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The gym was crowded, its patrons the usual mix of hot-looking trim chicks and equally hot-looking buff dudes. People were grunting as they hoisted stacks of iron while others were shedding what could have been their body weight in sweat as they raced an imaginary opponent on the stationary bike while watchingKeeping Up with the Kardashians on the overhead TV screens. Loud rock music was blaring, the sound mixing with that of the TV screens, and somewhere near the back the Hells Angels seemed to be holding a convention, as pony-tailed middle-aged men were encouraging other pony-tailed middle-aged men to put in‘one more rep, Rudy!’ Odelia smiled. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the club.

She said goodbye to Chase as she headed into the locker room and when she re-emerged, dressed in obligatory skintight lycra in the prerequisite loud colors, she saw that Chase had already reserved a station for them. It was the cable pulley machine for the back, and Chase was pulling down on the wide iron bar, the muscles in his back well-defined. She expelled an involuntary gasp. The man was huge! Dressed in a tank top and biker shorts, he was also exceedingly hot, and she had to resist the urge to stare at his pronounced front bump.

“You started without me,” she said as she walked up.

He grinned and let the weights fall down on the stack with a loud clanging sound.“Just a few warmup reps. So what do you wanna do?”

“I thought about limiting myself to the cross trainer today. Start building up that cardiovascular endurance again.”

“Or we could do some weight training first, and then finish off the session with some cardio.”

She shrugged. She wasn’t exactly a pro at this kind of stuff, and he definitely had more experience. “Have you been doing this long?”

“I started when I was sixteen, so you might say that’s a long time. My dad used to take me to the gym. I was a skinny kid and he thought I could use some bulking up. And since I was also a shy kid I was being bullied a lot and he figured some weight training might help with that as well.”

“And did it help?”

“It did. Most bullies are cowards. They don’t like to pick on guys that are bigger than them. And it didn’t take me long to get a lot bigger. Of course I had a strong incentive. These days I just do it to stay healthy and strong.”

“So no ambitions to compete?” she asked, pointing at a poster announcing an upcoming bodybuilding competition.

“Hell, no,” he said with a laugh. “To be absolutely honest I’m not sure it’s entirely healthy to do this stuff professionally. It’s a completely different ballgame.”

“It sure is,” she said as she watched a guy as big as a house pose in front of the mirror. With his veins popping and his muscles clearly visible beneath his skin, he looked a little scary. ”So what did you have in mind, coach?”

“Sit yourself down, little lady,” he said with a drawl, “and I’ll tell you exactly what I have in mind.”

So she sat down, and after he’d changed the pin in the stack, she grabbed the handles and pulled down hard. It took her some time to get into the groove again, but then she remembered this had always been one of her favorite machines, and soon she could feel her blood pumping and her heart pounding. It was a great feeling and she gave Chase a grateful smile. “This feels good!”

“Of course it does.”

She wiped her sweat with her towel and they headed for the next machine, this time focusing on chest muscles. And as they walked from machine to machine, doing a full back and chest workout, she said,“There’s been a lot of rumors going around.”

“Oh? About what?”

“About us.”

Chase was lying on a low bench, pressing two dumbbells up in a lateral motion.“Us, huh?”

“Yep,” she said as casually as possible.

“And what are they saying?”

“Well, ‘they’ seem to think we’re in a hurry to tie the knot.”

“And is there a reason for all this hurry?” he asked with a grunt as he lowered the dumbbells.

“They think I’m pregnant and wouldn’t like to walk down the aisle with a baby bump.”

He grinned as he sat upright, toweling his face.“Pregnant, huh? What do you know?”

“Yeah. It came as something of a surprise, to be honest.”

“Not to me.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Nope. I think when you take into consideration how those two lovebirds have been behaving—kissing any chance they get—it’s hardly surprising an accident would happen. And a shotgun wedding is the only way to go to spare the parents the embarrassment.”

“Those two lovebirds, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Kissing all over town.”

“That’s right.”

“Strange. As far as I know they haven’t even gone on their first date yet, not to mention that she is not aware of the way he feels about her as he hasn’t said a peep.”

“Not a peep, huh?”

“Not a single squeak.”

“What if I were to tell you that he figures all those times he joined her for dinner at her parents’ place counted as so many dates? And that the reason he hasn’t told her how he feels is that he didn’t want to rush into things?”