Flirting with the Boss: A love at the Gym Novel

by Sparling, Amy

  She grins. “I guess you’re right. But I can’t cut back. I’m making enough to get Janie and me a two bedroom apartment as soon as my lease is up. I really, really want my own room again.”

  “There are rooms here,” I say. The words just come out before I’ve realized the implication of what they mean. Her eyes widen. I try to shrug it off with a smile. “I mean… you know… if things keep going well with us, it’s always a possibility.”

  “I can’t move myself and my niece in with you,” she says, glancing around the living room.

  “Why not?”

  She shrugs. “I don’t know… it’d be weird.”

  “Not if we’re in a committed relationship.” I tuck her hair behind her ears. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m not going anywhere. I only want you.”

  “It’s just…a lot to ask of you. I can’t just move in here.”

  “Yes, you can. When the time is right, of course. We can take our time, Tash,” I say, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. “There’s no rush or anything. I’m just saying… when the time is right, you and Janie can move in here. I have plenty of room. Then you can quit one job and focus on school.”

  “Finishing school would be amazing,” she says with a wistful sigh. “I’d love to be a real teacher and not a sub.”

  “And you will be.” I lace my fingers through hers. “I’ve got total faith in you.”

  “At least someone does,” she says, her shoulders rising as she takes a deep breath. “Teacher certification is a lot of work.”

  “I know, but if anyone can do it, you can.”

  She wraps her arms around my neck and squeezes me tightly. I grab her and pull her on top of me as we fall back on the couch. “You’re the greatest girlfriend ever,” I whisper into her ear.

  “You’re the greatest boyfriend ever,” she whispers back.

  “Well in that case…” I say, kissing her neck, then her cheek, then her lips. “Let me prove it to you.”

  24

  Tasha

  I don’t realize I’m humming a song while stirring the pasta on the stove until Janie walks up and stares at me, one hand on her hip. “You’re being weird,” she says.

  “I am not being weird,” I say back, sprinkling some salt into the boiling water.

  “You’re singing.”

  “I’m humming. That’s totally different.”

  “You never hum. That’s weird.”

  I point my spoon at her. “I’m humming right now, so clearly I do hum.”

  “You know what I’m talking about!” she says, throwing her arms up in frustration. But she’s smiling. We’ve both been smiling a lot lately. “You’re a totally different person now that you’re all woo-woo in love with Noah.”

  “What is woo-woo?” I say, giving her the side eye.

  She makes a kissy face and bats her eyelashes. “It means you’re super annoyingly in love with this dude.”

  “We’re not in love,” I say quickly, because the idea of mentioning the L-word so soon after we started dating feels like we might jinx it. I don’t want anything to go wrong with things between Noah and me. He’s the best boyfriend I’ve ever had. The best man I’ve ever known. I want things to be perfect.

  “Okay, call it what you want,” Janie says, reaching up and taking a glass from the cabinet next to the stove. “But you two are totally in love even if you don’t admit it yet.”

  “I will eat this entire pot of spaghetti by myself if you keep annoying me,” I threaten, but it’s a joke and she knows it.

  “I’d love to see you try,” Janie says. She takes out two plates and forks and goes to set our little kitchen table. “Why don’t you ever ask Noah to come over here?”

  I shrug. “Our place is too small.”

  “Or you’re ashamed of me.”

  I give her a look that tells her exactly what I think about that. “I am not ashamed of you. I’m very proud of you, kid.”

  Janie wrinkles her nose. “You can’t call me kid, you’re barely older than I am.”

  “I’m old enough to call you whatever I want.”

  Janie gives me one of her teenage eye rolls that she has absolutely perfected down to a science. Each one is perfectly executed as if she invented the eye roll. “I just don’t want you to think I’m too… I don’t know, embarrassing, to be around your boyfriend.”

  “That’s not it at all,” I say. I turn off the stove and drain the pasta. “Noah thinks you’re cool, and so do I.”

  “How does he think I’m cool? He never hangs out with me because you never invite him over.”

  My teeth dig into my bottom lip. “What if we lived with him?”

  Her eyes widen. “You want to move in with him?”

  I shrug one shoulder as I pour the pasta sauce over the spaghetti and serve it on the plates she set out for us. “Not now… but one day maybe. Noah offered to let us move in with him.”

  “Wow.” Janie takes a bite out of her garlic bread. “That means he must really like you.”

  I grin. “He does.”

  “Do you want to live with him?”

  I consider it for a moment. “Maybe one day. And only if you’re okay with it. He has a nice house and you’d have your own bedroom. And he has two adorable dogs.”

  With a mouth full of garlic bread, she says, “A house instead of an apartment? I would live on the floor if I had to.”

  I laugh. “It’s just something to keep in mind… but not anytime soon. I can’t rush this relationship and ruin it.”

  “Tasha, have you even met that guy?” Janie says sarcastically. “You can’t ruin things with him. He’s way too into you. You could probably treat him like crap and he’d still stick around. The man is obsessed with you.”

  Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “I have no intention of ever treating him like crap.”

  “Good,” she says, grinning at me. “Because I have every intention of moving into that fancy house of his one day.”

  Epilogue

  Noah

  The smell of hickory smoked barbecue and fried foods makes my stomach grumble in the best way. This restaurant is loud thanks to the live band that’s playing on the makeshift stage outside. They’re a country music cover band, and they actually sound pretty good considering they’re playing in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

  Willie’s Icehouse is Brent’s favorite local burger joint, and while I had never heard of it before college, now it’s one of my favorite places to eat as well. The food is good, the beer is good, and there are peanut shells all over the floor. It’s really the embodiment of Texas, with its country music and western décor everywhere.

  I sit down next to Tasha and lean over, kissing her on the cheek. “I ordered the pie for Janie,” I whisper.

  My girlfriend’s eyes widen. “What? You didn’t have to do that!”

  “She likes it, and I want her to have it.”

  Tasha grins, then she leans over, letting her head rest on my shoulder for a second. Willie’s has the best homemade chocolate pie that they sell by the slice. I know Janie loves it, but she’s been really keen on not spending money lately. It doesn’t matter if I’m offering to pay for our food instead of Tasha, she’ll still try to be cheap. So I sneakily ordered her a piece when she wasn’t looking just now.

  The kid is pretty cool. I get how Tasha feels about being her guardian. It’s a weird age difference, because Janie is old enough to just hang out with us, but she’s also young enough to still need some kind of parenting. Luckily, she likes me a lot, and I know that wins extra brownie points for me with Tasha. Not that I had any doubts. Tasha and I are perfect together, and I think she agrees with that.

  We were two lost people who finally found our match. I plan to keep it that way forever.

  Kris sits across from me at the large family-style table we’re sitting at. He curls his lip in disgust as he looks to my right. I glance over. It’s Brent and Dani, sitting way too close to each other. Brent’s
arm is around Dani’s shoulders and their foreheads are pressed together while they smile at each other, sharing some special moment together. They kiss.

  “I am so tired of being surrounded by all this sappy love,” Kris says. He points to Janie. “Don’t go growing up and acting like these fools, okay?”

  “You’re just jealous that you’re not in love,” she smarts back.

  “What makes you think that?” he says, taking a bite out of his buttered roll.

  “Because you’re a bitter old motorcycle guy,” Janie says with a shrug. “You act like you don’t like love but everyone likes love.”

  It might sound bad, but these two tease each other all the time. I know it’s all in good fun. Kris furrows his brow. “I am not old! Twenty-five. That’s basically still a teenager.”

  “So is that why you hate love? You’re just too immature for it?”

  Tasha laughs and then playfully nudges Janie with her elbow. “Stop being mean. It’s totally fine if Kris wants to be alone forever.”

  “I don’t want to be alone forever,” he says, rolling his eyes over a mouthful of food. “I’m just waiting for the right girl.”

  “Well, I hope you find her,” Janie says. “She’ll have to be real patient with you.”

  “And she’ll have to like motorcycles,” Dani says, who is apparently in our conversation now that she’s not sucking face with Brent.

  “The poor girl,” Brent says. “I worry about whoever ends up dating you.”

  “You guys are so, so very funny,” Kris says. There’s still a playfulness in his voice, but I can tell they’ve all hit a nerve with their teasing. Kris may act like he’s fine being single, but I doubt he actually is. Being single sucks.

  “Leave him alone,” I say. “He will find the perfect girl one of these days.”

  Kris gives me a grateful smile before turning his attention back to his food. I nod once and smile back, because I know it’s true. There is someone out there for all of us. This year I found my soul mate. I hope Kris finds his soulmate next.

  * * *

  Thank you for reading Flirting with the Boss! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review online!

  Will Kris find the woman of his dreams? Read Flirting with the Bad Boy, releasing October 30, 2019. Pre-order it now!

  Lanie plays by the rules. Working at the family business has her constantly under the watchful eyes of her three older brothers. If she breaks any rules, they’ll know about it. And if she dates someone they don’t approve of? Well, they won’t allow it. Now that she’s out of college, Lanie is tired of being treated like a kid. She decides to find a broody, bad influence and bring him home to the family. You know… just to annoy her brothers.

  She doesn’t expect to fall in love.

  Kris has been on more first dates than he cares to think about. Finding a date is easy, but wanting to go on a second one? Impossible. He just doesn’t feel anything with the women who flirt with him. He wants something real. Something worth fighting for. But when the cute girl who works at his supplier asks him on a fake date, he agrees to go along with it.

  Because after all, it’s not like he’d want a second date. Right?

  Click here to get Flirting with the Bad Boy

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  About the Author

  Amy Sparling is the bestselling author of books for teens and the teens at heart. She lives on the coast of Texas with her family, her spoiled rotten pets, and a huge pile of books. She graduated with a degree in English and has worked at a bookstore, coffee shop, and a fashion boutique. Her fashion skills aren't the best, but luckily she turned her love of coffee and books into a writing career that means she can work in her pajamas. Her favorite things are coffee, book boyfriends, and Netflix binges.

  She's always loved reading books from R. L. Stine's Fear Street series, to The Baby Sitter's Club series by Ann, Martin, and of course, Twilight. She started writing her own books in 2010 and now publishes several books a year. Amy loves getting messages from her readers and responds to every single one! Connect with her on one of the links below.