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“I’ve been called worse. Some people even say I take their breath away.”
“Oh, please. How long are you going to milk that for?”
“Probably until the end of time. Come on,” he said, getting back on task. “Let’s do some cooldown stretches. It’s a good habit to get into. Just some light, static stuff to stay injury-and pain-free.”
“Somehow I think you’ll be my biggest pain,” Lydia said, throwing her head back to shake sticky strands of hair from her face.
Luke’s lips twitched. “Let’s start with a deep lunge stretch.” When her eyebrow started to arch, he demonstrated, lunging forward with his right leg. “It works really well to loosen tight hip flexors, especially if you’re sitting behind a desk for most of your day.”
Lydia copied him, wobbling a little as she tried to find her balance. Her arm shot out and Luke steadied her as she repositioned. “This might be more torturous than running.”
“It’s good for you, I promise. Keep your knee bent at ninety degrees and your weight in your heel.” Luke’s eyes traced her form as he walked her through a quad stretch and then a standing adductor stretch. They were only holding the stretches for thirty seconds each, but it was long enough for his eyes to linger on the soft dips and curves of her body.
Startled by his obvious attraction, Luke looked away. He needed to think like a trainer, like a coach. He dragged his thoughts back into the moment, back to the next stretch. “Last one,” he said. “Lie down on your back.”
“People normally buy me dinner first.”
“It’s for a stretch,” he said, shaking his head at her. Despite his best efforts, he felt his cheeks grow hot.
Lydia flopped down on her back, her green eyes looking him up and down in a way that did little to help the thoughts he’d already tried to banish from his mind.
“Keep one leg extended and bring your other knee toward your chest.”
She followed his directions. “What’s this stretch for?”
“It focuses on the hips and the gluteus maximus muscle.”
She grinned at him playfully. “The gluteus maximus—”
“Don’t,” Luke said, interrupting her.
“Does this mean you’re looking at my butt?”
“Oh my God,” Luke muttered under his breath, feeling that sweltering heat in his cheeks reignite. He reached down to help pull Lydia to her feet.
“It’s okay if you are,” she said, angling toward him.
In truth, he’d tried not to look. Even now he tried to keep his eyes firmly on her face, but he was apparently breaking all the rules today. His gaze dropped for a fraction of a second, but when he lifted his eyes to meet hers once more, instead of being offended by his wandering gaze, Lydia simply arched her brow. Teasing. She was a woman who seemed to know exactly what she had to offer.
Luke had a lot of thoughts. A lot of inappropriate thoughts, considering they were in the middle of the gym. “Don’t let it go to your head,” he mumbled.
Lydia’s mouth fell open as if she couldn’t believe he’d acknowledged this spark that neither of them were supposed to be acknowledging. Then she snapped her lips together, and his eyes were drawn there. Dammit. The warm flush spread down his neck.
“Admit it,” she said, looking up at him.
“Admit what?” he asked, doing his best to ignore the curve of her mouth as her lips twisted into a not-so-innocent smile.
“That was the best static stretching you’ve ever seen.”
Luke scoffed, but somewhere between crashing into each other in the lobby and now, this had become flirting. Brash, blushing, brazen flirting. In the middle of the gym. In the middle of a workday.
He could see now that Lydia McKenzie was going to be one of his more challenging clients.
Before he could do or say something he’d regret, he guided her to the door of the running room. “Enjoy your last day of freedom, Cold Foam. Things are about to get intense.”
“I don’t actually think I’m going to like you very much,” she told him as she passed into the hall.
“Probably not while we’re training,” he called after her. “But you’re gonnaloveme when you cross that finish line!”
