“Good morning, Luce.” As soon as Theo spoke, she detected a slight change in his voice. It was like some of the zest was gone from it, and she suddenly wished she could see his face, just to make sure he was all right.
“Come here often?” she asked, setting her bag down in the dewy grass.
Theo laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “I do, as a matter of fact. Maybe it’ll become a hangout for us. Did it take you long to get here?”
Theo wanted to hang out with her? That was news. “Uh, it’s about the same as my place to Miami Beach. Not a problem at all.”
“Good.” Theo shuffled his feet, shoved his hands in his pockets, and looked off into the dark morning.
There was something wrong with him. She could sense it. And she was just about to ask him what it was when he said, “I want to tell you something, Lucy.”
She straightened at how serious he sounded, and all her senses went on alert. The darkness made the few feet between them shrink to nothing. She heard Theo’s even breathing and could smell the soap and shampoo on him and the now-familiar scent of his skin.
Suddenly he moved toward her and his face was so close she could feel his heat. Then his lips brushed over her cheek, soft and sweet. They stayed there about three seconds, but it felt like forever.
“I am extremely proud of you.”
Lucy felt his breath on her neck just before he pulled away. She squeezed her eyes tight and tried to breathe normally, wondering if that kiss had branded her cheek with a sizzling imprint of his lips. “Thanks, Theo,” she managed.
“And you looked wonderful at the studio last week.”
He flashed his teeth at her in the dark. “Everybody was talking about you.”
Lucy thought her heart would melt. He just said she looked wonderful! She was thrilled!
“Now it’s time to kick your ass, Cunningham.”
Lucy laughed. She loved the way Theo talked dirty to her.
He took her by the hand, slipping his fingers between hers, and they walked along the track at a nice clip. He squeezed her hand and smiled again before he let go.
As they walked, Theo explained they were entering a new phase of her training, one that would put more emphasis on the quality of her cardio, not just the quantity. He explained interval training to her, that it would consist of alternating running and walking at varying speeds, including sprints. Lucy figured now would be the time to mention that she didn’t do sprints.
“Ever hear the blues song that goes, ‘I’m built for comfort, not for speed’?” Lucy asked. “That’s my theme song.”
The sun had begun to tiptoe its way over the horizon, and she could just make out the amused look on Theo’s face.
“That’s bull, Luce. You ran just fine that day at the News Cafe”. You ran right out onto the sidewalk.“
She laughed. “OK, but I was running away from you and your tank. It was a self-preservation thing.”
Theo laughed, too, and Lucy realized that she’d developed a real fondness for the sound of that laugh. She’d grown accustomed to its cadence over the last few months, along with all the other little noises Theo made, like the sigh when she exasperated him, the little devilish chortle when he added five pounds to the standing tricep pull-down, the way he gave her his seal of approval-“you rock, Cunningham”-after she’d made it through something difficult.
“I’m not too proud to chase after women,” Theo said, then lunged toward her with a dramatic roar.
Lucy yelped, turned, and took off down the track.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt her body surrender to the rhythm of running. She listened to her breath move in and out and the steady tap of her feet on the track. She knew she wasn’t going all that fast, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that her body instinctively remembered how to do this, that her body could still do what it was designed to do.
“I’m right behind you, Lucy.” Theo’s voice dripped with pretend menace.
Lucy smiled, reveling in how her lungs were expanding, thinking that the response she’d had to Theo’s peck on her cheek was proof her body remembered other joys as well. Maybe sensual pleasure was something a woman’s body could never forget, no matter how hard the woman tried to pretend it wasn’t important.
Maybe being in close proximity to Theo Redmond, day after day, was all the reminder a body needed.
As her lungs pumped and her head cleared, she wondered if all the effort she’d put into blotting out the pain had deadened her ability to feel pleasure, too. What a shame. What a loss.
And then she asked herself: how much had she really allowed Brad Zirkle and the Pitt State football team to steal from her that day?
Lucy’s eyes began to sting.
“You’d better keep going, little girl.” Theo was trying for a downright creepy delivery, but to Lucy he sounded like a cross between Mr. Rogers and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He leaned in close to hiss in her ear, “You’re in the woods. It’s dark. The big bad wolf’s right behind you, and you look good enough to eat.”
The stands had been packed that day her freshman year. If the team managed to beat Purdue they got their shot at the Taco Bowl. And, thanks to Brad Zirkle’s record-breaking rushing performance, they did it. Lucy cheered as the students stormed the field in celebration. It was all chaos and excitement. And then Lucy watched team members unfurl something… a bedsheet?… and the first words appeared: Thank You, Lucky Lucy Cunningham…
Lucy stumbled on the track, and she felt Theo’s hand steady her. She pushed herself to keep running. She needed to run through the memory, push her body through the hurt.
She’d felt joy when she first saw those words, because for a second she really thought Brad was thanking her. He’d just had the game of his college career, the game that made up for his season-long slump. She’d been dating him for three weeks. They’d slept together. The big sign unfurling on the field had to be his way of thanking her for his change in luck, for all the world to see.
And then the rest of the sheet snapped open. The team went wild with hoots, the TV cameras swarmed, and everyone within earshot began to mumble, “Who’s Lucy Cunningham? And what’s a slump buster?”
On some level, Lucy knew it was bad. Real bad. But it wasn’t until she was leaving the stadium nearly fifteen minutes later that she learned precisely what she was.
Two frat boys were trying to explain the concept to a girl Lucy recognized from Brit lit class. She overheard them say, “If a jock is in a slump, his teammates dare him to find a fat or ugly girl and have sex with her. If the act is witnessed and he can survive it, his luck will change.”
For an instant, Lucy had been unable to move and got jostled around in the exiting crowd. But then she ran-she ran as fast as she could in a blind panic of shame, falling in the parking lot, scraping her palms bloody. Someone tried to help her up, but she pushed them away and scrambled to her feet, running all the way back to her dorm.
The Miami Springs High School track blurred under Lucy’s feet, and her lungs began to burn like they had that day so long ago. Her heart pounded so hard it hurt, just like it had that day. Her legs felt like Jell-O, just like that run from the stadium ten years ago.
She heard herself make the strangest sound, and it struck her as interesting that she could sob and run at the same time.
“Lucy!”
She stopped in the middle of the track. She stood, panting, her legs braced wide apart, her hands on her knees and her head hanging as she gulped down the air. Theo bent down to peer into her face.
“Are you all right?”
The instant Theo’s hand caressed her back, her scream pierced the silence. Lucy spun around, unable to stop the screech of words already leaving her lips: “Don’t touch me.‘”
The sun had risen enough that she could clearly see the bewilderment in Theo’s face. His mouth hung open and he stepped back, shocked.
Their eyes locked for a long moment.
“Wh
at in the world is going on, Lucy?”
Theo hadn’t felt the anger pulse off Lucy’s body like this since that day at the News Cafe. And not only was the anger back; it was back with a vengeance, and it was raw and nasty and, for some reason, aimed directly at him.
Lucy pushed out her chin in an attempt to stop its quivering. “Don’t ever touch me again without my permission. Got it?”
Where did this come from? He’d only been playing with her, and he wondered if somehow their little Robin Hood game had flipped a switch in Lucy’s brain. He’d never seen her so pissed. He’d never seen any woman this pissed.
Or this hurt.
He made his voice as gentle as he could. “I touch you all the time, Luce. I just wanted-”
“I know you touch me! Do you think I haven’t noticed?”
Theo took another step back and felt torn between appreciation for Lucy’s warrior princess body stance and the devastation in her eyes. Something-someone-had really hurt Lucy Cunningham. It had been obvious to him from the beginning. And there she stood before him now, a ticking time bomb in a pair of pink sweatpants, and he didn’t know how to defuse her.
“You’ve got to talk to me, Luce.”
“Just don’t touch me anymore, Theo.”
She turned away and began to cut across the oval infield of grass, arms swinging high as she took big strides toward her gym bag.
Theo arrived at her side-a polite distance away- and said nothing. After they walked for a few moments, he risked a sidelong glance, only to find her face contorted and streaked with tears.
“What in the hell is this about? Tell me!”
She shook her head and held up a hand. “I’m sorry. That was completely ridiculous.”
He sighed. “Look. We all have our hot buttons, and it seems I just hit one of yours. So tell me what’s going on.”
There was no humor in Lucy’s eyes or curve to her lips, which now formed a grimace. She turned away without comment.
He decided not to push. Like everything else about Lucy, he would have to discover it one little piece at a time.
“How about we just move on to the exercise ball?” Theo tried to sound cheerful. “You’re warmed up, and I’ve got a few new tricks up my sleeve I’d like to show you.”
She came to a halt, then stomped her feet in the grass in indignation. “You want to keep going after I’ve had a complete mental breakdown?” She waved her arms in the air. “All I want to do is go home and eat a large pepperoni with extra cheese and a box of Fiddle
Faddle! I don’t want to do any stupid tricks on your fucking big red exercise ball!“
“Lucy-” Theo somehow kept himself from brushing away the strand of hair swaying across her forehead. Then he restrained himself from taking her in his arms, holding her, and telling her everything would be all right. This woman baffled him. She made him laugh. She stirred up feelings in him that he had no business having. He didn’t know how to handle this. He didn’t know how to handle her.
So he said, “Junk food isn’t the way you deal with bad days anymore, remember?”
“Oh, fuck off!” Lucy leaned down, gripped the exercise ball in her arms, and threw it at him.
Theo caught the ball and stared at her. She was glistening and her hair was a mess and her breasts heaved from exertion and her lips were red and her eyes wild-and he suddenly needed to kiss her mouth hard, rip off her pink sweatpants, and throw her down on the dewy grass before the WakeUp Miami camera crew got there.
Theo felt himself go numb.
Lucy blew the hair out of her face. “What is wrong with you?” she spit out. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Theo threw the ball down. “I happen to be flipping out a bit myself today.”
Lucy let out a loud snort of a laugh. “Oh, really? And what could possibly be bothering you! Did they discontinue your favorite brand of hair gel or something?”
Theo stared at her, letting her comment sink in. “You don’t think very much of me, do you?”
She sighed. “You didn’t deserve that.”
“Damn right, Cunningham.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” She bit her lip. “Is everything OK with your brother? Your cat?”
Theo shook his head slowly, wondering once again if a hundred grand was worth the loss of his sanity. She insulted him. He lusted after her. There was something very wrong with that picture. “My brother and cat are excellent. My hair is excellent, too.”
“Yeah. OK.” Lucy moved a little closer to him, trying to gauge his expression. “I’m sorry, Theo. I can get real ugly with self-pity sometimes. But I’m a good listener. Let me make it up to you.”
She reached for his hand, and the soft touch of her fingers sent a bolt of awareness through him. This was nuts. It was almost like Lucy’s outburst had opened something in him that he was now unable to close. Theo suddenly ached with desire for that fiery, passionate, angry woman he’d just seen revealed in all her glory.
He looked down at their joined hands. “You said no touching.”
Her gray eyes searched his face. “I take it back.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Now tell me-why are you having a bad day?”
Theo opened his fingers and entwined them with Lucy’s. “My ex stopped by to tell me she’s engaged,” Theo said. “She’s marrying the middle-aged dude she dumped me for seven months ago. It took me off guard, I guess.”
Lucy took a step back. Someone actually dumped Theo Redmond? “What a complete idiot!”
Theo shrugged. “He’s a jerk, but an extremely smart one, as it turns out.”
“No, I meant your ex-girlfriend! She’s obviously not the brightest crayon in the box if she left you for someone else.”
Theo shot her a smile so full of mischief that it stunned Lucy. She was suddenly burning up, and she knew it wasn’t because she’d just run a mile for the first time in a decade. It was because Theo’s smile acted like gasoline thrown on that secret little flame inside her, the one he’d ignited the day she met him.
He grabbed her other hand in his.
She had to be imagining this. Theo was holding both her hands in his, and it had nothing to do with adjusting her grip on a fitness machine. All she could think was, Don’t blow it, Cunningham!
“I thought Gia Altamonte was your girlfriend at first. Did I ever tell you that?” Oh great-bring up the most gorgeous woman on the planet while he’s holding your hands.
“Gia?” Theo’s eyebrows shot high on his forehead. “She’s not exactly my type.”
“Of course. Homely creature that she is.”
Theo laughed a little and noticed how the exercise ball had come to a stop near Lucy’s feet. He gave it a tap with his toe until it was directly behind her.
“Gia is a live wire, Lucy. She has the attention span of a gerbil. She’s great, but I prefer my women a little more predictable. Besides, I don’t date clients.”
“Why not?” He gave her a gentle nudge and Lucy found herself lowering her bottom onto the huge ball, Theo still holding her hands.
“Palm Club policy.”
“Of course.” Lucy bounced a few times, getting the feel of the weight of her body balanced on the curved surface, anchored by her widely spread feet. When she let go of Theo’s hands, the ball felt like a life raft on choppy seas.
“Now it’s your turn. Tell me what just happened back there.”
Lucy tried to get up from her perch but should have rearranged her legs first, because once her butt cleared the ball, her center of gravity pulled her backward. “Uh-oh…”
Theo grabbed her, and in an instant she was standing in his arms, his nose up against hers and his lips not two microns away from her own. She feared her beating heart would punch a hole through her damp T-shirt.
Theo whispered, “A kiss is not dating. Just so we’re clear on that.” His lips brushed hers even as he spoke.
“Of course.” Her lips grazed his.
“I d
on’t want to violate company policy.”
‘Then just violate me.“
Theo pressed his mouth full against hers while he gripped her hard by the upper arms. Lucy closed her eyes and swayed. OK, perhaps she vaguely remembered kissing as a concept, but she’d never felt a kiss like this in her whole life.
His mouth seemed to know exactly what it wanted, and took it. Theo’s kiss had a unique rhythm. Its own language. Theo’s kiss was like visiting an exotic foreign land that she’d only seen in travel brochures. It felt so strange. So perfect. And she thought to herself, So this is a kiss.
Lucy let herself sink into it, the heat and the connection and the soft, sweet questions Theo seemed to ask her. And at that instant, her answer to everything was, Hell yes.
Theo found it difficult to kiss and smile at the same time, but he found he had no choice with Lucy. He knew it would be like this. He knew she’d be soft and delicious and responsive and he’d get one taste of her and not be able to stop himself-so why had he started? Now all that mattered was that he feel every inch of her body, kiss her until they both couldn’t breathe, until he knew her down to her very last secret.
His hands roamed around her back, down her sides, and they were just about to grab onto the full globes under those pink sweatpants when the camera crew pulled into the parking lot.
“I kissed her.”
Tyson crammed a handful of popcorn in his mouth and dragged his gaze from the basketball game to Theo. “Kissed who?” he mumbled.
Before Theo could answer, Tyson’s focus wandered back to the TV screen. The room erupted in hoots and jeers, and Buddy and his Special Olympic teammates gave one another high fives and pranced around the family room. The noise was deafening.
“Lucy.” Theo said it in a near whisper.
Tyson jumped to his feet, dumping the bowl of popcorn on the floor.
“Hey! We were eating that!” somebody complained.
“We got to have a talk, boy.” Tyson grabbed Theo’s forearm and herded him through the dining room just as Buddy tossed the empty bowl their way and asked for a refill.
“So when did that happen?” Tyson leaned up against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms across his big chest. He found a stray kernel of popcorn on the front of his polo shirt and popped it in his mouth. “And does this mean I can’t ask her out?”
He Loves Lucy Page 8
