Page 33 of Meant for You

Music pumped through the room. It was a large space with weights and a few machines on one side, punching bags hanging from the ceiling, and a large ring in the middle.

There were quite a few guys in there training, and I scanned the room looking for Dane. I spotted Grifter first. He was holding one of the punching bags steady and barking out orders. Dane was opposite him in a pair of nylon shorts and sneakers, chest bare, boxing gloves on his hands, and he was slamming his fists into it.

My feet suddenly felt like they were in lead shoes.

I stood kind of frozen for several minutes, unable to look away. Sweat dripped down his hard, lean body, skin glistening. His pecs jumped with each punch, nipple rings glinting, and he made this deep grunting sound every time that I felt low in my belly. His abs—a freaking eight-pack—looked cut from granite. I tried not to, but my gaze ate up the sight of him, drifting down to the V-shaped muscles disappearing into his low-hanging shorts.

My mouth went dry.

I’d always known Dane was good-looking. I wasn’t blind. But his body now was…wow. Had he always been that incredibly hot?

Who was I kidding? Yes. Yes, he had. Only now he was just…more. More everything.

A few people had glanced my way, so there was no backing up and escaping.

I ducked my head and forced myself to head toward him.

Nervous energy fired though me, making me tingle all over. The closer I got, the worse it got.

What the heck is wrong with me?

Dane looked up.

I was halfway across the room when his golden-brown eyes found me, sliding over my body, lingering on my legs before drifting higher. I was dressed for working on the ranch: dusty cowboy boots, shorts that were, okay, pretty short, and a tank. My hair was probably a wild mess from driving with the windows down, and I fought the urge to reach up and try and fix it.

I plastered a smile on my face as I got closer, doing my best to look unaffected—not easy in the face of a sweaty, muscled, half-naked Dane Calero.

“Hey,” I called.

Dane dragged his forearm over his sweaty face. “What’s going on? You okay?” he asked, walking over to meet me.

I studiously kept my eyes on his and did not allow them to dip lower. “I was in town and thought I’d come see you. Cal said you were here.”

Dane’s stare left me and moved around the room. He scowled.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get in the way of your training.”

“It’s fine.” He scowled harder at something over my shoulder.

I twisted to look, and there were several guys staring at us. Tanner was one of them. Oh boy.

I turned back to Dane, and his expression was tense.

“Are you annoyed? Should I not be here? Is this, like, guys only or something?”

He shook his head. “They’re checking you out.”

A laugh burst from me, a little too loud, but that was absurd. “Dane, they’re not. I probably have horse crap on the back of my shorts.”

He looked irritated all of a sudden. “What’s up?”

Okay, I was obviously in the way. I didn’t like that, the way it made me feel. Dane had always had time for me, and I knew it was silly, but his reaction kind of hurt. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have come here. I just…I have a busy week ahead and I wasn’t sure what you were doing. I just thought…” I took a step back. “Never mind. I’ll leave you to train or whatever.”

I turned and walked quickly toward the door.

Dane hooked my wrist with his gloved hand, stopping me. “Whoa, hold up.” He strode ahead, leading me from the room into a hall and off to the side. I ended up with my back to the wall and Dane crowding me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he said, head tilted to the side.