She chewed her lip for a moment.
"Then let me help," she quickly suggested.
"What? How?"
"Let me help you train."
"Kait," Jasper was shaking his head in refusal of her offer.
"You said it yourself; you've lost your trainer. Let me step in and help, please, Jasper. I had no idea you were going through such a hard time."
Jasper looked over at her, feeling sheepish. He'd never accepted help from a woman before. Usually women only wanted to see him as strong and powerful; they never stuck around long enough to witness his weaker moments.
"I want to see you train," Kait told him, her voice level and soothing.
"You do?"
"I think it would be hot," she purred the words, and her eyes sparkled with desire.
"Well," Jasper modestly flexed his bicep.
"I also want to be a part of your life. Of all of it. The good and the bad." Kait added.
"What if all the good is over, and I'm just going to be left with bad?"
"I don't care," Kait leaned in close to plant a tender kiss upon his lips.
"Maybe we could start training right now," Jasper whispered as he looped a hand around her slim waist and pulled her tight to him.
"I know some particularly rigorous exercises that involve two people," he teased.
"Sounds good," Kait said before kissing him hard and deep.
Chapter 84
"Are you sure this isn't going to be boring for you?" Jasper wondered as Kait followed him out of the bedroom. His knee was thankfully feeling considerably less sore than it had the night before. He was able to walk on it relatively unhindered.
"Nope," Kait said, shaking her head and smiling. "I'm excited to see you in your domain."
"I can assure you that training isn't all that exciting," Jasper told her as he sauntered towards the kitchen. He stopped abruptly when he saw Carl standing before the large refrigerator, the click of it closing reaching his ears. "Carl?"
"Training is exciting, Jasper," Carl enthused, grasping his hands together before him. "It's all part of the process, which makes it thrilling!"
"What are you doing here?" Jasper frowned at him.
"Waiting to take you over to the gym," Carl replied flatly. Jasper glanced at the refrigerator. Carl wasn't holding anything which meant he must have put something inside. He was about to ask what it was when Carl spoke up.
"So who is getting excited about your training?"
"Me," Kait spoke up, peering out from behind Jasper. She was wearing a pair of his boxers and a baggy t-shirt and lingered behind his strong physique for protection, her cheeks already blushing.
"Ah." Carl smiled falsely at her.
"Well, today Kait will learn first-hand just how exciting training can be," Jasper grinned. He wanted to go and grab a bottle of water from the fridge, but he resisted, sensing that Kait wanted him to remain where he was so that she could hide behind him.
"Oh? How so?"
"She's coming along with me today," Jasper explained brightly.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Carl was already shaking his head in a disagreeable gesture.
"Why?" Jasper challenged a little too fiercely. "Afraid she'll get in the way of my trainer? Oh wait, you laid them off."
"You just need to focus right now," Carl replied sternly. "You've got a big match coming up, and you need to be on top of your game. You don't need an … audience."
"She's hardly an audience," Jasper scoffed. "She's just coming along to support me."
"Well, I don't think she should."
"Lucky for you, you don't get to make all my decisions," Jasper glared angrily at his agent, and then he turned to face Kait.
"Come on babe, we've still got time to jump in the shower. Carl will wait."
Chapter 85
"Don't you get along with your agent?" Kait asked as she towel dried her hair, standing in Jasper's steam filled bathroom.
"What makes you ask that?" Jasper's torso glimmered sexily with water clinging to it from the shower. Kait had to fight to tear her eyes away from it and focus on the conversation.
"I don't know," she shrugged casually, "things seemed a little … tense back there."
Jasper gave a brisk nod of agreement. "Yeah, things can be tense between us."
"Why is that?"
"I don't really know," Jasper mused. "I mean, he's been my agent for years, and we go away back. He's just always been about the money I guess, and that's never sat that well with me."
Jasper slumped down on the closed toilet seat, his shoulders sagging.
"And now I risk losing it all," he declared woefully.
"Hey," Kait kneeled down so that she was at his level, gazing deeply into his dark eyes. "You can get back your sponsors," she told him with such certainty that a part of him dared to believe her.
"You're a fighter, Jasper, and you've come up from worse than this. You can win your next fight. I believe in you."
She kissed his lips, and the electricity between them sizzled.
"Now," Kait was smiling as she drew back from him, "let's go over to your gym so that you can show me where the magic happens."
Chapter 86
Jasper was concerned that Kait would find a day at the gym boring, but after an entire morning watching him work out on the treadmill and then lift weights, chatting casually as he went along, she still appeared engaged and interested, and it actually felt good to be sharing his training experience with someone.
"Now I understand how you have so much stamina," she teased as Jasper approached a bench to lift some more weights.
"Very funny," he smiled warmly at her. "Say, babe, can you hand me that drink?" He gestured to the plastic sports bottle resting nearby besides a towel.
"Sure," Kait reached for it. She was wearing tight fitting jogging bottoms and a crop top and looked amazingly sexy. Jasper wished he didn't need to work out all day. But if he wanted to have any hope of winning his next match, he needed to be in the gym as much as possible.
"Oh, it's almost empty," Kait noticed as she passed it over to him. "Want me to go grab you some water from the café downstairs?"
Jasper shook his head as he shoved the end of the bottle in to his mouth and drank deeply. She was right; there wasn't much left. Gasping, he wiped a hand across his mouth.
"I don't drink water," he explained. "I drink this energy solution which Carl makes up for me."
Kait tensed.
"What's wrong with just plain old water?"
"Nothing," Jasper shrugged, handing the now empty bottle back to her. "This just has electrolytes in and stuff."
"So it's a branded sports drink?"
"I don't know," Jasper admitted. "Carl imports it in from America or something. Apparently it's amazing and better than any of the stuff we have on the market here. Hang on, I'll call him and ask him to drop off some more. I won't last much longer without it."
As Jasper dialed, Kait discreetly raised picked up the empty sports bottle and lifted it to her nose. She sniffed long and hard, but couldn't detect any scent. The liquid inside appeared to be water, but why would Carl say it was something else if that was the case? Certain that Jasper wasn't looking, Kait squeezed out the very last drop onto her tongue. It was definitely water. How could he not realize that?
Chapter 87
Thirty minutes later, Carl strode into the gym cradling two sports bottles in his arms like two new born babies. He looked comically out of place in his shirt and trousers against all the lycra-clad bodies.
"Here you go, champ," he passed the bottles to Jasper who ceased lifting weights to accept them.
"Thanks."
"What exactly is in those?" Kait inquired, trying to sound interested rather than accusatory.
"In these?" Carl looked slightly alarmed by her question. "A sports solution."
"Like a tonic?"
"Yeah." Carl shoved his now empty hands into his pockets.
"What makes it better than say, water?"
"It contains vital nutrients and electrolytes."
"Really?" Kait's eyes widened. "That's impressive considering it tastes like water."
"It has a neutral taste," Jasper injected in to the conversation. "That way it's easier to drink in large quantities."
"Huh."
"How goes the training?" Carl spoke directly to Jasper, but Kait wasn't done with him yet.