Back to You(20)

“Go?”
He ran his hand through his tousled blond hair and smiled at her obvious anxiety.
“Where are we going?” Lauren asked hesitantly as she slid off the table.
“Out to the gym. The honeymoon’s over. I’m putting you to work today,” he said as he walked out of the room.
“Putting me to work?”
“Yep,” he said over his shoulder before continuing down the hall.
“I should probably warn you,” she said as she followed him, “I had a personal trainer once. He and I did not enjoy each other.”
“Well then there must have been something wrong with him. Who wouldn’t enjoy you?”
“Wow,” Lauren laughed. “Laying it on thick now.”
“Nonsense. This is part of your therapy,” he said. “People work out more effectively when they’re in a good mood. Something about endorphins. That’s just medical verity.”
“Well, I think we’re gonna need a lot more endorphins,” she said with a sigh as she came to a stop where Adam was standing next to a machine that looked like something used in medieval torture.
“Come on now,” he said with that impish smile of his. “You were an athlete. You can’t hate exercise this much.”
“That’s different. With gymnastics, I was doing something I loved and just happened to be getting exercise in the process. But just running in place on a hamster wheel, or sitting here staring aimlessly into space while I move parts of a machine? Are you really going to try to sell me on the fun of that?”
“I can hardly try now,” he said with amusement, folding his arms as he leaned against the machine. “You seem pretty set in your ways.”
“Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? I have no problems doing something physical, as long as I’m deriving some sort of pleasure from it.”
The second the words left her mouth, she pressed her lips together in a hard line, and the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was his smile morphing into a wide grin.
“You know what I meant,” she said softly. a little tighter around herself23so
“I believe I do,” he laughed.
She covered her face with her hands. “Okay, just show me the damn exercises. They can’t be worse than this.”
He laughed then, a jovial contagious laugh that made her chuckle behind her hands, and she finally uncovered her face, fanning herself until she felt the warmth of her blush dissipating.
“Alright, I’ll cut you a deal,” he said, walking away from the torture machine to a mat in the corner. “No machines. Just some floor work. Some stuff you can do anywhere.”
“Deal,” she said, walking over to the mat.
Lauren spent the next twenty minutes on the floor with Adam as he walked her through a few exercises that focused on strengthening her core, sometimes using his hands to align her body into the appropriate position and sometimes demonstrating them on the floor next to her.
As Lauren lay on her back with her feet flat on the floor and her pelvis lifted, she rolled her head to look over at Adam where he was lying next to her, mirroring her position. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m sorry I was being such a brat.”
“You’re not a brat,” he said. “You just know what you want, and you’re not afraid to express that. It’s admirable, not bratty.” He lowered his pelvis to the floor and turned to look at her. “But I do want you to do these exercises, okay?” he said, his expression serious.
“I will. I promise,” Lauren said, lowering her pelvis and pressing her palms against her stomach. “Whew, I can feel that already.”
He smiled. “Good. A few weeks of this, and your back will be good as new. Then you can get back to all that pleasurable physical activity,” he added with a wink before he patted her knee and hopped up off the mat.
“God,” Lauren groaned, covering her face with her hands. “Are you ever going to let that go?”
“Eventually,” he smiled. “Alright, up you go. Back to the exam room for a quick adjustment and then you’re free to go.”
“Thank God,” she said as she stood, and Adam clutched his heart with stage-worthy skills.
“Ouch,” he said, turning to walk back to the exam rooms. “Tough day with the kiddies?”
“Actually, today was surprisingly uneventful,” Lauren said as she followed him back down the hall. “Although in saying that out loud, I’ve just thrown down a gauntlet with the universe, and tomorrow will probably be unspeakable.”
Adam’s hearty laugh carried back to her as he walked through the door of the exam room, and Lauren smiled. He had the best laugh: wholehearted and genuine and completely infectious.