room. He’s changing his shirt, and even from this far away, I can easily see the defined ridges of his perfect abs.
Heat rushes up into my cheeks.
“Let’s get on the exercise bikes,” I say to Jessa, hoping my voice doesn’t give away how flustered I suddenly feel.
“Um…okay,” Jessa says, barely containing her amusement.
I pull Jessa by the wrist over to the exercise bikes and sit down and immediately start pedaling like crazy. Much more casually, Jessa eases herself down onto the bike next to me.
“Easy, speedy,” she says. “You’re not in a race.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gavin approach. Even though I try to not look at him, it’s like I have no choice; my gaze is magnetically drawn to him.
Especially when he’s wearing a form-fitting shirt like he is today.
Jesus, he’s in amazing shape. He’s toned and muscular, but not too bulky. If I was looking for someone to date, he’d totally be the kind of guy I’d be interested in.
“Hey Emily, Jessa,” says Gavin as he approaches us. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to see you today.”
“It’s good to see you, too,” Jessa says, then looks over to stare at me. “Isn’t it, Emily?”
I give a wordless nod.
Jessa lets out a not-so-discreet sigh. I know she’s disappointed that I’m not going for it. But I’m good. I’m fine. I don’t need to flirt with a guy just because he’s hot.
And charming.
And funny.
And…hot.
“So, Emily, I know this is your last day here,” Gavin says, taking another half-step closer to my machine. “But I’d love to see you again after this.”
Oh, God. I’m already sweating so much. And it’s not because of the exercise bike.
I open my mouth, trying to find the words to gracefully get out of whatever it is he’s suggesting.
But of course Jessa beats me to the punch.
“Like on a date?” she asks.
Gavin smiles at Jessa, then refocuses on me. The blue of his eyes is unbelievable. A part of me is melting while the other part is hoping the floor will open up and swallow me whole.
“Exactly,” he says. “Can I take you out sometime, Emily?”
I swallow. My throat feels tight and I’m gripping the handle bars of the exercise bike so hard that my knuckles are turning white. “I, um…”
“She’d love to,” Jessa cuts in, earning a smirk from Gavin and a glare from me, which she’s obviously unaffected by. “Trust me. She’s completely free this weekend.”
Yeah, I’m completely free aside from having to kill my best friend and dispose of the body.
“Glad to hear that, Jessa,” Gavin says. “But I’d like to actually hear a yes from you, Emily. How’s Saturday sound?”
Several seconds pass and nobody says anything. If my hesitation wasn’t already blatantly obvious, it’s gotta be now.
“We can just go to lunch,” Gavin says. “It’ll be casual. Low-key.”
I breathe out a little sigh of relief. Lunch I can deal with. Lunch isn’t some big fancy date.
“Okay,” I say. “Sure.”
“Great. I’ll get your number before you leave for the day.”
Gavin gives me a torturously gorgeous smile and walks away, finally allowing me the chance to catch my breath.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jessa says. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“I can’t believe you, Jess,” I grumble.
And yet beneath my annoyance, beneath my resistance…okay, fine. I am looking forward to the date. Gavin really does check all the boxes for me.
If I was looking. If I had time to date.
I’ll humor Jessa this time. I’ll get it over with and go out with this charming, funny, hot-as-hell guy.
Once.
And then it’s back to focusing on dance.
Because that’s my priority this year. Not anything else. Certainly not men.
Not even when the man in question seems like he might just be perfect.
Chapter Four
Gavin
“All right. I give up. There’s no way I can decide,” says Emily, setting down the menu she’s holding open.
I lean forward on my side of the booth. “What are you trying to decide between?”
“Well,” she says, tapping the menu. “The Triple Grilled Cheese sounds pretty incredible. But so does the Cuban Burger.”
“So we’ll split both. Problem solved.”
She gives me a look. “What? No. Come on. I’m not going to make you eat something you don’t want just because I can’t make up my mind.”
“You’re not making me eat anything. I wanted both of those, too.”
“You’re so lying right now,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me.
I grin. It’s nice to see Emily being playful. When I first picked her up, I could tell she was still somewhat