Kendra extended her hand. “Sorry. This is kind of embarrassing. Not something I want associated with the Roving Champion brand.”
The man looked confused and gave her hand a firm shake. “Roving Champion?”
Her heart kicked up even more. The man had no idea who she was. It wasn’t like she was always recognized on the street, but it was nice to run into a hot guy who wouldn’t prejudge her based on her fame.
She waved a hand. “It’s a play on my name. Kendra Champion.”
“I’m CJ,” the man offered, his confusion vanishing. “Nice to meet you, Kendra.”
A bolt of excitement struck her center. Kendra did her best not to lick her lips. There was something about the way CJ said her name that made her knees weak. It wasn’t just the fact that he was a ridiculously muscled stud. He wasn’t the boy next door. This was the bad boy who rode into town on a bike and scared your parents.
“You jog here a lot?” Kendra asked.
CJ shook his head. “Not normally. I’m only in town for some business, and I’ve staying nearby, so I figured I’d check out the neighborhood.”
“Kind of the same for me.” Kendra nibbled her lip, an idea percolating. “Mind if I stretch a little? I always like to stretch as part of my cooldown.”
“No, go ahead.”
Kendra sat and leaned forward, spreading out her legs and stretching her arms forward until her fingers touched the ground. She wasn’t lying about her cooldown, but the current goal of her stretching was to let CJ see her body from different angles. The flame, the spark, the missing piece that was lacking with David was there with CJ.
Nope. Not a spark, an out-of-control raging inferno. Her toes curled a little when his bicep tightened with him scratching the back of his neck. The muscle was huge.
“You’re saying you don’t know this area then?” CJ asked, sounding slightly disappointed, but still smiling.
“Sorry.” Kendra shifted and lay on her side, ignoring some moisture in the grass, and she performed some quad stretches and hoped he appreciated the curves of her body. “I’ve been to New York a few times, but I don’t know it well.”
There was a break in the smile, the briefest of interruptions. Kendra only noticed it out of the corner of her eyes. She hoped it meant he liked what he saw when she bent forward and showed off her ass. The original smile never came back, not fully.
Kendra finished stretching and stood, now concerned she’d tried too hard and ran him off. Part of her screamed to ask for his number, but she didn’t want to come off too thirsty. If David could ask her out, CJ the Super Stud could.
“It was nice to meet you, but I’ve got to get going,” CJ said.
“Oh.” Kendra failed to keep the disappointment off her face. “Um, if you have time, you should come and watch me compete in the Knickerbocker OCR Assault, or you know, like anybody. Obstacle course races are very crowd friendly because it’s pretty obvious if a person’s doing well. The event is free to the public, by the way!”
She hated the desperation in her voice, but her pride wouldn’t let her ask him out at this point.
CJ stared at her for a moment, a hint of frown on his face. “The Knickerbocker OCR Assault?”
“Yeah.” Kendra nodded quickly. “You’ve heard of it?”
“Uh, sure. A little. I’m not really a big expert on these kinds of things. Maybe I’ll check it out.”
He stared at her, looking her up and down, but without the lust, subdued or not, she would have preferred. She knew what that look was. It was doubt.
“And you’re going to compete?” CJ asked, obvious suspicion in his voice.
Kendra folded her arms, now anxious and wondering if CJ preferred his women busty over toned. “Yes, I am. I actually do this sort of thing for a living.”
Her stomach churned when the words left her lips. Her innate competitiveness and desire to prove herself could come out too hot and strong at times. CJ admitted he didn’t follow the OCR scene. He might have been expecting a different body type.
“I’m sure you are,” he said.
“I’m more than a pretty face.”
Kendra barely managed not to wince. She couldn’t believe she’d just said that. Any chance she had with her stud had sunk to the bottom of the ocean with that prissy display.
CJ chuckled and waved. “I believe that. I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to meet someone. I probably will check out your event. See you around.”
Kendra stood there, her mouth half-open, as CJ jogged away. She let herself be mesmerized by the swing of his huge arms and her own imagination of how rock hard both his abs and ass must have been under his loose clothes before remembering how she’d all but hissed at him and tried to claw his eyes out for a mild rebuke.
Kendra took a couple of steps, thinking about running after him before stopping and accepting the inevitable. A ridiculously hot man hadn’t dropped into her lap. Instead, she’d collided with him and rather than getting his number or securing a date, she’d let her pride run him off. He probably hadn’t meant anything by his question.
She wasn’t even sure why she’d reacted so intensely. Plenty of people said far worse in the comments on her video. Detractors had called her a fake-ass bitch to her face, and she’d been able to blow it off, but for some reason, the idea of CJ doubting her wounded her deeply. She didn’t know anything about him other than he was hot and had a nice voice.
Kendra facepalmed. “Roving Champion? More like Roving Idiot!”
Chapter Five
CJ had never considered the use of
