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

hamstring. “Robin was mad. She couldn’t believe that I helped you get away from everyone.”
    “I appreciated it.”
    “I’m just glad I was running late.” She grinned as she shifted again. “I couldn’t believe I was late for your wife’s funeral. That’s terrible.”
    “I doubt she minded,” Barry observed dryly. When they finished that rep of twenty, they moved to the floor so he could hold her feet while she knocked out some sit-ups. “I’m sure they have a setup where you can do this alone,” he said, “But I’m comfortable here.” He glanced up, noticing how full the gym had become in the last twenty minutes. “Popular place.”
    Maxine effortlessly pulled her body up then lay back against the mat before pulling herself back up again. “Yeah. It seems like a good place.”
    “Lots of bells and whistles.”
    She grinned, making her eyes dance like jewels. “Women need bells.” She huffed up and back down again. “And whistles.”
    “About your diet,” he said. This time when her shoulders touched the mat, she didn’t immediately pull herself back up. He watched her hesitate. “Come on, Maxi. Three more.”
    “What about my diet?” she asked, closing her eyes and drawing her body up then back down again.
    “Rabbit food won’t cut it.”
    With a grunt she finished the last two reps. “What else is there?”
    He put a hand on the side of her bent knee and squeezed, signaling in silence the end of that exercise. He silently acknowledged how she tensed up then jerked away from the touch and mentally filed that away. He fished another bottle of water out of his bag and tossed it to her. “High protein, whole grains, eating small portions every couple of hours but eating the right foods.” While she drank the water, he pulled a book out of the bag. “This book will tell you what to eat, how to eat it, and when. The guy who wrote it knows what he’s talking about.”
    Maxine eyed the book suspiciously, but took it from him. “I’ll give it a look.”
    “Do more than that. Get on this starting right now. You should see noticeable changes in your energy and concentration levels in about 10 days. It requires a lifestyle change in your eating habits. You need to approach it in a disciplined manner.”
    Maxine couldn’t stop herself from grinning. “Yes, coach.” She pushed herself to her feet. “What now?”
     

     
    AN hour later, Maxine sat across from Barry in a little bakery next door to the gym. Her muscles felt rubbery and very tired. As she sat there, she could still feel her thighs burning from that one last repetition. She felt like she’d worked more muscles in her body in the forty-five minutes with Barry than in a week’s worth of aerobic classes.
    She took a sip of hazelnut flavored coffee and closed her eyes in ecstasy. “If coffee is disallowed by that diet book, I’m not reading it.”
    He wrinkled his nose and dunked his tea bag in the hot water in his cup. “It’s allowed.”
    “Yet you obviously disapprove.”
    As he shrugged, she wondered if his huge frame would crush the little filigreed café chair in which he sat. “There are too many ways to naturally generate energy without requiring a drug.”
    “Man, you are still on that kick. There’s a difference between God-given caffeine in coffee and laboratory made industrial grade steroids, you know.” She sipped.
    Barry shrugged again, this time as if to announce that nothing would change his mind in this conversation that was months old between them. “What those men did hurt more than the team. It hurt the League and it hurt every kid in the world who looked up to them as role-models.”
    Hoping the little plastic knife wouldn’t break under the weight of the cream cheese, she carefully applied it to her whole grain bagel. “Coffee was put on this earth to provide pleasure and ecstasy, especially hazelnut flavored coffee on cold December mornings.”
    Barry reached into that never ending bottomless gym