Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“Whatever,” I muttered as I pushed past him and slid the hotel card that would allow me into the gym. He followed close on my heels but didn’t respond to my outburst of anger. To be honest, that made me even madder. It was like he was, like everyone else, willing to allow my life to keep moving forward…in the wrong direction. In order to protect my pride, I ignored him completely and turned all my direction to Samson, my trainer. He was a nice guy in a world of guys and girls that weren’t nice.
“Samson! Morning, doll! What sort of torture do you have planned for me today?” I was tired and nowhere near the mood to workout but refused to allow Landon to see my weakness. He’d already seen more than I wanted him to.
“Torture? I call it examples of love, Jinxi! Hit the treadmill for thirty minutes for a warmup and then we’ll get started,” he said to me…while his eyes were locked totally on Landon. The bastard actually licked his lips, nearly licking away all his lip gloss. Regardless of how hard Samson worked me, demanding more and more, he never ever did anything that interfered with lip gloss gloriousness.
Hating to, but feeling like it was necessary, I said, “This is Landon. He’s with me. Hands off.” I squinted my eyes at Samson and added, “Eyes too. Keep your eyes, hands, and lips off him. He belongs to me.”
Landon choked on laughter and I glared at him enough to shush him. He offered his hand to Samson and said, “While I’m here, please refer to him as Micah—it’s his name.”
To say that I melted into a puddle of some sort of sticky goo might be an understatement. I sent him one of my brightest smiles. He ignored it, but it did nothing to dim my happiness. He’d listened to me. Unless you were on my payroll and disagreeing with me was detrimental to your payday, nobody listened to me.
“Micah. Got it,” Samson answered with an odd expression on his face. “Hit the treadmill, Micah. We only have two hours reserved this morning, so you need to shake your ass.”
Samson was a tough trainer, but he knew his shit. He worked me hard every damn time we were together. I dreaded it but felt damn proud when the workout ended. There’d been a time when I couldn’t do half the stuff he made me do now. No, I wasn’t a muscle house like Landon, but I was lean and cut well. Too many muscles were frowned upon in the modeling world…which made little sense because it seemed like both men and women found muscular men to be attractive. It was the same with female models—they couldn’t have a nice rack, or they would be called fat by the industry. Everybody knew a man liked plush boobs to bury his face in. Hell, I had until I’d met Landon.
As I worked through Samson’s two hours, minute by agonizing minute, Landon leaned against the wall. He had one eye on the door and one eye on me at all times. His body language was all laid-back and friendly, but I could see the alertness hovering just below the surface. It was fucking sexy and made me try extra hard in my workout. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to notice.
“What’s gotten into you?” Samson asked as he motioned for me to slide onto the next weight machine. “You usually grumble and give me a half-ass performance. You’re kicking workout booty today.” His eyes slid toward Landon. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with Mr. Hottie leaning against the wall, would it? I didn’t think guys were your thing.”
I frowned, wondering why or when Samson had ever had a reason to judge or question my sexuality. “What in the hell does that mean? You’ve never asked me, so how would you assume to know?”
He set the weight low on the machine and motioned for me to start working. “Calm down. People talk. I listen. That’s all. No need to get all worked up over it. I didn’t mean anything insulting with my comment.” He glanced at Landon again. “Hell, I’m a top but I’d let him have a go at my ass if I thought he might be interested.”
“He isn’t,” I snapped, going all territorial over something that didn’t belong to me.
“Three more. You’re cute when you’re jealous,” he added, probably just to piss me off. “Perfect. Good workout, Jinx.” He paused, shook his head, and corrected, “Micah. Give me fifteen minutes on the elliptical machine to warm down and you’re ready to go.”
When the last minute finally ticked away, Landon was miraculously next to me, offering me a towel to dry the sweat from my face. He didn’t look impressed by my performance in the gym, but he didn’t look disappointed either. Truth be told…he didn’t look like anything except a man doing his job. Fuck, that sucked. “So, what’s next?” I asked as I swiped the towel over my face and followed him toward the door.