Happy New You Read online

  When she finally realized protesting was futile last night and gave me the burpees she owed me, I had to scroll through my Instagram feed to keep my eyes off her long legs in those short shorts. Why the hell had she rolled them up like that? It was like she wanted me to stare at her ass every time she bent down and jumped back. But then she tripped over her own feet and almost face-planted. After swallowing my laughter and making sure she was okay, my twitching cock confirmed even her klutziness was a turn-on. So back to my phone I went.

  Tonight we agreed to meet at this parkour gym and work on her dexterity. When she divulged her goal of doing an inflatable race, I nearly swallowed my tongue. I’ve done those courses before and they’re no joke. I believe one hundred percent in my abilities as a personal trainer, but I don’t know if training Allison to successfully complete an inflatable race is possible. Maybe our training session will be a wake-up call. If she makes it through tonight without quitting, I’ll be totally on board with training her for the event. Otherwise, maybe we should just stick with her goal of getting in shape.

  The door clangs open and the vision that is Allison walks in. She’s got those ridiculously tight yoga pants on that all women wear, but that’s not where my gaze lingers. I’m so focused on her tight top, specifically where her jacket gapes open, exposing cleavage that has been pushed together by a sports bra. Damn, I owe a thank-you note to that thing. I’m so focused on her chest I almost miss the way her eyes widen when she sees the equipment in the warehouse space behind me.

  She strips off her jacket and I pull her in for a hug before I can think too much about it and second-guess myself.

  “Ooohh!” Al lets out a moan that doesn’t sound at all like the type of moan I want to hear from her. I quickly let go and see her wince.

  “Still sore, huh?”

  She shoots me a look that would kill a lesser man.

  I smother my grin and remind myself to never let Seth find out I went against his advice. I couldn’t help myself. I get a little twinge of evil satisfaction knowing I’ve made my clients sore, Allison being no exception. Especially Allison, when I think back on all those years she basically ignored me after I dropped out of law school.

  I clap my hands together. “Okay, so let’s get you warmed up and then we’ll start on the first obstacle.”

  “Wait, hold up. Shouldn’t we just rent a kiddie bounce house and jump through it? Why this crazy warehouse of contraptions?” She gestures around the space, like she landed on the moon and isn’t quite sure how she got there.

  “Kiddie bounce house?” I look at her incredulously. “Al, an inflatable obstacle course is actually quite an athletic event. You have to climb walls, swing across bars, walk on balance beams, jump on giant inflatable balls, dodge padded levers trying to push you into mud. You have to actually train for it. It ain’t no princess blow-up castle, Sunshine.”

  She stares at me for several seconds and I can practically see the gears turning in her head. “Well, shit.”

  I bark out a laugh and lead her over to the mats before she thinks about it too long. We run through various exercises and stretches together, during which she keeps making the most amusing sounds. If I didn’t think she’d actually kill me, I’d record it on my phone, to show my Instagram followers how to push through the initial soreness from working out. I know Allison would be an instant hit. I also know she might never speak to me again.

  Soon enough I’m demonstrating the first obstacle, which is simply jumping from one tree-stump-looking pillar to another that’s slightly diagonal from the first. I run through all eight and then come back to the start.

  “Ready?” I clap her gently on the back and she lurches forward. Damn, I gotta remember she’s new to all this and not even a little athletic.

  “I’ve seen them do this a million times on Ninja Warrior. It’s always the first obstacle so it must be easy.” She takes a deep breath and I keep my eyes above the straining sports bra, telling myself I’m here to help a friend and I need to remain professional.

  She smiles and climbs onto the first tree stump. Her hands drift out to the side like she’s on a balance beam even though the stump is over two feet wide and barely off the ground.

  “So, just…jump?” she calls over her shoulder.

  “Yep, use your left leg to push off and land with the right leg first.”

  She nods again...and then leaps with both feet instead, barely landing on the other tree stump before lowering into a squat when she doesn’t catch her descent. Her arms pinwheel a few times before she grabs onto the wood beneath her feet and catches her balance. She stands and twirls around.

  “I did it!” Allison gives me a thumbs up before twirling back around and promptly falling off onto the mats below. I roll my lips between my teeth and hold my breath to keep the laughter from tumbling out.

  Cheeks bright red with embarrassment, she pops back onto her feet when I haul her up. It takes a few more tries before she can do it semi-smoothly. Feeling good about her progress, we go to the rope swing.

  “Okay, so most obstacle courses will have a rope swing over water, or mud, or a foam pit like this one. If you fall in, you have to climb out and try again, which will massively slow you down. Our goal is to make sure you can do the rope swing on the first try. Grab it and then bring your knees up and wrap the rope between your feet. Like this.” I hop up and assume a safe position to perform the swing. “Lock your elbows to your side and just hang on until you reach the other side.”

  When I hand the rope to her, she makes the most adorable frown, her nose wrinkling. “Doesn’t sound too hard. Right?”

  “I like your positive attitude, Al. That’s important.” There’s no way in hell anyone would be able to do it their first time out. I give her an encouraging smile and wave toward the obstacle. “Give it a go.”

  Before grabbing the rope, she wipes her hands on her pants and then jumps up with all the courage of the naive. She locks in her bent elbows and kicks the rope a few times. I bend down and help get the rope wrapped between her feet. Then she’s swinging over the pit and everything seems to happen in slow motion.

  Her feet immediately start flailing, which means they aren’t holding onto the rope any longer. Then her arms succumb to gravity and straighten out, her biceps now earmuffs as her head is squashed between her arms. The rope spins her around, her eyes nearly popping out of her face while she screams, “Holy shiiiiiiiiiiit!”

  I grimace, blinking once, and she’s gone. Leaning over the pit, I can see some of the foam cubes moving, then a tangled mess of golden brown hair as her head rises above the surface of foam.

  “You okay?” I shout down to her.

  She swivels in my direction and blows some hair out of her eyes. “What the hell happened?”

  I wave in my direction. “Come on out of the pit and we’ll go over it.” I’m vibrating from the effort of holding back my laughter. I’ve never seen anything funnier—or more adorable—than Allison Gottlieb flying through the air, barely hanging onto a rope. And I can’t laugh. It’ll crush her and I won’t do that to her, no matter how many times I have to swallow and clear my throat before I can speak. Rule number one of training a client: never laugh at their abilities, or lack thereof.

  Several minutes later, after she’s laboriously climbed her way out of the foam pit, she walks up next to me on the platform. She shoots me a look that screams “Don’t even say it.” I take in her disheveled appearance and lift an eyebrow.

  “Ever heard the phrase, ‘Two steps forward and one step back’?”

  Her hand comes up and her palm is toward me with enough attitude to impress Beyoncé herself. “Ever heard the phrase, ‘Kiss my ass’?”

  I roll my lips again and will myself not to laugh. I think of all the family dinners where my parents discussed a patient’s bowel surgery over plates of spaghetti. I remember what happened to my toenails after I ran my last marathon. I even think about all the zeros I’ll need in my savings account to
open my own studio. Anything to keep myself from laughing right now.

  After a few more deep breaths, her hand lowers. She’s back to never-give-up Allison and I can’t help but find her even more attractive. I’ve always admired her drive, her determination. There is truly nothing Al can’t have if she sets her mind to it. And as comical as this all is tonight, I believe in her. She’ll do this too. I’m sure of it. Guilt for having doubted her makes me that more determined to see her succeed.

  I put my hands on top of her shoulders and she eyes me warily. “Let’s try again. I’ll hold the rope so it doesn’t swing out over the pit. You jump on and hold your body in position. We’ll work up to being able to hold on for longer and longer periods of time. You can do this. We just need to work on your upper body strength.”

  Her eyes soften to a chocolate brown and my heart lurches in my chest. I snatch my hands back, turning away to grab the rope. She trusts me to help her and I have to focus on doing just that. I can’t be touching her and gazing into her eyes when I have a job to do. This is Al, the girl who never looks at me as anything more than a friend. Never has, never will, especially after I gave up the lawyer life.

  The thought sucks the fun right out of the evening and I fight to keep an encouraging smile on my face. I grab the rope down low and nod for her to hop on. Completely oblivious to my inner war, she jumps up into the position I showed her earlier. Within seconds, her arms start to wobble and she slides down.

  “Wow, I had no idea this would be so hard.” Allison shakes out her thin arms, her shoulders drooping and her eyes studying her feet.

  Quickly I decide the time is ripe to give her my speech. The one I break out when clients are feeling down, like they might never hit the goals they’ve set for themselves. It’s not a rehearsed little speech I say to pump them up and keep them paying for sessions. I believe every word of it, having lived through it myself. This is the part I love about training: the ability to encourage people to change their lives. To be the motivator when they most need it.

  “You have no idea how powerful you really are, Allison.” Her head whips up and I know I have her attention. “Where others shrink away from a challenge, you attack it head on, never stopping until you hit your goal. There is no obstacle that can’t be overcome with your steely determination. Have a little faith in yourself.” Still crouching down, holding the rope, I hope she can feel my sincerity. “Yesterday was only day one. Head down, focus on one step at a time, and a year from now, you won’t even recognize yourself.”

  Her gaze stays on mine and she’s silent, like she’s absorbing my words and trying them on for size. The quiet isn’t awkward, just strangely intimate amid an empty warehouse.

  She finally smiles, that twinkle back in her eye. “Jeez, Matty, you went all Tony Robbins on me there.” The serious vibe evaporates and we grin at each other.

  “Get your ass back on the rope, Gottlieb,” I bark and then pat her on the ass before I can think better of it.

  7

  Allison

  February

  “Oh yeah, that’s it, right there,” I groan. I feel a deep ache and I close my eyes and breathe through it. Mateo shifts and it shoots tingles up my leg. I never knew pain could feel so good. A bead of sweat slowly drips down my collarbone to roll off my skin and into my hair as I lay on my back on the floor. I probably look a mess, but I can’t seem to drum up any concern. My entire focus is on where Mateo’s hands press high up on my thigh.

  He brings my leg down and grabs the other one, pulling it up into the air and then toward my head, stretching my hamstrings and bringing another wave of pleasure-pain as I lie at his mercy. He insisted on a cool-down after our workout, followed by thorough stretching to help with my soreness.

  “God, Matty, how do you know exactly where I’m tightest?” My eyes fly open and I see him above me, leaning his weight into my leg, his jaw clenched tight. I trace back our conversation and try to pinpoint where I pissed him off. Drawing a blank, I attempt a smile, but when he leans even further toward me and the pleasure turns to straight pain, my smile morphs into a grimace.

  “This is what I do for a living. Besides, after your lunges from yesterday, I figured your hammies would be stiff.” He’s not looking directly at me and I search for a safe topic to bring him back to happy Mateo. I always dismissed his chosen profession, thinking he was wasting his talents. But I’m starting to see how he’s needed. How he’s providing a valuable service that makes people’s lives better.

  “So, how do you think I did? Think I’m making headway on my resolutions?”

  He bends my knee and brings my foot toward my face, knee out to the side. A surge of fire climbs up my hamstring and into my butt muscle. I breathe through it and go to my happy place, which used to be scouring business journals and fantasizing about new contract laws, but now Mateo’s in my happy place too, teasing me while I read those journals.

  His voice drops to just above a whisper and I think I’m fully cooled off when a shiver runs up my back. “You did great. I’m really proud of you.” Then he’s back to being a drill sergeant, the transformation quick and natural. “We need to be training three times a week to get you stronger. Then we’ll work on agility and speed. A couple times a month we’ll come here and try out the whole course.”

  I nod, feeling slightly guilty about giving that much time to getting in shape and not projects at work, but I know I don’t have a choice if I want to participate in the Raise the Bar Challenge without embarrassing myself. “Aye aye, Captain, sir!”

  He rolls his eyes. “And while you’re at it, I’d suggest trying some adventurous things so your body’s used to operating under adrenaline. When it’s race day, I promise your adrenaline will be pumping and you need to be able to handle that.”

  “What, flying across the foam pit on a rope wasn’t adventurous enough for you?” That seems like the most adventure a girl could really wish for. What else is there?

  “Well, you didn’t actually fly across it yet. More like fell in it.” The smirk is back on his face and it makes my stomach do weird flippy things.

  “Hey! I was damn close!”

  He gives me side-eye so I give him stink-eye. Then he cranks my leg and I forget what we were arguing about as my whole left side lights up like I went toe to toe with a taser gun.

  * * *

  Later that night when I limp my way back into my apartment, I finally get that peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and realize for the first time in ages that my mind’s not on work. My body is exhausted, but I’m exhilarated at the same time. Mateo’s like a magic endorphin whisperer.

  I grab that napkin off my counter, the one I wrote my resolutions on, and pick up a pen. I’m feeling proud of myself and nothing says accomplishment like crossing things off your to-do list.

  Even though it’ll be an ongoing thing, I put a check mark next to “Get in shape” and scan down the list. Mateo reminded me that I need to be more adventurous, which is numero uno on my resolutions. Something to really get my adrenaline going. I have no idea what that could be, but I do know I’m drawn more toward number six: “Flirting refresher”.

  That seems harmless enough. Isn’t flirting just talking to men with a little hair flip every once in a while? Maybe a wink or two for good measure? That always worked for other girls back in high school. I’m sure it’s the same now. Right?

  Seeing the ragged edge at the bottom of the napkin, I’m curious what resolution number ten is. I don’t know why Mateo ripped it off and won’t let me see it. Knowing him, it’s something crazy like start a YouTube channel or another equally awkward task.

  My phone dings from the bottom of my work bag. It’s slung onto a barstool, hidden by my laptop and the overstuffed file folders I should have worked on tonight to get ahead on my current case. I finally fish my phone out and see a text message that instantly brings a smile to my face.

  Mateo: In case you didn’t hear me earlier, you did great tonight. Can’t wait for you
to crush that obstacle course race and impress your boss. See you Friday for our next workout. Make sure you stretch. #beastmode

  Allison: Thank you. I can’t wait either. PS - Did you seriously just hashtag me?

  M: Hey, I can’t help I’m #instafamous

  A: #instalame

  M: #ouch #shewoundsme

  A: #goodnight

  M: #sweetdreams

  I turn off my phone and plug it in by my nightstand, a silly grin lingering all the way through my shower. Spreading my files out on my bed, I fire up my laptop and get to work, the complex contract taking my mind off my aching muscles.

  But nothing can fully take my mind off the fun I had tonight. I don’t know if it was the obstacle course training or the company, but either way, I can’t wait to continue. A small kernel of what feels like joy takes up residence in my body, spreading and growing, giving me something to look forward to.

  One resolution down, nine to go.

  8

  Allison

  March

  A month of working out three times a week with Mateo has made me...well, not a new woman. But I have a spring in my step that was decidedly not there on December thirty-first. And I actually have an ass now. My buns aren’t steel, but at least they exist!

  When Mateo informed me it was time to break out of the gym to tackle the resolution at the top of my list, I went in search of that Sephora gift card my mom gave me last Hanukkah. You’d be so pretty if you just put in some effort. You should ask Miriam to write down her colors for you. She always looks so put together.