* * *
Ronnie was still asleep when Dana Sue scrambled out of his bed and yanked on her clothes with jerky movements. She’d finally done it. She’d finally lost her mind and crawled back into bed with her ex-husband. And she’d done it wide-awake, stone-cold sober and in the middle of the day. That left her with no excuses, not a single one.
That was not the way this reconciliation was supposed to go. She’d figured they’d date for a while, maybe he’d spend some time at the house with her and Annie. Then, after weeks and weeks of reassuring herself that he was a changed man, she’d take that final leap of faith and let him back into her bed.
It had been a foolish notion, she realized now. This afternoon had been inevitable from the second he’d shown up at the hospital. For two people who were supposedly mature adults, they never had possessed an ounce of restraint, not when it came to sleeping together. The only reason she’d still been a virgin up until graduation from high school was that Maddie and Helen had hardly ever left her alone with Ronnie, knowing she had absolutely no willpower when she was around him. That and Maddie whispering in his ear that the way to keep Dana Sue was to never let her get the upper hand, she remembered ruefully. He’d done his part to keep her at arm’s length, at least until graduation night, when they’d come to this very motel room.
Sneaking out the door now, she closed it quietly and all but ran down the block, hoping to avoid any prying eyes.
How could she have been so stupid? She’d promised to give him a chance, not an invitation back into her bed, or his, to be more precise.
Maybe she was being ridiculous, she thought. Why not admit the man still had the ability to make her toes curl? And it had been reassuring—more than reassuring—to see that nothing had changed, even though she no longer saw herself as being sexy. Still, she’d had high hopes that they would put off this step till she’d lost weight and firmed up.
Instinctively, she headed for The Corner Spa. “That’s sort of like closing the barn door after the cow is out,” she muttered as she marched past Maddie’s office and dragged on her workout clothes.
This time, instead of the treadmill, she headed for the weight machines. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the slightest clue how to work them properly. She’d probably wind up pulling a muscle instead of toning it, she decided.
Frustrated, she looked around until she spotted Elliott, the only male allowed to cross the threshold of the women-only spa. A personal fitness trainer with abs like steel, dark hair and chocolate-brown eyes, he worked individually with quite a few of the spa’s members and provided eye candy for all the rest. Until this moment, Dana Sue had been part of the latter contingent.
Crossing the gym, she waited until he’d finished instructing his current client, a white-haired woman of seventy who was curling ten-pound weights as if they were feathers. He winked at her when she’d finished the assigned repetitions.
“Nice work, Hazel,” he said. “See you next week.”
Hazel, bless her heart, pressed a little kiss to his cheek and rubbed her hand down the hard muscle of his forearm. “Elliott, you make me feel like a girl,” she teased. “I swear if I were forty years younger, I’d be beating down your door.”
Elliott laughed. “And what would your husband say about that?”
“Oh, that old coot,” she said dismissively. “His cataracts are so bad he can’t even see what’s going on right in front of his nose. He’d never know a thing.” She turned to Dana Sue. “You watch out for this one, honey. He is pure temptation.”
Dana Sue grinned at her. The only man who tempted her was back in a motel room sound asleep. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she promised anyway.
Elliott turned his attention to her. “What’s up, Dana Sue? You finally going to let me spend some time working with you?”
She knew he was teasing, because she’d already turned down every offer he’d made to give her free personal training as thanks for the spa recommending him to its clients.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” she said, clearly catching him off guard.
“Now?” he suggested with an eagerness that amused her.
“You afraid I’ll change my mind if we wait?” she asked.
“It wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Then let’s do it,” she said. “Remember, though, I have no muscles to speak of.”
“Thus the need for my help,” he responded. “Let’s start with free weights. Pick up a couple of different weights and tell me what feels comfortable.”
She automatically reached for the two-pound weight.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he scolded. “Try for five pounds at least. You saw that Hazel was working with ten. Are you going to let a senior citizen humiliate you?”
“I’m not proud,” Dana Sue said, but she picked up the weight he suggested.
Thirty minutes later, she’d decided she hated Hazel and Elliott, as well as Helen and Maddie. Every muscle ached, including ones she didn’t know she had.
“Why do people do this to themselves?” she moaned, sitting on a bench and mopping her brow with a towel Elliott handed her.
“To shape up and live longer,” he said. “It’ll be easier next time.”
“Maybe there won’t be a next time,” she responded.
He sat down on the opposite end of the bench, his skin taut, his muscles bulging. “What brought you in here today?” he asked. “I’ve been after you since this place opened its doors, and you’ve blown me off every time.”
She thought of the shame she’d felt when Ronnie had seen her naked for the first time. Not that he’d shown even a hint of revulsion, but she’d felt her own self-loathing deep inside. Only Ronnie’s kindness and her own grim determination not to bolt had kept her in that
