I’M HOLDING MATT’S hand as the doctor delivers the news.
“Your recovery has gone well, Mr. Garcia. I’ve never seen a more healthy heart than yours after the trauma it was put through,” the cardiologist proudly proclaims. “You’re free to resume your normal activities. Including sex,” he emphasizes with a twinkle of his eye.
I’m biting my lip to keep from laughing, but Matt is quick to inform him. “Oh, my heart passed the sex test a week ago,” he admits without shame.
With a quirk of his brow, the doctor sarcastically replies, “Why does that not surprise me?” as he looks over in my direction.
Just as quickly, he clears his throat. “I’ll fill out all your paperwork and immediately send it over to give you medical clearance. Congratulations on your contract by the way.”
“Thank you,” Matt gratefully replies.
Minutes later, we’re exiting the room with a copy of Matt’s clearance paperwork and we’re both smiling from ear to ear. “Want to go on a run before your photo shoot?” Matt’s eagerly asks as we reach the car.
This afternoon, I’m shooting my first promotional shots for the running company for the Seattle Marathon. I’ve been looking forward to this shoot all week and it was hard to keep the excitement from my face today.
“You sure you want to run already?” I hesitantly ask, wondering if it would be a good idea to push him so soon. He notices my worry as we reach the car and before I have a chance to reach for the door handle, my body is being trapped against the car.
“I’m pretty sure my heart will do fine. You usually leave it racing faster than any run I’ve ever been on when I have you screaming my name.” My lips grimace up to the side as I narrow my eyes at him.
“I should have held out that last week just to punish you,” I playfully tease.
He’s smirking as he answers near my ear, “I don’t think you would have been able to hold out. If I recall, it was you begging towards the end.” His voice drops low to purposely tantalize me.
His hands are gripping at my waist and his mouth is leaving warm kisses against my skin while I bite my lip to keep from begging him to take me right here… Right now… As he’s pointed out I do so well. If it wasn’t for Matt holding me tight, I would drop to the ground from my knees going weak.
“I think we should go home and do another form of cardio instead,” I suggest.
“That sounds like a very good idea,” he replies, slamming his lips down onto mine, kissing me until I’m whimpering from the ache traveling straight to the center between my legs. Pulling away, he leaves me practically panting from the kiss as he now adds, “You don’t have to say the words for me to know you’re currently begging.”
I’m not going to admit he’s right. I’m too stubborn to do so. But I am pushing him away so I can open the door and climb into the car so he can take me home where I know I’ll have him begging soon. At least that’s my plan.
I’M LOOKING AT the clock on the dashboard of my car and I grimace. I’m late… Very late, and I have Matt to blame for that. But I couldn’t be happier since I’d gotten my wish and gotten Matt to beg for me this time.
“We’re almost there, beautiful,” Matt says, pulling my hand up to kiss the back of my palm. Giving him a grateful smile, I’m still disappointed in myself for being late. I’d always told myself I wouldn’t revert back to my old ways, and being late was one of them. According to everyone I’ve spoken to who can say they’ve worked with me in the past, I was notorious for always making everyone wait on me.
Minutes later, we’re pulling up to the park the running company had chosen and see Trey’s Jeep already there, which surprises me.
“Did you know Trey was meeting us here?”
Shaking his head in response, we both climb out, already rushing to meet up with him. Trey has been surprising me more often lately. He’s taken to his self-proclaimed title as if he was meant to do it from the beginning. Especially in the last few days as the media had tried reverting to their old ways when they’d discovered I’d pulled out of the fashion show.
We’d known there would be speculations as to why I’d withdrawn, but we’ve brushed off most of the rumors. My favorite so far was that I was pregnant and the designer had refused to allow me to walk the runway with my protruding belly. Reading the story that day reminded I needed to take another pregnancy test. But as before, it returned with a negative result. We weren’t in need of restocking anytime soon thanks to Trey, who was now demanding his own company credit card for God knows why.
The unprotected sex subject got brought up again the night of the graduation, and I’d admitted that I wouldn’t be upset now if I were to end up pregnant. Ironically, Matt hadn’t broached the subject of our future like I had expected him to do and I was happy he hadn’t done so.
Helping close the distance between us, Trey meets us halfway to the area where the production crew has set up their camera equipment for the shoot. The entire time he’s been holding an excited smile on his face. Next to him is Aaron, the marketing director who is extending his hand to Matt.
Matt shakes his hand then turns to give me a skeptical look, not knowing who he is.
“Hello, there. My name is Aaron. The changing tent is over this way and I’ve got everything set up for the both of you,” he explains, already leading us away.
Trey, who is on the other side of Matt, is being questioned why Aaron said, the both of you. “What did you mean by the both of us?”
“I told him how you usually run with Abigail during her training runs and I suggested he feature you too,” Trey explains, shocking us both. “And, I even worked it out for you both to keep some stuff from today, along with your compensation for today’s shoot.” I nearly miss my step from his declaration.
“Really?”
“Yup. I’m going to make a good manager for the both of you,” Trey proudly states.
“When did I say I needed a manager?” Matt asks.
“Dude, you’re a fucking NFL player now. You’re going to need a manager to get you those endorsements.” Smirking, he now points in my direction. “And you, too, Abigail. I’m going to have people throwing endorsement offers at you left and right.”
“Trey, I don’t care about the money. You know that. I’m happy just doing what I’m doing for now.” My only response is a snicker of protest. “Please, don’t turn into Bill,” I beg.
He looks as if he’s gone pale. “I would never be like that fucker,” he argues. “But don’t be surprised if you get them without me having to ask. You are still Abigail Adams,” he reminds me.
We’ve already reached the tent where Aaron is waiting with an anxious smile. “I’ve got several different options. My main goal for both of you is to look casual, happy, and natural during today’s shoot,” he explains.
“In other words, you want us to do what we regularly do while running,” Matt states with a quirked eyebrow. Aaron happily claps his hands together.
“Exactly!” I chuckle at his enthusiasm.
Looking at Matt, he shrugs his shoulder and grabs my hand while he leads me under the flap of the small standing tent. Already inside are several interns, including a make-up artist standing in front of a director’s chair.
“I’ll start with hair and make-up since I’m a girl,” I tease, stretching out the last word while taking my seat.
Matt never fails to remind me that I always take longer to get ready than he does. Oddly, he stays standing at the entrance of the tent and the intern who must be in charge of his wardrobe is staring at him, as if waiting for him to step towards her. Nodding my chin in her direction, he gets the clue and goes straight for the clothes and starts pushing hangers aside. Matt grabs a pair of shorts and a shirt and begins searching the room as if looking for something.
“Where do I change?”
“Here of course,” I inform him.
“In front of all of you?” Matt asks. The intern looks perplexed from his statement.
&n
bsp; “It’s not a big deal, Matt. They’re used to people changing in front of them.”
“Seriously?”
“If it makes you feel any better, they’ll turn around while you change,” I tell him. His brow is now arched as he considers my suggestion.
“Fine.”
Rolling my eyes at the childish response, I’m about to order the girls to turn, but they’ve already voluntarily done so after his answer. What Matt hadn’t expected was for there to be a mirrored vanity across from me, which is currently giving us three a clear view of Matt’s impromptu strip tease. Somehow, I feel as if I should be jealous of the intern’s expressions. Their eyes are gazing into the mirror without blinking as their mouths slightly hang open. Nope, no jealousy at all anymore because I know at the end of the day Matt will be going home with me and not them. That’s all that matters.
He pulls his shorts over his boxer brief clad ass and all eyes are immediately leaving the mirror to avert in different directions. The make-up artist is once more stroking her brush against my face and the other intern is fiddling through my wardrobe trying to look as if she’s been doing it the entire time. He looks into the mirror, confused, as if wondering if they’d been watching the entire time. When his eyes find mine, he gives me his signature smile. I have to bite down on my lip to keep from laughing. If Matt only knew…
Another minute later, I’m now the one changing and I’m not shy about having to do so in front of everyone like Matt was. I had to learn quickly at the beginning that changing within a minute was expected of me, and it made it easier if someone else was helping you.
With my hand laced with Matt’s, we’re meeting Aaron and Trey who are standing with the photographer, a pretty older looking lady who is greeting us with a radiant smile. When I fully take her in, I recognize her as the same photographer from the first shoot I did for the company. Reaching her, I’m already extending my hand out to say hello.
“It’s nice to see you again,” I comment, watching her eyes go wide in astonishment.
“You remember?”
Nodding my head, I say, “I had fun that day.”
“Excellent, because it will pretty much go the same as last time.”
If I wasn’t already excited for the shoot, I’d be excited now. I don’t have to pretend to be happy doing something I love doing. After a few quick pointers to Matt, explaining what she expects from him, we’re soon walking down the path of a small trail in the grassy area we’re in. When we’ve reached the starting line marked by colored duct tape, I’m already excited for what is yet to come.
Matt faces me to say, “So we just have to act like we normally do on a run?”
Giving him a nod, I say, “Yup.”
“Damn, beautiful, no wonder you don’t complain about these shoots.”
“These are actually my favorite,” I admit. He stays silent, but his acknowledging smile is all I need to know that he understands. Within seconds of me admitting the words, they’re shouting for us to go. I take off and Matt is soon following me. Within a minute, we reach the photographer and I come to an abrupt stop.
“That’s great,” she voices, “Great. It’s exactly what I’m looking for. Now let's do it again.”
On the way back, Matt is slightly walking behind me and I don’t have to wonder for long why when he pinches my butt, making me yelp as I jump away from him. “We’re definitely keeping these,” he says, explaining why he kept a distance behind me. He was staring at my ass.
“You’re intolerable,” I say, reaching the start marker and waiting for him to reach my side before turning and quickly jogging off.
Six outfits later, we’re changing into the last outfit. With every mock run, Matt was starting to grow comfortable and before we knew it, he was posing on cue when needed at the finish marker. With amusement, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have a little bit of competition for my future shoots.
During one of our last runs when we had playfully started to compete to see who can make it back to the finish marker first, we were both laughing and smiling as we’d done with every other one, but this time the photographer shouts, “That’s perfect!” The shutter of her camera being heard as she rushes to circle around snapping pictures.
“I really love the ones of you laughing, Abigail,” the photographer comments. I look over to see her looking into the tiny screen of her digital camera.
“You want to see her scream with happiness while laughing?” The photographer snaps her head up with an enthusiastic smile.
“Hell, yeah.”
I’m fearfully looking at Matt knowing what he plans on doing, but his body is soon ducking low and I’m being tossed into the air and over his shoulders. As he had promised, I’m screaming and laughing at the same time while he spins us both around in circles. The world blurs around me and I keep laughing along with Matt. The faint sound of the shutter is heard in the same spot in my circle and right when I feel I’m about to throw up, Matt thankfully stops and gently slides me down his body. The remaining seconds of my laughter die down as I struggle to catch my breath.
With his laughter dying down as well, Matt says, “I told you I can get her to do it,” he breathlessly answers.
“You’re cruel. You know that, right?”
“But, you still love me anyway.”
Shaking my head, the smile lingers on my lips. “This brochure will be the best yet,” Aaron excitingly remarks, catching our attention. “I can’t wait to see the final product.” And neither can I since the photographer has called it a wrap.
“The promotional shoots shouldn’t take that long since I got some really good ones with you and Matt sprinting, so I’m going to use those,” Aaron claims. “If that’s okay with you,” he hesitantly adds.
“I don’t mind.” Aaron grows excited again before turning to rush off and speak with the photographer. Now at my side, Matt tugs me flush against his body and my arms automatically wrap around his neck.
“I think I’ve earned my pancakes today,” he says to me.
Cocking my head, I ask, “You really want me cooking pancakes for you?”
“I was kind of hoping we could do that whole thrusting while mixing thing. You mix, I thrust,” he explains, pushing his hips up against my body to emphasize how it would be done. “But it would be better if I was in you from behind.”
Picturing the image in my mind, my body is already responding with desire and the cool brisk air of Portland now feels as if I’m in an Arabian desert with the heat overtaking my body. How my body never tires of responding to Matt’s enticing words to get me in bed never ceases to amaze me. I just pray it will forever be this way.
I'M ALREADY EXITING my hotel bedroom when it occurs to me I’m forgetting something. Quickly rushing back into the room, I yell over my shoulder to Matt, “Be right back!” I rush to my suitcase and dig through it looking for the item in question. I’d made sure to keep it safely tucked at the bottom corner when I’d placed it there after arriving in Seattle.
My hand finds and wraps around it to dig it out. Originally, it had traveled with me in my purse, feeling the need to protect it at all cost during our drive up here. Tucking it now into my small tote bag provided by the race organizers used as check bags during the race, I’m now rushing back out to catch up with Matt.
“Forget something?”
“Yup, but I’ve got it now,” I say before lightly patting the bag. He returns a genuine smile before placing a kiss on my temple.
“Let’s go, speed racer,” he says, reminding me of the new nickname he’s recently given to me while I run.
With Julio and Trey already waiting in the hotel lobby, Matt and I are soon in the elevator heading downstairs to meet them. When the elevator doors shut, Matt gives my hand a gentle squeeze to draw my attention.
“Still nervous?” he asks. He’s been repeatedly asking the same question all morning. I feel nervous and it must show, which is probably why he’s still asking.
“I’m terrified,” I truthfully answer this time.
He laughs at my remark, which makes me grimace. Lifting my hand up to his lips, he places a kiss on the back of my hand. “You’re going to do fine. Just pretend it’s any other run we’re on,” he says, reminding me how hard he trained with me for this race. At first, I’d insisted he not run the longer runs with me, but he explained he needed to build his endurance back up as well. Training was just around the corner and he needed to be in top shape, as he was before his injury.
I let out a snicker as the elevator dings to announce we’ve reached the lobby. Tucked at Matt’s side, we exit and are greeted by Julio and Trey a couple of steps away, patiently waiting.
“Time to rock and roll, supermodel,” Trey announces with a fist pump into the air, causing me to laugh at his eagerness of this race. Of course since he isn’t running it he can look at it as no big deal.
My anxiety and nerves start to rise as we step out of the lobby and into the brisk fresh air of Seattle’s early morning. When I’d arrived yesterday, Matt and I had taken a walk along the water where I’d taken my first run. With the sun setting off in the horizon and Matt holding me in his arms as we looked upon the water, I stood thinking how it was because of him it all began. Had anyone told me on that very first run that almost a year later I’d now be running marathons because I loved them, I would have thought they’d lost their mind.
Briskly walking our way to the start line, we’re surrounded by a mass of runners anxiously making their way to the starting line. With Trey already knowing where I need to meet Aaron at a private VIP tent the running company had reserved, we allow him to lead the way. Within minutes we spot him and when we near, he has an excited smile on his lips.
“You ready, Abigail?” he asks, looking well rested and still excited as he rubs his palms together. I wish I could feel as excited as he feels, but my stomach is in knots.
Taking a deep breath first, I tell him, “As ready as I’m going to be.”
Unspoken Endings Page 25
