Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) by Hallee Bridgeman Page A

on their lights and opened their doors, as delivery truck drivers cautiously guided their oversized vehicles through the mazes of the wet streets. He listened to the voices calling greetings and the hard clanging of loading dock doors, smelled the heavenly scents drifting out from bakeries. The sights, sounds, and smells struck him in stark contrast to his normal jog at this time of the morning in the total seclusion and near silence of suburbia.
    He made it back to his Jeep with about five minutes to spare. He opened the back door and dug through the gym bag he’d packed last night, finding a clean towel and a bottle of water. A spicy, citrusy smell wafting on the breeze teased his nostrils, and he knew Maxine stood behind him as he closed the back door.
    “Hey, big guy,” she greeted as he turned to face her.
    The first time Barry had ever seen Maxine, even before he grew to know and like and respect her, he thought that perhaps he had never met a more classically beautiful woman. Her oval face, full lips, and high cheekbones all formed this perfect, beautiful visage that framed almond shaped eyes the most striking color of green he had ever seen. She had long limbs and long straight black hair that reached her waist. He had always appreciated her beauty in a detached, faithfully married kind of way.
    “Good morning,” he said, eyeing her blue spandex pants and white sweatshirt. She wore designer tennis shoes the color of red hots and he realized that she’d pieced together the colors of their favorite football team.
    “I wondered if you’d show.”
    He chugged half the water then tossed it in the bag he’d slung over his shoulder. “Why?”
    “Because you weren’t exactly in a normal frame of mind on Thursday. Then you pulled a Houdini.” She reached up behind her head and gathered her long, long hair into her hand. She made a rubber band magically appear and expertly twisted the strands until she had completely contained them at the base of her neck. “Thanks for that, by the way. That was a lot of fun.”
    Barry winced. “Pretty bad, huh?”
    They walked together to the door of the gym. Barry reached around her and grabbed the handle before she could. Opening the door, he let her precede him inside. Bright lights, shiny equipment, a local radio station morning show pumped through cheap speakers, a sweaty smell beneath some designer scent intended to cover it; the place was exactly what he’d expected.
    At the desk, Maxine pulled a key chain out of another hidden pocket and scanned the key tag. To the ridiculously muscled attendant with the one size-too-small muscle tank top and the moussed-up hair, she announced, “He’s my guest this morning.”
    The attendant sidled up to the desk and leaned in, angling his body to show just the right amount of chest and biceps. Barry laughed inwardly. Maxine, as usual, acted oblivious. He wondered if she could possibly always be that unaware to the way men reacted to her. “Sure thing, Miss Bartlett,” he said. “I’ll take care of it for you.”
    He said it like he was doing her a favor instead of his job, and Barry rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of it. Maxine simply smiled in thanks and turned to Barry. “What first, big guy?”
    He looked around before pointing to the corner. “First we stretch.” He led the way to the far corner. He set his bag down and turned to her. “We’re going to stretch, do some sit-ups, a few warm-up exercises, then we’ll utilize some of the machines.” While he explained the way she needed to stretch and the gradual escalation in the warm-up, she took off her sweatshirt, revealing a Patriots T-shirt … a loose-fitting Patriots T-shirt. With a silent thank you for little blessings, Barry counted off to eight then started back again for the cycle to twenty reps of eight. “How bad?” he asked, continuing their conversation from earlier.
    “Tony was cool,” Maxine said, shifting her body as she stretched her