Flirting with the Boss: A love at the Gym Novel

by Sparling, Amy

  I grit my teeth and put the phone to my ear.

  15

  Noah

  Kris and I are debating which protein supplement we should stock up front when my phone goes off with a new text from Tasha. The second I see her name on the screen, so close to when she’s supposed to be at work, my heart sinks. She might be calling in sick, which means I won’t get to see her today.

  Instead, it’s something else entirely.

  please call me and say it’s an emergency and that I need to be at work now.

  “Hold on,” I tell Kris as I put the phone to my ear. He gives me a concerned look because I’m not usually one to rudely cut him off midsentence.

  “Tasha?” I say as soon as she says hello.

  “Oh, hi boss,” she says, sounding friendly.

  “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  “You need me to come in now? Sure, that’s not a problem.”

  Alarm bells go off in my head. “Tasha if you’re in danger say ‘I’m hungry’…”

  “I’m not hungry,” she says, emphasizing the second word. “I’m totally happy to come in right now. I’ll see you soon.”

  And then she hangs up.

  “What’s going on?” Kris says.

  I forgot he was even still here because all I can think about is that weird conversation. “I don’t know,” I say. “Tasha is on her way.”

  “Is she okay?”

  I shrug, and then recount what just happened to him. Kris considers it for a moment.

  “Well, she said she wasn’t in danger so…she was probably trying to get out of doing extra work at her day job or something.”

  Some of my fear fades away, because that’s actually a viable reason. Why is Kris the more logical one than me right now? That’s never happened before. I nod. “That actually makes sense.”

  “Yep,” Kris says in his cocky tone. “I always make sense.” He picks up one of the two bottles of protein powder and reads the label again, going back to work without a care in the world. But I’m still reeling from the phone call. Maybe it was just a work thing. She could have easily said she was hungry and let me know if she was in danger. Still, I wait anxiously, pacing around the gym until I see her car pull into the parking lot. I rush out there, meeting her as soon as she opens her car door.

  “You okay?”

  Her eyes widen and she climbs out of her car. “Yes.”

  “So what was that call about?”

  She sighs and then ducks down, retrieving her gym bag from the backseat. “The guy at work. Jason? He’s…” She shakes her head, then sighs again. “He’s really annoying.”

  “What’s he doing now?”

  Closes her car door and we walk toward the gym. “He cornered me after work and started asking me to date him again.” She grimaces. “I’d rather date the racoon that hangs out near my apartment’s Dumpsters than date him.”

  “Can’t you report him to HR?”

  She shakes her head. “He’s pretty high up in administration… and it’s a private school and they’re kinda shady with stuff like that. If I report him I’ll lose my job.”

  My jaw clenches. “That’s messed up.”

  She shrugs. “I know. Subbing at the private school pays more… but if he doesn’t leave me alone soon, I might just go back to a public school.”

  I open the gym’s door for her and she flashes me a grateful smile as she walks through. “Thanks.”

  She always thanks me when I hold open the door for her. Or when I bring her a water. Or when I do anything even remotely nice for her. It makes me wonder if anyone has ever done nice things for her before. I know her life is in a tough spot right now and I wish I could make it better.

  “I’m going to go change then clock in,” she says, parting ways with me once we’re in the gym.

  I’m not ready to end our conversation, even though it’s technically now the evening shift and I should go home. But I’m also the boss, so I’ll stay as long as I want.

  When she comes back out of the locker room in her work uniform, I can’t help but smile even though I’m still angry about the guy hassling her at work.

  She walks up to Kris though, not me, which I guess makes sense. He’s the evening shift boss when I’m not here. “How are we on the energy drinks?” she asks.

  “Two cases came in today, finally.”

  “Blue ocean flavor?”

  “Yep,” Kris says.

  “Finally!” Tasha says. They high five.

  A pang of jealousy hits me hard. Kris and Tasha have a great working relationship and she’s not like that with me. She’s reserved and sweet around me. I know Kris isn’t into her in a romantic way, or at least I don’t think he is, but I wonder if she likes him? I hate the idea of the girl I’m crazy about being crazy about someone else. It would be even worse if she did like Kris, because he’s one of my best friends.

  She walks off to the stock room to get the cases of energy drinks and I follow her. “Let me help,” I say, grabbing one case while she gets the other. “I take it the blue ocean is a good flavor?”

  “It’s the only flavor worth stocking,” she says. “But they were on backorder for the last week. So annoying.”

  “How much less does the public school pay?” I ask.

  “Huh?”

  We carry the cases over to the tall drink fridge. She takes a boxcutter from the top of her case of drinks and cuts it open.

  “Substitute teaching,” I say. “You said it pays less at public school.”

  “Oh. Fifteen dollars a day less than the private school. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s three hundred dollars a month less, and I really need the money.”

  She starts restocking the drinks in the fridge and I help her.

  “What if we gave you an extra hour of work here? Or a raise, or something?”

  She looks up at me, her blue eyes sparkling brighter than the drinks in her hand. “You can’t do that. You already pay me way more than every other part time job in the area pays.”

  I shrug. “I own the place. I can do whatever I want.”

  She rolls her eyes, but she still smiles a little bit. “I won’t allow it, Noah.”

  “I just… don’t want you working in an environment like that.”

  She stops stocking the drinks, her gaze focused on the one in her hand for a long moment. “It won’t last forever,” she says softly. “Maybe in a year or two I’ll finally be a real teacher and I can leave that place.”

  “What all do you need to be a real teacher?”

  She sighs, her chest rising and falling with the weight of what’s on her mind. The first case is empty now, and I toss it to the side the open the second one and help her restock them in the fridge.

  “I need one more semester of college. And then money to take the certification tests. That’s close to a thousand dollars on top of the college.”

  “Well that’s not too bad,” I say. “Just one semester… you could be done in six months.”

  She shakes her head. “I need one full semester… five classes. I can’t take that many classes and work full time. It’s impossible. Plus, there’s no way I can pay for it and I can’t afford the student loans and—” She heaves another sigh. I can tell this is a problem she’s thought about a lot.

  I’m starting to feel bad that I brought it up in the first place. I want to reach out and hug her, but I can’t cross that line. I’d be no better off than the jerk at her school who does the same thing.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I wish I could help.”

  “You’ve already done so much to help,” she says, meeting my gaze for a second before turning back to the drinks. “This job is helping so much. Seriously.”

  I could help her more. I know that. I could offer to let her and her niece live in my house rent free. Then she could go to school and get her dream career. But in no world is that an acceptable thing for a boss to offer to a new employee.

  So I bite my tongue, and I ke
ep my dreams of being with Tasha to myself, and I smile and I hand her another drink to put in the fridge.

  16

  Tasha

  Noah is on my mind a lot lately. Maybe that’s because he’s always around. He’s been staying at work until seven or eight at night, sometimes hanging out until we close. Sometimes he acts busy and sometimes he’s just… there.

  We hang out and talk about fun, lighthearted stuff. I think I’m trying entirely too hard to be fun and casual to make up for when I cried to him at the park. I don’t want to be seen as the dramatic girl with a sad life. I want him to be happy I work here so I can keep my job.

  But all the friendly, fun banter and hanging out is really doing things to my heart. It’s making me want to see him as more than just my attractive boss. And I know I can’t do that.

  I almost wish I could tell him to go home each night that way I could at least try to stop thinking about him. But at the same time, I love it when he’s there. Crushing on him is bittersweet. It hurts, and yet I like it.

  The next Friday, Brent is at work when I get there, and so is Jon, the part time day shift guy. I’ve only seen him a few times because his shift is over just before I get there.

  “Hey everyone, I wanted to have a quick meeting,” Brent says as he gathers us all in the front of the gym.

  Fear rises in me because we’ve never had a meeting before and I hope it’s nothing bad. Brent smiles. “I think it’s time we arrange another Roca Springs Fitness company picnic.”

  “Great idea,” Noah says. He looks over at me and my toes feel tingly. There’s just something in that adorable expression of his that makes me all weak. He looks back to Brent. “When do you want to do it?”

  “I was thinking soon. Maybe in a week or two? We’ll rent out the park off Main Street and everyone can invite their families and stuff. We’ll get a bounce house and volleyball and grill food and stuff.”

  “Sounds great,” Jon says from beside me. “You guys sure know how to grill up some burgers.”

  Brent laughs. “That is my greatest talent.”

  “What will we do with the gym?” Kris says. “Close down for the day?”

  Brent shakes his head. “I was thinking we can take shifts. Each of us works an hour, then goes back to the picnic. That way someone is here and the gym can be open, but we can still have the party.”

  Kris’ brows pull together while he thinks it over, then he nods. “Okay. We should do it on a Sunday since that’s our slowest day.”

  “Yeah, I thought so, too.” Brent claps his hands together in front of his chest. “Sounds like a plan. Thanks, guys. And girl,” he says flashing me a friendly wink. “Tell your families not to make any plans for two Sundays from now.”

  After we disburse, I notice a pretty girl standing at the front counter, but on the employee side, not the customer side. I’m about to tell her to scram, but then I recognize her as Brent’s girlfriend, Dani. It’s almost hard to recognize her when she’s standing alone, and not wrapped around Brent like usual.

  “Hey,” I say, walking up to her. The brochures on the front desk are always messy, so I get to fixing them in a neat stack. No one else cares about the state of the brochures, but it’s one of my pet peeves. I like them orderly and not all disheveled. There are too many disheveled things in my life right now.

  “Hi,” Dani says. “You’re Tasha, right?”

  “Yep. We’ve met a few times.”

  “I remember,” she says, smiling at me. “You’re the teacher, right?”

  I lift one shoulder. “Substitute teacher. Trying to be a real teacher but I still need more college credits.”

  “Well that’s cool anyway. I’ve always admired teachers.”

  I give her an awkward smile. I’m not really good at small talk, and Dani seems really nice, which is a shame because I’m standing here like an awkward weirdo. I could try to walk around the gym and find something to do, but the machines are clean and everything is restocked for now. Looks like I’m stuck here in the awkward small talk.

  “So…” Dani says a few seconds later. Judging by her demeanor, I get the feeling she’s been wanting to say whatever she’s about to say. “I think Noah might have a little crush on you.”

  My head snaps up. “What?”

  She nods casually, her finger tracing the lines of the gym’s logo on the counter. “It’s just that every time I see him around you, I kind of get that vibe. Don’t you?”

  I swallow. “I’ve… never thought about it.” Lie. It’s a total lie. “I mean, he’s my boss.” That part is true.

  She shrugs. “So what? And Brent was my trainer but now he’s my boyfriend.”

  I laugh. “I like your optimism.”

  “I’m just saying… and I know it’s none of my business but… Noah is a great guy. He’s just really logical and focused, sometimes too focused. If he likes you, he’s probably being too shy to say anything.”

  My teeth dig into my bottom lip. “Do you really think he likes me?” I ask, my voice quiet.

  She nods. “I would bet a lot of money on it. And that’s saying something because I’m not a gambler.”

  I realize I’m grinning like a fool. Of course, these past few days have been so much fun seeing Noah more often and hanging out with him but… deep down I haven’t allowed myself to admit I have a crush on him. Every time I think it, I tell my brain to shut up. But now here’s Dani and her unsolicited opinions, all messing me up inside. She’s watching me with a smirk on her face and I can tell she wants to know how I feel about him. But can I trust her? I barely even know her. If I reveal my crush on Noah she might run off and tell him and totally ruin everything.

  So instead I just smile politely. “I don’t think it matters. I’m not really in a place to date anyone right now.”

  “Hmm,” Dani says, considering what I just said. She tilts her head as she looks at me. “I mean, I think there is always room to date someone… if it’s the right person.”

  “You might be right,” I say with a shrug. “But I’m still not sure it matters.”

  “It matters.” She grins. “So are you going to tell Noah how you feel?”

  I snort. “Absolutely not.”

  17

  Noah

  I thought I was happy. Not that long ago, I felt happy. Months ago, weeks ago. Even just the day before I met Tasha—I thought I was a fairly happy guy with a content, decent life. My life was good, my job is fantastic, and my dogs are the best thing to come home to each day. But I was wrong. Life can get so much better. There is so much more room for happiness in my existence. Like now, when I can’t wait to wake up and go to work each day just so I can see Tasha. I’ve been staying later and later, sometimes working the full day and evening shift, just to be around her.

  Kris definitely suspects something, but he keeps his thoughts to himself. He’s not big on getting into other people’s personal lives, and I appreciate that. I’m not sure Brent knows anything since he only works the day shift. If Brent did suspect that I’m falling for my employee, he’d no doubt tell me about it.

  I know I’m not supposed to crush on her. But I can’t leave the gym when Tasha is there. It’s like this invisible force that keeps me there, wanting to be around her all the time. We’re having way too much fun. I don’t even know what to call it, but we’re friends. We flirt and laugh and make up games at work. We race each other on the treadmills and make bets on which client will walk in the door next. That one is my favorite game because every time she’s right, she gives me the cutest grin and it just melts me.

  Tonight, Kris is out running errands for the gym so it’s just Tasha and me. She’s at the front desk helping out a client and I’m trying to look busy, because although I love hanging out with her, I try to space it out. I can’t spend all six hours of her shift standing right next to her, as much as I’d like to. No, I play it cool.

  After the client leaves, Tasha reaches over and straightens the brochures on the counter. Sh
e’s always doing that—making things tidy and neat, even if it’s not a big deal. I bet it would be easy to live with her. She doesn’t seem like she’d be a slob who leaves her stuff everywhere.

  Whoa, where did that thought come from?

  I chew on the inside of my lip and grab a duster from the storage closet. If I’m going to venture into fantasizing about her living with me in some perfect future timeline, I might as well clean something to try to stop my brain from taking it too far. I need to focus on the cleaning instead of daydreaming about Tasha being my girlfriend. For now we’re just flirty work friends, and that’s probably all I should want from her. I’m her boss, after all.

  The dusting trick works. The tops of the ceiling fans are filthy and it takes the tallest ladder we have to climb up high enough to clean them off. It hasn’t been done since we opened the gym, so this task keeps me occupied. I can’t daydream about my employee when I’m making sure I don’t fall off a ladder and die.

  “Hey boss,” Tasha calls out. Her voice is so charming, it makes me smile.

  “What’s up?” I say, looking down at her from the ladder.

  “I’m starving. Do you want tacos?”

  Ever since the town’s best taco food truck set up shop in our parking lot, the whole crew has been eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

  “I always want tacos,” I say.

  “Sweet.” She grins up at me. “What do you want? I’ll go get them.”

  “Three fajita beef on corn tortillas. Hold on a sec…” I shift the duster under my arm and then reach in my back pocket for my wallet. I take out a credit card. “Catch.”

  She holds up her hands and I drop the card down to her. “Dinner is on me tonight.”

  “Your dinner is on you,” she says, giving me a look that dares me to challenge her.

  I shake my head. “My dinner and your dinner is on me.”

  Challenge accepted.

  “You’re sounding really confident for someone who isn’t going to get the tacos,” she says with a smirk. “As the taco-getter, I decide who pays for what.”