She pushed through the doors of the gym, immediately assaulted by the warmth from the heat of multiple bodies, the stench of sweat, and the energy of testosterone in the air. Rex was at the front desk watching ESPN like he always did, and glanced up, immediately brightening when he saw her.
"Hey, Carnevale!" he said the way he always did after she'd corrected him on the pronunciation of her name. "What's up? You bring me something to eat?" He flicked his head toward the little sack Drew withdrew from her purse.
"What do you think, Rex?" she asked calmly.
"I think you're mean, is what I think. He's back there." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the punching bags Drew always used to take her frustrations out on. "Are you ever coming back to us?"
"Maybe one day," she replied. "I'm working on this dance thing right now."
"Oh, yeah," Rex said with a nod. "For the showcase thing. Riley was talking about that one day."
"He was?" Drew's ears perked up.
"Yeah. He said you're a really good dancer." Rex smirked. "After Saturday night I tend to agree, but I don't think that's the kind of dancing he was talking ab–"
"Good night, Rex," Drew said abruptly, turning and walking off. She headed toward the bags, hearing the faint sound of fists hitting the material. Hard. She rounded the corner of the ring toward the cluster of bags and stopped short.
He had his back to her, and he was shirtless. His tattooed skin shone with a sheen of sweat, and she was mesmerized by the way the muscles in his back contracted and moved with the force of his blows. She tilted her head to the side, her eyes drinking in the sight of his well-formed traps, the heavy curve of his shoulders, the definition in his triceps and the bulge of his biceps. They were visible even under the heavy black ink of the dozens of tattoos littering his upper body. She had never really noticed before, but somehow, his tattoos instantly became incredibly sexy on his skin. His forearms were thick and sinewy with muscle, the tendons tensing and releasing with every movement of his arms. His shoulders were broad and he had a perfect triangle-shape to his body, broad at the shoulders before narrowing at the waist. Just looking at his back called out to everything female inside Drew; he was big, he was strong, and he was utterly powerful. She'd seen him shirtless before, obviously, but it was affecting her differently now somehow.
As though he had caught her scent, he suddenly whipped his head around. His hair was slicked with sweat and brushed off his forehead and she studied with a sudden intense interest how his ribs melded into his oblique muscles and how his heavily defined, muscled abdomen contracted as he turned at the waist. Her eyes traveled back up to his face, and the fierce, focused expression that had been there was slowly disappearing. His eyes brightened at the sight of her before any other feature on his face moved, and just that tiny, almost imperceptible glimmer made her heart soar. She couldn't stop a ridiculous grin from spreading across her face as she looked at him. As though her smile were infectious, he returned it, his eyes dropping to her cheeks by the corners of her mouth where she knew her dimples were on full display. He seemed to like her dimples.
"Hey," he said softly, stepping toward her. He seemed to think better of it and doubled back to snatch a towel off the floor, rubbing at his face and arms and torso, over his hair, before dropping it and grabbing a white tank top from the floor.
She watched in disappointment as he tugged it on, her eyes raking him. "Hi," she replied to his back, standing still and unsure of what exactly to do now. Since they'd kissed, was she supposed to go and kiss him now? Was that expected? Or were they to pretend nothing happened? Drew knew she was too old to be worrying about these things, but she genuinely had no idea what her role was or what "other people" did after such an occurrence.
When his tank top was in place and he'd mopped himself up, he turned around to face her and stepped toward her again. She felt her body tensing, but it was more with anticipation and curiosity than anything else. He reached out and took her hand, pulling her gently toward him, and leaned down, letting his lips graze her cheek softly.
She was surprised and indescribably pleased with the show of affection, smiling at him again when he pulled his face back. As much as she had enjoyed kissing him the day before, she didn't know how she would have reacted had he tried to kiss her on the lips now. But she also knew that if he'd done nothing at all, not even hug her, she would have felt slighted and let down. His light kiss on her cheek, taking her hand in his, had been exactly right as far as she was concerned. He wasn't trying to push her, but at the same time, he'd let her know he wanted to be affectionate with her. She blushed a little and looked down at their hands as he let hers go.