A New Challenge

Hannah

Ty

are you sad you’re not on my team?

And then the one came in a few minutes later.

Ty

I can see if Jordan is interested in a trade…

Uh... I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Ty was distracting and flirty. Would I even be able to pay attention if he were my coach?

Probably not.

My phone vibrated in my hand.

Ty

I know you read these. Are you ghosting me?

Shit. He’d caught me.

“Come on, Han. Let me see.” I handed my phone over, and a smile filled his face as he read them. “Seems like pretty boy likes you.”

“Uh…no. I doubt it,” I replied. “Ty’s just friendly. He’s probably like that with everybody.”

He smirked and shook his head. “He is friendly, but he was definitely checking you out.”

“Crap. I guess I need to respond to him. He’ll probably just keep texting me if I don’t answer him.”

“And you don’t want the attractive, flirty guy to keep texting you?” Parker asked, studying my expression.

Did I? No... it was bound to end badly. And I wasn’t finding a new place to work out because of a flirtation. There was no way I was starting over already.

I shook my head, and Parker started laughing at me.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “I don’t!”

“Come on, don’t shoot the poor guy down,” he coaxed, “enjoy the attention.”

“Fine,” I sighed.

Hannah

Wasn’t ghosting you…Parker is here.

Ty

My bad. Tell the boyfriend I say hello.

I was halfway tempted to let him keep thinking Parker was my boyfriend, but he’d eventually figure it out.

“He thinks you’re my boyfriend,” I told Parker.

“Wait... what?”

“Ty thinks you’re my boyfriend.”

“Like your friend, who is a boy?” Parker asked skeptically.

“No... he thinks you’re my lover.”

He made a face, and I growled at him.

“I’m not your boyfriend, Hannah,” Parker said firmly.

I went to open my mouth, and he shook his head.

“Whatever you’re going to say, don’t.”

“But you do kind of owe me,” I reminded him. For once, the ball was in my court, and I kind of liked it.

“Hell no, Hannah,” he said adamantly. “No means no.”

“Ugh... fine,” I sighed.

“I will do a lot of things for you, but I’m not pretending to be your boyfriend in public.”

“I guess I need to set him straight.”

“Probably. Let the poor dude down easy. He’s probably not used to being rejected.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. But Parker was probably right.

Hannah

Parker doesn’t bat for my team

Ty's response was instantaneous.

Ty

So you’re unattached?

“He wants to know if I'm single,” I told Parker as I stared at my phone.

“He's hot.” He lifted an eyebrow. “And that little accent is sexy as fuck.”

“I thought you wanted me to let him down easy,” I teased.

“Do you?”

I thought about the ramifications if I let this flirtation with Ty continue. He was handsome, and I couldn’t deny that there was a little part of me that was intrigued, but it also had the potential to blow up in my face.

I wasn’t the casual type, and he seemed like the type that was a little bit of a player. It was probably best for me to keep him at arm’s length.

“I can’t go there. It would just be messy.”

“Messy can be fun.” He wiggled his eyebrows and reached up to pull down my cast iron pie dish.

“Or not.” I sighed, thinking about my past relationships.

“Do whatever you want,” he replied as he poured in the egg mixture and then started sprinkling in the veggies he’d diced up. “Or whoever. I’m not judging.”

“That looks yummy.” My stomach growled as I watched Parker finish layering in all the ingredients.

“I know.”

“You’re such a dick,” I told him.

“I know,” he nodded and smirked at me as he turned on the oven.

My phone vibrated in my hand again as a text alert popped up. It was Ty again.

Ty

too much?

Hannah

sorry. A bit.

Ty

nah, that’s alright.

Ty

I wasn’t kidding about swapping teams. I’d be happy to coach you.

I bit my lip and typed out an answer. I hoped it didn’t come across as flirty.

Hannah

You afraid of a little friendly competition?

Ty

bring it. 😉

The oven beeped to indicate it was up to temperature, and Parker put the pan inside. He washed his hands and came around the island, grabbing my phone.

“Gimme.”

“So bossy.” I laughed as I placed it into his hand.

“Always.” I let him read through the messages, and he shook his head at me. “You didn’t completely shut him down, but it’ll work.”

“I didn’t want to be mean.”

“So you’re on Jordan’s team?” he asked as he started to clean off the counter and put away the cutting board.

“Looks like it. You never told me who you have.”

He growled and mimed blowing fire out of his mouth.

“Sucks to be you, dude.” I laughed with sympathy.

“Eh…she’s not that bad.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“She made a face when my numbers came up on the body machine,” I confessed, and his eyes flared with anger.

“Bitch.”

“I was going to request to be moved if I ended up on her team. I don’t think she likes me.”

“I don’t think she likes anyone.”

I nodded, and he handed back my phone. He was probably right.

“Three days a week?” he asked. It had been included in the rules of the challenge that you had to take a minimum number of classes.

“Yeah... might as well get into this.”

He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head. I leaned into his touch and sighed.

“I’m proud of you,” he murmured into my hair, and I took in a shaky breath.

I shouldn’t be getting so emotional over something that really wasn’t that big of a deal, but he knew how terrified of failure I was.

“Save that for the end of this challenge.”

“I’ll just tell you twice,” he told me.

The timer on the oven went off, and he pulled out the frittata, setting it to cool on top of the stove.

“Okay... so this is a healthy, protein-rich breakfast. You can also always cut it in slices to eat over time. It’s usually good for three or four days.”

“Are you my nutritionist now?” I laughed.

“I figured we could eat together as much as we can... it’ll be easier to keep each other accountable.”

I had to admit, that was pretty sound reasoning. It would be easier for both of us if we had the full support of an accountability partner.

“So, you’re gonna cook for me every day?” I wiggled my eyebrows and took the plate he handed me.

“This is to get back on your good side. You'll cook tomorrow.”

The bite I took was hot, but it tasted like heaven.

“Mmm. This is amazing.” I covered my mouth with my hand as I finished chewing.

“I'll send you the link to my Pinterest board of recipes.”

“Oh my God.” I giggled as I smacked his arm across the table. “You're so gay.”

“And don't you forget it,” he replied proudly.

We settled in for breakfast, and my mind wandered back to the fitness challenge. I was on ~Team Green Machine~. I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth. Hopefully, inhaling kale wasn't one of the team rules.

I looked over the email I had received again.

“Have you heard of a trainer named Jordan?” I asked Parker.

“Nope. I’ve only seen Ty and the dragon. Why?”

“He’s my team lead,” I sighed, thinking about how intimidating Mal was. “Hopefully he’s nice.”

“Hopefully he’s ~hot~ ~you mean,” Parker winked at me. “Another sexy guy will get your mind off of Ty.”~

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t need any more distractions.

Still, now on the topic of sexy guys, my mind wandered to J. I couldn’t help but remember his strong biceps, his perfect chest. He was so kind and easy to be around.

A part of me hoped that ~he~ would be this mysterious trainer Jordan, but I knew he couldn’t be. He wasn’t a trainer. He was taking the classes with me.

I chewed on my food, the bacon tragically losing its flavor with all my worrying.

~No more attractive, jerky trainers please.~