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When does he have time to tan?
“Is that right?” I query, unable to help but grin back.
He jerks his head back, a motion for me to follow him. “C’mon, baby.”
I slip my bookmark between the pages and put it on the end table, trailing behind him as we head down the flight of stairs. We greet the chef, Lydia, who’s now leaving, and press on. He grabs my hand. Not recoiling from his touch, I let myself feel the calluses at the base of his fingers. We go past the first and second guest rooms and to…. A wall.
I arch a brow at him, staring blankly and he laughs. “Have you never questioned why the guest bathroom size didn’t match with the wall size?”
“Seeing as I’ve never been very good at geometry, no, Savage. My degree is inlaw. Not architecture,” I answer.
He rolls his eyes at me and presses a hidden button next to the wall. It opens up, then looks at me. “See?”
“Impressive. You found a hidden supply closet.”
He barks out a laugh and steps into the darkness. “It’s so much more than that, Bri. Come here, baby, look.”
He’s so excited I can’t help but do as he says. Parker takes a step back, letting the darkness behind him swallow him whole. He flicks on a light, and I step inside the tiny room with him. I try my best to ignore the heat that comes off him, the intoxicating scent of fresh lemongrass that rolls off him. To our left is another set of double doors. Beside said doors is a code entry lock.
“Huh.”
“Told you.” he punches in a few numbers, and they swing open.
“How did you know the code?”
“Easy. It’s your birthday.”
For some reason, the thought that Maksim made his Top Secret Very Important Code my birthday lights me up inside.
We step into the vast room and find… a gym.
Over the hardwood flooring, to our left are machines for each muscle group, including a few cardio machines. Behind those are different jump ropes and bands for stretching, and in thefar right corner are punching bags. Before that is an entire mirrored wall with dumbbells, kettlebells, a squat rack, and benches over rubber mats.
I feel my brows rise. If Maksim has this here, why does he still go out to the gym? Is that a lie? Is he meeting someone else? Jealousy flares through me at the thought of him lying to be able to meet some bitch. I shake the thought out of my head. No, he comes home smelling like sweat and sometimes with bruises. The rational part of me wants to accept that.
The irrational part of me wants to kill anyone that touches my husband.
How the turns have tabled.
“Well, c’mon!” Parker rings. “I’ve been having to rely on calisthenics to keep my physique.”
I look down at my oversized shirt and biker shorts. Good a time as any, I suppose. “I don’t have my trainers on.”
He looks down at my socked feet and grins again. He heads over to the closet that looks like it could be an arsenal. “This is the best part.” he opens it, and a bright light turns on, revealing trainers in different shades of pink.
For me.
I gasp, the back of my eyes sting. “Oh my god,” I murmur, holding back a sniff, walking up to join my bodyguard. But he’s more than that, isn’t he?
Parker grabs the nearest pair, loosens the laces, and sinks down to his knee in a lunge. I lift my socked foot, placing it on his bent knee, and he slips the trainer on, tying the laces for me. It’s nothing new– he’s done this for me so many times. But now, now that I'm opening my eyes, now that I'm seeing him for what feels like the first time in ages, my heart thumps wildly for a brief moment. “Thank you,” I rasp, putting my foot back down on the hardwood when he’s done.
He looks up at me, the excitement in his eyes wavering, replaced with what feels like admiration. “Always,” he responds with a purr, doing the same to my other foot. He stands and grabs the bands from the wall. “Let’s stretch a bit, do some cardio, then we can fuck around with the weights.”
“This is how you’ll kill me, isn’t it?”
He laughs. “Trust me, Sabrina, the only thing I plan on murdering is your pretty pussy.”
The blush surges quickly, causingallof my pink parts to tingle and warm, heightening my awareness of him. He shucks off his Henley, and I'm left with the delicious sight of the massive quantity of tattoos over his gloriously defined body. Veins wrap around thick forearms andup bulging biceps. His athletic shorts are slung low on his hips, every ridge of his abs on display, along with the dip of his hips, his Adonis belt protruding so deliciously, my mouth waters.