Page 5 of Charming Crosschecks

Those thoughts were rampaging in his mind as he pressed the pad upward in a frustrated manner – only to have her step toward him.

“Don’t lock your knees,” she whispered softly. “Go slowly, and your form looks good. You’re seated properly – it’s just the knees.”

“Whatever,” he muttered under his breath and went back to moving the weights – not locking his knees as she suggested, before looking toward where Batiste was on the skating machine. Molly was beside him, showing him to move his leg backward, lunging into the motion,and advising him to swing his arms with it.

Gerry’s legs were trembling, and he felt a burning sensation in his thighs, realizing that she was right about the motion and hated it with everything in him. Letting the weights drop loudly, he got up and moved to another station. Moving the pin, he immediately swung his arm in front of him only to have her come back to his side.

“Here,” she said gently, stopping him.

“I don’t need you.”

“I think you do.”

“Nope. Been using this thing for years…”

“Incorrectly?”

“Ha!” he scoffed, looking at her. “I know how to use the weight machine. No one else uses it like I do. I can swing the weights the furthest, using the highest amounts, and my muscles are bulging like rock-hard little beasts. So, I seriously do not need you. Go help someone else, anyone else.”

“You know this machine is to work your shoulder, right?”

“It works everything, Tiny Tot…” he drew out openly, causing Couer to choke back a laugh as Molly’s lips disappeared. For a moment, he felt a twinge of guilt only to see something flicker in her blue eyes.

“I’ll tell you what,” she began softly, looking up at him. “You have it set on eighty-five pounds, right?”

“That’s what the number says,” he bragged.

“Then you won’t mind if I move it down to a measly twenty pounds, right?”

“Ha! I won’t get a workout. What kind of physical trainer are you? You don’t lighten the load to build muscles; you increase it to make your body work. How did you ever get this job?” he continued, trying to make her get away from him… and it wasn’t working. Instead, the moment his arm came back to a resting position, Molly yanked the pin holding the weights and handed him a rolled-up towel.

“Humor me – and if you can still move this, then I’ll leave you alone.”

“Done! Utterly and absolutely done, Tiny Tot,” Gerry chuckled, realizing that he was finally rid of the woman who implied he was fat and focused on making sure the entire world knew she was right and they were all wrong. Well, he had news for her.

“No one moves those weights like Thierry…”

“Deadlifts lots like Thierry…”

“No one flexes like Thierry…”

“No one boasts while he does overhead sets like Thierry?” Molly added, practically singing and rolling her eyes. He wasn’t about to let this little woman mock him again.

“I'm the king of the gymnasium scene. If you doubt me, I’ll prove it’s true,” he bragged knowing darn well that if she was pulling a trick, he wasn’t falling for it. “Load me up with the heaviest plates you’ve seen, and I’ll do it all while tying my shoe!”

“That’s not necessary…”

“Ya’ scared?” he mocked as she continued moving around the machine, making slight adjustments, and tried to hand him the rolled-up hand towel again. “I don’t need that. I haven't even broken a sweat yet.”

She smiled sweetly at him and put the towel under his arm, between his bicep and his ribcage, simply saying, ‘Hold this’…

“I know how to build muscles. I eat six dozen eggs every morning at dawn to get biceps as big as a beast! I lift through the pain—my delts are insane…”

“There shouldn’t be pain…” she interrupted, frowning.

“I’m a beast,” he finished as she patted him on the arm, patronizing him.

“Yes, you are. A rare specimen of a man and so intimidating,” she agreed, and this time, he was sure she was going to try to humiliate him. He’d show her!

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