Free Making It Last - A Novella (Camelot Series) by Ruthie Knox

that she’d looked like this all along, and he’d known it, but he hadn’t been taking the time to really
look
.
    Her neck seemed so naked with her hair gone. As naked as the constellation of freckles over her right hip. She had a hollow there where he liked to put his mouth.
    “You should work at a gym.” He was breaking character, but whatever. This was more important. “If that’s what you want, you should do it.”
    She reached across the table and touched the back of his hand. “And you should build houses. Only houses.”
    “I wish I could.”
    “Why can’t you?”
    But he couldn’t answer that question, and he couldn’t look away from her mouth.
    He felt shaky, so he slid his hand out from under hers and took a drink. Wine always tasted like vinegar to him, but at least it was cold.
    She gave him a little smile. An offering.
    “Amber,” he said. Because she held his heart in her hands, and he would drink white wine with her forever if she would let him back in.
    She pursed her lips. “Jennifer.”
    Tony looked at the ocean.
    He didn’t want to play anymore. He wanted to make love to his wife, to look in her eyes and know she was there and she was okay.
    He wanted to make everything okay, through sheer force of will.
    Not the kind of hope he could take to the bank.
    “It’s time for more innuendo,” she said. “Your nipples are hard.”
    “That wasn’t innuendo. And you’re not supposed to notice.”
    “I’m supposed to notice. I’m just not supposed to say.”
    “Either way. You’re not very good at this.”
    “I hardly ever get complaints.”
    That made her smile. “You’re so cocky, Steve. It’s lucky for you that I’ve always had a thing for cocky men.”
    “I’m at least ninety percent cock, Jennifer.”
    She snorted, and he knocked back a gulp of cold chardonnay, feeling like he’d accomplished something.
    “You were supposed to ask if I liked my job,” she said.
    “I was?”
    “Yes. So I know that you’re interested in more than my nipples.”
    “Oh, I am. I’m interested in a lot more than your nipples.”
    “So say it.” Her eyes were happy.
    “Say what?”
    “ ‘How do you like being a trainer, Jennifer?’ ”
    “I bet you like it a lot.”
    “I do,” she said. “It’s fun.”
    “What do you like about it?”
    She tilted her head, considering. “I like that people come in with something wrong, and I can help them fix it, but they have to do all the work. It’s their choice, and they have the freedom to stop coming if they want.”
    “Why do you like that?”
    “Because it means that when they’re in front of me, asking for my help, I know they’re going to get what they want and then feel better. They’re going to be able to go through their day with less back pain, say, or to feel more attractive or energetic because they’ve lost the weight that was making them unhappy.”
    “It sounds very … concrete.”
    She nodded enthusiastically, and he knew he’d said the right thing. “It
is
. And when I leave at the end of the day, it’s over. It’s got excellent boundaries.”
    Tony thought about Amber’s day. Amber’s life. There were no boundaries in it anywhere. Just kids who needed her all the time, no matter whether she was supposed to be on or off duty. Him, coming home late, needing conversation or comfort in the middle of the night.
    He could see the appeal of the fantasy.
    He could understand the appeal of the gym, too, as much as he’d resented hearing her talk about Marc when she was a member there going for regular training sessions. Marc this, Marc that.
Marc is going to help me strengthen my core
.
    Tony had met Marc once. The power of his hatred for the man had surprised him.
    Unfair to Amber, but there it was.
    “I dated a girl with a job kind of like that,” he said. “She worked at a community center.”
    “Was she cute?”
    “Adorable. Hot, too.”
    She ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “What happened to