Page 9 of Every Inch of You
He leaned in and spoke to me in a deep, low voice. “No, Vivian. You’re going to get in shape because I’m going to whip you intoshape.”
The nearness of him, despite his attitude, almost made my knees buckle. The words felt like a quick slap to my ass, in a way that made all of my nerve endings come alive. What was happening? That this sexy man was the sweet and adoring boy I once knew, did not compute in my addled brain. My inner sixteen year old was swooning. My inner twenty-six year old was flustered and bewildered. My outer twenty-six year old was flooding herpanties.
I held my breath until he moved away fromme.
He gestured for me to follow him towards the bank of treadmills. “In addition to our private sessions three times a week, I’d encourage you to join our classes at least twice a week. Have you ever taken a yogaclass?”
“No.”
“Whynot?”
Fear of public queefing.“I don’t like carrying around a sticky mat, and I don’t want to use one that doesn’t belong to me, so…I just do yoga at home. Withvideos.”
“Got it. Have you used a treadmillbefore?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He adjusted the settings on a very high tech treadmill for me. “It’s a ninety minute first session tonight. We’ll focus on proper form and breathing techniques for different exercises. But you’ll usually get an hour with me. You can spend as much time at the gym as you want, of course, but don’t overdo it. Our bodies need to rest in order for our muscle tissues to grow. I’d like you to warm up on this for fifteen minutes, and then meet me in that back room over there, with the climbingwall.”
“Are you going to make me climb the wall?” It sounded dirty the way I said it, but I honestly didn’t mean it thatway.
“Not tonight.” He grinned at me. Was he flirting with me now? “That’s the room where we do privatesessions.”
And just like that, I was warmedup.
* * *
“We’ll be doingHigh Impact Interval Training today, to intensify calorieburning.”
“Okiedokie.”
He looked down at my newly-bought-from-Target running shoes and made a face. “Are those shoes comfortable foryou?”
“These aren’t my regular workout shoes. I didn’t have time to go home to get my cross-trainers today, so I picked these up atlunch.”
“Okay. So we’ll do reps of individual exercises to check out your form, then twenty minutes of HIIT this time, followed by stretching. Next session we’ll do strength and resistance training, to build up your muscle mass and turn you into a fat-burning machine. Soundgood?”
I might not have the strength to resist your masses of muscle.“Soundsgood.”
When he told me to assume a squat position, he held his hand on my shoulder two seconds longer than necessary after correcting my posture, but when he pulled it away, it somehow felt even more electric. The space he was keeping between us was intentional, but it only made me more aware of him, and more aware of my ownbody.
When it came time for the dreaded sit-ups, I groaned as I got down on the floor. When I realized he was going to kneel on my feet to ensure that they stayed anchored on the ground, I could see myself finally learning to love crunches. Every time I raised myself upwards, I stared directly into hisface.
“Keep your eyes on the ceiling,” he said, flatly. “Don’t bend your neck. Chin up. Otherwise you’ll strain yourneck.”
After ten sit-ups I wanted todie.
“Thirty more,” he said. “You can doit.”
I tried to be cool. “Are you in touch with anyone from highschool?”
“Not really.You?”
“Not really. Go back to Seattlemuch?”
“Not really.You?”
“Not lately.”Because my terrible ex-boyfriend is there withSlutface.
