That is no surprise at all, given that they’ve been dancing around each other for ages. But now I owe Court two hundred bucks. I bet that it would be another month before they finally admitted it publicly.
“It’s not, but we’ll want to talk to Kayla too,” I clarify. Ross and I aren’t business newbs. We know that workplace relationships happen, but there are ways to mitigate the risk of their imploding and taking the company culture with them.
However, if AJ is dating Kayla, and not only doesn’t have interest in Missy but seems to actively dislike her, there are already some holes in Missy’s story. I’m not hearing ‘he loves me’ or ‘he’s my lapdog’ in anything from AJ.
AJ nods but then holds up a hand. “But wait, what’s the deal with Missy? Why would I be in Charlotte with her, of all people? Oh, fuck, are you sending me there for the new location?” He cringes. “Sorry for the F-bomb.”
“That’s the least of our concerns,” I tell him, blowing off the curse. Trust me, I’ve done way worse over the last few days. “Do you know who Missy’s father is?”
AJ nods his head, his voice strangled. “Yeah, I figured that out pretty quickly on Saturday when she was helping with the event. Only reason she’d do that is if she’s a lackey for the investor guy, Sanders. Never put it together before because they don’t have the same name and don’t really look alike, but it was obvious then.”
He looks from Ross to me in concern. “So, is she going to open the next location of One Life? If that permission to speak freely still stands, can I tell you that I personally think that’s a shitty idea? She doesn’t know her ass from her elbow, and other than guys thinking she’d be down to fuck in some crazy positions because of her flexibility, nobody actually likes her. She’s a snotty bitch . . . uhm, brat.”
I am so relieved. I truly believe AJ, but I need one more push to truly make it a touchdown.
“So to clarify, you have no personal or professional relationship with Missy Tillman, nor any plans to duplicate One Life Gym without Ross or me with her or on your own?” I point to the camera in the corner of the room, the threat of ‘I will hold this against you when I sue the shit out you’ heavily implied.
AJ stands up, his voice forceful as he places his palms on the table and leans in. “Absolutely not. I love One Life and you guys. This is my dream gig. And Missy’s . . . well, Missy.” He makes a face of disgust. “Did she say that? That I was defecting and going in with her on some competing gym? If so, she’s certifiable, man. No way, no how.”
I meet Ross’s eyes and he blinks once. Not so much a secret code between the two of us but simply a shorthand that we understand each other and are on the same page.
“Sit down, AJ.” He’s panting, fury and fear mixing in his veins, but he does as I say. “We believe you.”
“Thank fuck,” he says under his breath.
“But I’d like to remind you that your contract with One Life has a strict non-compete clause,” Ross adds.
AJ nods. “I hear ya, but no need. I know what I have here, and I appreciate everything you’re doing with One Life. This is my home, and I won’t do anything to fuck that up.”
“Thanks, AJ. You can get back on the floor. Take a few if you need it.”
He shakes his head. “Yeah, think I’ll go hit the heavy bag for a few. I’ll be around later if you still want to do your session. We’ve got a five o’clock today.”
Bro code for ‘are we okay?’
I nod, knowing AJ might be throwing in a few extra pounds or reps just to get his own dig back. “I’ll see you then, man.”
Bro code for ‘yeah, we’re good.’
AJ gets up, the chair creaking loudly again, and leaves. Ross and I look at each other and smile. “Thank God he wasn’t in on it. I really didn’t want to lose him.”
Ross laughs. “You’re just scared to fire him. He’s a fucking brick shithouse of a guy. What’s he got, like a fifty-inch chest?”
I shrug. I haven’t measured. “All I know is Kayla is five feet in her bare feet, but I’m way more scared of her than I am of AJ. Bet he’d say the same, so I do not envy his telling Kayla about what Missy said. He’ll get enough of a workout holding that firecracker back from going murderous.”
“You going to talk to her about their relationship?”
I hold up my iPad, knowing that it’ll be a lot . . . stranger than this meeting. “Already added it to my schedule and sent her a meeting request.”
He rolls his eyes, back in Ross mode. “Of course you have. You ready to do the lunch walkthrough? I saw Gus coming in and I want to pick his brain about baby monitors.”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
For the next few days, we’re getting everything straightened out, bit by bit. The paperwork has already been drawn up by the lawyer, and we sent it, along with the check, to Jeffrey. We’re expecting the signed version of the termination contract back soon.
Missy is no longer welcome at One Life, and whatever fallout she has with Jeffrey is hers to deal with. From what I hear, she instantly became persona non grata at all his companies. I’m sure he’ll still pay her bills because a Dad doesn’t change his spots, but while she wanted freedom, it’s going to be a lot tougher than she thought now that Jeffrey is unwound from her little finger.
It’s not the full punishment I would’ve handed down myself, for either of them, but I’m moving past it, putting Missy and Jeffrey in the rearview mirror as Ross and I look forward to our future.
And we get to keep AJ, which I’m thankful for, even if it did cost me two hundred bucks.
Just one last thing to do . . .
Chapter 30
Courtney
My favorite time of day. Early morning.
Yet again, the sun’s breaking through the window and I roll over to snuggle into Kaede, wanting a few more minutes of the calm before the hustle and bustle of the day takes over. I’ve come around to his way of thinking and don’t always leap out of bed with the alarm but rather find that these few stolen moments as the day starts are worth staying in bed for.
As long as I’ve got Kaede. But unlike in the past few months, his side of the bed is cold.
“Kaede?” I call, but there’s no answer. Getting up, I pad into the living room, pulling my robe on. I find him in the kitchen, making coffee and on the phone, talking softly. “Kaede?”
He turns sharply, a flash of busted on his face before he smiles and looks me up and down. “Gotta go, we’ll talk later.” He hangs up and sets the phone down to come over and wrap me in his arms. “Good morning, sleeping beauty.”
You want to know what true love is? True love is a man who thinks you look beautiful when you’ve got a rat’s nest of bed head, a greasy sheet-creased face, and dried drool at the corners of your mouth. What’s more, he’ll kiss you when your morning breath will peel paint off the wall.
I hug him back, nestling against his warm chest after he kisses me hello as though we weren’t tangled in each other’s arms a few minutes ago. “Good morning. Who was that?”
“Ross. Just talking through work stuff. New trainer’s coming in to shadow AJ, but Ross is going to skip our morning workout. Vi’s got a doctor’s appointment.”
Doctor’s appointment. It won’t be long now until the gender reveal party . . . I can’t wait, though I’m pretty sure it’s Abi who’s most excited. She’s got that unicorn onesie ready to go. Honestly, she’s probably going to put it on the baby even if it’s a boy. Boys like pink, after all . . . and rainbows . . . and glitter.
“Relax a bit. Coffee is almost ready.”
I move to the couch, watching him make our morning brew and moving about my kitchen comfortably, which makes me smile. These months of being together, dedicated but not publicly engaged—and yes, Dad had the papers print a ‘correction’ and apology for jumping the gun on that—have been just what we needed. We’ve shared our fears, our dreams, all the shit that we were afraid to go into even before.
There’s nothin
g hidden or held back. We give each other space to work, respecting our dedication and dreams, but we come home to one of our places to spend every night together. Actually, that’s going to change soon.
“Hey, did I tell you that I got a tenant to sublet the apartment?” I say around a yawn.
Kaede comes in, handing me a coffee and then sitting down next to me with his own. “No. Who is it? Did you vet them? Run a background check? Get a security deposit?”
I smile at him around my mug.
“Of course you did. Sorry,” he says. “Habit.”
I shrug, knowing we do it to each other constantly. “Same. And yes to all of that. It’s actually Jillian’s daughter. She just graduated and is going to be starting a new job here in town. I even told her I’d sell her some of my furniture for a steal.”
“You don’t have to do that. Bring it all with you,” he argues. I know he’s worried about his place feeling too bachelor pad-ish, but I know the easy fix for that.
“Just the couch and bedroom furniture. But don’t you worry, I’m bringing all my pillows and blankets. And my plants and books. Oh, and my entire closet, of course. You sure you have room for me?” I tease.
“It depends. Are your clothes color-sorted by ROYGBIV? If so, I can give you fifty percent of the closet. If not, zero.” He sounds sad, as if he thinks my clothes would be organized any other way.
“ROYGBIV? Try sorted by ROYGBIV within each category of clothing. White hangers, work. Red hangers, workout. Green, casual. Blue, lounge. Purple, party.”
Kaede takes my coffee from my hand and sets it on the table with his. A plant leaf dips into the hot liquid, but I don’t care when he pulls me astride him and I feel his thickening cock at my core. “More, talk organization to me, honey. So fucking sexy.”
I laugh. “You are so weird. But how about . . . label maker . . . drawer dividers . . . Marie Kondo.”
He hisses. “Fuck, yes.” He’s laughing but also kissing down my neck and caressing my ass.
I take these moments to think of how much has changed since Kaede let my name slip in a moment of panic. We turned that crazy plan into something real and have a whole new life to plan and look forward to. After all, One Life Gym’s Charlotte location is going to break ground soon with a projected opening date of mid-December to get all those New Year’s resolution folks pulled in a little early to lose their ‘holiday fifteen’.
I know it’ll be a busy time, with Kaede shouldering the heavy lifting for that. We’ve talked about it as a family, and both he and I agreed that for Ross, the number-one priority will be his then still-new baby.
I’m even hoping to take a few of those trips too, or at least meet him there on the weekend for some fun. Never would’ve thought I would take an actual vacation and travel, but I’m going to. With him. Jillian has been dancing around the office, singing a made-up song about my finally getting some dick and being so much nicer for it. She thinks Kaede, or at least his dick, is magic.
She might be right.
“Since Ross is ducking out, you mind being my lift partner today?” Kaede murmurs against my skin, and I’m not sure he’s actually talking about working out or some weird sex position. Either way, I’m in for it.
I mentally visualize my calendar. “Oh, shit. I have a strategy meeting today. I can’t.”
Kaede groans, pushing and pulling me against him. “Skip it,” he says as if that’s something I’d do. I look at him as though he grew a second head. Or . . . a third, I guess.
As if by conjuring, my phone blasts Achy Breaky Heart. Jillian’s ringtone. It might be 90s, but I hate that song, which ensures I will always answer quickly when she calls.
“Jillian.”
“Hey, Boss, sorry for the early morning call. Hope I didn’t wake you,” she says. I can hear her moving around on her end, probably getting ready for the day.
“It’s fine. What’s up?”
Kaede uses his nose to nudge my robe down to get more access. I bite my lip to keep from gasping out loud when he sucks my nipple into his mouth.
“I just got a call from IT. The network server for the conference rooms is getting rebooted this morning, so we had to postpone the strategy meeting to next week. It was the only thing on your calendar, so you have a free day. What do you want to focus on, Boss?” Jillian sounds ready to tackle anything from cleaning up the file cabinet, which is already in stellar condition, to doing follow-up work on the AgroStar campaign, which we handed over last month after our phases one and two were put into action with amazing results. Jane Crabtree and I still aren’t best buddies, but when their product reached full saturation in all our restaurants and grocery stores, she actually sent me a bottle of scotch as a thank you.
“You know what, Jillian? I’m going to take the day. You can too, if you’d like. We’ll hit it back tomorrow.”
I have never played hooky before, never spontaneously taken the day off, but with Kaede laving one nipple and then the other and slowly driving me mad, a lazy day in bed and doing that lift session with him sound amazing.
Jillian has no such worries about skipping out on a day. “Thanks so much, Court. Have a great day. Bye!” She hangs up before I get a chance to change my mind. I imagine her whooping in joy and dancing around her house in excitement.
“Change in plans?” Kaede doesn’t wait for me to answer, and I know he heard enough from my end of the call to catch that I’m off today now.
He stands from the couch, keeping me lifted against him. My legs wrap around him naturally as he carries me down the hall. I use the opportunity to kiss his neck, nibble his earlobe, and bite down on that thick tendon that goes from his neck to his shoulder.
“Fuck, honey. Are you ready for me? I need you.”
My feet meet the floor and Kaede spins me. His hand goes to my shoulder blades, guiding me forward, and I plant my hands on the bed for balance. He flips my robe over my ass, and I sway enticingly, wanting him as much as he wants me.
He dips a finger through my folds, always careful but always exciting. “You’re already wet for me.” He sounds incredulous, but I’m always wet when he looks at me, touches me. Hell, even if I just think about him, my body is ready to go, knowing that he will give me pleasure beyond what I ever dreamed. And I dreamed a lot.
He notches his cock at my entrance and thrusts into me, deep and hard. “Yes,” I moan. We don’t always do it in this, my favorite of positions, but when we do . . . what a way to start the morning.
Kaede’s hands massage and knead my ass as he settles into an easy rhythm. It’s so good, but I want . . . “More.”
He changes his grip, wrapping his hands around my waist, and then pulls me back as he slams into me. Even though I’m braced, the power of his stroke pushes me forward. I drop my cheek to the bed for stability, clutching at the sheets.
As soon as I can take it, Kaede unleashes on me. He fucks me, the whole time moving my body so that I’m fucking him too. And it’s amazing, my body trembling and shuddering.
“That’s so sexy, Court. Your ass jiggles every time I fuck you.” He demonstrates, shoving into me again. I can feel my cheeks shake.
Normally, that would make me shy, make me want to change position. Honestly, it’d make me regret the donut I grabbed in the break room at work this week. But Stacylynne has beat it into our heads that the bounce is the sexiest part and to relax and let it clap. That’s what they write songs about, and it’s pure and womanly and beautiful. Plus, Kaede’s groans of pleasure as he watches me bounce like good Jell-O on him is pretty damn reassuring.
“Never any doubt that you’re an ass man, not a tit man,” I tease through pants.
“I’ll fuck them both if you’ll let me,” Kaede answers quickly.
I nod, wanting that but too close to the edge to do it now. “Soon, yes.”
Kaede freezes. “You gonna let me fuck your ass, honey?”
Even the thought is enough for us both to trip right on the edge of bliss. I clench Kaede t
ight inside me and moan out another ‘yes’, and he loses all control, fucking me hard and deep. I reach under myself, finding my clit and stroking in a fast blur to match Kaede’s punishing pace.
In three more thrusts, we both come . . . loud, wild, sweaty, and bucking with no rhythm. I feel the warmth of his cum inside me, feel the heat of his gaze as he watches me come too.
Panting, he traces a soft fingertip down my spine. “Did you mean it?”
I look over my shoulder and smile. “Yeah, but we’ll have to do some experimenting. You’ll be my first, so it’s going to take some work and we’ll have to go slow.”
Kaede leans over me to press a tender kiss to my temple. “I’ll never hurt you. We can go as slowly as you need.”
We stay like that for as long as possible until he softens inside me and slips out. “Shower?” I say, already heading to the bathroom.
“Seems like a waste to shower just to go sweat,” he says, following me even as he argues.
“We’re not going to the gym smelling like sex and then wafting pheromones all over the place when we get sweaty again. I’ll be beating women off you with a stick. Literally.” I laugh, but I’m dead fucking serious. I’ll do it.
But Kaede must’ve realized that the guys there might be sniffing my pheromones too because he shoves me into the thankfully-warm shower. I still screech and act like it’s too cold because it’s fun and funny to joke around with him like that.
We get ready, Kaede rubbing my ass at every opportunity even after I get dressed in workout shorts, a sports bra, and a tank top. It’s enough to make me consider staying home all day and getting started on a different type of training.
“I can’t stop thinking about what you said,” he growls, his hands dropping down to trace my thighs too. He grips the flesh there. “You’ve been working hard.”
I smile, glad that he noticed. I have been putting in extra time at the gym, sticking with Stacylynne’s class but also joining Ross and Kaede for some of their weight sessions, and even going to yoga with Abi several times. Instead of the twice a week routine, it’s become more like five or six times. I feel good and can tell a difference in my overall focus, even at work, and I get to come home with Kaede every night.
My Big Fat Fake Engagement Page 35