38. Kiera
KIERA
“One more, Princess.” Leo towered over me, looking down at me with her hands on her hips.
Out of breath, I wanted to smack her for pushing me so hard. Even if it was a good distraction from how eerie the house had become.
It had been hard to relax since our forced vacation, every part of the house making me nervous. Despite Dom’s thorough check for bugs and cameras, I couldn’t help but feel like the whole place was polluted.
Just knowing that Isaac had been lurking near the gates gave me the creeps.
Laying on my side, my right arm draped over my stomach. I forced myself to try and lift the two pound weight. I just needed to make it parallel to the floor and then I could quit. Even with just a few pounds, my arm was wobbling as I tried to raise the dumbbell in the air.
“Go on, almost there.” Leo prompted.
Maybe the distraction isn’t worth it.
I barely managed to hit my goal, the weight level with my hip before letting it crash to the floor. “Fuck this.”
“Nice work.” Passing me a water bottle full of electrolytes, Leo smirked.
I sat up, took a sip of the bottle, and then let out a groan. “This is so dumb. I can barely lift two pounds. I’m a lost fucking cause.”
Leo raised an eyebrow and knelt down. “Don’t talk about my girl like that.” She let me catch my breath for a second. “You’re doing great. Exercises like these are really tough, not just because your joints are flexy. We’re targeting really specific muscles that are challenging you.”
Despite the kind words, it was hard to believe her. Every day, I watched Leo, Dom, and Spencer crush hundreds of pounds of the weight racks. They could lift a car off of me in seconds.
And here I could barely lift a loaf of bread to my side.
Like she could read my mind, Leo shook her head. “This isn’t the same as benching or lifting. I would struggle to do ten pounds like that.”
“You’re a very bad liar, Doctor Callahan.” Licking my teeth, I shrugged. “I just want to be strong too.”
Scoffing, Leo nudged my arm, giving the muscle a squeeze.
“Kier, you’re already so fucking strong.
You could take a dude down in a heartbeat.
You’d just be a pain for a few days doing it.
We’re trying to make it so that shit doesn’t hurt you long term.
But if you want to bench with the big dogs, we can get you there. ” A gentle wink made my heart flutter.
I wouldn’t have let anyone else help me like this. Leo had worked for the trust, carefully broaching my chronic illness and trusting me to set my own limits.
“Come on, let’s see what we got done.” Leo held out her hands for me, pulling me up with ease despite the sweat glistening on her own skin.
While I did my sets, Leo would hop over to her weights and pump out a few of her own.
If the pain of my physical therapy wasn’t enough to distract me, the sight of her bulging muscles and deep groans were.
Once I was on my feet, a wave of dizziness smacked me. The lights grew bright and my vision blurred as I tried to get my bearings.
Leo kept an arm wrapped around my sweaty back. Only when I was stable, Leo guided me toward the wall of mirrors across the private gym. The massive windows outside let gorgeous summer light spill into the workout room.
“Take a look.” Leo spun me on my heels, placing my side toward the mirror. “Remember when we started how tilted out your hips were. Now look.”
My eyes dropped down to my waist. As much as it annoyed me, she was right. My stomach had pulled in, engaging my core and forcing my hips to tilt forward and take pressure off my lower back.
Pressing her palm into my lower back, Leo lowered her voice in my ear. “See, those first exercises worked toward this.” Leo’s hand moved up my back to my shoulders, my breath hitching in my chest as she touched me. “And the last one is relieving some of that tension, isn’t it?”
“Mhm.” I groaned, unable to get any words out. My eyes caught on her in the mirror. Her broad chest and shoulders engulfed my back as we looked at our reflections. The lifting she’d squeezed in had pumped up the delicious muscles in her arms.
But a pang of insecurity rushed through me. She was so gorgeous, like a Greek god standing next to me.
And I can only manage two pounds.
I knew the stress must have been getting to me. I didn’t let anyone — including myself — make me feel unworthy, not since I left Gabriel outside Red Poison.
Leo caught my gaze in the mirror, bringing her fingers to my chin and directing my gaze behind me and meeting her honey-gold eyes. “You smell good.”
“I smell like sweat.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yum.” Leo growled, her breath warm on my lips. “And your body… it’s fucking stunning.”
Giggling, I batted my eyelashes up at her. “Someone’s hungry from their workout.”
“Starving.” The rumble in her chest sent a wave of excitement to my clit, already a little sensitive from the way these leggings rubbed between my thighs.
More than any workout ever could, my breathing became ragged as I realized exactly what Major Leo had in mind for me.
She was going to take me, right here in the middle of her gym.