My Best Friend's Brother: A Standalone Friends to Lovers Romance (Soulmates Series Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter 32: Shane

I
lifted my shirt and dragged it down my face. "Okay," I said. “Ready
when you are."

Kevin
pressed his blonde head into the weight bench. "Ready."

I
watched him pick up the bench press bar and reach it over his head, letting my
fingers hover just below it at all times so he wouldn't accidentally drop it
and knock all his teeth out.

"Yep,"
he groaned, five reps later.

"One
more or I walk away."

"Fuck
you, Jennings," he said, his eyes on the bar as it shook over his face.

"Oh
look. Britney's here."

He
lowered and lifted the bar one last time.

I
helped guide it onto the rack. 

"I
know you were fucking with me," he said, staying on his back for a second
before sitting up.

"It
worked though, didn't it?"

"Are
you kidding? I'd move the Earth if I thought it would impress that girl."

I
knew the feeling. "I take it things went well at the dance?"

Kevin
made a sheepish face. "You could say that."

"You
going to see her again?"

"Yeah."
He stretched his neck. "I'm taking her to dinner this week."

"Nice."

He
smiled. "She's not at all like I thought she would be. She's sweet
and…"

"Stop
stalling," I said, gesturing for him to get up.

"Then
again." He rose to his feet and swapped places with me, wiping his
forehead on his shoulder. "I always thought Chloe was a nice girl
so-"

"You
heard that, huh?"

He
laughed. "Everyone in the fucking house heard it, Shane. She came in like
a swarm of angry bees. I thought she was going to murder you in cold
blood."

"How
exactly? By choking me out? Her hand is hardly big enough to fit around
my-"

"You
bitches here to talk or lift?" Tyler said, walking past us with some large
dumbbells.

Kevin
rolled his eyes.

I
glared at Tyler's scrawny back and laid down on the bench. "This is the
last set, right?"

He
nodded. "Yep. So don't leave anything in the tank."

"Deal."
I raised the bar over my head and straightened my spine against the mat, pressing
my feet into the floor to make sure I was stable enough to pump out some reps.

"So,"
Kevin said, his fingers hovering below the bar. "Chloe's out and Andi's
in?"

"First
of all," I said, lowering the bar to my chest. "Chloe was never
in."

"Oh
right. It was all in her head." He kept his eyes on me as I raised the
bar. "I think I overheard that bit."

"Yeah.
She's delusional. We've both been hooking up with other people ever since we
first got together. I assumed we were on the same page."

"You
can't assume anything with women."

"No
shit."

"And
Andi?"

"What
about her?" I asked, a bead of sweat trickling over my temple.

"You
disappeared for quite some time at the dance."

"What's
your point?" 

"Is
it serious?"

"I
don't know," I lied. "She's hard to read."

"Haven't
you known her since you were in diapers or some shit?"

"No."
I held the bar with straight arms and took a deep breath. "We were both
sufficiently
potty
trained by the time we met."

"But
you never hooked up before?"

"No."

"What
took you so long to make a move then? That's not like you."

I
lowered the bar, trying to buy myself some time. "You know how sometimes
you can’t focus on something or even recognize it when it’s too close.”

"Sure."

I
forced the bar up. "That's all I got."

"Couple
more, buddy."

"One,"
I said, my arms burning.

"Oh
gosh," Kevin looked across the room. "Speak of the devil."

"Don't
fuck with me."

He
laughed. "No really. She's here. I was going to fuck with you anyway-
don't get me wrong- but she's genuinely here."

"Damnit,"
I muttered under my breath.

"Make
it three for good luck," he said.

I
squeezed my eyes shut and lowered the bar. One for the way Andi looks in boots.
I took a breath. Two for the way her ass feels in my hands.

"One
more," Kevin urged.

I
exhaled sharply and brought the bar down. Three for the look in her eyes right
before she took me in her mouth. God that was fucking priceless.

I
lifted the bar, dropped it into the rack, and sat up to catch my breath.

"Nice
set," Kevin said.

I
shook my head. "She better be here after that stunt you just pulled."

"Rowing
machines, two o'clock," he said, smacking my sweaty back. "You can thank
me later."

I
lifted my eyes across the brightly lit room. Sure enough, she was there.

"You
guys done here or what?" Tyler asked, stepping right in front of me.

I
stood up and stared down my nose at him. "Not really. But I suppose you
need it more than we do."

He
stepped around me, and as soon as he’d unblocked my view, I found Andi again.

I
watched the muscles in her legs flex with every stroke, watched the rhythm of
her movements as she moved through the imaginary river beneath her.

God
what I wouldn't do to be beneath her.

"Oh
man," Kevin said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You're in deeper
shit than I thought."

I
ran a hand through my sweaty hair and turned to him. "And yet she's the
only cure."

He
furrowed his brow. "What does Izzy think of you guys getting
together?"

"She
doesn't know."

He
raised his eyebrows. "Oh fuck. Am I, like, obligated to tell her? She
gives me a goddamn speech every time she's in town about how I need to let her
know what you're up to."

I
tilted my head. "And have you ever once told her what I'm up to?"

"Of
course not," he said. "But mostly to protect her."

"In
that case, do us all a favor and don't start tattling on me now."

He
folded his arms. "You think she'd freak?"

"I
don't know," I said. "But it's confusing enough without getting her
unsolicited two cents."

"Got
it."

"You
heading back to the house now?" I asked.

"I'm
going to hit the showers first, but I won't wait for you," he said, glancing
across the gym at Andi. "I know better than to think my company can
compete with that."

Chapter 33: Andi

The
sweat was really pouring off me after thirty minutes.

I
had a few more songs to push through, though, to make it through the album I
was listening to. Then I'd call it a day. Or a season. Whatever.

I
still believed that one of these days- if I just kept at it- I was bound to
fall in love with exercise enough to make it a real priority.

Today
could be the day. It was possible. Maybe I would consider it over a big dirty
brunch.

Suddenly,
I saw a man out of the corner of my eye sit down at the rowing machine beside
me.

Normally,
I tried to keep my eyes on my monitor and not get distracted by what other
people at the gym were doing.

That
was one of the reasons I liked the rowing machines in the first place. They
faced the windows and were off to the side, unlike the treadmills- which were
always full of swinging ponytails and girls wearing just sports bras.

As
if I would ever subject strangers to that kind of jiggling. If I wanted to show
the whole world my bouncing ass, I wouldn’t do it at the gym. And I sure as
hell wouldn’t do it sober.

Anyway,
despite my attempt at disciplined focus, I knew it was a man who sat down
beside me because I could see the toned muscles in his lower legs as he rowed.
They were so strong I think my mouth might have watered a little.

But
after a few strokes, he leaned forward as I pushed back, and I realized he was
staring right at me, smiling.

Damn.

I
paused the music on my Nano and pulled one of my earbuds out.

"Hey
there," Shane said, his arms flexing as rowed along with me. "Come
here often?"

I
could see his abs rippling on each stroke through his tank top’s oversized
armholes, and for the first time since I arrived at the gym, my panties felt
wet with something other than sweat.

"Hi,"
I said, wondering what I did to deserve him seeing me like this.

"Your
face is a little red."

"And
your face is a little-" Hot? Smoldering? "Unexpected."

"I
didn't know you used this gym?"

"I
didn't know you were into stalking other people while they worked out."

"I'm
not," he said. "Just you."

"Aren't
I special?" I faced my monitor again and tried to get back down to my goal
pace.

"My
thoughts exactly," he said.

"Are
you just going to keep watching me?"

"Every
goddamn stroke," he said. "Until I can't take it anymore."

"Don't
be juvenile."

"Don't
stroke so hard."

I
wanted to be annoyed, but a smile broke through my face. "You're a real
pest, you know that?"

"I've
heard you haven't made it until you have critics," he said.

I
shook my head.

"Not
that I'd consider you a critic."

"So
what does that make me?" I asked. "A fan, I presume?"

"As
if you could deny it."

"What
do you want, Shane?"

"I
want to know how much longer you need."

I
furrowed my brow and struggled to speak normally. "How much longer I need
to what?"

"Finish
your workout."

"Why?"

"Cause
I want to take you for a big dirty-"

I
shot a look at him.

"Brunch."

I
narrowed my eyes. "You want to take me for brunch?"

"Yeah.
At Mama
Cita's
cause I know it's your favorite."

I
pursed my lips.

"And
because it's half price cheesy hash day."

“Fuck."

"You
know you want it."

I
hung my head. "I do want it."

"That's
supposed to urge you on. Not give you an excuse to slack off."

"What
the hell?" I said, picking up my pace again. "You're the one that
interfered with my workout in the first place."

"You
looked like you needed some encouragement. I was worried you were fading and
that you might crash your boat."

I
rolled my eyes. "I don't believe that. I think you just wanted to come see
how disgusting I am up close."

"You
don't look disgusting," he said. "If anything, you have a borderline
sexual glow."

"Oh
please."

"Seriously.
It's going to be awkward for me to stand up and walk away."

I
dropped my eyes to see if he was really-

"You
totally looked," he said. "You’re insatiable."

"Walk
away right now, and I'll go to brunch with you."

"How
long do you need?"

"Why?"
I panted. "You got something better to do than wait for me?"

He
stopped rowing and sat sideways on his machine. "Andi."

"What?"

"Look
at me."

I
dropped my hands, stopped moving, and cocked my head at him.

He
fixed his eyes on me. "Waiting for you is the best thing I've ever
done."

I
groaned. "Fuck off, and give me ten minutes."

"Take
fifteen," he said, standing up. "I'm hitting the showers."

I
swallowed.

"I'll
meet you out front, shorty." Then he squatted down next to me and lowered
his voice. "And don't worry about showering. I like you dirty."

"And
I like you farther away," I said. "And I am so showering."

It
took everything I had not to turn and watch him walk away, especially knowing
full well how his ass looked in gym shorts.

Instead,
I exhaled and picked up the pace again, which was easy to do. Between the
thought of him
sudsing
himself up in the shower and
the promise of cheesy hash, I really had no excuse to slack off.

I
popped my earbud back in and pressed play, letting the beat of my workout mix
drive the rhythm of my legs.

And
just when I was ready to let my mind wander back to Shane in the shower, Izzy
popped into my head.

I
could imagine the expression on her face as she encouraged me to sleep with
someone
asap
.

And
there's no way it ever would’ve occurred to her that Shane occurred to me.

We'd
kept our hands to ourselves for so long, and I’d mastered pretending I was
resistant to his charms.

But
everything was different now- the way he looked at me, the way he made me feel,
the way he made me crave.

It
was all too real too ignore.

Besides,
Izzy was right. I did need to get laid. Hell, I wanted to get laid.

And
there was nothing that frightened and exhilarated me more than the prospect of
sleeping with Shane.

Which
meant I had to consider it.

After
all, despite my dearest friendships being at risk, my fear of losing him had
morphed into something else: the fear of never having him in the first place.

And
I knew there was only one thing strong enough to kill fear.

Action.