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Ted made himself walk to where he had a treadmill.
“Take off your jacket and come and stand on this, Mandy. It’s a treadmill.”
“I know that. I may not have been on one, but I know what it is.” She stripped off her jacket, and Ted was presented with her lovely body now in fitted spandex showing off every curve.
He’d known, of course, that she had serious curves, because he’d held her the night they’d kissed. But seeing them displayed like that was doing nothing for the impact she already had on him.
“On you get.”
Ted nodded, and Mandy stepped onto the belt. He then went through the instructions, and she watched him carefully. He made her repeat them and start the machine.
“Good girl,” he said when she got it working. “You’re obviously a quick study.”
“I have a photographic memory.”
“You’re shitting me?”
She shook her head.
“I bet your grades were awesome.”
“No.” Just the one word, no other explanation.
She reminded him of a few men he knew, but no women. The ladies in his life usually liked to talk.
“Just keep it slow for now, and we’ll do a fifteen-minute walk. That sound all right to you?”
She nodded.
“You okay if I work out?”
She nodded again.
Ted wasn’t big on talk himself; he’d grown up with a family who liked to discuss everything, and he’d been the opposite. But Mandy, hell, it was like she’d taken a vow of silence.
“I’ll put some music on. You have any preferences?”
She shook her head, eyes focused intently on the instrument panel in front of her.
Ted left her and turned on some music. Her eyes shot to him as it filled the room. He liked a mix, but when he worked out, he liked rock, some hard, some soft.
With one eye on her, he started with the rowing machine. Strangely he felt comfortable with her here in his space. Ted was a person who flew solo. He didn’t need people and hadn’t for years. Sure, here in Ryker people didn’t let you alone for long, and he’d made friends and liked them. But he still preferred his own company.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
When the fifteen was done, he told her to turn off the machine. She had a glisten of sweat on her forehead but wasn’t breathing too heavily.
“I need to work out a program for you, so we’ll stick with cardio today. You up for that?”
She nodded.
“Say, ‘yes, Ted.’”
“Yes, Ted.”
He smiled, and she responded with a small one that shouldn’t make him feel as good as it did.
