"You wanna see?"
"Yes. Show me."
I'm going to show off, but she asked for it. I bust out my break dance moves from back in the day. I start with a little top rock to imaginary music in my head and pop down to show her some footwork. Six-step, kickout, shuffle, ended with a hollowback freeze, grabbing my shoe over my head. I can't spin on the pavement. Have to show her that some other time.
By the time I'm done, the worry on her face has been replaced with an entertained smile. Good. I like to see her happy.
"Now you try it," I say.
She laughs. "I totally cannot do any of that."
"All right. Then do your yoga stretches. We'll work on your breaker moves some other time."
She's giggling the entire time she stretches, probably imagining herself trying to do the moves I just showed her. I'm smiling watching her bend and twist her beautiful body. She reaches for her ankles and I could watch her do yoga all fucking day.
"Let's get on with it then if we're gonna run too." I motion to the handlebars of her bike. She struggles with the helmet and has to push her ponytail down to get it on before she mounts the bike. Squashing Milana Bianchi's ponytail has to be against the society girl rules in the Hamptons. They always look so put together. Never seen a rich girl out here with her hair messed up.
"You good?" I ask her as she fastens her helmet under her chin.
"Yep. I love it."
Good. She's taking it like a trooper so far.
I get on my bike behind her and my eyes are drawn to her ass. Shit. Today is gonna be a challenge watching her booty on that seat and not touching her. Promised myself I'd wait till her bruises are gone. They may fade but my fury at whoever put them there never will.
"You want to start fast or slow?" I ask her.
She squints into the sun. "Let's start with fast."
"My fast is pretty fast."
"Good. Go ahead. I like a challenge."
We take off and I lead the way onto the bike path. "How's it feel on a real bike instead of a stationary one?" I say to her over my shoulder.
She rides up next to me. "I love it! Totally different."
"Exactly."
I take off and work up to a faster speed. She's keeping up with me without breaking a sweat. This girl was meant for me if she likes a good hard workout.
She said she wants a challenge so I kick it up a notch and take off ahead of her. I hear her weak "hey" fading behind me. I make it to the top of an incline ahead of her and stop and wait. She's huffing up the hill and sweating now. It's fun to see the Bianchi princess all sweaty and working hard on a real bike.
"You still good?" I ask her.
"Wait." She holds up a hand and takes some deep heavy breaths.
"We can slow down."
She shakes her head and takes a sip of water from the water bottle attached to her bike. "No. No. I can do it. Don't go easy on me."
Awesome. I'm going to push her.
"Next time I'm gonna bring a backpack of bricks and make you wear it to slow you down."
That makes me chuckle. I like that she's thinking about doing this again. "You first." I motion for her to head down the incline.
She takes the lead and I get to watch her butt in the air, the wind in her hair. This is the best first date ever.
Of course I'm not gonna let her win, so I catch up and pass her again.
I hear another offended "hey" as I zoom past her.
Now I'm laughing because cycling with Mila is much more fun than I thought it would be.
***
After an hour of cycling, we make it back to our cars. Excellent workout. She's tough. As I'm putting the bikes back on the truck, I say, "Now we run."
She sighs and slumps her shoulders. "Really?"
"Unless you can't handle it? We can run another time."
She pulls her shoulders back and wipes the sweat from her chest. "No. I can do it. Let's run. I'm a good runner."
"Now you can do your yoga stretches."
"Okay." She busts into warrior pose again and looks up at me. "Do it with me."
Fine. I lunge down into warrior pose next to her. Her eyes follow my arm as I raise it up. She's checking me out just like I'm checking her out.
Yeah, not touching her at the end of this is going to be a huge challenge. I have to get so stinky and sweaty she won't want to touch me.
To show off again, I drop to plank and slowly lift my feet in the air, resting all my weight on my palms.
"Oh my God! How do you do that?" She laughs and stands up straight.
I drop my feet and bust out some double-clap push ups as she watches. I stand up and wipe the parking lot gravel from my hands. "Easy."
"I want to learn to do that," she says.
"Lots of practice, but you can do it."
She nods and bites her lower lip. She's setting it as a goal, I can see it in her eyes. My girl likes a challenge.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
"We'll do about two miles out in the sand and two back. Can you handle that?" It's a short run for me but probably a challenge for her.
She glances out to the shore and the tiny waves rolling in. "Can we swim instead?"
I shake my head. "Nope. Not swimming. Told you you're on your own."
She laughs and stares at me like she can convince me with her devious eyes. Not gonna work. Truth is I could swim in the ocean, I just don't want to stress myself out. Always have trouble breathing and get close to panicking. If I could control the panic, I could swim. With her around, as amped up on adrenaline as I am around her, I'd choke and go under for sure.
"Next time?" she asks me, not giving up.
"No," I answer firmly like I did last night. Not swimming with Mila. No way. If I'm going to overcome my fear, it's going to be somewhere far away from her where she can't see me struggling and looking stupid. Never again.
"Let's go." I jog out of the lot onto the sand.
She hesitates a second then runs out behind me. We run side-by-side at a pretty good pace for the two miles out. The warm wind and salty air blowing on our skin, the sun shining on her face. Best day of my life, running with Mila on Callihan's beach.
We rest at the end and catch our breath. She bends over with her hands on her knees.
"Need to slow down?" I ask her.
"No." She's panting now and her skin is red and dripping sweat. "No. I can do it." Sexy as hell.
Once again, my Mila is a fighter. She won't give up. Awesome. Not what I expected from her at all. I guess I expected her to be prissy and worried about her nails and shit. I was wrong. Happily wrong. Mila is a warrior. I could see us working out every day like this together. Pushing each other.
"You're gonna be sore tomorrow," I warn her.
"Don't care. Not giving up." She stands and wipes the hair from her eyes and I want to kiss her. Nope. Not kissing her. Holding back. Holding back. Can't remember why right now, but I know I'm holding back.
"Let's head back." I take off running back to the cars.
About two hundred yards into our run, a dog slides up next to us and starts running with us. His fur is wet and scruffy. He looks like a mutt. His leash drags behind him towing sand.