Page 22 of Sweet Retribution

Not wanting to workout on a full stomach, I put my breakfast back in the fridge and fill a water bottle.

“Weren’t planning on that, were you?” Maria whispers as she bumps her hip against me.

I can’t help my laugh. “I may need rescuing in the next hour.”

“Don’t let her get the best of you.”

“I won’t.” I head out to the gym and stretch, even though I’m still pretty limber from my morning yoga session.

I find an upper body workout on the monitor and pick my weights. I’m into my second set when Sebastiana finally comes in.

“So much for waiting for me.”

“Sorry.” I rack my dumbbells

“I only do cardio. I don’t want to get bulky like a guy.” She snubs her nose at the weights in front of me.

I don’t bother correcting her by telling her lifting won’t make a woman bulky. We’re not genetically built that way. It would take years and years of heavy lifting and training to bulk up.

“Did you want to run together or something?”

Please say no. Please say no.

“Okay.” There’s only one treadmill so I suggest we run outside.

“Oh, god, no. There are bugs and shit out there. You can go back to your bulking. I’m going to stick to burning fat.”

I mentally eye roll at her misinformation. I’m not a fitness guru by any means, but I know there’s more to burning fat than straight cardio. “You look amazing, Sebastiana. I don’t know what fat you’re going to burn?” I worry I laid on the compliment a little too thick.

Again, she studies me in surprise. “You’re not too fat yourself.”

I laugh. It elicits two wrinkles in her forehead. Yeah, she didn’t expect that reaction from me. I may not be tall and thin like her, but I am by no means overweight.

Years of not being able to afford food on the table and eight-hour waitressing shifts kept me on the lean side, yet I still have curves where she’s runway model thin.

“You can choose the music, if you want.”

Sebastiana glances around the gym. “Where’s the system?”

Interesting. Granted, she probably spends more timeexercisingwith Stone in his bedroom than in the gym.

I tamp down my jealousy and open the cabinet concealing the state-of-the-art stereo system. I turn it on, and classic rock comes blaring out.

“Oh, god, no,” she whines and covers her ears.

This time I really do roll my eyes and flip through the stations until I find the music she had blasting at the pool yesterday.

Sebastiana ignores me while she walks on the treadmill. She’s more focused on her phone than working up a sweat, which she said she doesn’t do anyway. I concentrate on the trainer on the screen in front of me and make sure my form is accurate as I mimic the moves.

“I’m gonna sit by the pool,” Sebastiana says thirty minutes later. “You can come too if you want.”

I want to laugh at her begrudging invite. Stone may be sleeping with Sebastiana, but I’m technically his wife, even if I have no legal rights to his property.

“Sure. I have one more set, then I’ll run upstairs to change into my suit.”

“I guess you don’t lay out in the nude,” she says, eyeing me up and down.

Lord, I hope she doesn’t either. Not that the scraps of material she wore yesterday covered up much. “I’m not too keen on Stone’s men seeing me naked.”

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