I Was Here All Along by Penny Blake Read Free Book Online Page B

Which isn’t to say that I don’t cheat on occasion, but most of the time, eating healthy is much easier now that I’ve gotten into the habit.
     
    A few months into my diet, I'm leaving the apartment on my way to the gym when I pass a mirror and catch a glimpse of myself.  A minute later, I stop in my tracks and slowly go back for a double take. 
     
    I’m still far from perfect, but everything about me is smaller and tighter now.  My legs have a better shape to them.  My stomach doesn’t bulge out nearly as much.  My butt is still round, yet it’s higher and tighter.  But the most striking change is to my face.  My neck and chin looked more defined, my cheekbones stand out now, my skin looks brighter and healthier, and my eyes and smile more prominent. And that’s when it hits me.
     
    I’d started my health plan for the simple reason of not wanting to be fat anymore.  But while my fat has been melting away, something else has been happening.  I’ve been getting pretty.  Me.  Pretty.  Two completely separate concepts that I’ve never imagined could co-exist, and yet now here they are blending together, and it blows my mind.
     
    With my dark hair and pale skin, symmetrical features and newly emerging bone structure, I have an Alyssa Milano thing going on. And with less landscape behind them, my big boobs and round butt look amazing.
     
    That day at the gym, I’m fully aware of how good I look in my spandex gym clothes.  When I do my squats, I jut my butt and boobs out a little bit more so Rio can appreciate my improving shape.
     
    Rio, the consummate professional, doesn’t seem to notice. In fact, the entire time he’s been training me, he’s never once broached any personal topics or flirted with me in the slightest.  All of our conversations have been strictly workout related.  If I ask him what he did that weekend, he tells me how many reps he did or how many miles he ran.  If I ask about his past, he gives me one word answers and turns the topic back to exercise. I know that he’s a boxer who fights competitively, but that’s was the extent of what I know about his personal life.
     
    But all that’s about to change, I decide.
     
    My weight has always been the one thing I hate about myself.  The excuse I use not to try anything new, not to take any chances, not to dream big.  But now that my fat is melting away, I feel like all the self imposed limits can go too, if I let them.
     
    In my heart, no matter how I look, I’m always going to be me, clumsy, embarrassing, and accident prone.  But now that I’m becoming a hotter, more confident version of myself, it’s a game changer.  And the game I’m about to play involves flirting with my insanely hot and completely disinterested trainer.  In fact, it’s his very disinterest that makes me want him even more. 
     
    Rio is a challenge, and I’m hungry for a challenge. 
     
    I’m hungry for Rio.
     

Chapter 13
     
    The Amateur
     
    After a little research, I learn that Rio will be fighting in a boxing match at a nearby boxing club, and I decide to show up.  I don’t tell him because I want the element of surprise on my side, but other than that, I don’t have much of a plan other than to look cute.
     
    I dress casually in jeans and a low cut top to avoid looking like I’m trying too hard, though I spend two hours on my hair and makeup so I look a million times better than I do at the gym.
     
    The first thing I discover when I enter the boxing club is that Rio has a nickname, Rio “Justice” Ward.  The next is that according to his stats, he’s virtually undefeated.  And then I learn, with great disappointment, that I won’t get to see him with his shirt off.  Since he’s an amateur and not a pro, he fights in a sleeveless t-shirt and wears a padded head guard.
     
    When the match starts, his style starts out relaxed and but quickly turns viscous.  His opponent is a bald, heavily tattooed guy called “The