Page 88 of Honey Undone
“There’s no way you do this every day before practice,” Cael whined.
“You’ve done one round of squats, Cody.” Kaia glared at him, her hair braided down in thick cords that hung off her shoulders while she barked orders. “You asked to do this today, if I had known you were a pussy, I wouldn’t have invited you.”
“I like pussy, I’m notapussy,” Cael snapped his fingers at her. “Besides, Van hasn’t done a single circuit and you aren’t yelling at him.”
“Yell at Van Mitchell? That angel?” Kaia smiled, showing all her teeth as she squatted down across from Cael. “It’s okay if you can’t do it, the girls will understand. This is a hard routine and maybe you’re just too delicate?”
Cael set the weights down on either side of the bench he was perched on and leaned forward into her space with a matching smile and met her energy like a raw live wire sparking, just begging to be touched.
“You’re baiting me, Kaia Keegan and I don’t like it.” Cael gripped the bench.
“Am not, just trying to get a work out in and there are baseball players lying around whining in my way,” she was mocking him. Van scoffed as he lunged past them, his hair pushed back off his face with a bandana.
“I know all the tricks in the book so what do you want out of this? Us to cry, to tell you that you’re stronger than us?” Cael wasn’t phased by her and it was hilarious to watch their interaction as I spotted Adeline on the squat machine.
“I’m offended that you're more interested in that argument than you are my ass in these shorts,” Adeline said, her voice strained from the weight.
“I can multitask,” I whispered in her ear, stepping forward to help her find the hooks for the bar and wrapping my arm around her waist to pull her againstme. My fingers dipped into the front band against her hipbone and drew circles on her skin. “And you can’t tell me that isn’t interesting. It’s like watching a cat fight with itself in the mirror.”
“I didn’t say that, I said pay attention to me instead.” She tilted her head back and I stole the opportunity to kiss a bead of sweat off her throat. She vibrated with delight and the feeling surged through me faster and hotter than any amount of pre-workout could.
“If I focus on your ass, I’ll never get anything done,” I groaned as she pouted up at me.
“Awe and here I thought I was your cardio,” she said with a smile on her face.
“You are, but if you want me to keep those back muscles you like to dig your nails into then I also have to do weights.” I kissed her nose. “Finish your circuit and maybe we can spend the afternoon setting a new cardio PR.”
“Deal,” she giggled, “One more?” She pressed to her toes and I obliged with a soft kiss. I smiled at her as she pulled away, memorizing every bright shade of her eyes.She’s leaving, stop pretending like she’s not.
Keep it easy, keep it uncomplicated.
“One more.” I whispered.
Kaia and Cael were still at each other's throats, both poised to attack but both having too much fun to end the verbal sparring.
“I want your shirt,” Kaia said after a few moments of heated deadlock.
Cael’s eyes darted down to the grey sleeveless fuckboy crop he always wore.
“No,” he laughed. I’d never seen true fear in Cael’s expression until then.
“One full circuit, you have to fail out on your PR and you have to complete every workout I do,” she said, “It shouldn’t be hard.”
“What’s with the shirt?” Adeline asked, walking around to the lat machine and settling on the bench with her arms in the air. I stepped behind her, changing the weight and pulling the handles into her grasp without a second thought.
“That scrap of fabric is Cael’s equivalent to a childhood teddy bear, or a ratty old blanket. It never leaves him, if it’s not on him. It’s in his backpack.” I said, leaning against the machine while she did her reps.
“That’s weird, but also not surprising.”
“So you admit that you can’t hold up next to a girl in a silly little workout routine?” Kaia pushed with a wicked grin on her face.
“Legs suck, Kaia!” Cael groaned.
“You aren’t doing much to debunk the rumors that Harbor Hornets are pussies,” she said, standing up to her full height. Cael pushed from the bench, towering over her with a tight expression on his face.
“Fine,” he ground out, “one full circuit, if I can’t keep up. You get the shirt.”
“You sure? I don’t want to make you do anything you aren’t ready for…” Kaia teased and Cael took her outstretched hand in a rough handshake.
