Unforgettable Embrace Read Online Free Page B

chest it was beating that quickly. She made her way weakly towards the showers, gasping for breath all the while.
    “ Are you OK?” Helen, a staff member asked her in concern.
    “ First day,” Ra chel puffed.
    “ It'll get easier.” Helen smiled sympathetically.
    “ Well, it can't get much worse,” Rachel stormed off into the ladies changing room. Easy for her to say it'll get easier, Rachel thought, Miss Gym Bunny, always glowing with health and vitality, looking like she'd barely break a sweat after running a marathon.
     
    Rachel scrubbed her body until it was bright pink and almost raw. She was in the mother of all bad moods. She was absolutely exhausted and a touch light-headed. All she could think about was how hungry she felt. She could easily have demolished some fish and chips there and then, and the only food she had to look forward to was a boring, limp salad and she'd worked up an appetite after all that running. She was starting to regret binning the tasty junk fund from her cupboards. She contemplated getting a take-away on her way home from the gym, but decided to resist.
     
    Rachel flung her gym bag into the boot of her car and tore down the road at top speed to Tesco. She grabbed a trolley and started firing vegetables, yoghurt and fruit into it.
    “ What did those poor apples ever do to you?” Rachel was startled out of her tantrum by a man's voice behind her.
    She swung around with a curt response on the tip of her tongue, but was left speechless when she found herself looking into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. They weren't your usual run of the mill blue; they were more a light blue, almost grey, fringed with thick black eyelashes.
    “ I'm just having a bad day,” Rachel responded, “the apples are completely innocent.”
    She felt herself blush under his steady gaze.
    “ Well, they're not going to taste too good if they're battered and bruised,” he grinned at her.
    “ I suppose not,” Rachel replied as she scurried away. Suddenly, she felt overwhelmed by embarrassment and couldn't wait to get home.
     
    The phone rang as Rachel was unpacking her groceries. It was Jen.
    “ How's things, girl?” Jen asked her friend.
    “ Well I almost self-combusted at the gym, and I've resisted eating any junk food all day. I've only eaten a Caesar salad for dinner, so I'm feeling a bit deprived and sorry for myself at the moment,” Rachel said disconsolately as she flung herself onto the couch.
    “ You should be proud of yourself, that's a great start,” Jen encouraged.
    “ Yeah, yeah, coming from the woman with the perfect figure,” Rachel said moodily.
     
    Jen rarely thought about food, and was so full of energy that the little food she remembered to eat was quickly burnt off. She was a size eight and five foot six inches tall. She still had the perky breasts and trim butt of a teenager and her flat stomach was the envy of all her friends.
    “ It's hardly perfect,” Jen retorted, “I wish I had your breasts and curves. You just need to tone up, that's all.”
    “ That's all!” Rachel practically spat down the phone. “I almost passed out at the gym today, and when I was attempting to run my thighs and butt were wobbling like jelly. No wonder all the skinny people I know are so miserable and bitchy, they're bloody starving all the time, and if they're not starving they're killing themselves at the gym. I'm starting to wonder if I should just accept my wobbly bits and resign myself to a life of chubbiness; at least I'd be happy.”
    “ Don't be so dramatic,” Jen chided. “You don't have much weight to lose and you'll feel amazing when you've lost it. Anyway, I think you're gorgeous just the way you are. Maybe you should start viewing your exercise sessions as being good for your health rather than fat-busting sessions.”
    “ Maybe,” Rachel sighed. “I do want to get fit and healthy.”
    “ Never mind all this weight-loss misery,” Jen interrupted, “what are