by K. C. Crowne
“Boss is here,” I said. “See you on the way out.”
I hung up and called out “come in!” The door swiftly opened and in stepped Tracy Shepard, the office manager. She wasn’t the boss, per se — as the most senior doctor on the staff that title informally fell to me — but that didn’t stop her from running the clinic like her own personal fiefdom. That didn’t bother me one bit, however. She was damn good at her job.
Tracy was dressed in her usual well-tailored pantsuit, her platinum blonde hair in a tight, professional ponytail. She was a good-looking woman, though a little tyrannical for my liking. And the small smirk on her face suggested she knew right away what was up.
“I swear, Frost,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. “For a man who makes a living opening up rib cages, you can be pretty timid at times.”
“That obvious it’s about her?” I asked.
“What else would it be?” she asked, stepping over to the small fridge I kept in my office, opening it up, and pulling out a bottle of mineral water. “She had that look on her face when I walked past her – that moony-eyed look that only the oh-so-dreamy Dr. Hayden Frost can inspire.” She chuckled as she cracked open the bottle and took a swig.
“Tracy, this is starting to be a problem.”
Tracy fixed her brow at me, the expression suggesting she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Come on, Hayden, she’s got a crush on you. Where’s the harm in that?”
“It’s unprofessional,” I said. “I’m here to do my job, not to fend off the advances of some…kid.”
She waved her hand through the air dismissively. “Where’s that famous Hayden Frost sense of humor? You have to admit it’s kind of funny.”
“Yeah, funny until she gets upset that I’m not reciprocating and decides to make things difficult for me at work. There’s a reason I never mix work and romance – it never ends up well.”
Tracy shrugged. “Sounds to me like you need to man up and set some boundaries with her.”
“Really?” I asked. “You’re going to play the ‘man up’ card?”
“If the shoe fits,” she said.
“You could solve this with one conversation with her.”
One more swig of her water, then she nodded. “Fine, fine.”
“Besides,” I said. “With women her age, telling them ‘no’ is the fastest way to get them more interested.”
She offered a sly smile in response. “You sound like you know from experience.”
“That’s because I do. I wasn’t always the button-down, serious-minded doctor you know and love.”
Tracy laughed. “Yeah, real serious. You know, one of these days I’m going to get you over some drinks so you can tell me stories about the wild years of Dr. Hayden Frost.”
“You get Jenny in line, and maybe you will.”
She checked her watch. “Alright, time to close up shop. See you tomorrow, huh, ladies’ man?”
“Fun-ny.”
Tracy gave the door a tap before shutting it behind her, leaving me alone. Once she was gone, I checked my watch – a little before five. Jenny usually left by 5:10, and I decided to kill a little time in the office until she was gone. I was only kicking the can down the road, but I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.
To pass the time, I pulled up Facebook. Sure enough, pictures of the wedding dominated my feed. And, of course, tons of them featured Grace. I hadn’t seen her or talked to her since the night of the wedding – which was likely for the better.
Still, as I scrolled through the photos, my eyes lingering on her in each shot where she appeared, I remembered once more why I’d felt that irresistible urge to kiss her that night. She was stunning, and it made me feel good to see her happy and smiling.
I sighed and turned off the monitor when it came time to leave. She was beautiful, but that didn’t matter. Getting involved with the little sister of my best friend would be about the worst move I could make — a bad idea that made going out for drinks with my co-ed co-worker seem like a good idea in comparison.
I had to put her out of my head. We’d kissed, and that would have to be the end of it.
Somehow, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be.
Chapter 7
GRACE
“Alright, aaaand…done! That’s a wrap for today, ladies!”
The dozen or so women in front of me, all dressed in yoga pants and sports bras, let out a sigh in unison, most of them leaning forward and resting their hands on their knees. I pressed stop on my phone, the lively Brazilian music coming to an end.
“Take a few minutes,” I said as I grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the sweat from my face. “Catch your breath, take in those deep inhales of air, filling your lungs.”
We’d just finished another session of the Zumba class I taught at All-Day Fitness, and I felt great. Nothing felt better than putting in an hour of working out.
The ladies breathed as I instructed them, and after a few moments, they were standing with smiles on their faces.
“And look at those glows!” I exclaimed. “That’s the reward for hard work. See you all in two days, alright!”
The ladies broke from the class, all of them making their way out the door. Shannon, the newest addition, straggled behind – I could sense she wanted to chat. Sure enough, when the last woman left, she came over.
“Please, please tell me I didn’t look as uncoordinated as I felt.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked, folding the towel, and tossing it over my shoulder. “For a first-timer that was amazing.”
“You promise you’re not just saying that?” she asked. “Because it took about all the strength I had not to fall on my butt.”
“Not just saying that – trust me. First class is simply to get a sense of where you’re at. And it’s obvious that you’ve got some experience doing high-energy activities like this.”
“Well, I used to run before I had my baby. But God, a year later and I haven’t so much as gone for a jog. Maybe it was a little much to think I could go from couch to Zumba so quickly.”
“Nope. It’ll take you some time to get the moves, but you’re well on your way. All you have to do is stick with it. There’s a learning curve like there is with everything else, but you’ll get it.”
Relief washed over her face. “It feels so good to hear you say that. I tried Crossfit when I first wanted to get back into working out and it was a nightmare. They were like, if you’re not good right away, you’re just slowing them down. You’re a natural teacher, you know that?”
I couldn’t help but blush. “Oh, thanks.”
“I’m serious,” she said as we made our way out of the workout room. “You were fun, engaging, and I can’t wait to come back.” Shannon looked around at the glass walls of the room. “Only problem with the class is these.”
Aside from the one mirrored wall, the entire room was glass. Through the front you could see across the entire gym, and through the back you could see out onto the street.
“I have to admit, it’s a little hard to get comfortable when you can sense gross dudes looking at your butt through the windows.”
“No kidding. But unfortunately, that’s a management call. They want people passing by to be able to look in and, you know, see the kind of body they could have if they want to come in and sign up for a membership.”
“It’s stupid,” she said, crossing her arms. “And if you want to know the truth, it’s the thing that kept me from signing up for so long. It’s only after my friend Amber told me about this class and what an amazing teacher you are that I finally did it.”
“Oh, you’re Amber’s friend?”
“Yep,” she said as I held the door. “As a matter of fact, I just served as the maid of honor at her wedding a couple weeks ago.”
And just like that, the mere mention of weddings put Hayden back in my mind. I made an internal grunt of annoyance at the thought of him. I’d been doing so we
ll keeping him out of my head, but there he was again, the feeling of his lips on mine almost as intense and urgent as it had been that night.
“You alright?” Shannon asked.
“Oh, sorry,” I said. “I was actually the maid of honor at my brother’s wedding a week ago. You mentioning it made me think about how amazing it all was.”
She smiled then said, “Almost makes me want to get married – almost.”
We reached the end of the hall, saying our goodbyes as Shannon went into the women’s locker room. I went off to the left, making my way to the private women’s locker room where staff could shower and change.
When I stepped inside, I saw my best friend and roommate, Willow, already there. She worked at All-Day too – the one that got me the job, actually-- and had a yoga class at the same time as me. She was dressed in her usual dark green leggings and tight top, her blonde hair in the messy style she tended to wear it in.
“Blessings,” she said with a dreamy smile as I stepped inside. “How was your class?”
Shannon’s words were still in my mind. Without saying anything, I dropped down onto the bench and sat for a moment.
“That’s the expression of a woman who’s got something on her mind – very Pisces of you, I might add.”
“You ever have any problems with your students hating the glass windows of the workout rooms?”
Willow’s eyes flashed wide – a notable departure from her usual calm expression.
“Only every other class. I don’t know how it is for Zumba, but there’s nothing worse for a new student than to be doing downward dog in front of a window that looks out on the city. You know there’s a high school down the street, right? You should see what kind of effect it has on the mood when you’ve got a half-dozen horny teenage boys ogling the students in the middle of their poses. I came this close to going out there and giving them a piece of my mind.”
That got me to take notice. It was hard for me to imagine Willow raising her voice even a little, let alone yelling at anyone. She must’ve been pissed.
“And the worst part,” she went on, “is that I talked to Marc and Amy about it.” Marc and Amy were the co-owners of the gym. “I told them about all the complaints, and they didn’t care at all. They said that anyone who works here should be proud to put their body on display or whatever. And if they weren’t, then they should work harder until they have the kind of body they want to show off.”
“Unbelievable,” I said.
“I know, right?” she asked. “Anyway, I’ve got twenty minutes before my next class – you want to grab a smoothie?”
“Sounds perfect.”
We freshened up for our next classes and left the locker room together, heading to the smoothie bar at the front of the gym. As we did, we passed the free weight room. The space was dominated by men, as usual, and more than a few of them made a show about ogling Willow and me.
“It’s so gross,” I said. “I mean, it’s one thing if you’re going to perv out like that. But it’s another thing when you want the person to see that you’re leering.”
One of the men, a lunkheaded dude on the preacher curl machine, flicked up his eyebrows and grinned, making sure he had my attention. Then his eyes went to my butt, a satisfied smile forming on his face.
“Ugh!” I said, reaching into my bag and grabbing the hoodie I’d worn that morning and tying it around my waist. “I swear, it’s enough to make a girl want to quit her job and start her own gym!”
Willow flashed me a challenging look. “What’s stopping you?”
“Well, there’s the little fact that it would cost way, way more money than I could even fantasize about getting in a loan. Then I’d have to quit here, which would mean even less money. It’s the shitty cycle to end all shitty cycles.”
We arrived at the smoothie bar, both of us putting in our orders.
“But seriously, think about it,” I said. “I’ve got the perfect gym all picked out in my head. It’d be feminine, but not, like, pink and stuff feminine –the strong kind of feminine. Relaxing, too. A place where women could come to unwind after a hard day of taking care of the kids or working at the office or whatever else. Not like this giant meat locker that’s more like a nightclub with kettlebells.”
The clerk handed us our smoothies and we sat down.
“It sounds perfect,” Willow admitted. “In fact, it sounds just as perfect as it did the last five times you described it.”
I grinned sheepishly before wrapping my lips around my straw and sucking in a mouthful of acai berry and banana smoothie.
“I know, I know. But right now, fantasizing’s the best I’m going to get. That is, unless you’re fine with paying my rent for a year until it gets off the ground.”
“I don’t know about paying rent,” she said. “But I’d be happy to work there. Grace, you have to do it. It’s like the universe is telling you – all the signs are there.”
I sighed and took another sip. As I swallowed it down, a chime sounded from my gym bag. I unzipped the pocket where I kept my phone and checked the screen.
“Shoot,” I said.
“What’s up?”
“Missed, like, a million texts from Ryan and Carly.”
I opened the conversation and saw that it was a group text Carly had started with me, her, Ryan, and…Hayden.”
Hey! The first one read. I know it’s short notice, but what do you two say about coming over for dinner tonight?
Hayden. Looked like my streak of keeping him out of my life was coming to a sudden and swift end.
I pulled my car into the half-circle driveway in front of Ryan and Carly’s huge home. Once the engine was off, I grabbed the bottle of expensive-ish red wine that I’d picked up on the way, and took a slow, deep breath.
It’s no big deal. Hayden’s kind of a shithead, but he’s going to be on his best behavior. What would he do, tell everyone what happened? No way – he’s too smart for that.
I glanced down at the bottle of red wine, the label reading “Chateau Du Toit.” It was my favorite red, one that I’d first picked out years ago because I’d liked the drawing of the house on the front of it. And I had a feeling I was going to need more than a little to get through the night.
Of course, right at the moment I finally felt ready to get in there, the powerful headlights of Hayden’s car filled the interior of mine. I turned around and watched him pull into the spot right behind me and turn off his engine.
Great. I’d been hoping for a few minutes inside to collect myself, maybe even to get a glass of wine in my system.
No such luck. It wasn’t like I could hang out in my car all night. With a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped out into the evening air. Hayden was already up the tall flight of gray stone stairs that led to the front doors. He was dressed in a sharp-looking black pea coat, the rest of his outfit comprised of dark jeans, tobacco-colored boots, and a chambray button-up shirt. He looked effortlessly stylish and well put together.
He smiled as I approached, an easy smile as if there was nothing in the world amiss between us.
“We’re twins,” he said.
“Huh?” I stopped halfway up the steps, confused by his words.
He glanced down, and I noticed that he’d had a wine bottle cradled in his arm, tucked into his side underneath his coat. An even closer inspection revealed that it was the same type of wine as me.
“Chateau Du Toit,” he said. “Nice and rich, has a cool picture on the front.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.
“I mean, you’re not wrong.”
He raised the bottle toward me, and I stepped up to him and tapped it with mine.
“Cheers,” he said. “To good taste.”
Once I was at the top of the stairs, he offered his arm and, despite myself, I took it. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it felt really good to have his body against mine. His musky scent wrapped around me, and it took all the restraint I had not to close my
eyes and let my head rest on his shoulder.
“It’s good to see you,” he said. “Everything going well with you?”
“It’s…fine. Yeah. Fine.”
We approached the doors and he prepared to knock.
“Can I share something with you?”
“Share something? What do you mean?”
He let his hand drop. “This dinner. It seems a little…weird, right? I mean, Ryan and Carly asking us to come over on short notice.”
“Well, we are family and friends,” I said. “Having dinner together is something family and friends do, you know.”
“I know that,” he said. “But they’ve got the girls, which means that spontaneity isn’t really a thing they can do. Unless…”
“Unless they had ulterior motives,” I finished.
He nodded, then opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, the doors opened, revealing Ryan and Carly there to greet us, a twin in each of their arms.
“Hey!” they said together.
“Welcome!” Ryan said. “Get on in here!”
The girls looked so adorable, both of them breaking out into big, beaming smiles at us.
“Gimme that gorgeous girl!” Hayden said, opening his arms.
Lily laughed and cooed as Ryan handed her over, the precious little girl throwing her arms around Hayden’s neck as he held her. Ryan slipped the bottle of wine out from under his arm, then glanced at mine.
“Two of the same,” he said with a smile. “Great minds think alike, huh?”
“Something like that,” I said, suddenly feeling a little weird about it all.
It was great to see how happy the girls were at the sight of Hayden, but I was still pissed at the guy. Even more than that, what were we supposed to do – ignore what had happened? Hayden had been all smiles when he’d seen me, as if nothing had gone down between the two of us.
I had a feeling he was right, that this dinner was going to be more than it seemed.
Chapter 8
HAYDEN