morning I was up by six after a restless night’s sleep. I tossed and turned restlessly when I wasn’t dreaming about the comments Oliver made. My dreams ranged from resembling a beach ball, to attacking the chocolate city—eating everything in sight. I tried just about every remedy to go back to sleep before resigning myself to rise with the sun. What I really needed was to prove to myself that I was in shape and that I was not nearly as big as I felt in my dreams.
I slipped on a pair of black running pants with a skin-tight grey racer back tank top. It took me longer than I cared to admit to find my black and purple Puma running shoes. There were multiple times I took up running as a hobby but it’d never stuck—not that I hadn’t splurged on cute running gear as if it was all I did in my spare time. Even though the weather was a little nippy with the beginning of September just days away, I decided to skip a jacket, figuring once I began running I’d warm up.
On the way to the nearby lake with a beautiful running path surrounding it, I stopped for gas. While I was inside paying, I was also swayed into purchasing a pack of cigarettes. At least if the run didn’t ease my mind—I had a backup plan.
The air remained chilly, the sky gray and gloomy. A light fog swirled around the trees. I loved running in that kind of weather. My body screamed at me before I even began—it had been way too long since I’d done this. After lifting my arms to the sky to stretch my back, then dropping them to my toes to stretch my knees—I took off.
The feeling was exhilarating. My body moved in lengthy strides, eating away each step of the pavement. The air in my lungs tightened and my legs screamed in protest at the foreign movements. I was clearly no longer in runningshape, and that thought was depressing as hell. By about four steps in, I was ready to give, but pushed myself until I completed a lap and a half. When I came to a stop, my body hurt and I couldn’t hold back the deep coughs from the chill in the air.
Maybe buying those cigarettes remained the right choice after all. I pulled out the pack from the inside strap of my top, put one to my lips and lit up, as I continued a much slower pace around the lake. My second drag caused another coughing fit to rise to the surface. I bent at the waist, trying desperately to catch my breath between coughs, as the sound of a familiar laugh approached from behind me.
“You know what they say, Dani, running is bad for your health. Oh wait no, I think that’s smoking.” I stood and faced Corey, inhaling another drag of my cigarette. This wasn’t the first time I realized how good-looking the man’s body was, but it looked especially delicious now. His legs were clothed in a gray pair of running pants with a black stripe down the side, a black beater that drew attention to his toned and tattooed arms. Sweat clung to every inch of his exposed skin and I wanted nothing more than to trail my tongue from his neck, down the middle of that delicious body. To keep myself from jumping him right there, I put my cigarette to my lips once more. “It’s been a rough couple days.” Corey took the cigarette from between my fingers before it reached my lips for another puff, and then dropped it between us on the ground. I looked up at him, wondering if that was done on purpose. When his classic black and white Adidas shoe stepped down on the cherry, it confirmed my suspicions.
“Smoking’s bad for you.” There was an admonishing tone to his voice, as he reached out for the pack of cigarettes bulging from the strap of my top.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Corey confirmed without wavering.
“But I just bought them—that’s a total waste of five bucks.” When Corey’s hand didn’t drop from its position, I crossed my arms over my chest protectively. He mimicked my pose, holding my gaze.
“No Corey, I’m not giving you my smokes.”
With that he let out a sigh, and snatched them from my top; letting his fingers graze across my pushed together cleavage. A shiver shot through my body, making me forget that I was in the