I take a deep breath as I sit in the chair on the other side of his desk. I have the job now, so I can relax. Yet, I don’t think that’s why I’m nervous.
Noah sits in his office chair and runs his hand though his hair. Some of the dirty blonde strands still fall back down into his eyes. I have the sudden urge to reach up and push them back. To run my hand through his hair the same way he always does.
I clench my hands into fists to make sure they don’t act on that impulse. He. Is. Your. Boss. I repeat the words in my mind while Noah sends the photo he took to his computer and then uploads it to the website.
“What do you want your bio to say?” he says, turning the computer screen toward me.
“Oh, I don’t know. Just something simple.”
“You want to come over here and type it?”
I get up and walk to his side of the desk. My whole body gets warm as I stand next to his chair. He gets up and holds out a hand, gesturing for me to sit. I swallow, and then sit down. Now he’s standing right behind me, close enough for me to smell his cologne.
I stare at the website on his screen, where he’s left it open to the page with my picture on it.
I put my hands on the keyboard, and with some miraculous feat of willpower, I manage to ignore the incredibly handsome man behind me and type out a quick bio about myself. My heart is pounding the whole time.
When I’m finished, I stand up, and I move to the left to give him his chair back. But he moves in the same direction, and we crash right into each other.
“Oh! I’m sorry,” I say, backing up. But then my leg hits the office chair and I jump, worrying that I’ve just slammed into something that might break. The last thing I need to do is wreak havoc in my boss’ office like some kind of clumsy oaf.
Noah chuckles. His arms reach out and catch me by the elbows. “You’re good,” he says, flashing me that ridiculously cute smile of his.
Oh no. No I am not good. Not at all.
I am crushing hard on my boss.
I swallow and look up at him. His hands are still lightly gripping my arms. We’re standing so close, and I’m looking up into his eyes, thinking that he’s the absolute perfect height for kissing. I could do that lean up on my toes thing and tilt my head and just—
Yeah, okay. Calm down, Tasha. Not cool.
Our eyes meet for a fraction of a second and I quickly look away. I’m afraid if he gazes into my eyes for even a second too long, my emotions might be written all over them. He might realize that the new girl he just hired is totally crushing on him, and then he’ll fire me.
So instead I look down, right at his chest. I can see his shirt moving faintly, the fabric jumping across his pecs. His heartbeat.
Is it racing like mine? Or is that just his natural heartbeat?
Noah clears his throat. “Here you go,” he says, stepping to the side and allowing me room to move.
This whole thing has only lasted a few seconds, but the second his hands drop my arms, I feel a chill run through me. I wish he was still touching me. I wish he was doing more than touching me. I wish he was looking longingly into my eyes and telling me everything I want to hear.
I take a ragged breath and walk back to the other side of his desk. This is the safe, not intimate side. There’s a whole chunk of wooden desk keeping us apart when I’m over here. Good.
“I’ll get back to work,” I say, and my voice is all airy and breathy and ugh, I hope he doesn’t notice how badly I want him.
“Okay,” he says, nodding at me as he sits back in his chair. “Kris just got here, so he’ll probably want to get you up to date on the evening shift.”
“Perfect,” I say, trying to sound cheerful. But I can’t leave his office fast enough. That man is doing something to me, and he has no idea he’s even doing it.
Back in the lobby, my pulse calms down. Kris is here, and he’s friendly enough. He’s got this bad boy type of look to him, all dark and broody, and maybe it’s also because he drives a motorcycle, but he’s kind of scary. He’s just straight and to the point and doesn’t smile a lot or say nice small talk like the other two owners of the gym.
In fact, this is kind of a good thing. Kris is easy to get along with and I’m not crushing on him. When it comes to working with your boss, I think it’s a pretty good thing to not have a crush on him.
The late shift is fun because it’s actually really busy here. There’s never a quiet, dull moment, and the atmosphere keeps me awake and energetic. I was worried that working my full time day job and then working again tonight would be hard, but so far I’m fine. I keep thinking about my future paycheck. And my car. And now I desperately need the money to get it back. Looks like my first few paychecks will go toward my stupid insurance deductible instead of getting a new apartment. I guess I should be happy I have this job so that I can cover the deductible. Of course, I try not to think about how I’d never have wrecked my car if we weren’t out celebrating my new job.
About twenty minutes before my shift is over, I pull up the rideshare app on my phone. Jason from work dropped me off here today, and although he told me he’d be happy to give me a ride any time, I can’t take advantage of a coworker like that, especially not this late at night. So I try to order a car to come get me, but the app freezes.
I try it again, and I realize it’s not the app that isn’t working. It’s my debit card.
Insufficient balance.
Oh no. No, no, no.
I am completely out of money.
I close my eyes and slip my phone back into my pocket. I live about five miles away from the gym, and that would take an hour or probably two hours to walk home. I’d get home after midnight, and I have to work in the morning. What am I supposed to do?
I think about Jason’s offer. He said he lives right next to the gym and wouldn’t mind driving me. I hate to ask him to do that for me. In fact it’s the last thing I want to do. But I don’t really have a choice.
I knew he loves my homemade chocolate chip cookies, so I decide to strike a bargain. That way it’s an even trade, right?
I call him.
“Hey,” he says cheerfully, almost as if he thought I’d be calling this late at night. “What can I do for you?”
“I, um, well I need a ride home. I was wondering if I could trade you a batch of my homemade chocolate chip cookies for the ride tonight? I’ll bring them in tomorrow morning.”
“I can’t say no to that,” he says with a chuckle. “Want me to get you now?”
“Yes, please,” I say, feeling relieved that I have a ride but feeling super guilty for asking a random coworker I barely know. What kind of loser am I?
I wrap up things at work, clock out, and tell Kris goodbye. In all, it was a pretty great first day of work, despite the fact that I’m crushing on my boss and I don’t have a car.
But, like they say, things can only go up from here.
7
Noah
I love my dogs. I do. But… this morning they totally ruined one of the best dreams I’ve had. It was one of those foggy dreams where you don’t know all the details, and the background is unclear, but I was there. And Tasha was there. And we were on some couch. It wasn’t like the standard leather couch in my living room, but it was some kind of ultra soft, oversized thing that was just made for cuddling. And she was in my arms.
She smelled like flowers. My hand stroked her hair as she rested against my chest, her body warm and comforting against mine. And we just sat there, curled up on this comfortable couch, enjoying the quiet, gentle moment.
And then Sirius and GG dove on my bed and woke me up. If there’s anything predictable in life, it’s that my dogs want their breakfast exactly at seven in the morning every day. They do not care one bit if I’m having a dream that makes me happier than I’ve felt in a long time.
I crawl out of bed, still trying to relive those amazing moments of that dream, and wishing I could still feel her hair through my fingers as vividly as I did a mom
ent ago. I wish I could still feel her leaning against me like she did in my dream.
Actually, more than anything, I wish it was real. Not some dream that can fade away the second my dog whines in my ear. I want her here, next to me, in the real world.
With a sigh, I pour food into the dogs’ bowls and refill their water. Then I get dressed and brew some coffee and head out to work, knowing that no matter what happens today, it won’t be better than that dream. With any luck, maybe I’ll have the same dream tonight.
At the gym, I can’t get into the door because two people are blocking it like the weirdos they are. Brent and his girlfriend Dani are standing there, making lovesick googly eyes at each other as they say their goodbyes. Dani has been staying at his apartment a lot lately and he drives them to work each morning since she works two stores down from the gym.
I mean, good for him. I’m glad my best friend is happy. But I am not in the mood for it right now.
“Uh oh,” Brent says, glancing at me while he stands there with his arms around his girlfriend. “The boss is watching.”
“Guess you should get back to work,” Dani says, leaning up on her toes and kissing him. “Don’t want you to get in trouble with the boss.”
“He might dock my pay,” Brent says with that goofy grin he gets every time he looks at Dani.
“You are both annoying,” I say, stepping around them and letting myself into the gym. I meant to say it with an obvious bit of humor in my voice, but it probably came out meaner than it should have. I don’t really care, though. Some of us are single and those of us who aren’t shouldn’t be flaunting their happiness everywhere.
Jon is already here, and he’s wiping down the weight machines. “Hey, boss!” he calls out as I walk by. He means it sincerely, and not in the sarcastic way that my fellow co-owners Brent and Kris call me boss.
I hold up a hand in a wave as I walk by.
Maybe it’s that stupid dream that’s getting to me, but I’m having the worst morning. I can’t concentrate on all the work I have to do, and although I normally like the music that plays over the speakers in the ceiling, today it’s just annoying me. Everything is annoying me.
I know exactly why everything annoys me. It’s because I want Tasha and I can’t have her.
But I don’t allow myself to think it. I don’t even let the idea cross my mind—or at least I try not to let it. I have to move on from this. I’m an adult, after all. I can move on. I can get over her and live my life professionally like I should. Maybe if I tell myself that enough times, it’ll be true.
But then when it’s around three-thirty, I find myself wandering out of my office and up to the front desk so I can keep an eye out for her. I don’t know if she has her car back yet, so she might get dropped off early again. When the door opens, I look up from the computer, but it’s not her. It’s Kris. I figured as much, because a few seconds ago I’d heard his motorcycle pull up.
He walks over to me and yawns. “Man, I got no sleep last night. I’m freaking exhausted.”
“Well what about today?” I say, glancing out toward the parking lot. “You work night shift. You have all day to sleep.”
“Didn’t sleep today, either. I was working on my project bike.”
He yawns again. Kris has some old Harley he’s been fixing up in this garage and when he’s not going on first dates with girls he’ll never see again, he’s usually working on that thing.
“Well don’t fall asleep on the job,” I say, but I don’t really mean it. Now that Tasha is here, Kris could sleep all night in his office if he wanted and I know she’d take care of things up front.
“What are you looking for?” Kris asks, turning to look out the front. “Or, who are you looking for?”
“What? Nothing.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Dude, you’re staring a hole through the window. I’m worried the glass will break with how hard you’re staring at it.”
I turn to the computer and check the gym’s email account, as if to prove a point. “I was just zoning out.”
“No, you were looking for someone.”
I run a hand through my hair and just let it go. If I keep denying it, he’ll only push back.
“Hmm, that’s weird,” Kris says a few moments later. “That’s not her boyfriend.”
My head snaps up. “What are you talking about?”
He nods toward the parking lot, where Tasha is getting out of an SUV.
“Wait, that must be an Uber or something,” he says. “She was in the backseat.”
My excitement that she’s here is overshadowed by what he said a minute ago. “Boyfriend?” I ask.
He nods. “Her boyfriend picked her up last night. She said something about her car being in the shop. Some other guy just dropped her off, but it must have been an Uber since she was in the backset. I don’t want any freaking cheaters working here.”
My heart sinks straight through to my feet. Of course she has a boyfriend. I should have known it. “What kind of boyfriend would pick her up from work but not drop her off?” I ask, mostly just thinking out loud. If Tasha were my girlfriend, I’d take her anywhere. I’d never make her rely on paying for rideshares.
Kris shrugs. “Maybe he works or something, I don’t know.”
“What did he look like?”
I shouldn’t have asked it, but I did. And now Tasha is walking toward the building, just a few seconds away, and Kris gives me a look and I know he knows. I’ve outed myself in front of my other co-owner. Great. Just great.
Tasha walks in and she’s all smiles, which looks beautiful on her, as always. “Hi,” she says, waving at us.
“Hi there,” Kris says, waving back. He gives me a look as she heads toward the locker room to change out of her day job clothes. “Dude,” he says, staring at me. “Dude.”
“My name is Noah,” I say.
Kris shakes his head slightly, like he still can’t come to terms with that he just discovered. My hands clench at my sides. This is the worst. Why am I so bad at hiding my emotions around my friends?
“You like her,” he whispers. “You know you can’t do that, right?”
“I don’t like her and I’m not doing anything,” I say quietly back to him.
“I mean, you could totally steal her from that boyfriend in a heartbeat. He wasn’t good-looking. He was also old, like forty-five, at least. Some old professor-looking guy.”
I look up, the curiosity getting the better of me. She doesn’t seem like she’d date an older, lame guy. “Really?”
He nods. “Yeah, he came inside to pick her up last night. Looks like someone’s dad, honestly. Gross.”
I glance toward the locker room, hoping Kris will shut up about this before she emerges from it and gets within earshot of us talking about her.
“I don’t care who she’s dating,” I say quietly. “She’s just an employee.”
“An employee you have the hots for,” he says with a snort. “My dude. I can’t believe it. This is hilarious.”
I give him a look. “I’m going home.”
He holds up his hands all innocently. “Didn’t mean to piss you off, buddy. Let me hook you up with the best dating app. Go on some dates and take your mind off it. You’ll be over her as soon as you meet someone new.”
“Because that works out so well for you,” I mutter. Kris goes on more dates than anyone but he’s never actually dating any one specific girl.
He shrugs. “It works fine.”
Tasha walks out of the locker room, and my heart shreds itself to pieces when I see her looking gorgeous as ever in those tight black workout pants. This girl is stunning. Curves in all the right places, and the face of an angel. My teeth clamp down so hard I taste blood on my tongue. Time to go.
“I’m out,” I say, grabbing my keys from my pocket.
“I’ll send you the app!” Kris calls after me as I walk outside. I breathe in the fresh air and wish it would cleanse me of all thoughts of Tasha. But it doesn’t
work.
A few seconds later, I get a text from Kris. He really did send me a link to the dating app. I ignore it.
I don’t want a dating app.
I want her.
8
Tasha
I’m trying to wrangle a class of third graders when I get a phone call. I can hear my phone vibrating from across the room, but teachers aren’t supposed to be on the phone during class time. It’s probably nothing, just a telemarketer or something stupid.
But a few seconds later, the phone rings again.
I glance over at my ringing phone, but stay where I am, instructing the kids on how to assemble their construction paper boxes for today’s lesson. I really hate elementary school. This small private school is from grades kindergarten to junior high, and I much prefer substituting for the older kids. They’re nicer and better behaved and they don’t start crying and throwing tantrums when they don’t get their way.
As a real teacher, I’d get to have the same class of older kids every day. But I’m not a real teacher—I’m just a sub. Which means they put me in whatever class needs me each day, and usually it’s not a class I like very much.
I blow on a strand of hair that fell from my bun to get it out of my face. Today is hard. I’m trying not to think about how exhausted I am. It’s been a few days of working two jobs, and my body is just spent. Mentally and physically. But I refuse to give up or let this get me down. This job is just what I need and I’m going to get through it. Things will be better when I get my car back. Bumming rides from Jason is just beyond weird. He’s been friendly and all, and he refuses to take gas money, but it’s asking too much of him. Yesterday I took an Uber to work and lied and told him my friend was giving me a ride so he wouldn’t insist on driving me again. I’m trying not to rely too much on the kindness of others.
During my lunch break, I check my phone and find two new voicemail messages. One from Janie, and one from her high school. My first thought is that she’s sick, puking to death in the nurse’s office at school and I made her wait an hour before I checked my phone.
Flirting with the Boss: A love at the Gym Novel Page 4