Read Ripped for Free Online

feeling the muscle definition beneath his shirt. He was built. No longer the lean dancer of eight years ago, he had bulked up, his shoulders huge, his arms bulging and pulling the fabric of his long-sleeved tee tight. But they were the same lips that I remembered, that I’d dreamed about as sleep consumed me, and as his tongue slowly danced with mine, one thing was certain, I had my Baxter back.
    Even with my eyes closed, I knew the porch light had been flicked on.
    “Is that you, Jasmine, dear?” a voice that had been weakened by age called out.
    Quickly stepping back from Bax, I took a few seconds before responding. “Yes, Mrs. Bailey, it’s me.” My eyes shot up to take in Baxter biting his lip to control his laughter. “I’ll just be a minute.”
    “Or two,” Bax whispered, before pulling me back in for another kiss.



 
    I’ D GONE to sleep with the strawberry taste and warm tingling feel of Jaz on my lips, certainly not what I’d anticipated when I’d started my day. I’d been running to meet Lucia for coffee so we could discuss her parents’ surprise wedding anniversary party, when Jaz had completely blindsided me.
    I was still on cloud nine the following morning as I sprung out of bed. I hadn’t arranged to accompany Jaz to call-backs, so I wanted to get to her duplex early in the hope that she hadn’t left already. Digging out my best sweater, the one that hugged my body to show the definition I’d worked so hard to hone, I ran my fingers through my hair then pulled it back off my face and was out the door.
    I felt like Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain . I was happy again after so long of merely existing in this concrete jungle, and had to refrain from dancing in the streets. Jaz had never really left my heart, but she was finally back in my arms, and this time I wasn’t going to be so foolish as to think we could be physically apart but still be together. No, if she was lucky enough to tour with this show then I’d be going with her. They say ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, but in my experience, the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is truer.
    Skipping up the front steps to her door, I raised my hand and was just about to knock when the door flew open and Jaz came barging out, straight into me.
    “We have to stop meeting like this,” I joked as she rebounded off my chest and clutched at the doorjamb to stop from falling on her ass.
    A wide grin replaced the look of surprise on her face before she propelled herself into my arms. “What are you doing here?” she mumbled through the scarf that was wrapped over her mouth as her face nuzzled my neck.
    My arms wrapped all the way around her slender frame, and I squeezed her into my body. “Thought you might like an escort on the train again today.”
    Her eyes narrowed as she pulled the fabric from her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be busy with Lucia?”
    I shrugged. “It’s not important. I just offered to help plan a party for her parents’ anniversary, but that was when I had time on my hands.”
    “And now?” Her brow was cocked.
    “And now I have you on my hands.”
    “Or in your hands.” She giggled, stepping away.
    I somehow felt lighter as we walked briskly, our fingers linked, toward the train. So this was how life in a big city felt when you had someone to share it with. Not so lonely anymore—not so insignificant because someone actually cared. I knew I had Mama and Papa who showered more love and attention on me than my own parents. And Lucia, who showed a little more interest in me than I was comfortable with. But there had been no one who actually understood me. Who had truly touched my heart the way Jaz had before or after her. From the first, she had been the girl who’d made me melt. Who had me wanting to try harder, to do better, just to put a smile on her gorgeous heart-shaped face when I’d succeeded. Even if what I’d achieved had seemed trivial, Jaz had been my personal cheerleader. She had