True to Candy’s word, Lance was in the training room waiting for me, and Cal was nowhere in sight.
“So, you’ve finally decided to wake up,” Lance teased, as he gave a few quick punches to one of the bags. “I thought I’d have to go up there and drag you out of bed.” He gave me one of his playboy smiles. “Not that I’d mind doing that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, the sudden constricted feeling making me worry that I was having a heart attack or something. “Where’s Cal?”
Lance arched an eyebrow in my direction, all signs of his smile gone. “He’s out.”
I frowned. “He’s out. Where has he gone?”
Lance shrugged, a frown matching mine etched on his face. He gave another hit to the bag. “Don’t know. Didn’t ask. He said he had something to do and told me to train with you today.”
I moved so that I could face him and laid my hand on the bag to stop it from swaying. “What?”
Lance sighed as he dropped his hands to his sides. “He said he wouldn’t be around today, but that he wanted you to train. Are you up for it? You had a rough day yesterday.”
I eyed him for a moment longer, holding his gaze in a steady lock. “Was he angry or something?”
Lance’s frown deepened, but he shook his head then moved over to a line of shelves and pulled down a towel to wipe the sweat from his face.
I followed him. “Lance, just tell me, did I do something wrong? Is he mad at me?” My gut twisted at the thought. What if he didn’t feel the same things I felt? What if the bond didn’t take completely?
Lance lowered the towel and sighed again. His eyes were soft and filled with pity as he laid a hand on my shoulder. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He tossed the towel into a laundry basket behind him and planted one of his charming smiles on his face. “Now, how about we get those muscles working a little. I can see that you’ve got some changes going on.” He swept his gaze over my body, his smile turning wicked. “The bonding has done you well. You should find today to be a great, full-body workout.”
I forced myself to smile back, pushing my negative thoughts down. If Lance said everything was okay, then everything must be okay. If the bonding was obvious to him, then it must have worked. Cal wouldn’t leave me without a good reason. My feeling of doom eased away as I followed Lance to a couple of mean-looking weight training machines.
“Hop on, sweetheart, let’s see how much you can lift.”
“No, your arm’s gotta come around here.” Lance grunted as he swung his leg forward, wedging it between mine and pinned me once again to the mat. The full weight of his body squished the air right out of my lungs.
“Oof,” I managed as he twisted my arm around and held me in place.
“And that, my dear, is how it’s done.” His breath cut across my ear sending a shiver down my spine. “Easy.”
A heartbeat passed, his hard body pressed against me, his musky smell invading my nose, and I gulped.
“I could tickle you right now and you wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it… Are you ticklish, Morgan?” He was teasing, his tone light, as it had been on and off throughout our training day, but still, with his body on mine I suddenly felt a little odd—like we were doing something we shouldn’t.
“If you tickle me, I’ll consider it war and trust me when I tell you that I will get you back,” I said, forcing the strangeness away with a chuckle.
Lance released me and my body unraveled in an instant. “Fair enough. I’ve learned never to go to war with a female if I can help it.”
He bounded up and offered a hand to me. “Truce then?”
I smiled. “Does that mean we’re done with the torture session for the day? ’Cause I kinda feel like a broken pretzel at this point.”
Lance smiled wickedly. “Nah ah, sweetheart, I’ve got a lot more moves to show you.” He winked. “But I promise not to tickle you.”
I couldn’t help but smile back. “Ugh, fine.”
Hours later and my body was humming with the feeling of being well used, just as Lance had promised. I stood in my bathroom, in front of the steamy mirror, having just stepped out of a nice hot, relaxing shower. My body felt good. I felt good. My day had been both productive and successful. I’d learned a lot thanks to Lance’s patient, yet demanding instruction. As much as I longed for Cal, I could deal with Lance’s wicked smiles and encouraging commands.
I wrapped a large towel around myself and wiped the mirror clean before taking another towel to my hair.