Page 10 of Tempting the Teammate
“Sounds riveting.”
“Come on, I’m serious. You had all day to work out, but you waited for me. You could have been developing photographs instead.”
Andrei shrugged. “Could have done that today, too.” He looked at me with that unreadable expression he got sometimes, the one that made me feel like there were conversations happening that I wasn’t privy to. “Your turn,” he said finally, snapping his fingers and gesturing toward the bench.
We switched places, and I found myself in the spotter’s position, looking down at Andrei as he settled onto the bench. From this angle, I could see the entire landscape of his body: thebroad expanse of his chest rising and falling with his breathing, the way his shirt pulled tight across his shoulders, the narrow line of his waist disappearing into his shorts, and the subtle rise and definition that his workout gear couldn’t quite conceal. Guys checked that stuff out now and then. No biggie.
He gripped the bar and lifted it off the rack with smooth precision. His form was perfect, controlled and efficient in a way that mine never quite managed to be. I watched his chest expand and contract with each rep, watched the muscles in his arms flex and release, watched the concentration settle across his features.
Something tightened in my own chest, a weird pressure that made it hard to breathe properly. My hands felt slick against the bar I was barely touching, and there was this strange buzzing energy running through me that I couldn’t quite place. Maybe I’d pushed myself too hard on my own set. Maybe I needed more water.
Andrei’s breathing grew heavier as he worked through his reps, and I found myself matching his rhythm without meaning to. The fluorescent lights cast everything in harsh relief, highlighting the sheen of sweat across his skin and the way his jaw clenched with effort.
“Good,” I managed to say, my voice coming out rougher than I intended. “That’s good.”
He finished his set and sat up, immediately turning those big, bright eyes on me with sharp focus.
“You okay?” he asked.
My mouth felt dry, like I’d eaten a mouthful of sand. “Yeah. I’m more tired than I realized.”
“Call it quits,” he said, reaching for his towel.
I nodded, probably too quickly. “Good call. Let’s go.”
We gathered our stuff and headed downstairs to the locker room, our footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell. The showerarea was tiled in institutional white, with a row of individual stalls along one wall and benches for changing along the other.
Andrei went to his usual spot and started stripping down to his underwear with the same methodical efficiency he brought to everything else. I focused very hard on my own undressing, fumbling with my T-shirt and nearly tripping over my own shoes in my haste to get changed without looking in his direction.
We took stalls next to each other, and I tried to focus on the practical aspects of showering: water temperature, soap, getting the sweat out of my hair. But I was dizzy, lightheaded in a way that had nothing to do with physical exertion and everything to do with the strange buzzing energy that wouldn’t leave me alone.
The shower was mercifully quick. When we stepped out with towels around our waists, I made the mistake of glancing over at Andrei as he reached for his clothes.
Water droplets clung to his skin, catching the harsh locker room light and turning it into something that looked almost artistic. His shoulders were broader than I’d realized, back tapering down to that narrow waist, and there was a grace to the way he moved that I’d never really noticed before. The towel hung low on his hips, and I found myself following the line of water that traced down from his collarbone to disappear beneath the terry cloth.
I jerked my gaze away and focused on getting dressed as quickly as possible.
We walked out together, but as we reached the main entrance of the gym, I found myself slowing down. The night air hit my face, cool and sharp, but it didn’t do much to clear the fog in my head.
“You sure you’re okay, Griff?” Andrei asked, stopping beside me.
I needed space to think, to figure out what was wrong with me. Maybe I was getting sick. Maybe I’d eaten something bad atdinner. There had to be some logical explanation for the way my pulse was racing and the way my skin felt too tight.
“Yeah. You go ahead. I think I’ll walk a bit first.”
Andrei tilted his head, and the lamplight twinkled in his eyes. The gesture was so unconsciously appealing that I felt that weird tightness in my chest again.
“If you say so.”
I forced a laugh, falling back on the easy humor that had always been my default setting. “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll be home soon.”
He punched me in the shoulder, harder than necessary, and we both started laughing. The moment of tension broke, and for a second, everything felt normal again.
“See you back at the house,” he said, shouldering his gym bag.
I watched him walk away, noting the easy confidence in his stride and the way the campus lighting caught in his hair. When he disappeared around the corner of the science building, I was left standing alone in front of the gym, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
The campus at midnight was a different world. Most of the windows in the surrounding buildings were dark, and the pathways were lit by evenly spaced streetlamps that created pools of yellow light connected by stretches of shadow. I started walking without any particular destination in mind, just needing movement and fresh air.
