Edge of the Water

At five in the morning on the dot, Jon walked into the gym, expecting it to be like every other morning he had gone in for the past four days: empty. But he stopped the second he stepped into the studio. Belle was keeping up a brisk and steady pace on an inclined treadmill, humming along to the music that streamed from the earbuds in her ears, and reading what looked like a binder filled with notes.

He took the time to examine her. Her lithe yoga body told him that this is what she did every day, and running was no concern for her at all, but the muscles in her arms told him that she knew of strength training, although didn't particularly enjoy it, at least not as much as she seemed to be enjoying her cardio.

He jumped as a ringing filled the room, but Belle stabbed at her phone, which she was using as a music player and smiled down at it. “Hey!” she grinned at the device. “You caught me at a bad time! What's up?”

Jon thought he could hear a mumbled response, but it was too low to be sure.

“Yeah? No kidding! That's great, Ollie!” A pause, and then “I miss you too, babe....no, not for another two weeks, then they're gone...no, I am not getting their autographs for you. You don't even enjoy hockey! You're a volleyball and soccer player!” she giggled out, slowing the treadmill down to a jog rather than the quick paced run she had been at. Talking and running wasn't something she wanted to be doing, apparently.

She rubbed at her neck, moving to stretch it out when she noticed Jon at the entrance to the gym. “Oops, hold on, Oliver,” she pulled the earbuds from her ears. “Hey, Jon. What are you doing here?” she questioned him.

“I, uh...I like to work out at five in the morning?” he supplied.

She nodded. “Alright, I can take this outside. I don't want to bother you,” she stopped the treadmill slowly before sliding off the end and moving to shut her binder and grab her phone.

“No, it's okay. You can stay here. I won't intrude. Just going to lift some weights,” he supplied.

“Umm, give me a second.” She shoved the buds back into her ears. “Hey, Ollie, I'll call you back later today. Congratulations on the job, babe...Love you too. Bye.” She ended the call, turning back to him.

“There, now we're golden,” she grinned at him. He simply stared at her. Who was this happy girl, ready to interact with him when any other time she had been all too happy to push him out of the way and pretend he didn't exist? “Want to race?” she asked.

“And how do we do that?” he asked.

“First one to five miles on a three incline?” she suggested.

“I don't know...” he trailed off. He had the leg muscles. That's what he did for a living; build his leg muscles so he could skate as fast as he could, to get that puck, and score that goal the whole stadium was cheering for.

“C'mon, you have an advantage on me. I've already been running for a good ten minutes; a bit winded. Are you scared a girl will beat you?” she teased him, strutting towards him. “Scared my superior calves are going to beat yours?” she giggled out.

“Oh, you're on!” he chuckled out. He dropped his things off beside a treadmill, pulled of his shirt so that he was only in a pair of running shoes and shorts, and then hopped onto the treadmill beside her. She jumped back on hers quickly, punching in some numbers and started off on that same brisk run he had seen her on only moments before.

“Hey! You didn't say go!” he punched in his numbers just as fast, taking off at a speed just a bit faster than hers.

She grinned at him. “Why would I give you another advantage?”

She hiked up her own speed, grinning at him as they ran side by side.

He wasn't sure if his conscience would let him do it. He had to be a gentleman. Did that mean letting her win? Or did that mean that he had to show how much of a man he was and beat her? There was too much going on in his head as he watched her run. Her miles were hiking up, along with his. They kept pushing their speed faster and faster until Jon realized that instead of letting her keep time with him, he was struggling to catch up to her. That tiny body beside his could speed along a three incline like no tomorrow. She knew what she was doing. She knew how to run, and that hot little body was going to beat him. She wasn't even breaking a sweat.

He sped up, keeping time with her until at the very last second, he watched her hand shoot out and kick up her speed even more and her treadmill beeped and immediately moved to slow down. His beeped seconds later, and he gaped at her. She had beat him.

He slid off his treadmill seconds after she slid off hers, and she grinned at him.

“How did you do that? I do that for a living!” he insisted.

She grinned, stepping closer to him. Normally, he would have stepped back at the invasion of privacy, but he liked her invading his privacy, smiling up at him with her wicked grin, her breasts rising and falling in exertion over the run, trying to calm down her sweating body.

“I also do that for a living, if you've forgotten,” she breathed out, shimmying up to him. “I'm smaller, more agile, and I know how to sustain myself. You've always just needed bursts of speed—like when you have the puck and need to get it from one end of the ice to the other. Now,” she grinned, body almost pressed flush against his. “What did I win?” she giggled out.

His breath hitched at the blatant flirting that came out through her words. Was this actually happening? Was she coming onto him? Is that all it took? Working out with her? He had to be cool. He had to play it cool. Flirt right back. She needed to want him as much as he wanted her if this was going to work.

“Whatever you want, darling,” he purred right back at her.

“Excellent,” she ran her hand up his bare chest, gripping his shoulder for support. Standing on her toes, she leaned close to his ear. “Stop coming onto me. I am not yours to want. I am taken. And I am not a cheater. Now get it out of your thick skull that something is going to happen between us, darling.” She used the same pet name her had used on her against him. Even in her wicked words, her voice stayed seductive, and she even flicked her tongue out to caress his earlobe before she had all of her things in her hands and was out the door to the gym in seconds.

Jon had no idea what he was up against, but he was much more intrigued now that he found the plaything in perfect little perfectionist Belle.