Page 33 of Want Me
“You should know.”
We movedto the free weights next, running through a bicep-, tricep-, and back-focused set in front of the gym’s wall of mirrors. Without my earbuds, I was hyperaware of the other guys around us: the scrawny fella trying to lift too heavy, a rugby dude who was definitely slacking with those 25 pounders, and a guy I’d come to silently refer to as the Grunter who, no matter what he was lifting, always made noises like he was trying to pull a car off an old lady. I’d had him in a survey course once, and he’d been much the same. Grunting with every shift of his body.
After a particularly loud grunt, Eric caught my eye in the mirror, his mouth tight as he tried to hold back his laughter, and it was all I could do not to crack up, too.
As we moved on to the larger weights, Eric passed me by, lowering his voice. “Can you imagine what he sounds like when he comes? Gotta be like an elephant trumpeting. You need to step up your game.”
I did crack up then. “I can’t be anything close to him. Really?” Though, usually when I was in the heat of the moment, I was hardly even aware of what planet I was on, let alone what kind of sounds I was making. Was I really that noisy of a fucker, though?
Eric’s grin was sphinxlike and brief as he turned away to crouch down and select some weights for the chest press. I helped him slide them onto the bar and tried not to stare too long when he ducked his head inside his shirt to wipe sweat from his forehead with the collar, exposing a lean stretch of glistening abs to my hungry perusal.
Next, he positioned himself on the bench, and I stepped closer to his head, wrapping my hands around the bar and preparing to help him lift it out of the cradle.
He gave me a wicked twist of a smile. “I might be being ambitious. Don’t let me die.”
“Don’t piss me off.”
He winked at me, then lifted the bar. His nostrils flared as he exhaled, straining under the weight as he lowered the bar, paused, then pushed it back up. I kept my hands hovering at the ready, watching for any telltale wobble.
Veins at the sides of his temples popped into relief, but he kept his breaths measured and steady, chest puffing out with each inhale, shorts drawn tight over his tense thighs and crotch. Jesus, I could get down with him staying like this forever, stripping him right where he was like a goddamn sin buffet there for the taking. I blinked the imagery away and darted my hand out to help guide the bar back into its cradle as his biceps trembled. Somehow in the span of a month, I’d become deeply depraved.
After another set, we switched places.
“Don’t you need more weight?” he asked as I settled beneath the bar and found my grip.
“I’m doing an easy day today.” I cut him a grin as I lifted the bar, all too aware of the heat rolling off his body near my head.
“Braggart. You come every day?”
“Pretty much.” I paused with the weight close to my chest, then exhaled and pushed it up again in one smooth, solid contraction of muscle that felt good.
“Why?”
“Why?” I tilted my head back to look at him, and Eric flicked his hand out to steady the bar as it tilted to one side.
“I got it,” I assured him. “Clears the clutter, I guess. I dunno. Or it’s habit. Don’t think there’s some deeper motivation there, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Just curious what it takes to maintain.” Eric stepped closer, his shorts brushing the top of my head as I busted through another couple of reps. I slowed as I caught his gaze drifting over my body and going hazy and hungry. My dick responded immediately, and I pushed the weight up again, then fit the bar back in its home base. “Watch it.”
He gave me light, teasing crinkle of a smile. “I am.”
“Well, stop. Not like that when I’m spread out on a bench in shorts this goddamn thin. Do you know how fucking annoying the way I react to you is?”
He caught my wrist as I released the bar and sent it skimming along the fabric over his crotch. Quick, but enough for me to feel his semi. “What do you think?” he asked before letting me go.
Somehow we managedto finish working out without becoming completely obscene. I was drenched and Eric wasn’t much better off, and we stopped at the water fountain so he could grab a drink and I could refill my water bottle.
“Gonna shower and head to my chapter meeting.” I thumbed toward the locker room as he sucked at the stream of water.
He straightened, tipped his chin in a slight nod, and glanced over his shoulder before his gaze swerved back at me as he wiped his mouth.
I considered for a second, then added, “We could go get something to eat later. Shoot pool or something.”
Goddamn the smirk that spread over his face. It hit me like a flinch, but there was something in his eyes that belied the cocky expression, and that was the only reason I didn’t roll my eyes at him and tell him to forget it, because my stomach was already flip-flopping all over itself for asking in the first place.
“Just you and me?”
“Unless you want to invite your fan club of two, yeah.”