Page 29 of Breaking the Sinner

Cobra’s skin prickled. He turned. Gen hung in the doorway.

“Am I early?”

Relief washed over him, a warm sensation he tried hard to ignore. It didn’t seem right to acknowledge it.

“Right on time.” He draped his sweat towel over the bench, fighting the groan at the back of his throat. He didn’t want to look weak even though everything burned.

“Why are you sweating so much?”

“Just got done with my workout.” He rolled his neck in a slow circle. He hadn’t seen much of Gen today. Even though their date had been yesterday, it felt like a week had passed. She looked different somehow. Sparkling. Fresher. The standard issue Holt Body crop top brushed the top of where her belly button must be, but her high-waisted black shorts hid that creamy sliver of skin he was eager to glimpse.

She fingered the top of her auburn ponytail, hip cocked out. When she dragged her jade gaze up to meet his, something inside him cracked. Split wide open, exposing a vulnerability he didn’t like one bit.

She could have asked him to do anything in that moment, and he would have fallen to his knees, begging to do it.

“I’m kinda nervous about today,” she admitted.

“Don’t be.” He steeled himself as he walked toward the rubber exercise mat backed up against a wall of ropes, slings and stretchy bands. “All you have to do is what I tell you.”

“I bet you like that part, don’t you?”

He couldn’t fight the smile. He grabbed a medium intensity stretchy band, tugging it taut between his hands. “Yeah. But not as much as I bet you do.”

Her cheeks were flame red when he looked back at her. He jerked his head toward the mat. “Lie down.”

She approached slowly, testing the squishy mat material with the toe of her black sneaker. “And then what?”

He drew a deep breath. His heart rate hadn’t returned to normal, but he wasn’t sure of the cause: the workout or Gen. “We’ll start with a warmup I made for you.”

Gen nibbled on her bottom lip. “Okay, but can we wait a second?” Indecision creased her face. “You’re like,glistening.”

A laugh escaped him. “What?”

She waved her hand as if dismissing him. “You’re all sweaty and perfect right now. I can’t focus.”

“You’re lucky I’m wearing a shirt,” he said, coming down to his knees. He tugged at Gen’s hands and she followed suit. “Now you ready?”

“I guess,” she grumbled.

“We’re gonna start with some rolling.” Cobra explained the maneuver, showing the floppy roll motion he wanted to see. He sat back on his heels as she did it, gritting his teeth against the excellent view. It seemed criminal to enjoy his job this much. Practically voyeurism.

Cobra ran her through a series of warm-up exercises, from gentle lunges to bear crawls, most of which elicited giggles. By the time he’d eased her into repetitions of squats, she had a fresh sheen of sweat on her face.

“This is kind of hard,” she admitted.

“We’re still warming up,” Cobra said. “Tighten your stomach.”

Cobra led her through progressively harder squats and lunges with enough time to rest and recuperate between sets. Their hour together flew by. Even Cobra couldn’t believe the clock when he checked.

“Hey, we’re done.” He offered his hand to help her up from the ground. Her palm was slick with sweat. She groaned up to her feet.

“That was intense.”

“It was just the beginning.”

“You guys are all the same around here,” she said breathily. “Beefy fighters who barely break a sweat.”

“I wasn’t the one working out,” he reminded her. “Besides, I’m not really the same as the other guys. I kinda stick out around here.” Her comment grated on him, but he wasn’t sure why.

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