Page 6

The three of us did our own workouts but broke often to chat and tease each other. I had my favorite playlist going, and I’d just moved up weight on my leg press and squats when I felt like someone had called my name. Sitting up and pulling out my earbuds, I looked around. Rivera was filling up her water bottle and Coop was doing Romanian deadlifts in the mirror. Huh.

Still feeling weird, I glanced around and that’s when I saw her.

Hunter.

Hunter

Teaching classes at a gym like this wasn’t my first choice, but they’d been so gracious about adding me on their schedule. A few of my regulars had followed me, and there were some new faces, so I was adjusting to a new schedule. The owners of my other studio were still dragging their feet and I had the feeling that they might just cut their losses and close, so I needed to find a new home anyway. I already had a few friends and contacts at other studios, so I wasn’t all that worried about finding a place to teach.

I’d just finished an intense power class and was wondering what to order for dinner when something made me glance to the right, where the weights and machines were.

At the same time, a blonde head turned, and I locked eyes with someone I’d only seen once, weeks ago, but who I’d recognized instantly.

Stace. The firefighter.

For a moment, I couldn’t move. As if someone had hit Pause on the entire world.

While I couldn’t move, I guess she didn’t have the same problem. Stace rose to her feet from the machine she’d been sitting at and crossed the room. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

On the night of the fire I hadn’t been able to get a sense of her body under all that bulky gear. Sure, I knew she was strong, but seeing her wearing a tank and shorts that didn’t leave much to my imagination was another thing entirely.

This woman was jacked. Absolutely and totally jacked. She looked like a walking ad for muscles.

There was just so much of her to look at. My memories had made her shorter than she was. She was actually taller. Or maybe she looked taller in fewer clothes. Was that a thing?

While I was trying to figure it out, she reached me, nearly knocking me over with a smile that made both of her dimples pop.

“Hunter, right?” she said, but I knew that she remembered me. Probably not as well as I remembered her.

“Stace?” I asked, as if I wasn’t sure.

“That’s right,” she said, crossing her arms and giving me an eyeful of biceps and forearms that made my mouth water. I never knew I was into women with muscles, but Stace was doing all kinds of things to my libido. I was already warm from teaching, but my internal temperature kept going up, up, up.

“How are you doing?” she asked, leaning closer and looking me over, as if she was checking for injuries.

“Much better. My ankle is fine.” I looked down and twirled my foot to demonstrate.

“No lingering effects from the smoke?” she asked in a concerned tone.

“No, I’m good,” I said, wondering where the hell this odd conversation was going and still stunned that we had found each other again.

“Great. That’s great,” she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Now that my initial shock of seeing her had worn off, I was noticing more about her. Including her ears. They were big and stuck out just enough in a way that was so…adorable on someone who was so jacked that a warm feeling bloomed in my chest. I bet she got teased for those ears when she was growing up. Bet she still did.

“I’ll, uh, let you get back to your workout,” I said, still completely off balance. I wasn’t normally so conversationally tongue-tied.

“Yeah, of course. I should let you go do…whatever,” she said, her cheeks going a little pink and it wasn’t fair.

None of this was fair.

It was time to go, but my feet wouldn’t move. I couldn’t think of a single reason why I needed to leave.

“Stace!” someone yelled across the gym and she turned and shot a look at a woman who tapped her wrist.

“You should go,” I told her, because she’d have to be the one who left first. My body was just not going to do it.

Stace swore under her breath. “It’s good to see that you recovered and everything.”

“Thanks. Oh, and thanks for carrying me. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t found me.”