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The guy raised his voice and I watched his lips.
“Name?” I guessed, reminding myself to not shout when people around me started to glare.
He nodded.
“Tessa Stewart.”
Norse Viking God thumbed over his shoulder and I lifted an eyebrow at him. I risked imminent death again to take my hand off the machine and point to myself. He nodded and pointed again over his shoulder.
With a sigh, I fumbled with the machine’s controls but my fingers were too sweaty and I couldn’t get the End Session button to lock in.
Groaning, I looked up and glanced into the yoga room, mortified that Cade was probably watching all of this. A woman was standing next to Cade, telling him something, but just as I feared, his eyes were on me. Then on Norse Viking God. Then back on me. A slight frown pulled at the corner of Cade’s lips.
And I immediately thought, why does he lookjealous?
I lost my balance. The elliptical pedals kept spinning and my reaching hands missed the handles slicing down like guillotines and my knees buckled. As I toppled backwards, my headphones ripped out of my ears and I ended up flat on my back with my feet over my head and Norse Viking God’s worried face between my legs. I flushed with embarrassment, because I’d only ever done missionary.
“Shit, are you okay?” he asked, his voice angelic over the thud of feet on the treadmill behind me. His hair haloed his golden face and I managed a nod. “Good, good,” he said, tossing his hair behind his shoulder better than I’d seen hair tossed in any L’Oreal commercial.
“You’re Tessa Stewart?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, feeling the heat on my face ramp up to Level Eleven. Here it comes. He’s going to tell me someone complained that I was watching porn in the gym. That I’d been moaning and wiggling around and—
“Your account is overdue.”
My eyes widened and I almost choked on my relief. Being broke and irresponsible was still embarrassing but not as embarrassing as what I thought he was going to talk to me about. “My account?”
“Your gym membership.”
“It’s—”
“It’s late.”
Yes, it was. Unfortunately, I’d suffered through financial droughts before, and this was one of those times. I worked at a temp agency, and I’d had a pretty steady gig until a few months ago, when my employer suddenly closed shop, and it had been only sporadic gigs since. I kept hoping I’d land a more permanent position soon, but in the meantime I’d been maxing out my credit card.
Still, I was surprised this guy had tracked me down. I’d been late with my gym fee before and never been called out on it.
Norse Viking God smiled down at me then effortlessly hopped to his feet. He flicked his thumb again over his shoulder. “I need you to come to the front desk to get your payment up to date. Is your credit card in your locker or...?”
“Um, well, I’m kind of low in that department right now,” I mumbled, fidgeting with my fingers.
“Ah, bummer dude,” Gym Employee Norse Viking God said, making a sad face I guess for my sake.
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna have to ask you to leave, then.”
Still on the floor—I so did not have his quads—I stared up at him in embarrassment. “Leave?”
He nodded. “Yeah, sorry. It’s policy.”
I sighed and dropped my head.
“Um, kinda now, bro.”
I heard the woman on the machine next to me snicker, and when I glanced Cade’s way again, he didn’t look jealous anymore.
He looked like he felt sorry for me.
