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“I don’t know what happened.”
“I do.” Kirsten picked up their tray as it appeared on the counter. “You saw something you wanted and you went for it.” They headed for an empty table. “So how was it?”
Lydia took a bite of her sandwich. “Good. Really good.”
Kirsten sighed dreamily. “And?”
“And nothing. We talked the next morning. I think Luke wigged out a bit. Said something about finding me a new trainer.”
“Right,” Kirsten said. “I can see how it would make things complicated. So you’re training with someone else now?”
Lydia shook her head.
“Aw, boo. You’ve stopped sleeping with him?”
Lydia swallowed, wiping her face with a napkin. “We agreed it was a onetime thing and would not be happening again. I just needed somewhere to funnel all the extra endorphins and energy, and Luke was right there. But I need him to help me get those miles down more than I need him in my bed.” There was really no sense in getting hung up on their night together. It was nothing serious—hookup situations never were for her. To ruin their partnership over sex would be foolish.
Part of her still couldn’t believe they’d fallen into bed together. There was something inherently unsexy about training for a marathon. At least the way she was doing it. Muscles that she’d never used before now ached. Her joints made strange popping sounds, and she was pretty sure she flailed like a bird trying to take flight while she ran. Despite all that, Luke had still slept with her. So, either he was in a dry spell, or she was just oozing sex appeal along with her sweat.
“You guys see each other almost every day.” Kirsten’s mouth froze halfway to her sandwich. “What if there are feelings and junk?”
Lydia laughed so hard she almost choked on a pepper.
“What?” Kirsten said. “It could happen.”
“God, no,” Lydia said immediately.Feelings? Between her and Luke?He was a great guy, really, but they were all wrong for each other.
“Why not?” Kirsten said.
“Luke’s wonderful, but...” Lydia shrugged. She knew this thing between them wouldn’t go any further than it already had, mostly because she was waiting on a love story like Ashley’s. Until that time, everything else was just filler—fun, but filler. She had a vision in her head of how her life was supposed to turn out, and she cared about Luke too much to just let him be her filler. Despite the short six weeks they’d spent together, she already knew he deserved more than that. She fully expected to meet a colleague one day that swept her off her feet, a fellow architect who just understood her world, who could support her as she moved up the ladder in her career.Someone like Jack, she thought, getting butterflies. Though she wasn’t about to let slip about Jack to Kirsten. “We’re all wrong for each other,” she finished flatly.
“Then maybe he wasn’t reallythatgood?”
“The bedroom situation is not the problem. Trust me. I lost track of how many times—”
Kirsten held a hand up. “I’ve heard enough to be thoroughly jealous. If you’re not going to pursue that, thenpleasesend him my way.”
Lydia smirked at Kirsten’s enthusiasm, trying in vain not to think about Luke’s muscles on display while his fingers did wicked things. About his tongue ghosting across her skin. About the way he laughed when she complained about doing burpees. Or those smiles he reserved for when she conquered miles she didn’t think she could. The way his eyes lit up when he talked about his business plan and the youth center and...
Okay, maybe Kirsten is right, Lydia thought as her face burned scarlet. Maybe there was a tiny, residual feeling left over.
One flimsy little feeling that she was going to have to stomp out because she had a marathon to run.
Ten
Luke
“Ithink my lung collapsed. That’s a real thing, right? Because I’m pretty sure it’s happening right now. Either that or I’m dying.”
“You’d be in a lot more pain if your lung collapsed,” Luke said.
“That’s not very reassuring.” Lydia slowed and held her arm up, reaching around with her other hand to press against her ribs. “Right here.”
Luke slowed, jogging backward down the sidewalk. It was early in the day, but the late-July sun already baked overhead, and he’d done his best to keep them in the shade for most of the ten-mile run. “Think you can push through it?”
Lydia groaned, and Luke tried not to think about how that sound made him think about other things,other sounds. “When you ask like that it makes me feel like I need to try harder.”
She started jogging. He kept the pace deliberately slow until she fell in step beside him. “Don’t hold your breath. Remember what we always talk about? Inhale through your nose and mouth at the same time.”
