to keep it from falling, then repeating the juggling act all over again. I guess he was trying to keep me from seeing any part of his body. Poor guy, if that’s how people felt when they were wimpy, it’d be a good thing to get this dude fit. Hell, imagine being embarrassed about your body—especially a guy like Sean, who could do anything he wanted in life. It didn’t make sense he should be ashamed of anything.
He finally managed to get himself sitting with a couple towels draped over his lower half and another one he held against his chest. I slid my palms over his shoulders and pressed his head sideways. He cleared his throat. “I really appreciate what you said about my being smart. I might submit that you don’t have sufficient empirical evidence to support that opinion.”
God, the man cracked me up. As if the way he talked wasn’t proof enough!
“You’re a science major, right?” I said.
“Genetics and Genomics. It’s the study of DNA, genome sequencing, and how to manipulate organic life. There’s no more fascinating field on the planet.”
“Sheesh! I rest my case.” I pulled back on his shoulders gently and noticed significantly less restriction in the tissue and tendons than when we’d started.
He said, “I should probably tell you, however, that I’m not undertaking this out of concern for my health.”
“Oh?” I pulled back again in one last stretch.
“No. I said I’d do flag football because my house needed a volunteer, and they offered to comp my room for the rest of the year. But also because I made a resolution to get into better shape, and I thought volunteering for flag would force me to do so.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong there.
“My goal,” he continued, “is to increase my appeal so I can attract a man with an interest in taking my virginity.”
My hands stopped moving, I sucked in two lungs full of hot steam through my open mouth and burst into a fit of coughing.
A half hour later, we’d both showered, and Sean promised to take a slow walk to get to his class. As for me, I had Physiology of Exercise, one of my fave courses, but not for forty-five minutes. I bundled up in the heavy coat I kept in my locker to keep my muscles warm and started walking.
So Sean had, uh, social reasons for getting fit. It was a good enough excuse. Hell, half the people who worked out did it just to get laid. But flag football too? Playing on the ALA flag team was hard. Why would he want to give himself that much grief?
Wait. I stopped in midstride. Maybe he was thinking he could catch an ALA? Or not catch exactly, but, you know, fuck. No, there weren’t any gay guys in ALA but Rand. And Sean with Rand? No way.
Still, funny how the idea of Sean with some guy made me feel weird. I mean, he could end up with some axe murderer. But that wasn’t fair. I was Sean’s personal trainer, and I needed to help him reach his goals no matter what they were. Probably, though, getting a guy wasn’t too different from getting a girl, and that took way more than physical fitness. I sure knew that first hand. Girls liked my muscles, but they didn’t stick around long.
I sighed. You had to start somewhere. We could begin on Sean’s body. And if he needed other skills, maybe I could help him out there too. He sure seemed inexperienced. At least I’d been around some even if I hadn’t had a serious relationship.
I’d been standing in the middle of the sidewalk like a giant statue, so I started walking toward class again. One thing for sure. I was Sean’s personal trainer, and I needed to be certain he didn’t make a mistake.
Chapter Five
Sean
I crossed my arms over my chest and surveyed the guys lined up on the field. They were all A-hoes except for me and Dustin, the other Sigma Mu Tau brother to be assigned to the flag-football team. It had snowed last night, which apparently was not enough to call off a practice game. The football field had an inch of fluffy frozen H2O, which also apparently was completely acceptable. I tried not to worry about slipping or about losing toes to frostbite since they were already numb inside my soaked trainers.
Tray spoke up. “Today’s the first practice with both our new team members—Hedgehog and Dustin. So Bubba had the