A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 66

Finn pulled into the university parking lot just in time to see Samantha coming out of the nursing building. She spotted him and gave a wide grin and a wave. He felt the smile bloom across his own face. She never failed to bring him joy and he'd missed not seeing her as often since she and Adam had gotten together. He was glad that she'd called this morning.

Sliding into the passenger seat, Samantha leaned over to kiss his cheek before sitting back to buckle her seatbelt. "I'm so glad that you were free to meet me tonight!" she gushed. "It's been so long, I feel like I haven't seen you forever. Ready to be trounced on the track?"

They were heading over to Finn's gym, which he insisted was more manly than Samantha's. His gym also had an outdoor track like Samantha's but that's where the similarities ended. It was basically a warehouse full of weight equipment and catered almost exclusively to the jock crowd. Samantha had been working out with Finn and Mac since she was around twelve years old so had a routine similar to Finn's anyway.

She didn't tend to use the balance balls and elliptical machines at her own gym, instead sticking to the heavy bag, skipping ropes and track.

They parked and entered through a solid metal door around the side of the building which led straight into a hallway for the change rooms. The door to the women's change room was propped open with a mop and bucket and, clearly, neither the change room nor mop were used on a regular basis. Sam went in, shoving the bucket into the room with her and quickly changed to meet Finn in the hallway and together they walked into the gym.

Finn glanced around the room and noticed that Sam had caused a bit of a distraction with her presence and her choice of workout gear of a cropped sport top and running shorts. He scowled but none of the other guys were overly intimidated by him and kept right on staring appreciatively at her. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea" he muttered to himself. Samantha grabbed his arm. She had her boxing gloves in one hand. "Let's do the heavy bag first before the weights" and, totally oblivious to her admirers as always, she led the way.

Once they got into their workout most of the guys stopped ogling Samantha constantly and went back to their own routines only occasionally glancing her way. Even Finn was impressed watching her work out. As always, her discipline was inspiring. She and Finn and Mac had always worked the heavy bag that hung in the garage at the Kincaid family home and they all had the abs to show for it. Samantha was glistening in sweat from head to toe by the time they finished their workout and were headed out to the track for a run. She had even more admirers now that she was sweaty and glowing and Finn was really happy to be heading outside. His big-brother instincts were starting to make him a bit tense and he worried that he would be tempted to wipe some smiles off of some faces.

"Last one to do three miles buys the drinks" Samantha grinned at Finn, flashing her dimples while she stretched her legs.

"I hope that you brought your wallet then, Smalls, because I'm feeling pretty feisty" was Finn's reply as he took off. "Hey!" she yelled before sprinting off after him. "You've always been a cheat, Finn Sullivan" she called and received loud laughter in response.