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Staring deeply into my eyes, he leaned in further. “I know you can do this, Sydney.”
The way my name rolled off of his lips made the butterflies in my stomach come to life.
For a few moments, I basked in his closeness, in his confidence in me. In his utter determination and drive to make me do this, as though it was his personal goal too. And I couldn’t help it … internally, I swooned.
It took me a second to collect myself, but once I did, I pulled the towel off my neck and wiped down my face and the back of my neck. I was soaked. I wouldn’t doubt it if there were sweat marks by my butt cheeks.
“Sydney …”
Austin locked eyes with me again. He’d been doing that more recently. I wondered if it was a tactic to get what he wanted, to push me harder. Somehow, it always seemed to work, didn’t it?
“I believe you can do anything you want to do.”
“Okay, Mom.” I said it with sarcasm, but I stilled because it was exactly what my mom would’ve said.
And in that moment, I missed her. In a lot of ways, Austin was like her—pushing me and cheering me on.
He tipped my chin with the lightness of his fingertip, and that small touch lit my body on fire. “You must be hungry. Let’s go. I’m gonna feed you a protein shake.”
I breathed slowly through my mouth and exhaled through my nose. “Sounds yummy,” I deadpanned. “What about my cake? You promised me chocolate cake.”
“The protein shake is chocolate cake flavor.”
I scrunched my face and he laughed, nudging my sweaty arm to head out. If he kept touching me, I might combust.
I blamed this on the lack of action and satisfaction I’d received from the opposite sex.
“Do you mind if I shower at your place? I don’t think I want to go home in my car, sweaty like this.”
“Yeah. Sure.” His eyes raked in my body, which sent a tingling to pulse through my body.
And I needed to cool the heck down. I wiped my brow again and moaned at my achy muscles. “I pushed myself too much today.”
“You did. And I’m so proud of you for it.” There was that look again—the look that made my knees weak and my mouth dry.
I averted my eyes. “Thanks, Mom,” I said again. This time, I let myself laugh.
CHAPTER26
AUSTIN
“You need a towel?”I asked as she stood in my bathroom, still in her sweaty workout clothes and looking sexier than ever. The insane part of me wanted to lick the sweat off her, then clean her up myself.
“Yeah, can I have two? I need one to dry my hair. Sorry, it might sound high maintenance, but my hair is long and takes forever to dry.”
She adjusted her ponytail higher up on her head as she stood in front of my mirror. I couldn’t stop staring at the delicate curvature of her neck, her petite frame, the slight curve of her hips.
And, shit, the attraction to her shot straight to my dick.
I gulped, thinking about her naked, towel-drying all that gorgeous hair …
“Austin?” She was frowning at me.
And why wouldn’t she be? I had blanked out on her. Again.
It seemed as though I’d been doing that lately—always staring. Like a creeper.
But, shit, it was hard not to, especially when she was running on the treadmill, all those luscious parts of her bouncing.
