Baking Me Crazy (Donner Bakery, #1)(28)

I laughed because his arms were about three times the size of mine, so we both knew the likelihood of that happening was slim.

"I'm serious, Jocelyn. If your friends want to help, you should let them."

With a smile, I gave him a tiny salute. "Yes, sir."

He held out a hand, and I took it so I could lower myself more easily onto one hip. Once I was sitting, he moved back, and I turned my legs so that my knees were up. My feet, clad in my bright white Adidas sneakers, stared uselessly back up at me.

"My shoes always stay perfectly clean," I said without even realizing the thought had popped in my head.

"I'm sure they do." He leaned down to grab an exercise band, which I curled my lip at. I hated those things too. "I had a client last year, eighty years old, and she refused to wear anything but high heels except for her PT visits, because why wouldn't she? She didn't have to worry about falling over since she couldn't actually walk in them."

I laughed. "Good point. I still go for sneakers because that's all I wore. Before," I added needlessly.

"Nothing wrong with that." He twirled the band in a circle. "Come on, I'll let you off the hook early. You did good work today."

Exhaling heavily, I smiled before using the bars installed on either side of the ramp to hoist myself up. Thankfully, my chair was close because holy shit, my legs were sore.

"I hate to say this, Andrew, but I will probably wake up tomorrow cursing your name."

His laughter echoed through the empty office. "I can accept that."

I wheeled myself back out to the car with plans to be back the next week at the same time. With the chair tossed in the back, it took all my strength to focus on taking strong, even steps back to my seat after the work I'd done on that evil effing ramp. Despite that, despite the labor I'd done, I sat in the driver's seat and stared out the windshield, a current still humming unchecked under my skin.

Unspent energy that had nothing to do with the physical efforts he'd just put me through, and it needed to go somewhere.

I dug my phone out of my backpack and pulled up Levi's number, tapping out a quick text before I started my car. Maybe I wasn't supposed to just work my upper body, but I wanted something that made me feel strong. Something that I control and master and dominate.



Me: Meet me at the gym in 30 minutes?



He answered immediately.



Levi: The actual gym or the house?



I dropped my head and considered the options. The Buchanans had a pretty epic home gym, and since it would just be just Levi and me, there would be no watching eyes and no judgment. But no smoothies either, I thought with a pout.

Sighing, I knew which one would win.



Me: The house. But you owe me a smoothie since your commute is a thirty second walk.



Levi: Your wish is my command.



After I finished picking out the perfect eye roll GIF, I threw the car into reverse and started in the direction of Green Valley.





Chapter 10





Levi





“Idiot, idiot, idiot," I whispered under my breath, though the sound of the blender drowned it out. As soon as I got her text, I almost fell over as I stripped out of my regular clothes and into mesh shorts. For a ridiculous amount of time, I stood in front of the drawer that held all my gym shirts, most with the sleeves long ago ripped off.

Without fail, I wore one of those shirts when working out.

Would she notice if I didn't? It wasn't as if we were at the actual gym, where I'd look like a giant douchebag for strutting around in only shorts. Yeah, I worked my ass off on my body, and I was proud of it, not just as a by-product of an education built around studying the muscles and ligaments and pieces that crafted the body into a flawless working machine, but because working out was an excellent outlet for unspent sexual frustration.

Just once, I wanted to know what would happen if she came through the door and saw me like this. If her eyes lingered on me the way I tried to keep mine from lingering on her.

When she wasn't looking, I'd study the curve of her neck and the slope of her shoulder. The way she danced in her chair when the music was on and she thought no one was looking. The graceful length of her fingers, and the shift of muscles in her arms when she moved.

There were so many small, seemingly insignificant parts of Jocelyn that I had memorized. She'd spent all morning with PT guy. Did he see the same things? Did she?

Was she looking at his neck and hands and arms and the way he smiled in the same way I looked at her?

My hands tightened on the lid of the blender when I thought about it.

I was shaking the appliance a bit too hard after it stuttered on a chunk of ice when she came up behind me, pinching my side.

"Son of a bitch," I yelled, jumping backward and yanking the top off the blender as I did. Blueberry-banana shake exploded everywhere.

Joss was bent at the waist, laughing as I punched the button to turn off the blender. Her peals of laughter might have been more infectious had my face not been coated in cold-ass purple liquid.

"Oh my gosh, Levi." She giggled, wiping a tiny speck off her cheek. "You should see yourself right now."

The only other place she had a spot was on her arm, which she lifted and licked off. My eyes narrowed at the flash of her pink tongue.