High School Reunion

by Kimberly Dean

  He ran his hands down her arms. ‘If she does well, it will be good for business here at the gym.’

  ‘Business?’

  It was a question. Cautiously, he ducked down to look her in the eye. ‘You’ve got to know I wouldn’t stop “vo-di-o-doing” with you unless I absolutely had to.’

  She flushed a pretty shade of pink, and he couldn’t resist. Leaning forwards, he gave her a long, slow kiss. She tasted sweet. Like chocolate. He was breathing hard when he came up for air. ‘Forget it. I’ll call Liz and reschedule.’

  ‘No, don’t do that.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  She shrugged as if she wasn’t entirely certain. ‘Keep her happy. This place could use more business.’

  And he could use about a week straight of Roma Hanson in his bed.

  ‘Forget the books tonight,’ he said softly. ‘Go home and soak in a hot tub filled with Epson salts. I’ll make it up to you by scheduling an appointment with Paul as soon as I can.’

  She cocked her head. ‘The masseur with the magic hands?’

  She still wasn’t happy about the Liz situation.

  ‘Don’t go getting any bright ideas,’ he growled.

  She smiled at the warning.

  Relieved, he kissed her again and ran his hand down to her backside. ‘Drink lots of water and stretch tonight. I want you warm and limber the next time I see you.’

  Her eyes danced. ‘Limber for what?’

  ‘Lunges or vo-di-o-do,’ he said with a wicked grin. He gave her bottom a quick pat and moved towards the door while he still could. ‘We’ll decide tomorrow.’

  Chapter Six

  Roma was in a confused sexual daze as she walked out of the office and down the hallway to the locker room. A jumble of thoughts crowded her head, each trying to bump the other out of the way. She didn’t know what stunned her most – the things she and Jake had done, that Liz was Super Client, or that he’d left her in the middle of sex to go check out another woman in a swimsuit.

  Make that a bikini, no doubt!

  It was just too much to process. Her brain couldn’t take it all in; her body was still humming too loudly. It blocked out everything. Music pumped from the aerobics room, but she didn’t hear it. A group of big boy weightlifters posed in front of the mirrors in the free weights room, but she didn’t see them. She didn’t even feel the soreness in her muscles any more.

  Unfortunately, she did feel her big toe slamming into the door of the janitor’s closet when it opened suddenly in front of her.

  ‘Ow!’ she yelped. Pain snapped her out of her reverie and, instinctively, she reached for her throbbing foot. Her muscles chose that moment to flare back to life, and she let out another yip.

  The sound was echoed from inside the closet, and Missy’s head popped out from behind the door. When she saw whom she’d hit, her eyes widened and her face turned beet red.

  ‘Roma!’ She scooted out into the hallway and shut the door with a bang. Her ponytail was mussed, and her clothes were askew. Self-consciously, she adjusted her Lycra shorts. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.’

  ‘Missy!’ Roma felt her face flush nearly as red. She wasn’t ready to face anyone just now. What if Tito had seen what had happened inside that office? What if there really was something going on between Jake and Liz? What if the gossip was already spreading? Cripes, she hated gossip. Of course, the rumours that had been spread about her in high school hadn’t been true. This would!

  She hopped along on one foot, desperate to just keep moving.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Missy asked. She hovered around, uncertain what to do.

  ‘Fine,’ Roma said tightly. ‘Just fine.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Mm-hm.’ Gingerly, she put her weight on her foot. ‘Don’t worry about me. Just go back to whatever you were doing.’

  Something clattered inside the closet, and Missy flinched.

  ‘Broom,’ she explained hurriedly. Ill at ease, she crossed her arms over her chest and leant back against the closet door. A muffled curse came from inside, and she kicked it with her heel. ‘I was just putting away a broom.’

  Big broom.

  ‘OK,’ Roma said, eyeing the closet suspiciously. ‘I’ll see you later.’

  ‘Yeah. See ya.’

  They both turned. When they reached to push open the door to the women’s locker room at the same time, they exchanged an embarrassed glance.

  ‘I need a shower,’ Missy said, her blush deepening.

  Roma knew her colour wasn’t any better. Her face felt as if it were on fire. ‘Me, too.’

  Without another word, they burst into the room and headed to their lockers. Neither dared to look at the other. Roma grabbed a towel and made a beeline to the shower stall on the end. In her current state, she’d prefer to get undressed behind the security of a shower curtain, thank you very much.

  Missy had the same idea.

  Piece by piece, clothing appeared from behind the curtains and was hung on hooks on the wall. Roma tried to hurry through all the sudsing and rinsing, but Missy was nearly as quick. Her water turned off just seconds later. They glanced at each other abashedly when their shower curtains whipped back as one.

  Silently, they got dressed. The tension mounted as, side by side, they brushed their hair. Finally, Missy looked at Roma in the mirror.

  ‘I’m having sex with Hawk,’ she blurted.

  Roma couldn’t take it any longer either. ‘Jake just got to third base.’

  They looked at each other, mouths agape.

  Missy was the first to recover. ‘Want to grab a cup of hot chocolate somewhere?’

  ‘Hot chocolate?’ Roma snorted. ‘This calls for whiskey.’

  Missy nodded. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  They ended up compromising. Missy knew a coffee shop that was only a few blocks away. Roma had to roll her eyes, though, when her friend ordered a hot chocolate without whipped topping. Such a goody-goody!

  She got hers with a shot of peppermint schnapps.

  ‘So Hawk?’ she asked, deflecting the attention from herself as they found a table in the corner. ‘Really?’

  Missy draped her coat over the back of her chair and sat down. She glanced around as if she didn’t want anyone listening and then leant forwards. ‘We can’t keep our hands off one another,’ she confided.

  Roma blinked in disbelief. ‘We’re talking about the same Hawk, right? Big guy. Shaved head. Tattoos.’

  ‘No, the one with the pocket protector. Of course, the one with the tattoos!’

  ‘Are you serious?’ Roma cocked her head. Had Jake been right? Was Missy as much to blame for all that staring and posing? ‘You’re really into all that?’

  Missy bit her lip, but couldn’t stop a secret smile. ‘I just wrestled him into the janitor’s closet, didn’t I?’

  Roma let out a whoop. She bumbled her cup and nearly lost drops of her precious schnapps. ‘I knew that wasn’t a broom,’ she declared.

  ‘He’s not very quiet.’

  Ack! Too much information!

  Roma busied herself with licking her spilled cocoa off her fingers. Flustered, she plucked a napkin out of the dispenser on the table. Missy and Hawk had been going at it in the closet while she and Jake had been fooling around in his office? It was perfectly scandalous.

  ‘When did this happen?’ she asked. ‘I thought you had a boyfriend.’

  ‘I did. I do,’ Missy said quickly. The grin slipped off her face, and she wrapped both hands around her mug. For a long moment, she stared down into its depths. ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘I’ll say. Are you still living with him? What’s his name again? Danny?’

  She gave a small nod.

  ‘Missy!’ People turned to look and Roma lowered her voice. ‘That’s a dangerous game to play.’

  ‘I said that I live with him. I haven’t been sleeping with him,’ Missy ran a hand through her hair. ‘We haven’t had sex in a while. He hasn’t been
interested until last night. I told him I had a headache and moved to the couch.’

  Roma took a hit of her peppermint cocoa. She should have made it a double. ‘So this…this thing with Hawk. It’s serious?’

  ‘It’s a serious attraction.’ Missy shifted uncomfortably in her chair. ‘All we have to do is be in the same room, and the air snaps. It’s almost chemical – although the physical has a lot to do with it, too. I mean, come on. Have you seen him without his shirt?’

  ‘Yes.’ And there had been a bit of drooling involved.

  ‘You should see him without his pants.’

  ‘Missy!’

  This time half the coffee shop turned.

  ‘Well, he’s hung,’ the brunette hissed. ‘He’s hung like the state of Florida.’

  Roma coughed as her drink went down the wrong pipe. She patted her napkin over her lips and wheezed until she caught her breath. Well, as they said – in for a penny, in for a pound. ‘That’s fine and dandy, but is he any good with it?’

  Missy let one eyebrow lift. ‘You’d have to do him to believe it.’

  Oh, God. Her and Hawk? Roma reached out and caught the arm of the waiter who was walking by. ‘I’m going to need another shot of schnapps in this. Pronto.’

  The waiter walked away, and Missy let out a tortured sigh. Shakily, she ran both hands over her heated face. ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I can’t seem to help myself. That body. It just makes my fingers itch. And that bad-boy appeal. All he has to do is look at me and I’m tearing off my clothes and bending over for him.’

  They really were going to have to talk about this information overload thing.

  ‘But what do you guys have in common?’ Roma asked, trying to be the voice of reason. ‘What do you talk about?’

  ‘We never seem to get around to the talking part.’

  Roma leant back in her chair as the waiter doctored her drink. Well, that was something. She mulled it all over in her mind. Hawk certainly did have that bad-boy thing going for him – it just sent her running to a corner somewhere. Missy, on the other hand, must have a thing for danger.

  Of course, if he was as good with his big weenie as she said he was…

  ‘You think I’m out of control.’

  ‘I think you’re out of your mind.’ Roma felt bad when her younger friend looked stricken. She scooted her chair closer and dropped her voice to nearly a whisper. ‘It’s just lust. Pure, unbridled lust.’

  ‘Is that bad?’

  Yes! Roma’s puritan side declared.

  ‘Hell, no,’ she found herself saying. That devilish side was winning more and more often. ‘Just be careful. Enjoy it while it lasts, but don’t be too upset when it peters out.’

  Missy sighed and swirled her hot chocolate. ‘That’s just it. I think it’s getting stronger.’

  ‘His peter?’ Roma exclaimed.

  ‘The attraction.’

  ‘Oh, yeah. I knew that’s what you meant.’ Casually, she sat back and crossed her legs. Could she help it if all this talk about peters and weenies was making her think of Jake? ‘Well, you can’t keep going on like this. Sooner or later you’ll have to do something about Danny.’

  ‘I know,’ Missy said quietly. She thought about it for a while, but then her gaze slid slowly upwards. She nailed Roma with a look. ‘So third base, huh?’

  Uh-oh. Roma picked up her mug and slammed the hot chocolate back. She signalled to the waiter. ‘Another round over here.’

  ‘You’re not going to avoid me that easily,’ Missy said, nudging her with her foot. ‘I just spilt about Hawk.’

  ‘And you’ve got a thing or two to learn about the sharing of private information.’

  ‘Tell me what happened between you and Jake, and we’ll be even.’

  ‘Oh, you’re a tricky one,’ Roma said. She eyed Missy carefully. It was tempting to play along. She really did need to talk to somebody, especially about this whole Liz thing. Jake’s special ‘client’ had really screwed things up for her tonight.

  She tapped her fingers on the table. She could use a girlfriend’s advice on this. ‘OK. It started out innocent enough. You see, there was this stack of papers. It fell over and we both tried to catch it. To make a long story short, I ended up sitting on Jake’s lap.’

  ‘Mm. Convenient.’

  ‘Sitting led to touching, which naturally led to fondling. Anyway, we got to third base before we were interrupted. I mean, I think it was third base.’ Roma’s forehead crumpled in confusion. ‘How does that work? He made it to third, but I kind of, well, scored.’

  ‘Hey, hey!’

  ‘But how do you count that? Because he never actually slid into home, if you get what I mean.’

  ‘All that matters is that nobody struck out. Shh, here comes our waiter.’

  The man appeared from out of nowhere. With the way he slinked around the place, he was lucky he didn’t get an earful. Carefully, he lowered his tray and set their drinks in front of them. ‘One plain hot chocolate and one with a double shot of peppermint schnapps.’

  Roma rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. Get that girl some whipped cream.’

  ‘Of course, ma’am.’

  ‘No. Wait,’ Missy said, holding up her hand to stop him. Roma nearly growled. She wasn’t going to overload on sugar and gossip by herself.

  ‘Make it marshmallows instead.’

  ‘Atta girl!’ Roma raised her mug in salute. ‘Carb heaven, here we come.’

  Laughing, they enjoyed their warmed cups of cocoa. Roma felt herself relaxing for the first time in weeks. She’d been so intent on work, the gym’s books, and her workouts, she’d forgotten how good it felt to have a little girl time.

  ‘So are you going to ask Jake to your reunion?’ Missy asked.

  Roma frowned grumpily. Now why had she gone and brought that up? ‘I was thinking about it, but now I don’t know.’

  ‘What do you mean you don’t know? You two just got to…Well, you played some baseball.’

  ‘Yes, but he ran off to another woman as soon as she snapped her fingertips.’

  Missy set down her mug with a thump. ‘Another woman? Jake is seeing someone? I didn’t know that.’

  Roma crossed her ankles underneath her chair and leaned her elbows onto the table. She drilled Missy with a look. If anyone knew the deep, dark secrets of the gym, it was her. Or Tito. She just couldn’t face the kid yet.

  ‘Who is this Liz person?’ she asked.

  ‘Liz?’ Missy cocked her head as if considering the possibility. ‘You think that Jake has something going on with Liz?’

  ‘He left before rounding the bases, didn’t he?’

  ‘I don’t think we’ve figured that one out yet.’

  Roma slapped her hand firmly against the table. ‘He left. OK? That’s the point. We were…running the bases…when she called. He stopped running.’

  ‘Did you?’

  ‘I ran right off the playing field when Tito unexpectedly knocked on the door.’ Roma’s eyes rounded as she realised something. ‘Oh, my God! I didn’t stop play between you and Hawk, did I?’

  ‘No,’ Missy said, shaking her head. ‘We both scored. Twice.’

  ‘Aha. Lucky you.’ Roma ran her finger along the rim of her cup. So Jake was the only one who hadn’t crossed the plate tonight – as far as she knew. The schnapps began to swirl in her gut. There was no telling what was happening between him and Liz right now. At the very least, his fervent admirer was flashing some flesh. ‘Tell me more about her. Jake said she’s an important client.’

  ‘She is. She’s drawing a lot of attention in the world of women’s fitness.’

  Roma sunk further into her chair. ‘She’s that hot?’

  ‘She has a hard body, that’s for sure. Her muscle definition is incredible.’

  Roma winced. Her muscles didn’t define anything. ‘Where’s she been all this time? I haven’t seen anyone like that at the gym.’

  ‘She usually works out during th
e day. Jake blocks out most of his mornings just so he can work with her.’

  Wasn’t that special? Jealousy started to gurgle through Roma’s veins. Did he train Liz like he trained her? The Jake she knew was a toucher. He was always spotting her or correcting her form. He seemed to use any excuse he could find to run his fingertips across her skin. Was he the same with Ms La-di-da Liz? Was that part of his technique?

  Missy continued, unaware of the chaos she was causing. ‘They’ve done a fantastic job preparing. If she does well at the competition, the gym is sure to draw in a lot more of the higher-paying clientele.’

  ‘Hmmmph,’ Roma grumbled. ‘Higher-paying clientele.’

  Just what was that woman paying for anyway?

  ‘You’ve seen the rates. Clients who work with trainers pay more than the people who just come in to work on the machines,’ Missy said. ‘But it’s worth it. Look at you.’

  Roma shooed her off with a wave of her hand. Coddling was the last thing she needed.

  ‘I’m serious. You look great.’

  ‘I look OK.’ She’d thought she was looking pretty darn hot until this hard-bodied Liz had come along.

  ‘Would you stop worrying about her? Jake’s into you, and the entire gym knows it. Believe me, after the competition’s over, he’ll forget about Liz entirely.’

  Roma shifted on her chair. She wished she could forget the woman that easily. Her saccharine notes, too. That pink ink had to go.

  ‘Enough of that nonsense. Back to your reunion,’ Missy said, sitting up straight. ‘Let’s get down to the important stuff. What are you going to wear?’

  Clothes? She wanted to talk about clothes? Jake was out there helping another woman pick out a bikini. ‘I don’t know,’ Roma said. ‘I hadn’t thought about it much yet.’

  This time, it was Missy who nearly blew a marshmallow out her nose. ‘Are you kidding me? It’s only a little over two months away. You’ve got to get started.’

  ‘Yeah, but…’ But what? Reality started to set in, and Roma’s sore muscles stiffened all over again. ‘Oh, my God. You’re right! What was I thinking?’