by Regina Cole
“Bullshit. That cat is pickier than you are, and that’s saying something.” Rob deposited the mug beside Brandi’s elbow with a smile. “Now, come on, princess. Suck it up. You’ve got a new client coming in soon.”
Brandi snarled, but grabbed her mug and began sipping anyway.
The thump and hum of footsteps on the treadmill, the soft click of weight machines, the sound of voices and laughter swirled around him like a warm spring breeze. Rob closed his eyes, just for a minute. This was what peace felt like. Fulfillment. His family hadn’t understood. After all, he was supposed to go to medical school, just like his dad had, his granddad too. But medicine hadn’t called to him like this did. Like owning his own business, helping others achieve their potential, their goals. Dad didn’t get it. Neither did Mom, or his two sisters. For the longest time, they’d all presumed he was pursuing a failing idea.
He cared about their opinions, but they hadn’t stopped him. If anything, the negativity spurred him harder to make this a success.
His gym, Healthy Living, was situated right in the heart of Atlanta. In its first six months, membership numbers were growing, word was getting around, and their success seemed more likely now.
“You asleep? Come on, dude, I’m not running this place alone for the next two hours.”
Rob opened his eyes to a now-smiling Brandi. Her mug was half-empty, so caffeine levels were approaching the safety zone.
“You really need to get a coffeemaker for your house, you know.”
Brandi rolled her eyes. “Why would I do that when I can drink it here?”
“Because then maybe you’d be human before I inflicted you on people? You know Tony’s terrified of you.” Rob nodded his head at the weight bench closest to the counter, where Tony had set up shop.
Brandi’s longing sigh was almost comedic. “That is the most beautiful man I’ve ever set eyes on. It should be illegal to be so sexy.”
“Ask him out, already. I’m tired of you making puppy-dog eyes at him.”
His simple, logical statement was answered with a murderous glare. “You’re insane. I can’t. He’s gorgeous, successful . . . What if he says no? What if he already has a girlfriend? No, can’t do it.”
Rob shrugged. “You could do it if you wanted to. You aren’t his trainer, so it’s not against the rules. And he won’t say no.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he’s not an idiot, and he’s not wearing a ring. You’ve been staring at him for months. You can’t complain if you don’t try.”
“You’re really one to talk about people’s love lives, Rob. How long has it been since Rebecca left? Ten, eleven months? And you haven’t so much as looked at another woman.”
His temper stirred, but he clamped down on it. Brandi knew exactly what she was doing. Rebecca, his ex, was still a sore subject. He was the one who’d broken it off, but the whole sorry situation still chafed.
He could—and would—be the bigger man. “I’ll let that slide. Come on, finish your go-juice. Isn’t your new client supposed to be here in just a minute?” Rob clicked through the screens in their appointment calendar to get to today’s. Yup, sure enough, there in the 5 a.m. slot was an unfamiliar name.
Brandi, who was still staring longingly at Tony’s tensed lats, sighed. “Yeah, I guess so.”
A cold breeze brushed by him then as the front door opened, and a body hustled through the doors into the warmth. Raindrops glistened on the hood of her jacket as she pushed it back, revealing long, strawberry-blonde curls. Bright blue eyes scanned the space, landing briefly on him, then glancing away just as quickly.
Her face was exquisite, her demeanor uncertain, as she shed her jacket and hung it on the rack near the doorway. She wore workout leggings and a baggy tee, which rode up just enough to let him see the generous curve of her ass as she hung up her jacket. Damn. She was no fitness model, but something about the way the woman was put together made his body sit up and take notice. And her smile as she approached Brandi at the front counter made him wonder if heaven was real and had really just walked into his gym.
“Hey, I’m here for the free pizza. Is it a buffet, or do I put my order in here?”
Her tone was light, but the nervousness behind her pleasant expression called to him. He stepped forward as Brandi laughed.
“Yeah, the pizza is imaginary, but I can promise you a kick-ass shake after your workout. You’re Stacey, right?” Rob held out a hand, and she shook it.
The woman nodded. “Sadly, yes.”
“Hey, no sadness here. You’re going to love it. Maybe not today, but definitely soon. I promise. Let me get you our welcome packet, and then we’ll get started.”
Stacey unzipped her bag, and as Brandi turned toward the cabinet on the back wall, Rob grabbed her elbow.
“Bran, let me train her.”
Brandi’s huge brown eyes went wide. “Huh?”
Keeping his voice pitched low, Rob grabbed one of the green welcome packet envelopes as he answered. “I want to train her.”
“But why? She’s not exactly looking to take it to the next level. More like she’s terrified to even get started.”
Brandi was right. The guidelines they’d established for who took on which clients were there for a reason. Brandi was great at first-time gym-goers. Felicity was perfect for those who thrived on competition, and Silvio had the bodybuilding crowd down to a science. And Rob? He was the go-to guy for anyone who’d hit a wall. Those frustrated people who just wanted to push their bodies through to the next plane and reach a specific goal.
Where Stacey was concerned, he had to be honest, with himself at least. He had a specific goal of his own in mind.
“I know it, but I see something in her. I’m taking her on.”
“Is that an order?”
He just cocked an eyebrow at her, wordless.
Brandi bit her full lower lip, and nodded. He’d probably played the boss card a little heavy just then, but it was perfectly justified in this case.
He wanted to help Stacey. He wanted to show her that this was inside her control, that she could do it, and he wanted to see her smile again. But this time without the fear behind it.
He was drawn to her. Honestly, he wasn’t entirely sure if selfishness or altruism was motivating him at the moment, and he didn’t really care.
Either way, the end result was the same.
* * *
Stacey hoped like hell that nobody could tell she was pants-pissing terrified. Gripping her hands into tight balls around the strap of her rain-dampened bag, she watched out of the corner of her eye as the two staff members held a whispered conversation on the other side of the counter from her.
They were probably fighting over who was going to be stuck training her. Her stomach flopped over in a lurching movement. Ugh. Her first day, and already they were sick of her?
“Stop it,” she said under her breath as she unzipped her bag and dug through it for her water bottle. Beating herself up didn’t help anything. She was here to get healthier, to like herself more. But that didn’t stop her from sending up a silent prayer that the girl with the shiny brown ponytail would lose the coin toss and have to train her.
The guy? He was the one from the website, whose picture she’d drooled over for most of the flight home. She’d wanted to admire him from a distance. Having him be the one right beside the equipment on which she was sweating like a farm animal? Not cool. If she had to stay that close to him for an hour or two each day for the next few weeks, she’d definitely have a cardiac arrest. Beauty like that was meant to be admired from a safe distance. Did she want to get up close to him, see if his perfectly tousled sandy hair was as soft as it looked? Hell, yes. But no way. Maybe if she lost a hundred pounds she’d consider it later.
Her heart gave a nervous flutter as the pair turned toward her once again, a bright green folder in the guy’s hand. He gave her a million-watt grin, teeth so straight and perfect they had to be the product of
thousands of dollars’ worth of dentistry.
“Well, Stacey, I’m looking forward to working with you. My name is Robert Liston, but you can call me Rob. Let’s come over here and get acquainted before we get started.”
There was no God. Well, if there was, he or she had a damn good sense of humor. This Greek statue was supposed to teach her how to get healthy? Without realizing it, she took a step backward toward the door.
He moved a little closer. Not so close that he invaded her personal space, but close enough for her to see a tiny curl of hair above his ear. It stuck out a bit. She seized onto the sight as if it were a badge of his humanity.
He’s not perfect. Look, he has hairs out of place like a normal person.
“It’s going to be okay. Come sit with me for a second.”
She swallowed, which was hard to do, because her throat felt like it was full of sawdust. “Okay,” she croaked, and followed him to a cluster of tables near the counter.
Rob pulled a chair out for her, and she pulled off her jacket before sinking into it.
“Tell me a little bit about why you’re here today.” His voice was kind, inviting. If she just closed her eyes, maybe she could pretend he was a priest or an elderly grandfather. But the sight of his handsome face had already burned into her retinas. All she could see when she blinked slowly was him.
With a deep breath for courage, Stacey spoke. “I’m the only person in my family who’s overweight. I just got back from my cousin’s wedding in Hawaii, and it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I couldn’t go swimming, or enjoy doing anything there because I’m so self-conscious. I’m tired of hating my body, and I want to do something to change it.”
Oh God. Her throat was clogging with tears, and her vision had gone blurry. Breathe, girl, come on, don’t turn into a blubbering idiot in front of Chris Hemsworth’s twin.
“It’s okay,” Rob said, and then a warm weight was laid on top of her folded hands. He was touching her. He was comforting her.
“A lot of people come in here just like you. They’re unhappy with how they look, how they feel. I can help you, Stacey, I promise you that. Together we can get your body healthy. But it’s important for you to understand that a lot of this game is mental, too.”
“What do you mean?” she sniffed.
“I mean that how you see yourself isn’t dependent only on how you look. You’ve got to adjust your perspective. Right now, it’s easy to see all the negatives.”
She nodded, staring down at his large hand still covering hers.
“This process isn’t easy. And it’ll still be hard to focus on the positives. But it’s something that you’ve got to start doing now.”
“What positives? I like my hair and my eyes. That’s about it.”
“Come with me,” Rob said, pulling Stacey to her feet. “Leave your stuff here on the table—Brandi will watch it.”
“O—Okay.”
Stacey let Rob lead her past the equipment down a long, narrow hallway. At the end, Rob turned the corner and pulled open a door.
“This is one of our classrooms. We do yoga, Pilates, and several other classes weekly. But for right now, focus on this mirror.”
“Ugh.” She couldn’t hold back her groan. There was a wall of mirrors in front of her, ending just a couple of feet before the corners of the room. Full-length mirrors tended to ruin an otherwise good day for Stacey, which was why she didn’t own one.
“Stand here.” Rob positioned her in front of the mirror and stepped aside to remove himself from the reflection. He stood behind her left shoulder so she couldn’t see him, not in the mirror nor from the corner of her eye.
“What do you see?”
She didn’t want to look. God, why had she done this? She could have been completely happy in her apartment alone. Well, maybe not completely happy. But satisfied. Maybe not satisfied. Safe. Safe was the word.
“Come on, Stacey. Open your eyes for me.”
That voice. Still kind, but now it held a note beneath it that wouldn’t take any bullshit. Deep, masculine, demanding.
“Open them.”
So she did. And then she winced.
“Tell me what you see when you look at yourself.”
“I see a woman who’s unattractive. A person I don’t like much, if at all. Someone who will probably die alone.”
She’d meant it as a joke, but for some reason, she couldn’t laugh and neither did he. It was the truth, as she saw it anyway. Her chest felt heavy, and her eyes stung for a second.
“There. That’s the dynamic that we want to change. Now I want you to look again, and find something positive to say about yourself.”
Rolling her eyes, Stacey turned to Rob. “Seriously?”
There was zero hint of humor in his steely gray eyes. “Yes. Now.” The demand would have been sexy if it wasn’t so damn annoying.
Blowing an irritated breath up toward her forehead, Stacey faced the mirror again. She looked for a long moment, starting at her feet. They were laced into purple sneakers. Stretchy yoga pants didn’t exactly hide the imperfections in her legs. The top she’d chosen, a green T-shirt that draped enough to hide her stomach, was tight in the upper arms. Her ponytail had gotten mussed in the hood of her coat.
“Something positive. Come on.”
God, he was persistent.
She glanced over her shoulder as she spoke. “I came here today. I do want to see something positive in me. So I guess I’m proud of myself for taking the chance?”
“So you see determination.”
A sudden smile broke out across her face. That wasn’t so bad. Did she believe it? Hell, no. But this little woo-woo positivity exercise would probably be good for her in the long run. “Yeah. I guess I do.”
“Good. When you look in the mirror, I want you to find something positive to focus on. Every time you look. Deal?”
She turned to Rob, who was holding out a hand for her to shake. “Yeah. Deal.”
At the contact with his warm skin, her blood bubbled in her veins like champagne. A shiver went down her spine as the contact broke. Damn, it was going to be so hard to focus on anything with a man like that beside her the whole time.
“Great. Let’s go get you warmed up, and we’ll take you through your first session.”
Stacey nodded. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 3
She’d been wrong. He wasn’t a Greek statue at all. He was some kind of upper-level male demon with sculpted arms, an evil grin, and horns that protruded from his skull when he cracked the whip.
“Come on, Stacey, two more.”
“I can’t,” she panted, gripping her trembling thigh muscles. This machine, some kind of leg press thing, was torture. She was laid out on her back, her knees shoved up toward her chest, and about a billion pounds of weight was holding her feet down and forcing her into a fetal position.
“You can do it. Now, push through it.”
His eyes weren’t soft gray like a dove. They were bleak and hard, like the side of an Antarctic submarine. Steel. Titanium. Harder and colder than ice.
“You’re heartless.”
“Yup. Come on, two more. Push through, you can do it.”
Gritting her teeth so hard she thought they’d crack, Stacey sucked a breath in through her nose and pressed her heels down into the panel. Her calves screamed silently, trembling with the effort.
“Almost there, straighten your legs,” Rob said as his hand went just below her knee. The soft touch seemed to urge her on, and with a massive grunt, she gave one last shove. Her legs were straight for one brilliant second, and she gave a grateful sigh.
“Slow back down. Control it, come on, don’t drop it—ease it back.”
“I can’t,” she gasped as her knees buckled. Rob grabbed her legs and steadied them, helping her bend them slowly back into the start position.
“It’s okay. You can do this. Breathe a second, then we’re going for the last one.”
&
nbsp; “You are a monster.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Pressing her hand against her chest, Stacey closed her eyes and felt her heart thump hard against her palm. She might just have a heart attack lying here. Dropping dead didn’t sound so bad at the moment. She was only forty-five minutes into her first hour-long session. Whatever was after this was sure to be even more hellish.
Her heart slowed just a touch. Somehow the handsome bastard must have heard it.
“Okay, knock this last one out. Come on, Stace.”
She slitted her eyes open and glared at him.
“I’m not backing down. You saw determination in the mirror. Don’t let that turn into stubbornness. One more press, I’m right here with you.”
“I’m just doing this to shut you up,” Stacey growled, and pressed down on the panel. God, it was so heavy, almost as if he’d added three or four more plates when she wasn’t looking. Her body was screaming, threatening to burst from all the pressure.
“Don’t give up, I’ve got you.” Rob’s strong hands rested on her knees, steadying them. He looked down, straight into her eyes. “Push, just a little further, you’re almost there.”
“Gaaaah!” The cry that came from Stacey was almost a grunt, or a guttural scream. She didn’t care that she sounded like a cow giving birth. The plate stopped, her legs stretched as far as they could go.
“Good girl! Slow back down, control it, easy. Perfect.”
The plates clicked back home. She was never moving again. The sweat had cemented her to this bench, and she’d die here. They could hold the funeral here, and bury her with this medieval torture device still attached. It could be her coffin.
“Give me your hand. I’ll help you sit up.”
Without thinking, she lifted her wrist limply. Rob’s strong, warm hand circled it and gently pulled her upright.
The room spun around her for a second, and she swayed.
“Sit on the bench for a second. Here, take a swig.” Rob guided her back to sit on the leg press bench and handed her the water bottle he’d clipped to a loop on his shorts.
