“Give me five minutes.”
He fights a smile as he nods back and steps into my apartment. I disappear into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me, as I rummage through my things in search for workout clothes that I can wear beyond athleisure. My family is pretty athletic. Dad used to play baseball, Mom has always worked out, my sister played volleyball most of her life. I grew up in dance, and once the fun of it was over for me and I quit, I kind of fell off the bandwagon before Mom put an end to my indulgences and made me start going to Pilates with her. I used to go running with my sister sometimes when she was still living here, but I never really liked it. Some people say they find mental clarity while they run. The only thing I found was sore muscles and exhaustion followed by overeating because I was so damn hungry after the run. In any event, as I brush my teeth and pull my long dark hair into a high ponytail, I mentally prepare myself for my run with Mitch. I may not be the athlete of the family, but my competitive nature still runs deep.
We’re not even half a mile in when I stop running, put my hands on my knees, and focus on breathing.
“Come on, Misty. You’ve got to be kidding. You’re in shape.”
I don’t even look up as I stick my middle finger out to him. Fuck him and his freakishly athletic figure. When we were seventeen and I dated him, he had perfectly etched muscles, but this Mitchell is beyond perfectly etched. He has muscles on muscles on muscles. He’s not body-builder big or anything. He has the kind of frame where if he’s fully clothed, you know he works out, but that’s all you’d assume. It was the only thing I’d assumed until he took his shirt off a minute ago and swung it over his muscled shoulder. He’s walking back over to where I am when I stand upright. I feel like I’m dying and he looks like he’s on a fucking stroll.
“I’m tired.” I take a deep breath. “I don’t normally work out at five in the freaking morning.”
“This is my daily run, not my workout. I don’t lift till nine.”
I balk. “What?”
“Let’s just finish the mile and we can walk back,” he says.
“Fine.” I take another deep breath and start jogging beside him.
At least he’s slowed his pace from Usain Bolt to regular person and I’m feeling pretty good about the rest of this jog, especially since it’ll never happen again. Today I am definitely going to go along with the following him everywhere thing, especially since I don’t have to go to school or work, but tomorrow I’ll only be able to do some of the things. When we reach the end of the trail, he stops running and I do the same. He gives me a second to catch my breath before turning around and walking in the direction we just came from.
“So, you run this trail every day?” I ask.
“Every morning, except Sundays.”
“How many times do you run it?”
“Four.”
“Four?” I blink up at him. “It would take me a year to work up to that.”
“You stay in shape.” He eyes my bare stomach. “I’ve seen you jogging with Jo.”
“First of all, I went jogging with Jo like four times and you happened to see me one of those times. Second, Jo only runs one mile a day. Third, I do Pilates. It’s much more . . . effective for this.” I signal toward my displayed abs. “Which, at the risk of sounding like a total douche, is really all I care about.”
“That’s fair.” Mitch lets out a deep chuckle that I feel all the way to my core. “So, how’d it go with your date?”
“It went well.”
“Not well enough for him to stay over though.”
“Do you judge how every date does by whether or not they stay over?”
“Yes.”
I shake my head. “That’s why you’re still single.”
“Why are you still single?” He shoots me a look.
“I don’t know. I guess I like it this way. There’s a certain freedom that comes from not being tied down to a man.”
“There’s a certain freedom that comes with being tied down by a man.” His eyes smolder as he says the words and I can’t not think about him tying me down to a surface.
“Yeah.” I look away quickly. “Well, maybe I’ll experiment with that with Austin.”
“Shame. Here I was hoping you’d experiment with me.”
“Mitch.” I stop walking just outside of the apartment building and turn to him. “This is an assignment for me. Nothing more. I can’t have you throwing things like that at me right now.”
“Because I still affect you.”
“Yes.” I keep my eyes on his. “Even though you shouldn’t.”
“Maybe if you gave me a chance, we could both get over this once and for all.”
“Really?” I let out a laugh, shaking my head as I move to brush past him and walk into the building. “No, thank you, Mitchell.”
“I’m just saying, it might not be such a bad idea.”
“It’s a terrible idea.” I shoot him a look that begs for him to drop it.
He does and pushes the elevator button and we take it up to the tenth floor, where we both get off and head toward our respective apartments. As he stops in front of his and I walk by, I hear loud voices inside and remember he lives with two other guys on the team. Mitch doesn’t move to go inside. He merely stands outside, holding his key, waiting for me to go into mine.
“Maybe we can do this again tomorrow.”
“You want to add torture to the list of requirements for this assignment?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Aw, come on. You enjoyed it.” His lip turns up slightly.
“It wasn’t terrible.” I purse my lips as I turn the key to my apartment and open the door. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
“See you in a bit.” He gives a nod, looking like he wants to add more to that statement, but I disappear into my apartment before he gets a chance.
It’s not until I’m in my kitchen, which is also fully stocked, that I realize my heart is beating out of control and it has nothing to do with the run and everything to do with Mitchell. I shake my head at myself. I cannot go down that road again. And I won’t. I’ve been able to resist the temptation that is Mitchell Cruz for years now and this will be no different.
Chapter Seven
“You’re late,” Dylan says as he opens the door for me.
“Good morning to you too.” I step inside and wait for him to close the door. Normally, I would just let his poor attitude slide, but since this job depends on me somewhat getting along with them, at least enough for them to open up to me, I figure I should address this now. He leans against the door and crosses his arms, waiting. “I just want to make sure we’re cool, you know, since we’re going to have to spend time together for this.”
“We’re cool. Why wouldn’t we be cool? Because you ghosted me?” He pushes off the door. “I’m just glad Mitchell was willing to let it go.”
“Mitchell?” I feel myself frown. “What does he have to do with any of this?”
“That night I met you he told me to stay away from you and I didn’t take his advice. I didn’t realize he was saying it because you’d already broken his heart, otherwise, I would have stayed away from you.” He shoots me a look. “To be clear, you didn’t break my heart, but he’s my brother and I never wanted a woman to get between us. We’re good though. I’m not going to let you ghosting me get in the way of this project. We have a reputation to fix and that’ll be on you.”