Chapter 33

“What are you talking about? I haven’t been on a date with Bob!”

Barnett pulled out his phone and, after a few angry swipes, shoved it in my face.

“Then what’s this?”

My jaw dropped at the headline running across the top of the webpage:

FITNESS VLOGGER AND CELEBRITY STYLIST ANNA LEONARD CAUGHT ON DATE WITH EX-HUSBAND

Below the headline was a picture of Bob kissing me at the café where we had lunch the day before. What the picture didn’t show was how I tried to reach for my pepper spray or pummeled him with my purse for touching me.

Now, the entire incident made sense. The kissing, the hand-holding, Bob meeting up with the reporter afterwards. He had set me up.

I pushed the phone back at Barnett.

“All of that…all of that is taken out of context,” I said as I struggled to choke back tears.

Barnett must have noticed because some of his anger seemed to cool.

“Then what is the truth?” he asked.

“He told me that Outer U wanted me to do a commercial for them, and he wouldn’t stop contacting me, so I agreed to have lunch with him to talk about it. Then he acted really weird, trying hold my hand and kiss me and get me to take him back. I refused everything.”

I paused to see if Barnett would say anything, but he didn’t.

“I guess it had all been some sort of trap for me with the paparazzi. I don’t know why, maybe he just wants a slice of the success that I’m having…”

I trailed off as I felt tears trickle down my cheeks. Damn it. I shouldn’t let Bob affect me like that.

I startled as I felt a hand gently drape on my shoulder. I looked up to see Barnett’s serious yet soft eyes on me.

“I’m sorry. I should have asked you about this before I made any assumptions,” he said.

I shrugged nonchalantly, although the hurt this had caused me felt anything but casual.

“You had no way of knowing how far out of context they had taken that picture—“

“Yes, I did. If anyone knows how badly the paparazzi can twist things, it’s me.”

His grip on my shoulder tightened painfully. When I flinched, he released my shoulder and lowered his hand, half-smiling apologetically.

“I don’t know how I could ever make it up to you,” he said. The sincerity in his tone touched my heart.

“You don’t need to make it up to me. It was just a misunderstanding.”

“One that could have easily been avoided if I had just asked you what was going on.”

Again, I only shrugged. I wasn’t about to argue with him when he was right.

Barnett seemed lost in thought for a moment.

“It’s been a while since I last appeared on your vlog, right?”

“I think so.”

“So, to make up for being such a jackass to you, why don’t I guest star on your next vlog? What were you planning on tackling?”

I blushed fiercely thinking about the last time that Barnett almost appeared on one of my videos and we had our little swimming contest.

“I…uh…weights.”

“Weights, perfect. Tomorrow? Before work or after?”

“Tomorrow, yes. Whichever works better for you.”

“Let’s do it before. The gym’s nice and deserted in the morning. It’ll probably just be the two of us.”

I slowly nodded. “Okay.”

“Well, now that that’s settled, let me help you save what we can of your dinner.”

•* *

We met at Stand Up early the next morning. Barnett had traded in his three-piece suit for a muscle shirt and gym shorts that hugged his ass like a second skin. I tried not to stare, but when he bent over to set down his duffle bag, I couldn’t help stealing a few glances.

“So, weights today?” Barnett asked as he faced me.

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, certain that he had caught me staring at his ass. I internally shook it off.

“Yeah. I was thinking of doing some reps with the barbells—”

“Bench press, squats, deadlifts, or curls?”

“Squats.”

“Front or back?”

“Front.”

“Let’s get started, then. We only have a couple hours until we have to get to work, and I don’t know about you, but I’m going to want to hop in the shower after this.”

My throat suddenly went dry at the thought of a sweat-drenched Barnett in the shower.

“Yeah, probably.” I cringed as my voice croaked.

I went to my camera while Barnett walked over to the barbells. I adjusted it to ensure that we would both be in view and then pressed the record button.

I stepped in front of the camera and said, “Good morning, viewers. I’d like to welcome you to a special vlog. Today, I’m going to be lifting weights with my coach and special guest star, multibillionaire Barnett Cogsworth.”

I stepped behind my barbell to reveal Barnett. He smiled and waved for the camera.

“Thank you for being here today, Barnett.”

“Thank you for having me.”

“Any tips you’d like to share before we get started?”

“Yeah, don’t throw your back out.”

I laughed at his joke, perhaps a little too forcefully just for the camera.

“Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll correct your form as needed throughout the exercise. If any tips come to mind, I’ll blurt them out as they come to me.”

I nodded. Although he had always corrected my form as my hockey coach, the thought of it this time—especially given how it had felt when he had shown me how to use the rowing machine—made my stomach do flips.

“All right, let’s get started.”

I assumed a proper front rack position and began the squat. Rather than follow my lead, Barnett stood back and watched me. After a minute, he stopped me with a hand to my shoulder.

“You need to adjust your hands for the Olympic hold like this.”

He stood behind me so close that I could feel his pecs pressing into my back. I could tell that he was doing something with my hands, but I couldn’t focus well enough to tell what it was. Instead, I was distracted by the distinct bulge pressing into my rear.

“And when you descend—” he guided me downward, holding onto my back— “make sure to keep your back in neutral while minimalizing the forward lean of your torso.”

The bulge became prominent as my butt tried to dip backwards. Barnett pressed forward to right me into the neutral position, pressing himself further into me.

“Try again,” he whispered in my ear. I almost trembled from the sound.

I forced myself to focus on the exercise, on the movement of my own body. Down, stay neutral, up, down again, stay neutral, up again…

“There you go. You’ve got it.”

Barnett stepped away from me, and I was disappointed to have his strong arms leave me.

“Keep going,” he encouraged me. “Just like that.”

After a while, Barnett must have become confident enough in my ability to continue unguided because he picked up his barbell and began doing a few reps himself.

I lost count of how many reps we did—and how many times Barnett stopped his own reps to adjust my form, even in the slightest—but by the time I decided to call it, my arms were close to trembling.

“Okay, everyone, that’s it for today. Thanks again to my special guest, Barnett Cogsworth. Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!”

I turned off the camera and packed my bags. When I finished, Barnett was standing right in front of me.

“Thank you again for doing that,” I said. “I don’t think I could’ve kept my form very well without you.”

And your little friend, I mentally added, trying not to blush.

“No problem. It’s the least I could do after I acted like such a jerk.”

I wanted to say that it was no problem, but after the pain and embarrassment he had caused me by giving me the cold shoulder, I really couldn’t. Not yet.

•* *

The video had been one of my most popular, surpassing Barnett’s first appearance and ranking just below when I declared myself a proud fat woman. It was so popular, in fact, that I had to turn my phone off until after work so that all the notifications wouldn’t distract me.

After work, my phone was blowing up with messages from Lily.

OMG WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!?!

ANNA, ANSWER ME!

CHECK YOUR PHONE!!!

TELL ME IF THIS IS TRUE OR NOT!!!!!

The last message contained a link to an article from a popular tabloid. As soon as I got into the gold Aston Martin, I open it, wondering what could have possibly gotten Lily’s knickers into such a twist. Once the page loaded, my jaw dropped.

Glaring at me from my phone were two pictures. On the left was the one of Bob kissing me at the café. On the right was a still of Barnett helping me with my form as I lifted a barbell.

Above the pictures read the headline:

FITNESS VLOGGER ANNA LEONARD STUCK IN MULTIBILLIONAIRE LOVE TRIANGLE