The Hockey Star and the Ice Princess (Complete)

Ch. 10 - The Gym

"What?! Are you serious? You're a hockey coach, bartender AND a personal trainer?" Rachel laughed. 

"Yep. That's right. Hey, when you're single and don't have anyone at home to come home to it feels better to just stay busy. Who wants to just sit around in an empty house?"

She nodded. "Yeah I can understand that. That's how it was for me in Dallas. I was hardly ever home. So how did you go from being a professional hockey player to a personal trainer?" 

"I had actually started doing this kind of work before I even quit playing for the Kings. I knew my hockey career wouldn't last forever so I needed something to fall back on and the other skaters were always coming to me for advice on workouts and diets. I was really good at it so while I was playing I got my Master of Science Health and Human Performance degree to be a sports trainer and health coach for hockey and figure skaters." 

"Well I hope you're really good cause I'm gonna need a LOT of help if I'm gonna make it to the Olympics. I'm really out of shape," she sighed. She wasn't out of shape by a normal person's standards, but she was out of shape compared to what she was at the last Olympics. Her stamina, strength and flexibility needed a lot of work.

"Well, we'll just have to change that," Cain said, looking down at his clipboard. He started asking her questions and filling out a sheet all about her fitness goals, medical history, previous injuries ..... etc. Finally he clipped the pen on the board and said, "Ok. Let's get started. Come on." 

He lead her over to a scale where he wrote down her height. "5'6," he said and then he wrote down her weight before getting out a curled up measuring tape.

He put his arms around her stomach to measure it with the tape and she could feel his hands on her waist, making her almost laugh because it felt so awkward. His cologne smelled so amazing. She looked up into his eyes and then looked away with a slight smile. 

"Sorry if this is weird for you. The measurements help us see how much muscle mass you build. Would it make you more comfortable if I had a woman trainer take your measurements?" he asked. 

"No it's fine. You can take them," she said quietly, not looking at him. 

He slid the measuring tape up around the top of her back and pulled it around the front of her chest and wrote down a number before measuring around the top of her arms and thighs. When they were done he got out this weird little device that measured body fat with two little pinchers. He had her lift up her shirt and he squeezed a couple inches of skin on her stomach and pinched it softly with the little machine and wrote down a number. He did the same with the back of her arm and halfway up her thigh. Feeling his touch on those places made her face feel flushed and her heart beat a little faster.

"Ok. I've got everything I need so we can get started. We want to build back up the strength in your legs so you can do jumps like you used to." 

He led her over to a small circle trampoline in the corner and said, "I'm going to put this harness around your waist that's attached to these bouncy cords that hook to the ceiling so you won't fall. I want to see how high you can jump so we can keep track of your progress. Jump as high as you can and smack your hand against these little levers sticking out of this bar above you. That will tell us how high you're jumping." 

She got up on the little trampoline and he strapped a big black harness around her waist that fastened with Velcro and he started hooking the cords to them. From up here on the trampoline with him bending down, he was almost eye level with her and their faces were so close together. As he was strapping her into the harness she couldn't help but look at his grey eyes with those thick brooding eyebrows and long lashes. They were the most perfect eyes she could ever imagine.