Page 12 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

JENSEN

N othing at the gym made my heart race the way Adeline did and she hadn’t shown up today.

After the session we had on the mat, I figured I'd scared her off for good and was cursing myself for pushing too far. Or at least I’d given up hope that she was going to when the front entrance opened and she paraded in.

I perked up instantly only to be cock blocked by the sight of Kaia Keegan and Sunday Black.

Not that they weren’t welcome, but it would make it a hell of a lot harder to get under Adeline’s skin if she had a buffer.

I knew the second she smiled at me that she had done it on purpose.

I dropped the dumbbell in my left hand to the ground noisily and grinned at her, my smile lopsided with admiration.

She was always one step ahead of me and I couldn't tell if it pissed me off or turned me on.

But she bent over in those tiny bike shorts and my dick hardened with the answer.

Loud and clear, it turned me the fuck on.

Every giggle broke my concentration and I could hear Kaia losing her mind about something as they started an intense arm circuit.

Half way through both Kaia and Sunday had slowed, whining that Adeline was pushing them too hard.

She had worn some tight black and dark green sports bra that hugged her ribcage and showed off her stomach and paired with her dark green workout shorts that showed off her perfect ass.

Her hair was pulled up into a half bun and chunks of touchable hair fell out around her face.

I could stare at her for hours even if she was doing her best to ignore me.

I watched from my seat on the bench, digging out my phone to antagonize her a little just to see her cheeks turn red in front of her friends.

Can you ask Kaia what she thinks of my form ?

I set my phone down and lifted the weights back up to finish my set of curls before moving on to the rows. I watched as Adeline glared over her shoulder at me, her phone in her hand before she chucked it at Kaia who was balancing on a stack of jump mats.

Kaia broke out in laughter and tossed the phone to Sunday on the floor. I turned the music off in my headphones and had to keep from laughing at Sunday’s gasp. Pushing up onto her elbows she looked over at me, her blonde hair falling down her back and her eyes wide in shock.

“Smash!” Kaia cupped her face and yelled across the gym.

Adeline nearly tripped over her own feet trying to get her to shut up. Her whole body is tense while she texts and it’s hard not to laugh at how quickly she got riled up.

Don’t be too flattered, Kaia’s bar for standards is six feet under.

Ouch

Don’t flirt with my friends.

Are you jealous, Adeline?

I didn’t get a text back. She threw her phone into her duffle bag and started to boss around her friends. Both Sunday and Kaia laughed through the entire grueling workout. I curled around and eventually ended up closer to them on a machine that took very little focus.

“Am I attracted to arrogant men or is he the exception?” Sunday asked with a giggle.

“That man is the exception,” Kaia confirmed. They were unknowingly stroking my ego and it was increasingly hard to pretend that they weren’t.

“He can probably hear you, you know,” Adeline huffed, walking toward them out of breath.

“Good,” Kaia said quickly, “I hope he hears every slutty thing we say about him, he deserves it… ”

“I need you to find out if those tattoos are everywhere ,” Sunday purred and tied her long blonde hair back into a ponytail.

Adeline snuck a small glance at me through the hair that had fallen out of her bun and rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure he got them for attention,” she grumbled.

“Well they have my attention,” Sunday giggled.

“Are you two going to work out with me or metaphorically suck his dick all morning?” Adeline snapped and pushed a medicine ball around with her foot.

“You’re a human chastity belt,” Kaia whined.

“I don’t know, I think the whole playing hard to get thing is working…” Sunday’s eyes flickered over to me, a smiling curling on her lips.

“Don’t stare at him,” Adeline hissed and threw the medicine ball at Sunday.

“It’s so hard not too…” she took the ball into her arms with a grunt.

“Honestly, him working out without a shirt on is such an attractive red flag,” Kaia added and I tried not to smile. You aren’t supposed to be able to hear them, idiot.

“What exactly makes up an attractive red flag?” Adeline asked.

“That,” Sunday swooned, her chin tilted toward me, nearly dropping the ball that time. I chuckled, tossing her a wink and watched as she turned beet red. The sound she made was something between a gasp and moan as she clumsily handed off the ball to Kaia and walked away to get some water.

Adeline looked pissed as Kaia threw the ball to her and she slammed it to the ground before spinning on the mat and coming straight toward me working on my flies.

“Cut it out,” she kicked the metal of the bench and vibrated the entire thing beneath me.

I let go of the machine and pulled out an earbud as I looked up at her. “What?” I pretended not to hear her without missing a beat.

“You’re distracting them,” she scowled, the wrinkles between her eyebrows were the cutest thing I’d seen yet.

“I’m just working out,” I feigned innocence.

“You’re peacocking!” Adeline snipped and I couldn’t help but laugh .

“Did you just refer to me as a bird?” I chuckled again, leaning forward on the bench to get closer to her. I wanted the warm, spicy smell of her perfume in my nose and her soft olive skin beneath my fingertips.

“I did, because you’re parading around the gym like an animal,” she said, her tone was tight and vicious.

“I parade around for you all the time,” I clipped smoothly back to her.

“That’s— you're infuriating,” she huffed. ‘ That’s different’ almost rolled off her lips and it lit a fire in the pit of my stomach. It might as well have been a ‘just for me’ because of the way my body reacted. “Behave, and put a shirt on!”

“Unfortunately, both of those things are out of character for me, so I’ll be doing neither,” I smirked at her. “It was cute that you thought they’d act as a buffer,” I said to her quietly, my tone low to hide how needy I was.

“They asked to come,” she lied, I could tell because her fingers flexed at her side.

“No,” I whispered and slid forward on the bench some more until I had to tilt my chin all the way up at her and I could feel the heat pouring off her skin through her clothes.

It took everything in me not to hook my finger into the damp elastic of her shorts to force her even closer.

“They’re here because you thought it would keep me at a distance,” I whispered only for her to hear.

It wasn’t about embarrassing her, it was about reminding her who’s turn it was in the game we were playing.

“But you should know something,” I said, and did it anyway.

She hissed as my finger hooked into the band and pulled her hips toward my chest.

“What’s that?” The next breath she took was shaky and it gave away how nervous she was.

“I see you,” I said, daring to explore how far she’d let me go.

I ghosted my thumb over the small bit of exposed skin at her hip.

Fuck, I loved that little piece of her. So soft…

I swallowed, trying to keep myself together, I moved my hand downward and let it fall tracing two fingers against her inner thigh just to feel her tremble, “and no amount of buffer will keep me away.”

I looked around her at Sunday and Kaia who were laying across machines with wide eyes .

“No matter how cute a buffer,” I smiled at them and they both scrambled to pretend they weren’t listening with their mouths wide open.

She covered her face with her hands to compose herself and backed away from the bench.

“And Adeline?” I called out, before slipping my earbud back in.

My breath caught in my throat as she turned back to look at me, I still hadn’t gotten used to her stealing it with such ease.

“You’re the prettiest Hillcat,” I smiled at her and watched her cheeks turn red.

I heard Kaia whine, “ you’re the prettiest hellcat.” And Adeline playfully pushed her over on the mat before scooping up the medicine ball and forcing them back to their workout.