Noah Read Free

nicely.”
    Both women stared at him, then glanced back at each other. Nellie shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
    “All right.” He smiled, trying to sound more sure about this than he felt. “Let’s get started. Follow me.”
    He started filling out the workout sheets, writing their names down on the top of each sheet. When they reached the scale he turned to face a wide eyed Nellie and Veronica ’s face had nearly gone white. “Is there a problem?”
    “You’re weighing us?” Nellie, who at this point seemed to be the spoke s person of the two asked.
    “Well, yeah. How else will we know by the end of the week if you’ve lost any weight?”
    Veronica shook her head very slightly but she finally spoke up. “I don’t wanna get weighed . If that’s okay with you , Noah .”
    It was only then that Noah realized it was the first time he’d heard her speak. Her voice was deep and husky and a little too firm. He smiled noticing another thing about her for the first time. Even though she was about the same height as Nellie, she was anything but mousy. It wasn’t just because she was heavier either. Her highly arched eyebrows gave her a very confident appearance , almost too confident. Though at the moment , he was sure her arched eyebrow s had not hing to do with confidence . She was trying to get out of being weighed. That wasn’t happening. If he was going to do this, he was doing it right.
    “Actually it’s not okay, Veronica . It’s part of the training ; I gotta keep track of your progress.”
    She crossed her arms in front of her, shifting her weight and unbelievably the eyebrow went even higher. “I’m not getting on that scale.”
    “Oh come on, Roni , ” Nellie said, slipping off her shoes. “What’s the big deal? I’ll go first.”
    Roni? Noah ignored the name but he had to smirk at Veronica ’s exasperated expression. He stepped closer to adjust the weights on the scale and jotted Nellie’s weight down. Right around what he thought for her height and body size—hundred thirty-nine . “Oh my God. I ’ve actually lost a few pounds. ” She turned to Noah her smile dissolving when she saw hi s unimpressed expression. “Yeah, I know I need to lose more.”
    “It’s a good thing you’re here , ” Noah said, setting the weight back down to zero. He turned to Veronica . “Your turn.”
    “I’m not getting on that thing.”
    “Look.” He brought the clipboard down against his leg. “I can pretty much guess what you weigh just b y looking at you. Why not get the exact number?”
    “Because I’m not getting on that thing. So guess all you want.”
    Noah stared at her stubborn lips, now pressed together tightly. “Fine—one - sixty.”  
    Her jaw dropped momentarily and she seemed genuinely scandalized. But she composed herself quickly.
    “You two know how to stretch, right?” Nellie nodded, Veronica wouldn’t even look at him. “Great. Start stretching standing up. I’ll go grab some mats so you can stretch on the floor, too.”
    He glanced again at Veronica , who was obviously still upset about his guess of her weight. She should be thankful . H e’d been nice about it. Though he said one - sixty, he wrote one -sixty-five . Walking back to the equipment room to pull out some mats, he cursed Jack under his breath. This was going to be one long ass week.                         
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 2
     
    As soon as Noah was out of sight, Veronica jumped on the scale. How dare he !   She’d never even been close to one - sixty her entire life. She gasped when she had to keep moving the weight past one - sixty. It finally stopped just over one - sixty- seven . Bringing her hand to her mouth, she felt the knot forming in her throat , then she pushed the weights back down to zero before Nellie could see what she weighed .
    “Was he right?” Nellie must’ve seen her near - tears expression because she added, “Well, that’s why we’re here