Page 145 of More To Us

"I AM happy," she says, smiling. "Because I love you too, but I didn't think you loved me back."

"Well, I do," I say like I'm annoyed with myself. And in a way, I am. I didn't want to fall in love at 21, but this girl just won't get out of my head, and she's landed a permanent place in my heart.

"So what do we do now?" she asks.

"If you want us to try again, you have to let your leg fully heal before you step foot in the gym. And when it's healed, you can't go back to training like that. Even healthy people could get hurt working out like that."

She takes a moment to consider it, then says, "I'll cut back to one workout a day, and I won't push myself so hard. But will you help me? Will you work out with me again?"

"I will, but you have to listen to me this time. If I say lower weights, you do lower weights. If I say rest, you rest."

"I don't know if I can agree to that."

"You want to date me or not?"

She huffs. "You just said you love me."

"Doesn't mean I'll date you." I hold out my hand. "Deal or no deal?"

She sighs and shakes my hand. "Deal."

I keep hold of her hand and look intently at her lips. "I really want to kiss you right now."

"Then do it." She smiles.

"Nope. I'm gonna hold out. We're not officially dating, and we won't be if you back out of the deal, so I'm not gonna kiss you. You'll just have to wait. It'll be incentive to keep you on track."

"Are you kidding? That is so mean."

"What can I say? I'm a tough trainer. You don't like it, you shouldn't have hired me."

"I didn't—" She stops and laughs. "I want that damn kiss, so whatever I have to do, I'll do it."

But I think she's doing it for more than just a kiss. I finally feel like she's committed to this. I know she doesn't want to give up gymnastics but I think she's finally at a place where she's able to accept that it's over, as hard as that is to do.

As for her and me? We're not over. Not by a long shot. I love her, and I want her back in my life again. And she will be. We just have some work to do before that happens.

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