When Gracie is humiliated after following her best friend's brother to college and finds he's moved on without her, she grows closer to his rival--the captain of his basketball team--the infamous Kalen Rush, and suddenly Gracie wonders just what len...
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"You're really just going to sit there and do push-ups while I read?"
Kalen paused on the way down, his body in the perfect plank position for a push-up.
"Yeah, that's what I said."
"And you really think I won't be too distracted by your...sweating and grunting to read anything at all?"
The fact that he grunted while sweating after pushing himself back up once more wasn't lost on me.
Nor was the fact that said sweat was seeping through his very white, very translucent t-shirt, putting his obnoxiously large muscles on display in front of my face as I used the book I was trying to read to fan myself.
"And why would you be distracted, Gracie? I thought you said you had to get your work done two weeks ahead of time, otherwise you wouldn't feel 'accomplished' enough? I finished my workout while you were starting on your second essay, and now you want to finish this book before the end of the night. I'm just trying to pass the time."
His faux innocence wasn't lost on me, nor was the fact that he was pointing out how obvious it was that I was trying to avoid whatever it was that was between us.
Since my shower earlier that morning, Kalen had, in fact, gone to the gym to workout. Then he'd gone for a run, prepped our lunches and, after inhaling at least a quarter pound of protein, had gone downstairs to weight lift.
And I, in true Gracie fashion, had buried myself under mountains of schoolwork that weren't technically due for at least another month, but thanks to the syllabus and online portals, it was all at my disposal and I could work as far ahead as I wanted for any of my classes.
Which brought us to our current dilemma: Kalen calling me on my shit.
"You know you're distracting, prick."
He rolled his eyes playfully as he went back down, and then back up again for another push-up.
"Oh my god, if you do another push-up I am going to lose my mind. Please, stop. I'm done for the night, I swear! Look, I'm even putting the book away, see?"
The book snapped closed in my hand the last time his elbows pushed his body up, and when his eyes flicked up to mine, there was an uncontrolled longing hiding behind the navy blue depths.
A smirk stretched his lips wide and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the smug look on his face.
"She finally put her book down? Well, now this calls for a celebration!"
An uncontrollable squeak fell past my lips as he stood up and strode to me, never once breaking eye contact, and slung me onto his shoulder from the bed.
"Put me down! You're all sweaty and gross!"
"You seemed to like it a minute ago when you couldn't take your eyes off of me, sweaty or no."
