Love, Lust, and Lies Chapter 3

'I can't believe he's not here,' Cassie thought to herself. It was Sunday morning at the gym and there was no sign of the mystery man. Cassie felt really low and struggled to get motivated in her workout. She tried to mentally shake herself, telling herself it was stupid to let this effect her so much, he might be ill or busy, its not a big deal. She stayed a lot later than usual just in case he was running late, but no luck, she'd just have to wait until next weekend and hope he was there.

It was a long week's wait, Cassie's mind was constantly on him and as Saturday drew closer she became more and more excited. She was actually a little nervous as well because a thought had occurred to her one evening while she was replaying their conversations in her mind. He was an older guy so chances were fairly high that he actually married with grown children! The thought had never occurred to her before, she'd been so swept up in the feelings he created in her. Now though she was concerned and needed to know before she made a fool of herself drooling over him like she was doing.

Saturday morning arrived and with it the now well-known feelings of apprehension and excitement. She was even more nervous that before, wondering whether he would actually be there or not. She needn't have worried, as she walked through the door he was already there warming up on the mats. 'Oh he looks as good as ever' she thought as she walked wobbly legged over to a spot near him. Cassie noticed him look up and she smiled shyly at him,

'Morning, how are you?' He asked.

'I'm good thanks, and you?' She replied, butterflies dancing wildly in her stomach.

'Good thanks, trying to get a few good workouts in before I go away next week,' he replied.

Ah so he was going to be away again, bummer.

'Oh nice, where are you off to?' Cassie said as nonchalantly as possible.

'Just to Monaco for a few days to watch the racing, its my favourite trip of the year,' he smiled.

They chatted on and off as they trained and it wasn't until they had been there for nearly an hour that she remembered she needed to find out if he was married. She wasn't going to come straight out and ask him of course, instead she surreptitiously looked at his hand, no wedding ring. Well that was a relief! They spent the entire time training near one another, he obviously noticed that too as he said jokingly,

'My friends will think I've fallen out with them, I've not spoken one word to them today!'

Cassie smiled back, 'Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you away from them'

He laughed, 'Not at all' was his only response.

'Hmm cryptic,' Cassie thought to herself, 'What exactly did that mean?'

Eventually the time came for them to say their goodbyes. His friends had come to find him by now so she said a quick 'see you later' and scurried off while they chatted and laughed. The smile on Cassie's face said it all, she was ecstatic! He definitely liked her too, he wouldn't chat to her for so long if not surely. She drove home singing along to trashy pop songs feeling on top of the world.

The next day she almost skipped into the gym she was that excited. He wasn't in yet so she headed for the treadmills to warm up. It wasn't long before she saw him come in but she didn't move straight away, that would look suspicious and embarrassing, she would finish her run first and then go over. It was an added bonus that he would see her running and hopefully think how fit she was.

About 10 minutes later she finished her run and made her way over to the mats where he was doing press-ups. His arms looked so strong! Cassie positioned herself opposite him at the other side of the mat, that way he would see her as soon as he sat up. He finished his set and sat back on his heels, noticing her he raised his hand in greeting so he waved back smiling. She thought he might have come over but instead he got up and went off into the weights area. Cassie wasn't too perturbed, it was busy on the mats and loud so conversation would have been awkward. After a quick stretch, Cassie made her way into the weights area too, careful to choose a machine that allowed her to see him. She loved watching him train, the raw masculine power was so attractive.

She followed her usual weights routine, always acutely aware of where he was and whether he was looking at her. She thought she caught his eyes on her a few times, his eyes seemed darker today somehow, like he wasn't his usual happy self. It made Cassie feel a mixture of scared and even more turned on, but she wished she could speak to him loads again.

She had just been on the pull-up machine, which faced a wall, and when she turned back around there was no sign of him. She scanned the room but he definitely wasn't there, he'd gone. Her heart sank, he'd gone and now she wouldn't see him until he got back from Monaco.

For the rest of the day and a few days afterwards she felt quite low, her over-active mind circling round and round with questions. Why had he been so distant? Does he actually like her? Was he just being polite?

'Ahhhhh this is so frustrating,' she thought over and over again. She just needed to know one way or the other, if he liked her them great and if not, well she would have to move on and stop obsessing over him. So the decision was made, if he hadn't made any sort of move before Christmas, she would tell him outright that she liked him and see if he felt the same.

Fast forward two weeks and she was in the gym in the weights section when he walked in. He looked happy and relaxed as he walked confidently through the busy gym. He was tanned from his time away and looked even better than Cassie remembered. She watched as he began his warm-up routine, getting up the courage to go over and say hi.

'Come on woman, get a grip!' She shook herself mentally and headed towards him. He had his back to her so when she reached him she tapped him on the arm, saying, 'Welcome back,' as she did so. He hadn't been expecting that and jumped with surprise.

'Oh hi! How are you?' He smiled that wide smile she had missed so much.

'Really good, how was Monaco?' And so the conversation began and history repeated itself with them talking the whole way through the session, ignoring anyone else. Cassie's mind was in over drive again, this must mean he liked her surely? Then another thought struck her, his name.

'Hey I've just thought, I don't know your name yet,' she said to him, suddenly feeling very nervous like she had just asked him out or something.

'Its Andrew, what's yours?' He asked, seeming slightly taken aback by her interest in his name.

'Cassandra, but usually Cassie.'

'That's a lovely name,' he said smiling at her and sending shivers of excitement through her body. Her heart was pounding in her chest, she felt as though she had just overcome a huge obstacle, it was only his name for goodness sake! But it was personal, that's what mattered, they had gone from being small talking acquaintances to being on first name terms and that was definitely a step in the right direction.

They continued their workouts, training in companionable silence for a while. Little did Andrew know that now Cassie's brain was wiring away,

'Should I say something now? No I'll wait. But I don't want to wait!' Cassie was in turmoil, she had to know now, once and for all. Did he like her too?

'Hey Andrew, I just wanted to tell you something,' she said quietly so only he would hear.

'Oh? What's that?' he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye, obviously a little on guard now.

'Well I just wanted you to know that...I like you and erm, I wanted to know what you thought about that,' she stumbled a little over the words but there it was, she had said it.

'Oh right, wow, ok.' He clearly hadn't been expecting that!

'Yeah um, I just wanted to tell you to see what you thought,' she rambled again, nerves now twisting her stomach as she braced herself for his next response.

'Well that's very flattering of course, but I need a bit of time to process that and think about it,' he said. Cassie's heart didn't know whether to jump for joy because he hadn't said no or whether to drop because he hadn't exactly said yes!

'Ok, no that's absolutely fine, of course,' she said, trying her best to appear calm and unfazed.

'Ok well, I'll see you next week, look after yourself,' and with that he had gone.

'Ok so now the balls in his court, he knows how I feel so he has to give me an answer one way or the other,' Cassie said to herself as she drove home. She called her friend when she got home to tell her what she'd done,

'Oh Cass you're so impatient!' Was her friends reaction, 'I knew you wouldn't wait until Christmas, you make a decision and you have to follow it through then and there don't you haha.' She obviously found it highly amusing. 'He likes you I'm sure of it, why else would he spend so much time around you? You'll just have to wait now, its his move next.'

Chapter 4 will be available soon.