No Rep (Madd CrossFit #1) - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,4

with the same dark blue eyes as my own.

“What the hell what?” she grumbled. “What’s your deal? You should be listening to this. It’s important.”

I couldn’t listen to anything that man said.

Mostly because his voice was so sexy that it made my chest ache.

“Who is that man?” I asked, unable to fully keep my gaze off of him.

When I looked toward him, it was to find him staring at me with curiosity on his face.

“That’s Taos.”

I frowned. “What? Chaos?”

She shook her head. “No. Taos. Like Chaos, but with a T.”

I blinked. What an odd name.

I thought mine was weird, but Taos… I liked it.

It suited him.

“You didn’t tell me he would be so intimidating,” I whispered.

Before we’d come, she’d told me absolutely anything and everything she could come up with regarding the gym.

That included who might and might not be coaching. But a ‘Taos’ was never mentioned by her.

Mavis turned to survey me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, even though I was slightly queasy. “I’m fine. I just…he’s big. And intimidating, and his eyes are super watchful.”

Mavis tilted her head. “Taos used to be a cop. He’s watchful. He looks scary and unapproachable, but he’s a good man. I promise. I would never have brought you here if there were going to be people here that wouldn’t treat you like you need to be treated.”

I almost rolled my eyes.

My sister treated me like spun glass.

Ever since the incident, she never, ever let me stay alone if she could help it.

At first, it was because she was worried that I might up and die on her due to my injuries. Then she was worried that I might up and die on her because I was going to kill myself.

I wasn’t. Not after surviving. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t super depressed and found it hard to stay engaged in life.

“Seriously, come on,” she urged. “Let’s get this started. Once you get your mind off of him and on dying instead, you’ll be able to do fine.”

I had a feeling I wouldn’t, but whatever.

“Sure,” I croaked.

“…we’re going to be doing baseline.” Taos’ voice was like a balm to my disconcerted soul. I had no idea why it rubbed me like it did, but I loved it a lot.

“What’s baseline?” A man in his late thirties, who was slightly overweight and had a beer belly on him, asked.

“Good question,” Taos said as he spun the board around to face us. “Baseline is a place where every CrossFitter starts. We’ll do baseline initially and then every once in a while, to see where we’ve improved. Once today, and once at the end of the bootcamp. And, if you decide to stay with CrossFit, then sporadically throughout the year.”

I was still waiting to hear what baseline was.

As if he heard my thoughts, he grinned and said, “Baseline is five hundred meters on the rower, forty squats, thirty sit-ups, twenty push-ups, and ten pull-ups.”

I didn’t even think I could do one pull-up, let alone ten.

The others I had a feeling I could get through.

Though, just sayin’, but I hadn’t done push-ups in years. And even then, I’d done what Mavis had called ‘girl’ push-ups.

“Any questions?” he asked as he glanced around the room.

Yet again, his eyes came to land on me, and I felt like he was calling me out specifically.

I flushed and shook my head.

He nodded and turned back to the whiteboard. “All right. Everyone grab a band and let’s get started.”

He then proceeded to walk us through the warmup, which was, in my opinion, a workout in and of itself.

It felt good, though, to have my muscles straining.

It felt… freeing.

After we were done with our ‘warmup,’ I watched as he walked over to an older lady in the back and helped her with her squat form.

He touched the back of her leg lightly and then brought a ball up to her backside.

He then demonstrated what he wanted her to do.

The bad thing was, I wanted him to demonstrate on me.

All night long.

“You really have to control yourself,” I heard whispered from beside me.

I frowned and looked over at the unfamiliar voice.

“Are you talking to me?” I questioned.

Surely, she wasn’t.

But, sadly for her and for me, she was talking to me.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” she smirked. “My husband is used to it, after all, but that doesn’t make it any better.”

Husband?

Husband?!

Why wouldn’t Mavis…

“Surely you remember that ugly divorce y’all went through last year, right, Maria?” Mavis drawled. “The one that you brought into this very