A Time for Hope (Lexi, #3)(37)
“I love you too,” I murmured. As sleep tried to claim me, I struggled to keep my eyes open.
“Sleep now baby,” Alex moved his lips to my neck. “I just want to stay inside you for as long as I can.” I felt his smile against my skin.
“Fiend.” I whispered as my eyelids fell shut.
“Proudly, and all yours.” His gentle laughter was the last thing I heard.
Chapter 8 - Frustration and Friction
Alex was still asleep when I crept out of bed in the morning. In one of my signature throw back moves, I was able to maneuver off the mattress and out of the room while he lay blissfully unaware. I hadn’t wanted to sneak out but the night had been an emotional one (there had been too many of those lately) and he really needed the break, even if it was just for a few hours.
I liked to watch him sleep. The gentle rise and the fall of his chest was so peaceful, as was his carefree expression. His sleep-messed blonde hair framed his face, accentuating his already perfect features. It was torture to leave and not kiss him but I knew that it wouldn’t stop with one kiss (when did we ever stop with just one kiss?) so I tore myself away from my beautiful sleeping husband and started my day.
Grabbing my gym bag, I packed my workout gear as well as my corporate attire. I threw in toiletries and make up as well because despite my distaste for communal showers (judge me all you want, but foot fungus was not something I wanted to deal with). I was on a tight schedule. In contrast to my old place, Alex’s superior residential apartment building had its own in-house gym. This was not only convenient and cost effective but also meant I didn’t have to deal with cameras in my face while I was pushing my body to its limits. The down side was I had zero excuse for not hauling my ass out of bed and into the weight room despite my despondence. I would have loved to be one of those girls who can eat what they want and not work out but I was still convinced those mythical girls did not exist outside a Victoria Secret campaign or a tampon ad. No, in real life if you want to bounce around in your underwear you’d better be putting in serious gym hours and limiting mindless calories.
The communal area hadn’t been vacant. Sweaty bodies pushed through their paces as they crammed in the early morning exercise, which justified the full fat frappe they planned to drink on their drive to work. My presence was of little consequence to them as they flexed and grunted, more concerned with their own reflection rather than who was huffing and puffing beside them. So after five grueling miles (which still sounded strange coming from my Australian mouth) on the treadmill, I hit the free weights until my arms and legs screamed from exhaustion. My legs wobbled as I strode toward the shower room, I took comfort in the relief I knew the shower would provide.
It was no surprise that when I exited the gym bathrooms freshly showered (I was proud of myself for battling my hatred of public bathrooms and not returning to the apartment in the hopes of allowing Alex more sleep) and dressed for work, that DarNell was waiting for me. He was my pre-decreed morning “ride” and greeted me in the usual morning fashion with, “You ready?”
“Yep, all good.” I slung my gym bag over my shoulder, debating whether I had time to run it upstairs back to the apartment or just leave it in the back of Escalade until tonight. Given my currently fatigued limbs the whole “running it” anywhere was promptly abandoned and I made my peace with my sweaty, stinky work out wear camping in the back of the car. Chances are it would remained undetected until later anyway as Alex rarely took the SUV, preferring to drive himself in his stunning Maserati. I needed to buy my own car, this Driving Miss Daisy shit was getting old and I missed the independence of having my own set of wheels.
“You heading to work?” DarNell grunted as the elevator doors closed behind us.
I nodded as he pressed the B to take us to the undercover parking garage. Yep, a new car was definitely on the agenda. Obviously I could afford something nicer than a Honda these days so the thought of heading to a car dealership actually seemed appealing. I still struggled with the whole shared money thing. The first time I looked at Alex’s bank balance I thought I was looking binary code there were so many zeros.
“Any planned excursions I need to know about?” DarNell folded his arms as we descended, obviously still pissed about being ditched yesterday.
“DarNell, it’s too early for me to rehash my sins of yesterday. Nothing happened, I was fine and I thought we agreed you were going to back off. Can we try and get through the morning without the judgmental looks and sarcasm?” I hadn’t meant to be overtly rude but as usually my mouth opened before my mind had a chance to catch up.
“You are such a pain in my ass,” DarNell smiled as the doors opened to the basement car park.
“So you’ve mentioned a few times before,” I smiled back as we strode toward the Escalade. D didn’t expect an apology any more than I expected him to be less uptight. We occasionally had a difference of opinion but the resolution always ended with our mutual respect maintained. I was always going to be a pain in his ass the same way he was going to be a pain in mine. There were no surprises.
D held the door open for me (despite me telling him it was completely unnecessary) and watched me slide into my seat and fasten my seatbelt before closing it behind me. His amused grin indicated his silent supervision of my entrance into the car was intended to piss me off.