On My Knees (Bridge #1)(20)
Author: Meredith Wild

“Me neither.”

“Why is that?”

She winced, straining against a motion, her biceps flexing with the effort. “Eli dragged me out for the yoga class. I had no idea we were coming here.”

She stepped back and took a breath between sets. Her face was flushed from exertion. Time was ticking down. I couldn’t push her hard just to spend more time with her.

“I didn’t know you had a roommate.”

“Yeah, well there are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” She shook out her arms.

“Maybe we can change that.”

Her calm expression didn’t change. “Oh?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, trying to sound casual. “I’d like to be friends, I guess, if you think we can.”

She looked down at her feet, toeing the floor beneath her, a chink in her otherwise cool demeanor. “I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

She huffed. “How are we supposed to be friends when you’re… You know, you kind of blindsided me yesterday.”

“I know. I didn’t plan that. I’m sorry.”

“We have too much history, Cam.”

“Mostly good history, don’t you think?” I leaned against the machine, crossing my arms.

Her eyes went soft for a moment. Her throat worked on a swallow before her features hardened, an impassive blanket washing away any emotion I might have recognized moments ago.

“What’s next?” she asked, her voice clipped.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Are we almost done or what? I’m dying here.”

“One more,” I muttered, straightening again.

I switched out the hardware and demonstrated the motion for her. I adjusted the weight again when I finished. When I stepped away, she’d launched right into the first set of curls with fevered determination. With every motion her cleavage pushed up out of her tank top. I blew out a slow breath and tried to look anywhere else. I caught her reflection in the mirror and studied her ass in her skin-tight yoga pants. Christ. I’d have no chance of hiding a hard on in my gym shorts.

“Take a break after this. Then do two more sets. I’ll be right back,” I said brusquely.

I left her there without making eye contact. I needed water. What I really needed was a cold shower, because I was losing my damn mind reliving the memory of her body. I grabbed a couple waters from behind the front desk. I chugged the first one, stopping to take a few more steadying breaths. I needed to get her out of my head. She didn’t want this trip down memory lane either. What the hell was I doing?

“Everything okay?”

Darren strolled up to the counter, his eyes narrowed. Fuck, he could read me like a book. Unlike Maya. Her thoughts were still a mystery. I’d been able to read her so well, once upon a time.

“Yeah, just grabbing a water for a client.”

Maya walked up with Eli at her side, her eyes as cool and calm as they had been earlier. “Okay, I think you’ve tortured me enough. I’m heading out.”

Darren swiveled to face her, his face lighting up when he sized her up. I tensed.

“Hi, I’m Darren,” he said, holding out his hand.

She shook his hand and her eyes brightened. “You must be Cam’s brother? I’m Maya.”

Darren’s smile slipped for a second. They’d never met, but they sure as hell knew of each other. He flashed me a look before returning to her. “Yeah. You’re the Maya?”

“I guess,” she muttered, almost too quietly to hear, as she put on her coat and tugged her hat back on. She looked to Eli and turned to leave.

“So, Maya. You interested in coming out with us for drinks later? Old man Cam is going to tie one on. You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?”

“Darren—”

He lifted his hand to silence me. “No, no. I’d love to get to know the infamous Maya who I’ve heard so much about.”

“Maya never misses a happy hour,” Eli chimed in, lifting his shoulders to his ears.

She glared at him and he recoiled slightly, giving her a frozen smile. “That’s not true.”

“Judgment free zone, hon,” Darren said. “Let’s hit the bar down the street around seven. What do you think?”

She stared hard at him. Between Eli’s comment and Darren’s impossible grin, I wasn’t sure how she’d be able to shoot him down. I almost felt bad for her.

“Fine.” She grabbed the second water from my hand, turned, and hooked arms with Eli.

He smiled back at us as she pulled him out the door. Through the glass, I could see her mouth moving at a rapid rate the second the doors closed. She was pissed.