“We don’t train tomorrow, it’s your day off,” he replied simply, head down, eyes on his clipboard.

I huffed, straining against the pain in my quads. “I know that. So what are you doing? Want to come to the fair with me and my friends?”

“No.”

I dropped the plates and put my hands on my hips, turning to face him. “Why not?”

“Pick up the weights, you’re not finished,” he answered, standing straighter before dropping the clipboard and crossing his arms over his chest. I mimicked him in the stance and instantly felt tougher.

“Not until you tell me why you won’t come tomorrow night.” Since when did I have the courage to ask Rhodes to hang out?

He sighed, running a hand through his dampening hair. “Natalie, last night was just me showing you how to cook a decent meal, okay? It was about your training. You’re my client. We have a relationship in the gym, but not outside of it.”

I swallowed what felt like a wine cork wrapped in sandpaper and uncrossed my arms, picking up the weights again. He was right, of course, and I knew that. Still, he was friendly last night — we had fun. I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t just be a one time thing.

Which was stupid of me.

Because Rhodes was Rhodes and I was me. He could hang out with anyone he wanted to, including the beautiful women he trained that he seemed to find company with often. Why in the world would he want to spend time with me?

“Okay. Sorry.”

He nodded, his eyes watching me carefully. “Three more sets. Watch your back, you’re leaning forward too much.”

I muttered under my breath but kept my eyes forward and made my way back across the room, lunging each step. My teeth still worried my bottom lip as I thought over the night before, wondering if I looked too much into it. Was he acting like a friend or was he really just showing me that eating healthy could work? I didn’t recall us really talking much about food, other than when we were doing dishes, but even still we talked about other things, too.

Sighing, I shook my head. Whatever. It was fine because he was still my trainer, which was what I needed him to be. He knew how to help me reach my goals, and that was enough for me.

Each lunge burned more than the last and I knew I was about to hit my limit. When I reached the other side and turned around, I hit something with the weight in my left hand.

“Oh!” I turned to check on whatever I’d hit, thinking I’d be apologizing to some tiny club member in booty shorts and a sports bra, but when I came face-to-face with Mason, I dropped both weights and stumbled back a bit. One of them fell on my foot and I howled out in pain as I fell to the ground.

Rhodes cursed and rushed toward me while Mason bent down to my level. “Oh my God, Natalie. Are you okay?” He moved to touch my leg but Rhodes beat him to it, pulling my foot up and tugging my sneaker off to inspect it as he squatted down next to me. His thumb moved across the delicate skin of my ankle and I hissed at the pain as chills raced up my legs and straight between my thighs. Rhodes followed the chills and lifted his eyes to mine. I blushed and looked away.

Which left me staring at Mason.

He watched Rhodes and made a face before turning to me and asking the same question again. “Are you okay? What are you doing here?”

Rhodes dropped my foot gently, leaving the sneaker off as he helped me to my feet. Mason stood with us. His eyes never left mine and I leaned on Rhodes for support, putting weight on my foot as slowly as I could. I was fine, but it smarted. “I… train here.” I swallowed. I wasn’t exactly ready for him to know that, but I guess I didn’t have a choice.

“Oh,” he said simply. This time his eyes shifted to Rhodes and then back to me before he spoke again. “I didn’t realize you were into fitness.”

I shrugged. “It’s, uh, a new hobby.”

He nodded. “Cool. Well I don’t want to interrupt your session or anything. I was just dropping off a donation bag from my mom for the fundraiser this weekend and saw you through the window. I wanted to say hi.”

I smiled, though it was strained. “Hi.”

He chuckled, and for a moment his chocolate eyes shined the way they used to when he looked at me. When I was his. It warmed my stomach and made me want to throw up at the same time, shooting an all-too-familiar pain straight to my chest. “It was nice talking to you last night. I’ve missed that, our late night phone calls.” He shifted. “Is that weird?”

Every muscle in my body was wound too tight, but I shook my head. “No. I get it.”

He smiled, just a tiny little curl on his lips. “Are you going to the fair tomorrow?”

I glanced at Rhodes then. He was still gripping onto my forearm and steadying me, though I had practically put all my weight on my foot again. “Yeah, Willow is dragging me,” I said, still watching Rhodes. When I faced Mason again, his smile was warm.

“Cool. Well I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” His eyes landed on Rhodes again and he looked him up and down slowly with a slight snarl in his lip. I waited for him to extend a hand to shake his or at least introduce himself, but he did neither.

I wasn’t sure how Mason was surviving Rhode’s glare.

After a moment, he nodded to me once more, his smile returning, before he stepped out of the gym and I was alone with Rhodes again.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling free from his grasp and rolling my ankle around before bending down to tug on my sneaker and retrieve the weights again. “I’m good. You want me to do another round?”

Rhodes was staring at me, his face completely void of emotion. “Not about a guy, huh?”

I swallowed, and suddenly the weights felt too heavy for me to hold. I placed them back on the rack and turned to face Rhodes. He hadn’t moved. “He’s my ex.”

“Yeah, I caught on to that after you dropped a weight on your foot at the sight of him.”

I blushed. “I haven’t really seen him much since it all happened. I was caught off guard.”

He crossed his arms. “You told me this wasn’t about a guy.”

“It’s not,” I tried and he scoffed, heading toward the back of the room. I followed. “It’s not, I swear. This is about me. Yes, at first, it was about him.” And still kind of is. “But I want this for me, too.”

He stopped mid-stride and spun to face me. My eyes leveled with his chest and I had to strain my neck to look up at him. “Do you want him back?”