t know about me being cute, but you are.”
“You’re the prettier half.” I giggle.
“That’s not what my coworkers were saying. Everyone was asking what I had to do to get you as a girlfriend. When I told them how long we’ve been together, nobody believed me. Milo and Pam had to vouch for me.”
“Did they think I was just one of your Finnatics?”
“Yeah. I told them you are my biggest Finnatic,” he says with a small laugh.
“You bet I am, baby,” I purr and sit down on my bed, running my hand along the comforter where we made love earlier. “How did your dare go? Are you done with it?”
“It’s done. It went well. Milo thought it was cool, but it surprised Artie and the couple of others who were with me. In the end, it was all good.” He chuckles and then pauses. “It was really good.”
“Well, I can’t wait until I get to watch it. I’m dying to know what you had to do.”
“I can’t wait, either. I think you’ll like it.”
“What if I don’t? What if I hate it because you risked your life too much? There’s not much you could do if I hated what you did.”
He mumbles, “No, I guess not.”
I sigh. “As long as you didn’t jump off of a damn bridge, jump out of a plane, walk a high wire, go hang gliding, or go running with the bulls in Pamplona, then I shouldn’t hate it too much.”
“I’ve done all of those except the bulls and the high wire. It wasn’t any of those, but the rush was so much greater than all of them combined.”
“Now I’m really afraid of what you did this time. Who dared you?”
“Someone you know.”
“Who?” I ask impatiently.
“I’ll tell you everything Friday, Becks. I promise.”
“Okay. We can’t have lunch tomorrow? I mean, lunch this time.” I giggle.
He sighs. “No, I can’t tomorrow. I have to meet with Hank and then meet with Milo and our intern, Cara, about the trip. I’m sorry.” A woman is going with Finn? How do I feel about that? I trust him. I don’t give a shit about what stupid Shane says.
“I guess I’ll have to wait until Friday to see you.”
“I will make it worth the wait. I guarantee it, baby. How was the gym? I bet you didn’t get as good as a workout than the one I gave you.”
“No. I can do that every day with you.”
“Me, too.”
I run a hand through my wet hair. “Cara? I never heard you mention her before.”
“Yeah. She’s been with us since last August. I’ve only begun working with her more recently. I mostly work with Kyle since he wants to focus on sports. She and Kyle help us out with location shoots, last-minute shit and coffee runs. Kyle was supposed to go with us, but his parents are coming to visit him. Cara hasn’t been to Philadelphia. I told her I’d show her a few places, but Milo disagrees with the places I picked. So, this should be really interesting.”
“I know where you’ll go.”
“No, you don’t,” he taunts.
“You want to take her to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to show her the Rocky Balboa statue. Then, you just won’t be able to resist running up those steps like he does in the movie, and jumping and cheering for yourself when you reach the top.”
He heartily laughs. “Becks! How do you know? I’ve never taken you there with me!”
“Because I know you! That’s one of your all-time favorite movies. You told me once that you love those iconic steps and seeing Rocky’s statue nearby.”
He happily sighs. “Do you know how much I love you right now?”
I giggle. “Probably not as much as that movie, but I accept that.”
Finn laughs. “I’ll take you there so you can see me do it.”
“I would love that!”
“We’ll do it, then. We’ll go in the fall when it’s cooler. There are a lot of those damn steps!”
I play with the corner of my pillow. “I didn’t tell you at the park what Morgan asked me.”
“What?” he asks cautiously.
“She asked me to be her maid of honor.”
He’s quiet for a little longer than a normal response would be, except this is Finn Wilder, who suffers from gamophobia: the fear of marriage. Yeah. It’s a real thing. I looked it up.
He says, “Well, that’s not exactly a shock.”
“I thought it was because she has a sister, but she asked me to be her maid of honor, and Tonya will be her matron of honor. There’s a difference, I guess, depending on marital status. I think I’m just a glorified bridesmaid really.” Finn is quiet, which still doesn’t surprise me. Not his favorite topic of conversation. “It’s going to be in a few weeks she said. They want to get married on one of the beaches. Probably Virginia Beach. Not sure.” Finn is still quiet. “Are you there, baby?”
He replies, “Yeah. I’m here. Sounds good.”
I chew on my bottom lip, unsure if I
should ask him if he wants to go with me, or just tell him that Rod will be my date. Either way, it’s not going to be good. “Um, I was wondering…” Shit. I can’t do this. Why am I so nervous asking my boyfriend to go with me to a wedding? Because I know he’s going to say no. “Would you…? Do you think you might…? Will you be my date to Morgan’s wedding?” I hear him sigh away from the phone. Bad, bad, idea. “Never mind. I don’t really need a date. I could go with Rod. He might even get to DJ the reception. Isn’t that crazy? I can’t believe Morgan came up with that. I mean, who would’ve thought that Morgan, of all people, would want Rod at her wedding, let alone him DJ’ing the thing. I wonder if he’ll play Vanilla Ice for their first dance. That would be funny. I haven’t even thought about the dancing. She said Tonya and I could wear anything we wanted. I told her I’d wear a trash can. If I also wore green, would anyone even notice? Do we wear shoes on the beach, I wonder? I guess that would be stupid.”
“Becks.”
“I don’t even know what time of day the wedding will be. High noon and we’ll have to remember the sunscreen, for sure. I doubt it’ll be a long ceremony, since people do use the beach. I wonder what the wedding pictures would turn out like with half naked people in them. I’m just glad she doesn’t want us to wear swimsuits in the wedding. I don’t know about the guests, though. That would be funny.”
“Becks.”
“I probably should look for a dress that is more of a light color. Not black. That would probably look strange for a beach wedding. Something airy and light. I like wearing black. It’s slimming. I bet Morgan would want to wear black by then. Although, she said it’d be in a few weeks, not months.”
“Becks!”
“What?”
“Can you take a breather? Shit. I’ve never heard you ramble so much.”
“Sorry.” I hear rustling around in Finn’s background. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to fix something to eat. What are you doing, besides having some sort of meltdown?”
“I’m air-drying my hair.”
“Oh, so I caught you coming out of the shower?”
“You did.”
Chasing the Wild Sparks Page 33
