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I puffed myself up and crossed my arms over my chest, staring him down and trying hard not to be a dickhead.
“She ain’t a newbie, brother. She’s my girlfriend and I’d appreciate you keeping your handsoffher. This spot right here?” I pointed at the back of her thigh. “Is for my hands only.”
He paled and snapped his palms up. “Fuck. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t realise. Honestly.”
“It’s fine,” I assured him with a clap to his shoulder. “And I’ll take over from here.”
When he nodded and returned to his workout, I whirled on Brooklyn and threw my arms wide. “What the fuck was that?”
She rolled her eyes again. “Since when do you hover when I workout?”
“He had his hands on you.”
“Hand.And he was demonstrating what muscle group I was working.”
“You already know that,” I growled.
She got up from her stomach and came chest-to-chest with me. I scoffed under my breath, amused that she didn’t match me physically, but outshone me by miles in the attitude department.
Her brows arched high. “And what are you gonna do about it?”
“What’s with you, babe? I know you’re tired, but c’mon. This is next level.”
She’d been working her ass off lately to fit in as many clients as possible. Everyone wanted haircuts before Christmas and the late nights were taking their toll. On both of us.
“Just go back to your gym bunny.” She shoved past and started squatting with her ass facing the floor to ceiling mirror.
Enough was enough. As she came out of a squat, I ducked and threw her over my shoulder. Ignoring the attention her screech drew from the light scattering of clients working out at nine-thirty at night—getting in their last workout before the gym closed for a few days over Christmas—I strode over to where Adele waited.
“Last set, Adele. Do ten instead of twelve with the dumbbells, then move back to the kettlebell. I’ll be back in five.”
She looked from Bee’s ass to me and grinned. “Take your time. I’m finishing up anyway. I’ll see you after Christmas.”
I chuckled. “And working extra hard, no doubt.”
“With the amount of food I’m planning to eat, you know it.”
“Thatta girl. Laters, Adele.”
Readjusting Brooklyn squirming on my shoulder, I laid a slap to her ass as soon as we hit the hallway.
“Fuck you,” she spat and bucked, causing my grip to falter as I took the stairs.
“Quit squirming or we’ll both be going down,” I warned.
Once in our office on the walled-in mezzanine floor above the gym, I set her on an office chair and bobbed down in front of her.
My hands splayed around her thighs as I implored, “What’s going on, sweetness?”
Her exhausted brown eyes locked with mine and made my heart drop. “Do you ever feel like we’re just locked in a never-ending cycle? You know, like… work, barely eat, barely speak, sleep, then wake up and do it all over again? It feels like I never get to see you. We’re both always working so hard.”
I let out a tortured sigh that echoed the ache in my chest. “I know we are, babe; it’s our busiest time of the year. But look around at what we’ve built. We’re smashing it, and all the hard work is paying off.”
Her stoic expression cracked and gave way to uncharacteristic emotion. Tears escaped before she could swipe them away. “I just miss you.”
“Missing me isn’t enough of a reason to flirt with clients when you know it’ll rile me.”
“I wasn’t flirting.” She shook her head and pressed her palms to her eyes. “I just hate that I’m all over the place at the moment. I’m exhausted plus PMSing so hard right now. My feet are killing me and I’ve hardly eaten since breakfast. I just… I’m just done and super bitchy.”
