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“Does that mean you’re going to stop complaining every time I ask you to do a burpee?”
“Not a chance.”
Luke laughed into his mug. If Lydia was prepared to make this work, then he could too. They were both adults who’d made the adult decision to sleep together. They’d chalk it up to a night where their desires got the best of them and leave it at that. Besides, didn’t Lydia have a workplace crush she was trying to impress?
That idea cooled whatever remained of last night’s lingering thoughts.
“Professional?” Lydia said, thrusting out her hand for him to shake.
Luke took it. “Professional.”
“Glad we’re on the same page about it.” She let go of his hand and thrusted her coffee cup into the air. “To getting me across that finish line.”
“Starting with today’s eight-mile run,” Luke added, snickering as she scowled at him.
“I was hoping you forgot about that.”
“The sex wasn’tthatmind-blowing.”
“Hey!” Lydia said as he stood and walked back to the window.
He beckoned her with a flick of his head. See, he could do this. He could just be Trainer Luke.
“Eight miles sucks,” Lydia complained for the fifth—or was it fiftieth?—time since starting the run.
“What are you talking about? You’re already halfway there, and you’re averaging an eleven-minute mile. At this rate we’ll be done in another forty minutes.”
Lydia groaned. “We’ve been running forever.”
“That’s just the way it goes in the beginning. Some runs breeze by and some drag on. One day, weeks from now, you’ll look back and think about how easy eight miles is.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. By the end of this training plan, you’ll be running eight miles as your nice, short recovery run distance and it won’t even faze you.”
“I’m exhausted just thinking about it.”
“C’mon—”Where’s all that energy I saw last night?Luke caught the words on the tip of his tongue. They’d agreed to this line. He couldn’t cross it. Not again. No aimless flirting, and that included bringing up the night they’d spent together. It was both easier and harder than he’d imagined. Easier because he knew this was the right thing to do. Because he was so determined to help her complete this marathon. But it was harder, too. Harder to keep his thoughts in check, especially during a long run when his mind naturally started to wander. He wondered if Lydia was having the same problem, but judging by her clenched fists and the way her brow furrowed, he suspected she was entirely consumed with thoughts of finishing these last four miles.
“You’re tensing up,” Luke said, slowing the pace. Her shoulders had been creeping toward her ears for at least a mile. Lydia staggered to a walk beside him.
Lydia rolled her shoulders and unfurled her fists as she caught her breath. “I didn’t even realize.”
“Are you in pain?” he asked. They had a lot of miles left to go before the marathon, and the last thing they needed was an injury slowing down their progress.
“No.” She gave him a wan smile. “Believe it or not, I was actually trying to up my pace a bit.”
“Staying relaxed is actually the key if you want to be faster. Tension compromises your running form and naturally slows you down.”
“So you’re saying slow and steady really does win the race?” she teased.
He squinted against the sun. “Sort of. Most runners carry tension in their upper bodies first. Watch for it in your shoulders, your hands, even your jaw.”
“How do I get rid of it?”
“Doing periodic body checks works,” he said. “Mentally scroll through your form cues from top down. Is your jaw clenched? Unclench it. Have your fists curled up? Shake them out. Are your shoulders relaxed?”
“What if I do all that and it doesn’t work?” she asked without looking at him.
