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"Let me worry about my knee. If it gives me any trouble, I'll get myself out of the forest."
He squeezes my shoulder and studies my face. I stare back, steady, daring him to root out my lies.
In the staring back, though, I notice how stupidly long Asher's eyelashes are. I want to see more, to know how sharp his jaw cuts under that ridiculous beard, how bright his eyes spark when he comes. He's objectively good-looking, for an overgrown goofball, and I don't think I've ever wanted anyone more fiercely.
Lust. This is nothing more than lust.
"Okay," he says at last, when my whole body is vibrating with the effort it's taking not to lean in and kiss him. "Are you ready to head in?" He lets go of my shoulder and steps back and I immediately miss the comfort of his touch.
"You have your heart rate monitor? You need to stay in zone two if we're going to make it a full two hours out here today."
He lifts his shirt to show me his monitor, but all I see are his cut abs and that sexy vee of muscle that leads down… I lick my suddenly dry lips. Why are his running pants so low? How can he run like that? And why is the material so thin? I can make out a total dick print and he is packing—
Asher clears his throat. "Eyes up here, Weston." He points at his face. His very smug face. I swallow hard and focus on the words coming out of his mouth and not how kissable his damn lips look. "I have my heart rate monitor and I took it easy yesterday to prepare for the longer run today. I'm all set to kick some ass."
I clear my throat. "Great. I'm going to run at my own pace, but you have the trail map, right? You know where we're going?"
"I do." He glances around the nearly empty parking lot. "Seems like it's as isolated from Bigfoot seekers as you hoped."
I nod. "The trade off being a big increase in elevation on several parts of the trail. Don't forget to slow to a walk to keep your heart rate in zone two."
His smile softens. "Don't worry about me, Empress. I've got this."
Gah! Why can't he stick to the rules? We are enemies. "I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about having to spend my day waiting for search and rescue to drag your obnoxious carcass out of the woods."
His smile widens. "You're worried about me." He starts off toward the trail.
"Wait." I hate that I have to say this, but I'm in this mess because I want to expand my reach. "Can I get a few pictures of you stretching before we start?"
I loathe the way his grin goes molten. "Your followers are liking the pictures of me?"
Not only are they liking the pictures, they're wanting more make-out videos - or at least an update on our 'romance.' "Uh-huh."
He moves through several stretches and I snap photos. The mid-afternoon light is great here and I'm not so sure it'll be as good once we're deep in the woods.
"Um, Would you mind jogging around the parking lot with the trees in the background? Make it look like you're running through the woods?"
"What about you?" he asks.
"What about me?"
"Don't they want pictures of you?"
I wave a hand. "I'll take a few selfies. What they really want is my experience sticking to the training plan I've created for myself."
His gaze roams over my body. "I doubt that. Why don't you do some stretches and I'll take some pictures of you."
It's not a bad idea. I hand over my phone and pose in several different stretches. I stick to the ones that don't hurt my knee.
Then I get some pictures of him jogging around the parking lot. I want to ask him to take off his shirt, but my pages aren't a meat market, they're about fitness. Although, folks would be able to see better how fit he is if they could see his bare chest…
Nope. He'll just assume I want to see him naked, and I already have to ask for something I'm not going to be able to live down.
He jogs over to me. "Get what you need?"
I clear my throat. "There's, um, there's just one more thing, actually."
He pops his hands on his hips and nods for me to go ahead, totally game for whatever I'm about to ask. He really is a good guy and way too trusting.
