Page 4

3

M y brain shorted out as I took in the view before me.

Good.

God .

While I’d always appreciated him from an aesthetic standpoint, my attraction to Kevin wasn’t based on his appearance. I’d never spent all that much time pondering what he looked like under his usual uniform of t-shirts, hoodies, and work trousers.

I’d certainly never, not once, expected to be sitting in a front-row seat to the Naked Kevin show.

Perhaps that was why, confronted with him in all his physical glory, I felt as if I’d walked into a door.

Back when I was still wide-eyed and hopeful about fixing up my house, I used to go to B&Q after work or on a Sunday afternoon to wander around the paint and wallpaper aisle and make bold plans about redecorating. On one such trip, I’d seen him loading up the back of Craig Henderson’s white Ford Transit with twenty-kilo bags of sand. He’d tossed those things around as if they were party-sized bags of kettle chips.

So I’d known that Kevin was strong, but this was ridiculous.

After logging a few years of hard physical labour on the job, the youthful bulk he used to carry on his big frame had been whittled down and replaced by definition.

I hadn’t noticed until now that his arms had gone from enormous and brawny to still enormous but lean, with distinct biceps, tight, thick forearms, and those hands , work-rough yet artistic.

I hadn’t noticed that his legs had gone from sturdy to sculpted.

I certainly hadn’t noticed the definition on his abs. Why would I? I’d never seen him naked .

And that, I told myself, was the only reason I’d stopped dead in the changing room to stare at him.

It was merely the surprise observation that Kevin had gone from looking like he could bench-press my car to looking like he could bench-press my car and arouse everyone in a three-mile radius while he did it, at which point the curvature of the earth would block the spectacular view.

That was all.

It had not one thing to do with his dick.

Which was…it was…

It was right there , oh my god .

Kevin slid a hand across his abs—they flexed—and scratched the solid slab of his left pec under the small, erect ni?—

“You okay, Charlie?” he said.

My head snapped up. He was watching me, unconcerned by my appalled perusal—how dare he look like this, how dare he? Ten feet away from me!—and still smiling.

I have no idea if I said an actual word, or if it was just noise that came out of my mouth. If I had to put money on it, I’d go with random noise.

The unflappable Kevin watched steadily as I leaped away.

By then, Jasper had noticed that I wasn’t following him and had turned back. So I leaped away from Kevin and into Jasper, getting tangled up with his unnecessarily long arms and legs.

He grabbed me to keep me upright. “Charlie, what?—”

“Nothing,” I hissed. “It’s nothing. Get out of my way.” I shoved him backwards and then snapped, “Where am I going? This is awful and I hate it.”

“Give it a chance. You’ve only been here thirty seconds.”

It was the longest thirty seconds of my life.

I was here to take my stress levels down, not to be fiercely and unexpectedly aroused by a naked Kevin Wallis.

“This way,” Jasper said, herding me deeper into the changing room.

I made the critical mistake of glancing over my shoulder.

Kevin, entirely unbothered by my unsubtle gawking, had stood from where he’d been manspreading on the bench— naked ! He was naked !—to turn around, and?—

His back was broad and thick with heavy muscle, he had deep indents at the base of his spine, and his round arse was a thing of beauty.

He bent over and lifted a leg, putting on a pair of shorts.

I wrenched my head back around to face front so fast I almost stumbled.

Jasper directed me towards a bench and I let my gym bag slide off my shoulder and hit the floor. He eyed me. “I knew you were out of shape, but you shouldn’t be breathing this hard after the short walk from the carpark.”

“I’m not out of shape,” I said indignantly. “Just because I don’t run marathons every weekend, doesn’t mean I’m out of shape.”

“No, the fact that you can’t make it from the carpark to the changing room without breaking into a sweat means you’re out of shape.”

I blotted my forehead. “I’m nervous,” I said. “That’s what this is.”

I wasn’t lying. A gym was not my natural habitat. A changing room was not my natural habitat. I was fine in the coffee shop. I knew where everything was, I knew what I was supposed to be doing at any given moment, and I was in charge. Here, all bets were off.

I was also nervous about the powerful physical reaction I was having to Naked Kevin, but Jasper didn’t need to know that particular detail.

He turned me to face him, clasping my shoulders. “No need to be nervous, Charlie. We’re here to have some fun! You’ll going to love this. I know it.”

Still unlikely.

My distracted gaze drifted across the changing room to where Kevin had managed to get his other leg into his shorts and was in the process of hauling them up.

“You’re going to feel amazing,” Jasper said.

I really didn’t think?—

Kevin got the waistband stuck on the generous jut of his round, bare buttocks. He gave a firm yank and I watched, transfixed, as the silky, electric-blue fabric slithered up and over his cheeks.

“He’s not wearing any underwear,” I said blankly.

“What?” Jasper said.

I tore my gaze away, gripped Jasper’s forearms, and said with a hint of desperation, “Kevin. He’s not…he’s not wearing underwear! Is he allowed to do that? Is that legal?”

Jasper frowned. “Yes, it’s legal?”

“Are you sure, though? I mean…? What if he falls out of his shorts?”

“What’s going to fall out?”

I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows.

“His dick?” Jasper looked over his shoulder at Kevin then back at me. “His shorts are practically to his knees, Charlie. How big do you think his dick is?”

I knew exactly how big his dick was, thanks.

It wasn’t a random piece of knowledge I’d ever expected to gain. I already knew that it was something I wouldn’t be able to forget.

“Okay, but what if he’s, I don’t know, sprawled out on a weight bench or something, and you can see right up his shorts leg?”

“You don’t look, Charlie.”

How could you not look?

“I just think he should strap things down properly! Wear some tight briefs under there. Or a jockstrap.” My words faltered as my brain caught up with what I was saying.

Jockstrap.

Kevin in a jockstrap.

Jasper tugged me closer, ducked down and said in a low voice,“I forgot you’re a virgin?—”

I smacked his side.

He arched away, grinning. “A gym virgin,” he continued, “and it’s okay that you didn’t know this, but I’m telling you now, you don’t look. In the changing room, in the shower, on the gym floor. General rule of thumb: don’t be checking people out.”

“I wasn’t checking him out, what? Whaaat? I’m concerned, that’s all.”

“About Kevin Wallis freeballing?”

“Yes.”

Jasper gave me a thoughtful look.

“No,” I said quickly. It was bad enough Adam knew how I felt about Kevin. I couldn’t stand for Jasper to know. I couldn’t. “Not concerned. I was curious.”

He squinted.

“Nope, not that, either. It’s a gym thing. A protocol/etiquette thing.” I scrambled to put him off the scent. “I’m a virgin, remember?”

Movement behind Jasper caught my eye and I had a straight shot over his shoulder into Kevin’s friendly gaze as he headed for the door. His lips were parted and he blinked slowly.

“I’m a gym virgin!” I said loudly.

Kevin hesitated, gave me a thumbs-up, and wandered off.

Fuck.

“Not for long,” Jasper said. “Put your bag in the locker. It’s time to go and pop your cherry.”

I glared at him.

Jasper was the most popular personal trainer at the gym. It was easy to see why. Instead of standing there and watching me flail around on the intimidating machines while barking out orders to push it, dig deep and give him another set or whatever else personal trainers yelled at people, he kept things light and casual.

“Admit it,” he said as we took a breather between stations. “You’re having a good time.” He tapped the bottom of my water bottle. “And drink your water.”

“I’m not thirsty.”

“Drink!”

“I’ve never consumed so much water in one morning,” I grumbled. “I’ll be running to the bathroom all afternoon.”

Good thing I had no plans other than maybe taking a post-gym nap on the sofa with Phil and my Kindle, until I had to go back to the coffee shop at five to close up.

“You’d be surprised. You’re chronically dehydrated. You drink too much coffee.”

“Coffee is a liquid. I’m perfectly hydrated.”

“Drinking eight cups of double-shot black espresso a day is not the same as drinking eight cups of water a day, and also, coffee is a diuretic. I know you know that.”

Yes, I knew that. I pulled a face. And I knew I drank too much coffee. Not only by the fine tremble in my hands at the end of the day, but also because, as I was leaving the doctor’s appointment that had resulted in me coming to the gym in the first place, Hannah had stopped me and said, “You don’t really have to cut the coffee out entirely, Charlie, but I’m telling you right now, you’ve got to dial your caffeine intake down. A moderate amount is fine. You’re not having a moderate amount. I want us to get ahead of your stress before it starts damaging your body. Trust me, small adjustments now can help avoid the need for big lifestyle interventions later.”

I didn’t want any kind of intervention, thanks.

I obediently lifted my bottle and took a swig.

I was sloshing at this point.

To be fair, I was also sweating like a bastard. Jasper might be right about me not constantly needing the loo. Maybe I’d get that uninterrupted nap after all.

“Right.” Jasper clapped his hands briskly. “Ready to move on to the free weights?”

He was giving me the full induction experience today, and he’d refused to let me pay for it. I’d definitely have to slip him extra pastries after all of this.

We’d started out stretching on a mat, moved onto the treadmill to warm up, and segued from there into a hideous circuit of various resistance machines.

I’d had no idea that so many different kinds had even been invented.

I followed him across the huge room towards the mirrored back wall where they kept the racks of weights.

Jasper fiddled about selecting a pair of dumbbells for me, then made me turn and face the mirror to check my form as I worked through a set of bicep curls.

“Stop looking away,” Jasper said. “Watch your reflection. It helps to make sure you’re doing it right. Don’t be shy.”

“I am not shy,” I growled. “And I don’t have to watch to do it right. It’s not that hard. Bend arm. Straighten arm. Bend it. Straighten it.” I cranked the dumbbells up and down a few times.

Jasper gave me an unimpressed look. “Well, if you want asymmetrical biceps,” he said, “that’s your call. Keep doing it your way.”

I stopped. “Asymmetrical biceps?” I didn’t want those.

“If you build the muscle in the wrong way, they’ll end up looking weird.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re making that up.” Biceps were biceps, surely?

He narrowed his eyes back. “Am I?”

I glanced at my arms. I barely had any biceps in the first place. He was definitely making that asymmetrical nonsense up, but I supposed that if I was going to do this, I may as well do it right. “Ugh,” I said, and squared up to my reflection.

He made me work through a few more curls, lightly touching my arm every now and then, or adjusting my wrist, as he counted out the reps for me.

“The point of a curl isn’t to bend and straighten your arm like a hinge,” he said. “That movement happens as a by-product of engaging and firing this muscle here. Do you see what I mean?” He rested his fingertips on my upper arm and pressed lightly as I curled it.

I shrugged. “Kind of? I think I can feel the difference, but I’m not as attuned to my body as you probably are to yours. The nuance may be beyond me.”

He considered me. “I get that. Okay. Oh, perfect. Kevin, can I borrow you a mo?”

I froze.

“Sure,” Kevin said, to the left and a little behind us.

I’d heard someone grunting and puffing away but I hadn’t registered it was him, what with directing all of my focus towards avoiding asymmetrical biceps.

I’d found it annoying. They were being unnecessarily loud about it, I’d thought.

Now that I knew it had been Kevin making those noises, it was…no.

No.

It wasn’t intriguing. It was still annoying.

As Kevin wandered over, Jasper leaned closer and said to me in a low voice, “I want to use him to demonstrate. Are you cool?”

“I’m so cool.”

I hadn’t been cool a day in my fucking life.

It was the number one reason I was so cranky. People couldn’t notice your stunning lack of cool if you were distracting them by being cranky.

“Yeah?” Jasper checked.

I softened at his concern. He really meant it, bless him.

“I want coming to the gym to be a great experience for you, Charlie,” he said, painfully genuine. “I think you’ll get a lot out of it, and it’ll be good for you.”

“It’s…yeah. I’m having fun. It’s fun.”

Jasper beamed.

It was terrible. It was awful. I was having the worst time.

I was stuck in a room full of mirrors and other people, and I was now sandwiched between the only men I’d ever wanted or loved in my life, neither of them knew it, and if I managed to get out of this situation without getting an inappropriate erection, I’d be all astonishment.