“Man, Audrey, you got a nasty bruise coming in. Are you sure you’re okay? Can you see me?”

She scoffed, “Yes, Tate, your face is only inches from mine.”

Tate paused, looking from her aching head to her eyes. His eyes were light and soft, playful. When he tilted his head to the side looking all sexy and yummy, she swore she didn’t care how bad her head hurt.

Because she was going to ravish Tate Odder in Centennial Park.

“Tate, please get your face out of mine before I ravish you in the middle of this park,” she muttered.

If Audrey had shocked Tate by her statement, she couldn’t tell. His face broke into a big grin, while not moving an inch, “Are you sure you are okay?”

Audrey laughed, “Move you big lug, and help me up.”

Tate chuckled, moving only slightly to help her up, but even in sitting position, his face was right there. Coming close to her, Tate made a show of examining her head, lightly touching her now growing lump. That touch was not helping her inappropriate thoughts about having sex in a park. She was pretty sure he was doing it so he could stay close to her. And she didn’t mind, really. She liked him that close.

“Tate, your face is still by mine.”

He smiled, pushing his tongue against his teeth as he looked deep into her eyes, “I am calling your bluff.”

“For goodness sakes,” she complained, standing up slowly, “You really know how to make a girl crazy.”

Tate continued to grin, watching her as she fixed her clothes and rubbed her butt. She looked up to see that he had a beanie holding his hair back. His shirt was drenched in sweat, and he had running pants on.

“Cupcakes catching up on you, too?” Audrey teased.

Tate laughed as he nodded, “Yup, this is my pre-workout, before the intense workout with the guys.”

“Sheesh, eff all that. I’ll stick to my 6 mile run,” she said, her hands resting on her head.

“Well I’m done. I was running back to the Sportsplex when I saw you. Thought I would come over and say hi, make sure we are still on for tonight.”

Audrey nodded, causing her head to hurt slightly, “Yup, 7 o’clock?”

“Sounds good, I’ll have dinner there and ready.”

“Cool school, I got two more miles, so I’ll see you,” she said, walking away from him.

“Wait,” Tate said, stopping her in her tracks. He had that sexy wicked grin on his face, the one he wore while stripping her clothes off during their night together. Audrey felt like she couldn’t breathe when he pinned her with that grin. It felt like her heart was beating in overtime, while her body felt like it was going to explode with want. Audrey was pretty sure that if she was wearing panties, they would have flown off.

“Yeah?” she basically groaned out.

“What happening to ravishing me in the middle of the park?”

Audrey smiled, “That was my head injury talking.”

Tate laughed, “Well then, instead of telling you to miss the poles, please, hit at least three more. Maybe then, you’ll kiss me again.”

When his face brightened with excitement, Audrey rolled her eyes, and shook her head as she walked away, “Goodbye, Tate Ooooodder.”

Tate’s chuckles ran up her spine and then he said, “Bye, Audrey.”

Going slow since she was still worried about her head, she jogged off, thanking the Lord that she didn’t give in to her desire to ravish him in the park, but no one said she couldn’t fantasize about it as she ran.

It would make the run more pleasurable in her opinion.

~*~

Later that morning, Audrey lay at her desk with her face in a pile of paperwork. Her body was aching from the tip of her toes to the top of her head, complete with a new lump, thanks to a stupid pole. What was she thinking? She should just accept the cellulite, love it. Find a man who would love it too, who would eat icing off it. It would be way better than running and being all healthy.

With a sigh, Audrey knew she would go again tomorrow despite her aching muscles.

Trying not to move, she reached for her ringing phone to see that it was Fallon calling. Hitting answer, she groaned, “Hello?”

“Jeez, what’s wrong with you?”

“I went running this morning, my body hurts.”

“Why on earth would you do that?”

Audrey shook her head and grimaced in pain, “Some people don’t have a sexy Fallon body that can eat anything and not gain a pound.”

“You don’t need one. You have a sexy Audrey body.”

“Oh I do, and I want to stay that way, but I’ve been eating a lot of cupcakes lately.”

“Yum, bring me some.”

“Will do, so what’s up?” Audrey asked.

“Nothing, just wanted to chat,” she said. Audrey could hear her moving papers and the phone ringing in the background as she continued, “Did you watch Survivor last night!?” Survivor used to be their thing when Fallon lived with Audrey. They loved Wednesday nights with their favorite show. A big bottle of wine for Fallon, beer for Audrey and a bowl of popcorn to share and they were in heaven.

It hadn’t been like that for months, Audrey thought sadly. Fallon probably watched it with Lucas now. But that was fine; Audrey was going to start watching it with Tate.

“Not yet, I’m watching it tonight.”

“Why are you waiting?”

Audrey shrugged as she said, “Tate hasn’t watched it yet either, so we are watching it tonight.”