by A. C. Arthur
He returned the bar to the catch and she wondered how many reps he’d done. She hadn’t counted, but she wondered. In the next seconds he repeated the routine, breathing, lifting, flexing. Damn he had strong arms. His biceps looked like something out of a comic book. His legs were coated in hair the same dark color as that on his head. She hadn’t thought she liked hairy men before, but there was no denying she was definitely liking what she was seeing now.
This was ridiculous. She wasn’t in high school and this was just a man. Standing here ogling him was foolish. Entertaining the thought of heading back to her room until she thought he might leave to go into the San Francisco office was childish. Still, she did both without any sign of stopping.
Until…oh no!
He saw her. She should move. That’s right, get out of the way so he wouldn’t see that she saw him, seeing her. Not as svelte as she needed to be to pull that off, when Brynne moved to the side, her feet tangled together and she almost went down. Forethought or self-preservation, either or, she was thankful for the door handles that she gripped and held onto for dear life that kept her upright. Before she could blink again to see if Wade were still staring at her, he was at the door.
Pushing it slowly open, he reached out to grab her by the wrist.
“Come on in and join me,” he said in that always calm and reserved voice.
She was following him before embarrassment could overtake her. She wore black yoga pants today and a white tank top. On her feet were black tennis shoes and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. No make-up, no sexy shoes, no table to hide her nervousness behind.
“You want the treadmill, right?” he was saying as he led her across the room. “I’ve seen you using the one close to the window. It looks like it might rain today, but it’s still a good view.”
Brynne hadn’t said a word. Not even when he released her hand and began punching buttons on the treadmill.
“You’re usual program is saved,” he said.
That’s when it dawned on her where they were standing. “How do you know—” she started to say, but then remembered his last comments.
Wade turned to her then, touching a finger to the line of her jaw. “When things matter to me, I pay close attention.”
In that moment Brynne wanted to kiss him. Again. Last night’s kiss had been soft, slow, and apparently addictive.
“Oh,” she said and knew she sounded like a complete idiot.
Determined to get herself together, Brynne stepped around him to mount the treadmill. He didn’t move, but waited until she was in position and then smiled up at her as he pushed the ‘start’ button. It began slowly, she liked the slow build-up to a faster pace. Getting her mind focused on the workout she stared forward and began to walk. Wade remained beside her by the machine. She told herself that she didn’t mind.
“You’re firming up nicely,” he said suddenly and Brynne almost tripped.
He chuckled and she scowled over at him.
“Don’t you have something you should be doing?” she asked since it seemed like he was in such a playful mood this morning.
“I’m doing it,” he continued to smile. “Watching you.”
“You weren’t watching me before,” she said, once again staring straight ahead. It was way too distracting to look at him and those arms.
“Tell me what I was doing since I know you were watching me,” he said.
His tone was teasing and she knew if she looked at him he’d still be smiling. But she didn’t look at him. Brynne simply kept walking. She’d stuck her cell phone and headphones to the Velcro apparatus on her arm, so all she had to do was unwrap them and plug her ears. She could listen to Prince or Joe as they were in heavy rotation on her playlist. But no, they were love songs, or sex songs and she deduced they were the last thing she needed to hear right now.
“You were working out,” she said, just as her speed picked up a notch.
She moved her arms, clasping her fingers into tight fists.
“Did you like watching me workout?” he asked her.
Brynne swallowed before answering. Then she cleared her throat.
“It was ok,” she replied.
He laughed robustly. She bit her bottom lip.
“I like watching you work out,” he said when his fits of laughter had finally subsided.
“You’ve never watched me before,” she said, even though she knew that wasn’t true.
She’d never seen him in the gym while she was working out, but he’d known that she favored the treadmill and that her routine was saved on the machine.
“I’ve watched you, Brynne. A lot.”
She still wouldn’t look at him. Her legs were moving steadily, breath coming faster. Then he touched her and her heart almost stopped. One hand to the small of her back.
“Right here,” he said, the humor in his voice gone. “I like this spot here because it can either be totally innocent, or…just a little bit naughty.”
The naughty came when he lowered his hand to rest atop the plump cheeks of her bottom. Brynne had no idea how she kept moving, but she did.
“Do you always accost women when they’re at the gym?”
“No,” he replied. “There’s never been a woman I wanted to accost.”
Now Brynne laughed. “C’mon, don’t lie. Flattery and compliments are one thing, but blatant mistruths are a little insulting.”
He moved fast, stepping up onto the treadmill behind her and reached forward to push the button that took the pace down a notch.
“I don’t lie, Brynne,” he told her as he put his hands on her waist and pressed close behind her. “I say what I mean and I mean what I say.”
He walked with her while saying all of that. His long legs moving right behind her shorter ones as if they were simply walking together. But there was nothing simple about this. She could feel the heat of his body up close on hers. The spot where his hands rested on her sides were warm and when he talked it felt as if his voice were actually pouring over her.
She was going to start sweating at any moment now because damn, it was getting super hot in here. It was her turn to operate the control panel at that point and Brynne turned the machine off.
“What are we doing?” she asked when they and the machine stopped moving.
Wade did not release her, a fact that didn’t offer much more relief than when he’d been walking behind her. He was even closer now, until she could feel the beginning of his arousal pressing persistently against her.
“We’re doing what two adults who are attracted to each other do,” he replied.
Brynne shook her head. “I’ve never done this with anyone that I’ve been attracted to before.”
He stepped off the treadmill then, taking her hand and waiting as she stepped down with him. Holding both her hands in his Wade lifted them to his lips and kissed the back of each.
“I already know that what I’m feeling for you is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I may have an advantage over you in that department because I’ve been thinking about us in this way a little longer than I suspect you have. That’s fine,” he told her. “I can wait until you catch up. But I want you to know up front that I don’t intend to remind you of any man you’ve ever been involved with. That’s not how I operate. This is you and me and that’s all I’m concerned with, but as I said, you can take some time to get to that point. I’ll be here.”
“What if I don’t want to get to that point?” she asked because his confidence was a little unnerving.
He gave a slight nod. “Then I’ll accept your response and move on. This shouldn’t be difficult, Brynne. So relax, go with it and see where it leads. It might surprise you. I,” he continued with a smile, “might surprise you.”
“You already have,” she admitted. “Luckily the new Brynne is learning how to deal with curve balls.”
He surprised her once again by dropping her hands and tweaking her nose while he chuckled. “I think I like the new B
rynne very much,” he told her just as his phone rang from across the room.
“Excuse me,” he said and went to answer it.
Brynne took a deep breath and this time released it slowly. She did need to catch up with him. Hell, she needed to catch up with her body that for whatever reason had already decided that jumping into bed with this guy was the way to go. But for Brynne, the new and old version of herself, there had to be more. She’d never been down for flings or the friends-with-benefits mentality. For her, a relationship was just that, two people coming together as one. And she wanted that, there was no question in her mind that’s what she wanted when the topic of men and women came up. She just hadn’t considered it with Wade Banks.
Glancing over at him talking on his phone, as he pulled his towel off the edge of the weight bench and wiped it over his face, she thought with a slow smile that she was definitely considering it now.
Dinner tonight had been with Lauren in the main dining room and had gone as most meals and other gatherings with Lauren tended to go—with much laughter and good times. That was one of the reasons they’d hit it off so well in college, because Lauren could be as funny and adventurous as Brynne. Sometimes.
More often than not, however, Lauren had been sad and withdrawn from just about everyone but Brynne. It was a year after they’d met that Lauren had finally explained why. They’d been at a diner with a few other classmates and everyone was eating. Brynne had her favorite from that particular place, the open-faced roasted turkey and gravy sandwich with fries. The others had their own plates, but in addition there were onion rings and fried clams on the table for all of them to enjoy. Lauren had a glass of water and wheat toast. That night hadn’t been the first time that Brynne had noticed how little Lauren ate, but it was the first time that Lauren had nearly collapsed when they returned to their apartment.
“We should get you to a hospital,” Brynne had said to her once she’d helped her onto the couch.
Lauren had closed her eyes as she lay back against the couch, her chest heaving as she tried to calm her breathing.
“No,” she whispered. “No need.”
“What do you mean there’s no need? You almost fell out on the floor. I don’t know about you but I’m not equipped to deal with that,” Brynne had replied, almost on the verge of hysteria.
“I’m fine,” Lauren had continued. “I just need a minute.”
“You probably need something to eat,” Brynne had blurted out. “You didn’t have a thing at the diner and this morning you only had a yogurt. The body needs more than that to sustain itself.”
Brynne fussed while she went to the kitchen and fixed Lauren a glass of milk. She needed to go to the grocery store so there wasn’t much in the refrigerator, hence the reason they’d gone to the diner in the first place. But she did find an apple and she carried that with the milk back into the living room. Lauren was gone when she returned. Before Brynne could look for her she heard her in her bedroom crying.
“I don’t want to eat!” Lauren had yelled when Brynne entered the room.
She was sitting in the center of her bed clutching a pillow to her stomach.
“I can’t eat!” she’d continued. “My mother had to be perfect. She had to look pretty and fit into the same size dress all of her life. He watched everything she ate, scolding her when she didn’t do what she was told. It drove her crazy enough to kill herself!”
Brynne had stood there staring at her friend with her long dark hair wild around her face, listening and trying to make sense of what she was saying.
“I was only three and then she was gone! It’s his fault I didn’t have a mother and he didn’t give a damn! He just wanted me to be perfect too. We both had to be perfect, me and Wade. We had to be all the time!”
Lauren cried and yelled and cried some more until finally she fell asleep. Brynne had set with her all night, listening when she needed to talk and holding her when she simply cried. Two days later, Lauren asked Brynne to go with her to the guidance counselor’s office. Their friendship grew stronger that night and the years that followed, so that the first person Brynne had called last year upon leaving the doctor’s office, was Lauren. She’d taken the next flight out to San Francisco and Lauren had met her at the hotel where Brynne had made reservations. That night it was Lauren’s turn to listen and to hold Brynne while she cried and admitted to having an over-eating disorder.
Now, their bond was unbreakable, their friendship true, which is why Lauren was perfectly comfortable asking, “So are you going to sleep with my brother?” when they were at the dining room table.
Luckily, Brynne had just set the glass of lemonade—made with fresh lemons and Splenda—on the table. She was able to swallow without choking and then stare at her friend incredulously.
“What?” Lauren asked with a shrug of her still very thin shoulders. “He likes you, we both know that now. And the way you keep staring off like you’re thinking of something or someone whose definitely not here, I’m guessing that you’re feeling him too. So…”
“So, that does not mean I’m going to give you a date and time when I plan to sleep with him?” Brynne said with a shake of her head.
“Oh, that’s right, because you like to wait for sex. Well, let me tell you deary, as I know I have told you many times before, you should really try out the goods before you invest a lot of time and energy into a guy.”
Lauren was not a believer in relationships. Her parents’ marriage had definitely taken a toll on her even though she hadn’t actually witnessed it for herself. She’d been so young when her mother died, but her brother and Mrs. Ramsey had told her how unhappy Lily Banks had been with her husband. Actually, as far as Brynne knew, Lauren had gotten the gist of her mother’s circumstances by the way her father treated her when she was growing up. It was a sad situation. For that matter, Brynne considered her home life sad and lacking as well. Still, regardless of her father’s failed attempts at healthy relationships, or her mother’s denial about them, Brynne still held out hope for her own happy ever after.
“You know that’s not how I operate,” Brynne had replied. “Even though I can appreciate the upfront knowledge, I’d rather get to know a guy a little better first.”
Lauren frowned. “You mean the way you took over a year getting to know Frank and then when you finally met him, still declined.”
“I wasn’t attracted to Frank in that way.”
“And you couldn’t have figured that out any sooner,” she quipped and then laughed. “Girl, your name is not Cinderella and Prince Charming is not going to come riding in on his white horse to save you from yourself. Now, Wade is quite handsome, if I do say so myself. And he could be considered a prince charming if you get past his brooding temper and his insistence on driving that huge SUV instead of the cute little sport’s car he has parked in the garage.”
“I’m not interested in his vehicles and I haven’t had the opportunity to see his temper,” Brynne said. “We’re just taking it a day at a time.”
“You sound like a senior citizen,” Lauren said and then leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table. “Wait, is that the problem? Are you thinking about the age difference between you and Wade?”
“No,” Brynne answered. “Not really. There are so many other differences. For instance he runs a multi-million dollar vineyard, an investment company and a non-profit company. I don’t even have a job right now. I’ve been living off my meager savings and then when that was depleted, the trust fund my father set up for me.”
And how she hated admitting that. For all that Brynne thought he could have done better in the father/daughter bonding department, Bernard Donovan was an excellent provider for his children. She knew from her mother that Keysa’s mother had received generous child support payments while Keysa was growing up and like Brynne, there had been a trust fund for Keysa as well. Brynne’s college tuition would have been completely taken care of, even without the scholarships that she’d received. Ba
sically, Brynne did not have to worry about money. She was a Donovan which meant she was financially secure and worst case scenario, she would always have a job at her family’s oil company.
“Which is why I can’t believe you’re even mentioning the fact that you’re not working right now. You had a great job before and you’ll get another one,” Lauren said. “Wade knows that, even though I can promise you he’s not thinking that you may be a gold digger in the interim.”
Brynne had laughed then. She laughed a lot with Lauren, which was another reason why their friendship was so important to her. And another reason why what Brynne decided to do or not do with Wade was so critical. Bad breakups could destroy friendships, and families. Just look what her family was going through now.
It was with those thoughts that Brynne had decided to get some air. Lauren had some plans she wanted to go over with Mrs. Ramsey and had bid Brynne a goodnight, joking as she left the room that it would have been a better night if Brynne snuck into Wade’s room to sleep instead of going to her own.
Now, Brynne had made it to the gazebo alone where she sat on the bench looking out to the night sky. She’d missed the sunset tonight, which was fine because it only would have reminded her of last night again. Spending that time with Wade on their first date. And the morning after in the gym, that had gone basically well too. So why was she still so worried about moving forward with him?
Because at the moment, every relationship she’d had to look up to in her life was falling apart. Her parents were getting a divorce. Bailey had told her that Aunt Beverly had sort of left Uncle Henry. Why? Because Uncle Henry had a bad break-up with this Roslyn Ausby woman. Granted Brynne had never imagined a woman taking a break-up this far, she still had to wonder about the people in this world and what they were capable of. Or maybe she didn’t have to wonder at all. Maybe she could continue on the path she’d set for herself. Now that her health issues were coming under control, Brynne could find another job in the art industry and she could simply continue to live her life.
