Page 23 of Work It Out
She laughed. Actors. So dramatic.
Those dimples flashed again. “So, cupcake, what’ll it be?”
Chapter Seven
Last April
Celebrity Today
“Victoria Miller is 20: TheAll About AliceStar’s Transformation Through the Years”
From Adorable Alice to Voluptuous Vicky. On Ms. Miller’s birthday, let’s take a look back at her metamorphosis from darling to daring and where co-star Jake Newman fits into the story.
Three hours after his come-to-Jesus with Rayah, Jake realized exactly what a fucking idiot Pierce was. Not the average took-a-right-when-he-should-have-turned-left sort of idiot. He was the Followed-His-GPS-Into-a-Lake Dumbass League Champion.
“How?” Jake croaked without shifting his gaze. “How’d you leave out a detail like that?”
“I don’t know!” Pierce hissed back. “I figured you knew. It’s not a state secret. But the new location of your balls will be if you don’t quit staring.”
“Again, how?” Because his brain kept sending the message to his eyes, but those stubborn bastards weren’t budging.
Rayah—sexy, stubborn, bitingly sarcastic Rayah—had three little girls and one boy of varying ages eating out of the palm of her hand while she moved them through a multitude of stretches.
So she could teach them gymnastics.
Gymnastics.
She was a gymnast.
And not some amateur-hour dabbler. According to Pierce, she’d been a contender for the U.S. Olympics team before a career-ending shoulder injury.
Pierce was testing Jake’s upper body limit with a max-out session on bench press. He couldn’t focus on the pathetically low amount of weight on that bar or he’d pack his crap and head back to L.A. This was a process, he reminded himself, a war he’d win one battle at a time.
He’d been sitting on the end of the bench between sets when he heard her talking in the other room. He hadn’t been able to concentrate since. It’d be a miracle if Pierce didn’t let the bar crush his chest to prove a point.
“And the left,” she intoned, drawing his focus back to her like a flower to the sun. Then she used some kind of sex goddess witchery to switch position from doing the splits with her right leg forward to doing the splits with her left leg forward—while seeming to merely shift her upper body—and his eyes threatened to bug right out of his face.
Thank God thirty feet and most of a glass wall separated them. He’d been surprised by the size and expense dedicated to a space set up for gymnasts when he’d taken the tour with Pierce, but he’d felt so sick he’d dismissed it as another luxury meant to cater to any sort of athlete. But that tumbling mat–filled haven was her private playground. The lazy, euphoric smile on her normally worry-lined face and the light happiness in her voice were enough to knock the wind out of him at fifty paces. He could only imagine what they’d do to him up close.
“Dude.” Pierce moved to block the view. “Knock it off. You’re embarrassing yourself. And put ten more on that side. I’ll get this one.”
Jake never wanted to hit his best friend in the face more, but he had crossed over into Creeperville and needed to retreat. With a groan that might’ve shamed him if he wasn’t so exhausted, he hauled himself off the bench.
“What’s wrong with you anyway?” Pierce muttered. “It’s just Rayah.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? ‘It’s just Rayah?’”
Pierce removed the clamp on his end of the bar. “I think Rayah’s awesome, I do.” He added a ten-pound weight and replaced the clamp. “But she’s like my little sister. I get that she’s hot in that girl-next-door way or whatever, but you work with Victoria Miller, man. Those tits…” A dreamy look crossed his face, followed closely by a sly smile. He strolled over and nudged Jake’s side. “You can tell me. I swear I’ll keep my mouth shut. You hit that, right?”
Jake’s fist clenched. “I’ll hit you if you ever talk about Vicky like that again. She’s a goodkid. Don’t be nasty.”
Pierce took two huge steps back. “Okay. Big fat no. Got it. I mean, you said you weren’t hooking up with her, but I can’t wrap my head around it.”
Vicky was only five years younger than him, but they’d started working together when those five years meant something. The gap between twenty and twenty-five was an acceptable dating practice depending on the people involved, if generally iffy in his book. The gap between fifteen and twenty had forever landed Vicky in his Hell No category. She played his little sister on the show, and that’s how he felt about her. Recently, he’d learned there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for her. But that relationship would never be romantic.Eww.
“I don’t know why you’re wasting time warning me off Rayah.” Jake added the appropriate plate to his side. “You should be talking to that overgrown stalker of hers.”
“Overgrown stalker?” Pierce’s jaw hardened as he widened his stance. “Who’s messing with Ray? And why’d she tell you instead of us?”
