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“And we meet again,” I say as I reach her side.
Lucy jumps in fright before spinning on the spot and throwing a punch at my face. I jolt at the last second, so she barely clips my shoulder, but she still packs a decent punch. When our eyes lock, she hisses in a breath as her gloved hands fly up to her mouth. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry, it was barely a tap,” I say, trying really hard not to rub the dull ache from her hit.
Lucy sags. “You’re lucky I missed. What were you thinking sneaking up on me like that?”
“Not sure, to be honest. I just wanted to say hi. Turns out, the third time isnota charm.” I nervously laugh and relish the fact that Lucy’s lips finally pull up into a small smile.
“I’m hoping it wasn’t me you were picturing with a punch like that,” I joke, but it falls flat, and her smile fades.Shit! Wrong thing to say. “You’ve got a good technique. Have you been boxing for long?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“I’ve actually just started, but I’m enjoying it. Do you box?”
I bite my lip and shake my head. “Nope.”
Lucy’s brows furrow, but the corners of her lips rise back up into the tiniest smirk. “So how do you know that my technique is any good?”
She got me there.
“I don’t…really. But it looked impressive,” I admit with a shrug as Lucy tries to suppress her surprised laugh and lightly taps my uninjured shoulder with her glove. Everything about her is sucking me in. Her infectious laugh, the way she looks up at me through her thick lashes, her voice. Everything.What the fuck is going on?
“Have you been here long? Or are you just starting your workout?” she asks, breaking my thoughts as her eyes scan the gym.
I’m not sure of the correct answer here because I can’t tell why she’s asking. Does she want to know if I’ve been watching her, or is she asking if I’m done so we can walk back together? She raises her eyebrows in question when I don’t respond, then rolls her wrist, coaxing an answer. “I didn’t think that was a difficult question.”
“If I’m being honest, my answer is dependent on why you’re asking.”
Lucy laughs again but this time she doesn’t try to hide it. “Why?”
I cringe because I am so bad at this. Maybe I should have left some time in my life to focus on women so I’d at least have better game. I haven’t done anything like this since college, and even then, my girlfriend just kind of fell into my lap, literally. That’s how we met, and it was very convenient.
I liked her. I even thought I loved her at one point. But I never had to work for it. I never wanted to. But now, I suddenly wish I knew everything there was to know about impressing a woman, and what the fuck is that? “I guess I was curious if you were asking because you wanted to spend time with me,” I say, opting for an honest approach. Since honesty is what I live by.
Lucy bites back a smile, her eyes crinkling with humor. “Wes, are you messing with me?”What?!
“Why would I be messing with you?”
“In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve seen you on the TV, a billboard, and heard your name mentioned three times. According to hearsay, you’re going to single-handedly turn San Francisco’s losing streak around.”
God, whenever I hear that, I usually cringe. That’s not even close to being true. The team’s in good shape this year, and I’m only a small part of that. I wish people would— Lucy starts laughing, pulling me from my thoughts.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your face just answered my question. You’re obviously not a fame whore. Even the mention of it made you look constipated.”
“What?! That’s a horrible comparison.”
“Maybe so, but I’m right, aren’t I? You’renota fame whore.”
“I’m not ananythingwhore. So, do you want to get dinner or something?” I say, even though it’s only three in the afternoon.
Lucy grins and finally removes the gloves from her hands before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Or something sounds good.”
Chapter Three
Lucy
The“orsomething”becameearly evening drinks at the hotel bar. While I’d like to say Wes caught me in a weak moment and that’s why I agreed, that’s not the case. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since I saw him again yesterday. And even though I had planned to steer clear of men for a while, I couldn’t stop myself from saying yes, and really, what harm could a couple of drinks do?
