Page 112 of Rules Of Engagement: St. Louis
He chuckled. “What gave me away with the UNO thing?”
I laughed. “You were watching everyone’s tells. The way Devon always touched his chin when he had a good hand, how Patrice bit her lip when she was trying to decide which card to play.”
“I’m good at what I do.”
“Maybe a little. But it was impressive cheating.”
“I don’t cheat, woman.”
I laughed as we pulled away.
“So, the St. Louis Stretch,” I said. “That’s really weird, right?”
“No.” He leaned across the seat and kissed my lips. “It’s serendipity.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
CHRISTIAN
“You want to practice together?”
Naomi was stretching on my living room floor, her yoga mat spread out next to mine. We’d both finished our individual workouts, but the marathon was only two weeks away.
“Makes sense, doesn’t it? We’re training for the same event. Might as well coordinate our schedules.”
“I cycle, you run. How does that work?”
“Easy. I’ll run alongside you while you cycle. We can keep the same pace, work on endurance together.”
She tilted her head. “You’d be okay with that? Running next to a bike?”
“I’d be okay with anything that means more time with you.”
She blushed. “We’ll see about that.”
“Is that a, yes?”
“That’s a yes.”
The next morning, we met at Forest Park at dawn. Naomi had her bike, I had my running shoes, and we both had water bottles and the fortitude to push each other harder than we would alone.
“What’s your usual pace?” I asked as we warmed up.
“About fifteen miles per hour on flat terrain. What about you?”
“Seven-minute miles. We should sync up pretty well.”
We started slow, finding our rhythm. Naomi pedaled steadily while I jogged beside her, both of us settling into a pace that we could maintain for miles.
“This is nice,” she said after the first mile. “Having company I mean.”
“It’s better than running alone.”
“I agree.”
We were silently focused but aware of one another. Mostly, we enjoyed being together, moving toward the same goal, literally and figuratively.
