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He laughed, leaning over the centre console, clearly about to kiss me, before jerking back as his ears fluttered. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Okay, well, see you tomorrow.”

I hesitated for another second. I wanted to kiss him again. But I knew why he’d stopped himself. A parting kiss in the car after he’d driven me home felt like… different territory to what we’d agreed on. A kiss goodbye was sweet. Romantic. And this wasn’t a romance.

“See you tomorrow.” I opened the car door and climbed out quickly, lifted my hand in goodbye after slamming it shut, then turned to walk up the steps to my building’s front door.

He didn’t drive off until I was out of sight inside.

Chapter Thirty

Anita

I slept well and woke up bright and early to go to the gym. Nuni was already there when I arrived, and he seemed to be

finishing up his workout, because the moment he saw me, he headed over with a grin.

“Ready?” He pulled his right leg back into a brief quad stretch. “I’m all limbered up.”

Was he talking about sex or running? I was up for either, so I simply said, “Yes.”

“Awesome. Get ready to lose, Chaudhary,” he threw over his shoulder as he sauntered toward the treadmills.

Okay, running it was. I followed him and hopped onto the treadmill beside the one he claimed, my mouth twitching when I saw the determined gleam in his eyes. He stretched out his quads again, squirted some water in his mouth, then looked at me expectantly with his finger poised over the button to turn the treadmill on.

I took my time tucking my water bottle and towel into the cupholder, then did a few quick stretches of my own just to make him wait.

Nuni huffed. “Come on, dude.”

Laughing, I powered up my treadmill and set it on a jog to warm up. “So impatient to lose again.”

“You wish.” He started jogging beside me. “I’m pumped, dude. I’m ready.”

I chuckled but said nothing, my own competitive spirit flaring as I started running. We kept up with each other, increasing the speed of our treadmills at the same time before adding an incline. But after half an hour of us both running at a hard pace, Nuni started flagging.

“What the fuck, dude?” he panted. “Do you have bionic legs or something?”

“There’s no shame if you have to lower your speed,” I replied airily without stopping.

“You’re like a machine.” He set his feet on either side of the belt to take a break, gulping down water. After taking a deep breath, he jumped back onto the belt and started running again, almost tripping at first.

I chuckled breathlessly, glancing over at him. His forehead was shiny with sweat, a drip meandering down his temple. His biceps looked huge as he pumped his arms, face tight with concentration.

I looked away quickly so I didn’t lose my focus, but I was silently urging him to give up. I wasn’t willing to lose, but I was also extremely eager to stop running and move on to more interesting activities we could do together.

Would he invite me back to his place again?

After another fifteen minutes, Nuni finally admitted defeat.

“Okay, fine, you win,” he gasped out, jabbing at the button to turn off the treadmill. “Jesus. I need to do more cardio.”

Relieved, I slowed my treadmill’s speed to start cooling down and smugly said, “Well done. You did pretty good.”

He gave me a weak glare as he squirted water into his mouth. “We should have a weightlifting competition.”

I snorted, slowing to a brisk walk and reaching for my water bottle. “Oh yeah, because that would be fair.”

“What do you mean?” he asked innocently, but he was smirking.

I gave him a flat look and gestured at his chest. “Look at you. You’re huge.”