Meesha’s presentation could be the opening Cassie had been waiting for.
She dressed for success on this particular Wednesday, instead of just showing up in yoga gear as she usually did. Cassie went home after her last class to change into a cute little navy suit she’d bought for business meetings. The skirt was short enough to show her legs to advantage. The suit was feminine and chic, and to her thinking, made it look more likely that she and Mr. GQ could be a couple.
Maybe clothes could help Ty see the obvious.
She twisted up her hair into an up-do more complicated than her usual messy ponytail and liked the result. As a bonus, Cassie wore her newest pair of killer heels and her reddest lipstick. She even took a cab back to the club, instead of walking as usual. A couple of the regular guys wolf-whistled after her as she crossed the lobby, which didn’t hurt her confidence one bit.
She wasn’t surprised to hear Kyle and Damon already bickering in the conference room when she entered the offices. They’d done it for so long that it was an ingrained habit, and it had never meant anything anyway. Jax, who Cassie considered F5F’s resident dragon lady and threshold guardian, rolled her eyes at the sound of the guys.
“They’ll never quit,” Cassie said.
“When they do, we’ll know there’s something really wrong,” Jax said drily. She was in her forties and managed human resources for the club, scheduling teachers and balancing their part-time work force with military precision. She was the original woman of few words and one of the best kick-boxers at the club. Cassie wanted to be Jax when she grew up.
“You’re last.” Jax said and Cassie took a deep breath that Ty was in close proximity. Jax seemed to sense her excitement because she looked up from her spreadsheet to survey Cassie. “Anything wrong?”
“No, why?”
“You look like you’re going for a job interview.” Jax’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe you’re going to quit.”
“Never! I just wanted to up the ante.” She spun, showing off. “Like it?”
Jax nodded. “Love it.” She indicated Meesha, who was perched on the lip of a chair, waiting. “I still think you two are up to something.”
Meesha had her laptop on her knees and held a large insulated coffee cup. She was also wearing a suit, although hers was pale pink with a ruffle on the hem. She had a smile that could light a room and it made sense that social media was her natural environment. She was in her early twenties, exuberant, and her love of the color pink bordered upon an obsession. Her hair was tipped pink today, maybe for the meeting.
“Ready?” Cassie asked her.
Meesha nodded. “I’ve never done this before, not to people’s faces.”
“More used to doing it online?” Cassie teased.
“Or behind the scenes.” She took a gulp of her coffee.
“You’ll rock it. Don’t worry.”
Cassie and Meesha exchanged thumbs-up, and Jax started to pack up for the day.
Heart in her throat, Cassie went into the conference room, her gaze flying to Ty. He was wearing a navy suit and crisp tie, frowning slightly as he reviewed the financial reports for the previous month. Ignoring Kyle and Damon, just like usual. Yum, yum, yum, just like usual, too. Ignoring her arrival in standard operating mode.
Cassie refused to be discouraged by that.
Theo was leaning in, pointing at an item on Ty’s laptop as he murmured a comment. He was suited up, too, his cufflinks flashing as he indicated a line item. The pair conferred quietly, two peas in a pod.
Kyle, predictably, missed nothing and refrained from comment on nothing. He did a double-take at the sight of her, then gave a whistle. “Nobody told me we changed the dress code,” he said, getting up to prowl around Cassie. “Damn, woman, you could stop traffic in that suit.” He made a growling sound and Cassie shoved him back toward his chair.
“Down, boy,” she said, well aware that Ty had barely glanced up.
“Big date afterward?” Kyle asked, with typical curiosity.
“No. I just felt like dressing up for a change.”
“Thank you for adding to the view,” Kyle said and she wished she had something to throw at him.
“You can see why we don’t let him out much,” Damon rumbled.
“What’s he giving you grief about now?” she asked.
Damon shook his head.
“I’m just saying that he could hold up his end a bit better,” Kyle complained. He sprawled in a chair again, one foot braced on the conference table as he balanced on the chair’s back legs. He looked like the quintessential surfer: blond, tanned, and buff. He was dressed, as usual, in jeans that were snug in all the right places and a tight T-shirt that could have been a second skin. His hair was a hundred shades of gold and tousled, his eyes a sparkling blue, and Cassie was glad to be immune to his charm. Kyle had that perfect blend of confidence and style that made him draw women like bees to honey, and he knew it. He also used it. Cassie had never met anyone with a worse case of commitment disease. Despite his cockiness, there was something playful about Kyle that made him impossible to dislike.
He certainly could make Cassie—and pretty much any woman alive—laugh.
Damon rolled his eyes. A little shorter than Kyle, he spent a lot of time at the gym, too. Damon had always been the quiet powerhouse. He was intense and brilliant, and a genius with design. He was also a dark horse, the one who could unexpectedly go the distance, and often surprised Kyle when they competed in the gym.
“You’re the one who came up with the idea of the dance club,” Damon noted. “You’re the one who said it had to be monitored by a discerning individual like yourself. So, quit bitching about the job you custom-made for yourself.”
“All I’m saying is that you could work a Friday night once in a while,” Kyle said.
“Would the world end if you two stopped bickering like old women?” Cassie asked, pulling out a chair for herself. She stood behind it for a moment, wanting Ty to have a chance to notice her new look. “Maybe we should give it a try, just to see.”
“Old women?” Kyle said, apparently insulted. Damon looked taken aback. Theo was trying to hide a smile.
Ty only flicked her the barest glance of acknowledgment. He was connecting his laptop to the big display, which apparently required his undivided attention.
“Maybe elderly sisters,” Cassie said and Kyle shuddered.
“I don’t think we’re that bad,” he said.
Ty whistled, calling them to order. “Let’s get to it. I’ve distributed the agenda and you’ll see that we have a lot to cover tonight.”
“Including Damon ducking shifts in the club on Friday nights,” Kyle said.
“Is it a crime to have a life?” Damon asked.
“I want to know her name,” Kyle countered, leaning forward to tap his index finger on the table.
Damon smiled, which could have been precisely planned to drive Kyle nuts.
Kyle’s eyes lit and Cassie knew what would happen next.
Instead, Ty cleared his throat. “Anyone know why we have this uptick in new memberships?” he asked, with typical focus on the business. He glanced at Cassie. “New advertising campaign?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
“It’s the dance club,” Kyle said, addressing Ty. “You were the one who said we needed new members and new sources of revenue. The dance club is it.”
Ty frowned. “I don’t think so. I mean, it’s a good source of revenue and it’s doing well, but we opened it last fall. This is a recent uptick.” He glanced at Theo. “Mentions in the press?”
Theo shook his head. “We had some good visibility in the celebrity papers with the Valentine’s party at the dance club, but that was a while ago.”
“These new members are taking advantage of the fitness buddy offer,” Ty said, typing away, then putting a graph from his computer’s display to the big screen.
“Two memberships for one, if you work out together,” Damon said. “Great id
ea, Cassie.”
“But we’ve offered it for a while,” Kyle noted. “New ads?”
Cassie shook her head. “Almost no ads, actually.”
“At least the women are taking advantage of it,” Ty said, changing the display to divide the data by gender. “The guys are joining singly.”
“But there’s still more of them than usual,” Theo mused.
“It’s about sex,” Kyle said.
“Excuse me?” Ty asked.
“They want to get lucky. They come here because the odds of scoring with someone hot are much better here than anywhere else.”
As was so often the case, Kyle’s instincts were close to the truth. Cassie checked the agenda, glad to see that Meesha’s presentation was next.
“It comes with the territory,” Kyle continued. He gestured in the direction of the gym. “Especially our territory. All those hot, muscled bodies. All that human perfection, sweating and stretching, and noticing. This whole place is built on the power of eye candy. That’s our niche. Gorgeous specimens of humanity in every direction. That’s why people come to F5F. Sex is the natural and inevitable result.” He sat back and grinned. “Spring fever. Everyone wants to get lucky and F5F is the place to browse the best options.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Ty said, tapping so that seasonal patterns for the last ten years overlaid the current data. “I think there’s a specific root to this spike in the last thirty days and if we figure it out, we can do it better on purpose.”
“Actually, I know,” Cassie said and all the guys looked at her. “And Ty’s right—it is about more than sex and spring fever. We always had that going on. Can we skip to the agenda item of Meesha’s presentation?”
“Sure. Who’s Meesha?” Ty asked.
Cassie stood up. “One of our members who slays social media. I think we should give her a job, actually, but she’s here to show us something that’s happening organically, something she noticed and came to talk to me about.” She called the younger woman, who stumbled on the carpet as she came into the conference room. Damon caught her elbow and she smiled her thanks at him. The partners then did the big brother thing that she loved about them. Damon got Meesha a chair, Theo welcomed her and Ty connected her laptop to the big screen, unhooking his own.
Kyle checked out her legs.
Meesha visibly took a deep breath as her first slide was displayed. “I heard Kyle say that F5F is all about the eye candy and he’s not the only one who thinks that.” She flicked through screen shots of the club’s official social media, highlighting their traffic as she talked. “There are a lot of members who post images of themselves at F5F online, and you guys know that because you have the hashtag.” Once she started, her confidence grew, maybe because she was interested in the data she was presenting. “Just as an aside, I think you could do a better job with branding and sharing that, but we can talk about that later.” Theo and Ty exchanged a glance. “I wanted you to see this.”
All the partners leaned forward.
“This is something organic that’s cropped up in the last month or two. People don’t always use the club’s hashtag, which I think you need to change, because it’s a really good PR thing.”
The display from Meesha’s laptop included images from a photo stream on social media. They were all pictures of couples, smiling at the camera, hands clasped, radiantly happy, and not all at the club.
“Look at the number of likes,” Cassie told them. The numbers were off the charts and she wanted to be sure the guys noticed.
“#FindThe1,” Kyle read. “Seriously, this isn’t about true love.”
“Seriously, it is,” Meesha said sternly. “This kind of urban myth is evolving that F5F is where you can find your match. It’s the place for true love in Manhattan.”
“But we don’t advertise that,” Theo protested.
“Maybe that’s why,” Meesha said. “It feels more authentic, because it’s just happening on its own. That doesn’t mean you can’t encourage it or highlight it.”
“Or market to it,” Damon murmured.
“We always knew there were chat groups,” Cassie said. “And the bulletin board for workout buddies has always been busy. What’s new and different is that people are finding love here, not just sex, and we’re getting a reputation for that.”
“That explains the new members,” Theo said.
“And why the guys join alone, but the women bring a buddy,” Kyle said.
“Look at all these engagements and weddings with this hashtag,” Meesha said. “You guys have got to work with this in order to build it.”
“But we can’t control it,” Ty protested. “I mean, it’s great if people find what they want...”
“Who they want,” Kyle corrected.
“But we’re not matchmakers or a dating service. We don’t guarantee those kind of results.” Ty shook his head. “And I wouldn’t want to.”
“But you don’t have to,” Meesha countered. “You just need to give members a forum to express what’s already happening.”
“How?” Damon invited.
“A bulletin board for pictures here in the club. Maybe a digital one, like a big screen that changes constantly. People can send in their images and share them there, then the club can share them on social media. That way, they’re opting in, and you can start a thread on the official sites to showcase them.” Meesha displayed a mock-up of an Instagram feed. “And you could feature a couple, maybe every week or more often, giving them a spotlight to share how they met and what their future plans are. That would work on all your social media accounts.” She had a mock-up of that, too, complete with graphics and how it would look on all their social media accounts.
“Where’d the logo come from?” Ty asked.
“Cassie did it when I talked to her about this,” Meesha said.
“I should have guessed. All our materials are so slick, Cassie,” Ty said. “It’s what you do, and what distinguishes F5F in the market.”
She found herself ridiculously pleased, even though he didn’t look at her, and spoke as if it were just a fact. “The branding of all of it would make it ours.”
“And give it all cohesion beyond the hashtag,” Meesha said, clicking through her slides. “A feature couple of the month is another option. You might get some of the media to pick those up as human interest stories. Weddings at F5F.”
“Whoa,” Kyle said.
“Why not?” Meesha said, challenging him. “Someone is going to want to exchange their vows on that rock climbing wall, and once they do, there will be more.”
“How can we lean into this with workshops or guests?” Theo asked. “Maybe free memberships for couples who get married after meeting here?”
“Whoa,” Ty said. “Discounts maybe.” They all laughed.
“Singles nights in the weight room,” Damon said. “Meet your match and spot each other. Work together to reach your goals.”
“The dance club is only open Fridays and Saturdays,” Kyle said. “What if we host some kind of mixers on Thursday nights?”
“I think the main thing is to give what’s already happening more visibility,” Meesha said. “Like this.” She clicked through more examples. “But you need content, maybe even beyond what members voluntarily share.”
“A photographer,” Ty said softly. Something about his tone pricked at Cassie and she watched him closely.
She was sure he didn’t know a photographer. She constantly polled the partners for contacts and photography was a big expense in their marketing materials.
“Exactly!” Meesha said. “And someone—” she cleared her throat with mock modesty “—to build these graphics and manage these threads for you. You need a social media goddess.” She raised her hands, her expression expectant.
The guys all grinned as one. “Gee, would you know anybody with those credentials looking for a job?” Kyle asked, all innocence.
“Me!” Meesha said and they all laughed. “I can ma
ke sure you own this, but I can’t do it as a side hustle. It’s a lot of graphics work plus monitoring and managing. It’s a full time job.”
“I thought you had a day job,” Ty said.
“I do, but this would be a lot more fun.” She smiled with that infectious enthusiasm.
“It will take a lot of work to pull it together,” Theo agreed, who probably was the most engaged of all of them on social media. “Can you give us your resumé?”
Meesha smiled and pulled out her phone. “All I need is an email addy.”
Theo grinned and gave her one. There was an audible ping as he received her message.
“This is great, Meesha. Thanks for bringing it to us and preparing the presentation. Any other suggestions?” Ty asked, glancing at his agenda.
Meesha smiled. “You should know that there are...discussions about each of you.”
“Us?” Damon said with obvious surprise.
“You,” she agreed. “All of you. I mean, after all, you’ve been here the longest. It would only make sense that if there’s some matchmaking magic at F5F, you wouldn’t all be single anymore.” She put up a screenshot that had Kyle leaning closer.
“They take bets on us?” he asked, incredulous.
“Kind of. People love shipping.”
“Shipping?” Ty echoed.
“Creating fictional relationships,” Cassie explained. “It’s like fantasy football.”
Meesha nodded. “They set up fantasy dates for you all.”
Kyle, predictably, was intrigued. “Who’d I get?”
Meesha worked through a number of screens, some of the choices making the guys laugh. Theo had been paired with movie stars and local celebrities who had made appearances at the club, Kyle with various instructors, Damon typically with his students but also with Sonia, and then Meesha displayed the most popular pairing—Cassie and Ty.
Ty pushed a hand through his hair and looked a lot less thrilled than Cassie felt. “I’m not sure I needed to know that,” he said under his breath.
“And some hardcore members even plan your weddings.” Meesha said, scrolling through more screens. Even if the guys ignored the images and comments, the sheer number of posts was impressive. “I think you should own this. I think you should work it. Actively date. Get photographed doing it. Feed the mill and be glamorous about it.”
Just One Fake Date: A Contemporary Romance (Flatiron Five Fitness Book 1) Page 11