Hot Pickle - J.J. Knight Page 0,9

more. Sour milk. Roaches in a cereal box.”

He holds up a hand. “Okay, okay. I’ve got it. I’m nearly there.”

Nearly. But not all the way.

“You might have time to take it to its conclusion if you want me to step out. There is a lock.”

His head turns slightly, his jaw set. “This is one hell of a conversation to be having with my training partner’s sister.”

I have to bite my lip to avoid laughing. “Would it be better with someone else?”

He shakes his head. His back looks good. Max may not realize it, but he’s already above two-thirds of the competition. If he can hold it together on stage, he has a shot at placing. I’ve never seen someone arrive at their first competition in such perfect shape.

And I would be lying if I didn’t say a few sparks weren’t flying in my girl parts.

Thankfully, it’s not so obvious as his.

“Should I go?” I ask.

“That might be helpful,” he said. “Apparently there’s something about you I can’t resist.”

“Oh.” Now that’s something. The newbie god has a weakness.

Me.

I feel like Meg in Hercules.

More sparks.

I take a few slow steps toward the door. “Well, it was fun. Interesting.”

“Thanks for your help.” His voice is monotone.

“All right, see you around.”

I unlock the door and slip out.

The halls are quiet, so I take a moment to lean against the wall. My heart is hammering an awful lot over someone I just met.

But whoa.

For a moment, I entertain a fantasy about going back in there, sliding those trunks right down, and straddling him in the ultimate one-off before sashaying away. I can almost feel those muscles under my hands again.

Max is a rare specimen of a man.

And he preferred me over Dahlia.

That’s new.

I haven’t dated anyone in a while, not since Malachi, who I helped fly up in the bodybuilding ranks before he ditched me for the next anyone who could help his career.

That was a bad scene.

And a broken heart.

But that was last season.

Max is now.

He has the most perfect rumbly voice.

And a great sense of humor.

I have already touched a lot of him.

And seen even more.

Yeah, I’ve seen plenty.

I’m more than sparking. It’s a straight-up ache. I’m not a one-night-stand sort of girl, but I could play one for a day.

My hand is on the door handle when my phone buzzes.

Right.

Work.

I’m at the top of my game.

And it’s competition day.

Shoot.

I shake my head at what I’m contemplating.

Pull it together, Camryn.

I take a deep breath and move down the hall. It’s mostly empty. The majority of competitors are either in prep, on stage, or are sitting in the seats to watch the other classes.

I need to head to the other dressing rooms and tackle my last two clients prepping for prejudging. Then I will have about two hours before it all starts again for the evening show.

I won’t have a chance to go see Max on stage, sadly. I couldn’t even carve out time to see my brother.

But he’ll be around. All day.

I thumb through my paper schedule as I hurry to my next client. I’ll be done with everyone by the time the heavyweights go on for the evening show.

It might be fun to watch this Max fellow when he can’t see me gawking. Mostly naked. In the spotlight. Posing just for me. Well, and a thousand other spectators.

I haven’t thought about dating someone since last year’s disaster.

Maybe it’s time I did.

5

Max

I made it.

The competitor in front of me bounces lightly up and down to stay warm as we all wait for our turn on stage.

The hall leading to the steps is narrow, so I can only see a few people in front of me. Twenty bodybuilders are queued up for my category. It’s a good showing. I’m trying to focus.

By the time I got my jets cooled and left the room where Camryn had fixed me up, I was tight on time. I barely managed to cram some rice cakes down my gullet and start pumping hand weights to make sure my muscles were as defined as possible.

Even now, as we wait to go on, the competitors who are farther back in the line constantly drop to the floor for more push-ups to avoid going flat.

I run through the poses over and over, the thump, thump, thump of the bass driving the beat from the music in the main arena.

I’m not as nervous as I thought I’d be. Maybe all my panic got used up with Camryn.

Or maybe compared to that scene,