Page 5 of Head Over Wheels
“Have you always lived in Montreal?” Even though I know a lot about Jace, there isn’t a lot of information about his time before Elevate online.
“No, I was born in Toronto, but we moved to Montreal when I was five, so it’s the only place I really remember living. How about you?” He pulls his hoodie off and I see a strip of toned abs before his T-shirt falls back down. I’m trying not to make my swoon too obvious, but I feel my cheeks turn pink.
“Born and raised in Ottawa, but I have grandparents in both Montreal and Toronto, so we go back and forth regularly.”
He smiles at me, and I’m distracted. “Have you been an Elevate member long?”
“About a year now, and I can’t even remember what life was like before.” I hear my words gushing out of me, but I can’t seem to stop them. “I love all the classes and the different types of workouts available. The member community is great—I’ve made so many friends online.”
He lets out a little laugh. “I'm glad. We work hard on the content, and it’s nice to know it’s valued. I agree with you about the members too, it’s an amazing community. It makes going to work every day really fun.”
I’m starting to feel warm again, and I don’t think it’s the proximity to Jace. Should I take off my hoodie? I only have a tank underneath, and I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.
“You feeling hotter too?” He sticks a finger between his neck and T-shirt.
There’s a bead of sweat trickling down my back, encouraging me to answer him by ripping my hoodie off. “Yep, definitely heating up in here. I must get this hoodie off, but don’t worry, I’m mostly decent underneath.” My laugh sounds a little higher pitched than normal.
“Don’t worry, I won’t take my shirt off.” Jace smirks, and I wonder if he can hear my inner thoughts yelling TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF! It’s a good thing it’s warm in here so he can’t see my cheeks turning even pinker with my inappropriate thoughts.
Now that we’re both a little more comfortable, we settle into that idle chit chat that happens between strangers in forced situations. I tell him how excited I am for the weekend, and he asks me if I’m liking the newest boxing classes. The temperature still seems to be creeping up and I feel myself getting glowy, but there are no more pieces of clothing to take off. Jace’s cheeks are looking flushed as well.
“Do you think it’s worth it to let the maintenance people know that it’s getting hot in here?” My gaze goes over to the button we pressed earlier.
“Yeah, it’s definitely worth a shot.” He stands up in one smooth movement, and I admire how graceful and athletic he is. I’m also relieved he got up to do it as it would have been much less graceful had I been the one to stand up.
“Hello? Anyone there?” he says into the panel, awaiting a response.
“Yes, everything okay?” It’s a different voice this time, sounds like a woman.
“Actually, we just wanted to let you know that it’s getting pretty warm in here. The temperature has been slowly increasing.”
“Yes, that’s to be expected. Everything turns off when the elevator gets stuck, so the usual fans aren’t going to temper the air for you. Do you have any water?”
Jace looks at me and quirks an eyebrow.
“I have a bottle of water in my bag, yes.” My emotions have been so high over this whole experience I completely forgot that I packed my Yeti this morning.
“Oh good, hopefully you can share it between you. Just looking at your elevator number, I see that you’re a few calls away still from being worked on. Please keep us advised if your situation changes.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jace presses the button to end the call.
I hold out my teal blue water bottle. “Want a sip?”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to take your water.” He waves a hand at me and sits back down.
“Jace, it’s fine. I have a full bottle here. You can have the first half, I haven’t even had a sip yet.” I push it toward him on the floor of the elevator. Am I freaking out that I’m about to share a water bottle with Jace Altman? Why yes, yes, I am.
He gives in and takes the bottle from me. He lifts it to his mouth and pours it in so that it doesn’t touch his lips. Very gentlemanly of him, although I really wouldn’t have minded. After he passes it back, I try to do the same thing with less successful results. I start laughing as water pours down my chin.
“Well apparently that’s a learned skill.” Taking the sleeve of my discarded hoodie, I nonchalantly wipe my chin. Nothing to see here, folks.
“It’s just something we did out on the track field in school and at meets. The coaches would bring trays of water bottles and we all just used them like that. I guess it’s a skill that comes in handy after all…what was that?”
The elevator suddenly makes a very loud wrenching noise, and my heart is in my throat.
CHAPTER 4
I seem to be holding hands with Jace. My eyes are squeezed shut as I wait to hear what happens next. After the loud noise, I shot my hands out to brace myself, and Jace grabbed onto the one closest to him. I’m guessing he did it to comfort me, and I appreciate the gesture.