Page 60 of Please Open Me
Chapter 15
Sophia
I once said Sebastian was hotter than the surface of the sun, and that still held true.
But honestly? That comparison didn’t feel accurate anymore. There had to be something better. Something more fitting.
Because clean-cut, goody-two-shoes, blonde-ambition Sebastian was hot.
ButmessySeb?
Messy Seb was a certified panty-dropper.
We were in the same gym, but it felt like we were miles apart. While I warmed up on the treadmill, he was over on a pull-cable machine, his back facing me, but his face perfectly visible in the mirror.
His eyes were hidden beneath the brim of his baseball cap, but his jaw was tensed like he was pissed at the world for daring to exist. The back of his compression shirt was already soaked through, sweat clinging to the navy fabric and outlining every muscle like a crime scene photo.
I couldn’t remember the last time he’d cut his hair. A few dark curls pressed stubbornly against the back of his neck. He still dyed it black, but the once-raven color had faded a little, and blonde roots were poking through.
Somehow, it made him look even hotter.
Maybe I just liked men who didn’t care.
He finished his set and stretched, the kind of stretch that made his shirt ride up just enough to show a sliver of skin. Then he grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink, his Adam’s apple shifting as he swallowed.
And while I didn’t usually mess with the weight machines, I wanted an excuse to be closer to him.Plus,I was technically supposed to be investigating him. Which meant I had to stay near him, right?
So I wandered over like it was the most casual thing in the world.
The machine had four stations, and he was at one of the seated ones, so I just kind of stood beside him.
Not in his way, but definitely close enough to be noticed. My gaze slid down the machine. Then back up.
A short cord attached near the floor, zero instructions. No guidance. No clue how this thing was evensupposedto work.
But I’d learned a long time ago: if you do something confidently enough, no one questions you.
So I squared my shoulders, turned up my music, and adjusted the weight plates with the pull-pin like I knew exactly what I was doing.
The weights clanked loudly, and I flinched.But I did it confidently.
I grabbed the cord, braced my feet, and pulled like I was starting a lawn mower.
And—absolutely nothing happened.
Well. That wasn’t entirely true. Something happened. And by something, I meant I nearly dislocated my shoulder trying to yank the stupid thing.
Sebastian stared at me skeptically, then—without a word—reached for the bar above his head and got back to work.
And I...
I exhaled sharply, reduced the weight, and cleared my throat like that might somehow fix the laws of physics.
I got back into position, grabbed one of the little rubber balls at the end of the cableand—
THUNK.
The loud, mortifying crash of metal on metal echoed across the gym as the weight stack slammed back down.
