by Hazel Kelly
“Just drunk enough that you admit you used to have a huge crush on me.”
“I did not,” I lied, hoping it was dark enough that my red cheeks might go undetected.
His face fell. “Really? ’Cause I really liked you back then and totally thought I had a chance.”
I pressed my lips together and bit down.
He turned his head and checked me out. “I still like to think I do, to be honest.”
“I can’t tell if you’re teasing me or flirting with me.”
“What’s the difference?” he asked, obviously pleased with himself.
“This isn’t a date, Alex. We work together. I don’t want you to put me in an awkward position.”
“That’s a shame. I’ve thought of nothing else all week.”
My heart felt like little kitten paws were pattering all over it.
“Speaking of which, how do you think I did this week?” He changed lanes, seemingly unfazed by how much his previous comments had made me squirm. “Be honest.”
“I think if you spent half as much time working as you did schmoozing the female members, you’d be a half-decent employee.”
“Is that so?” he asked, a wide grin splitting his chiseled face.
“You said be honest.”
“Do you mean to tell me you’re jealous of Mrs. Rogers?”
“I’m not jealous. You just didn’t strike me as the kind of guy that goes for cougars, but—”
He threw his head back for a moment before training his eyes on the road again. “You are jealous!”
I swallowed. This was getting out of control. I was feeling giddy. Giddy and stupid. Sure, it felt good in my stomach, but my head was telling me I wasn’t ready for this.
That I wasn’t ready for him.
N I N E
- Alex -
She kept insisting it wasn’t a date, but she was certainly dressed for one, and I couldn’t stop noticing.
Even the way she looked standing in the parking garage, her feminine shape exaggerated by the way she cocked her hip, stoked my appetite like nothing had in ages.
She eyed me skeptically when I offered her my arm, but relented, linking hers with mine before we started down the stairs.
“I don’t bite, you know,” I said, lowering my voice as I leaned towards her. “Not hard enough to leave a mark, anyway.”
Her eyes flicked up towards the buzzing fluorescent lights. “The only thing you’ll be biting tonight is your main course.” She kicked one smooth ankle out in front of the other as we exited onto the sidewalk, her flesh-colored heels making her porcelain legs look enticingly long.
“It’s just here,” I said, pointing towards the unassuming maroon awning.
“And not a moment too soon,” she said. “I’m starving.”
I stepped aside so she could enter the revolving door first.
She jumped when I touched her lower back and stepped in behind her.
“Gemma.” I kicked a heel against the glass behind me, trapping us inside the small space.
When she realized she was pushing in vain, she looked over her shoulder, her eyes big as they found mine.
“Is everything okay?”
“What do you mean?” She looked around nervously, trapped between the muffled sounds of the street on one side and those of the busy restaurant on the other.
“I mean, are you okay?”
“You mean apart from being trapped in a revolving door?”
“Yeah.”
“Of course,” she said, her brows coming together. “Why?”
“Because even though you’re dressed to kill, you seem disappointed that I’ve noticed.”
She turned to face me, her lashes down against her cheeks.
“And you nearly jumped out of your skin when I touched you just now.”
She sighed and lifted her gaze, her chest rising and falling with her breath.
“If you don’t want to be here, please tell me.” I searched her eyes. “The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable.”
She nibbled her lip. “It’s not you,” she said. “It’s m—”
“Don’t feed me clichés. Tell me why the hell you’re acting like a bunny when I know you’re a tiger.”
She swallowed.
I heard a tapping on the glass behind me and turned to see a middle-aged couple with their palms in a what-gives position. “Use the other door,” I said, pointing to the side entrance before turning back to face her. “Some people.”
A smile pricked her cheeks.
“So what is it?” I asked. “You don’t want to be here? You don’t appreciate my excessive charm?”
“It’s not that,” she said, leaning back against the glass. “Though your charm has been a little excessive.”
My shoulders dropped with a sigh. “I apologize. It took all my self-control to not hit on you at work all week, and I guess I just thought—”
She squinted at me. “What?”
“I don’t know.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I guess I took one look at you and confused that dress with a green light.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” I said. “Save it for the women who are going to lose the attention of their husbands when you waltz in here.”
“There you go again.”
“You are going to waltz in, right? Or have I totally misjudged the situation?”
“You’re the one who’s locked us in here,” she said. “I had every intention of going in the restaurant when—”
“What are you so afraid of?”
“Not being alone,” she blurted.
“What?” I asked, positive I must’ve heard her wrong.
A delicate tap registered over my shoulder.
“Go around!” we said in unison, pointing at the other door.
“You were saying.”
“I’m afraid of not being alone,” she repeated.
“Being trapped in here with me must be a nightmare for you then.”
A half-smile lifted her cheek. “It’s not so bad.”
I felt my chest loosen.
“What I mean is—” Her eyes rolled up before resting back on mine. “Alone I can do. Alone works for me.”
I narrowed my gaze.
“Alone is what I need right now.”
What the hell was she going on about?
“That and some dinner.”
“Where does that leave me?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I’m not ready for this kind of attention.”
“I like you, Gemma.”
“Could you pretend to like me a little less?”
“What am I? Your piece-of-shit ex?”
Her face dropped.
“You don’t have to be wary of me. I didn’t ask you to dinner so I could mistreat you.”
“God, I feel so pathetic.”
“You’re a goddess,” I said, tilting her chin up. “Pathetic is acting like you don’t deserve nice compliments from dangerously handsome men.”
She laughed and swatted my hand away.
“Let’s make a deal.”
She exhaled.
“Hear me out.”
She folded her arms. “Go on.”
“When we go in here, I want you to pretend I’m your biggest super fan and that I just won a raffle where taking you out was the grand prize, a prize I’ve been looking forward to like a kid looks forward to Christmas morning.”
“And what are you going to do?” she asked, cocking her head. “If I agree?”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t spend the whole week thinking about you bent over exercise equipment in compromising positions.”
“You’re not supposed to say stuff like that to me. It’s unprofessional.”
I leaned towards her ear and sank my face into her soft hair. “What’s unprofessional is how much you like the idea.”
“I’m not ready for this,” she said, resting a hand on my chest and pushing me bac
k.
I put my hands on her waist and spun her around. “Ready or not,” I said, letting the door move again. “Here I come.”
She stopped and I bumped into her, nearly smushing her against the glass.
“What?”
“I just want to be friends, Alex,” she said, still facing forward.
“Say that to my face.”
But she didn’t.
Instead, she baby-stepped forward until the door opened up to the restaurant and then moved towards the hostess’s podium.
I glanced at her again and raised my brows in question.
“You’re impossible,” she said under her breath as the hostess approached.
Impossibly attracted to you, I wanted to say. But I could sense she’d had enough.
I, on the other hand, was only getting started.
T E N
- Gemma -
I absolutely loved the place. The dark wood and deep maroons were so easy on the eye, and the soft candlelight shining up from the tables created the most romantic shade of dim I’d ever seen. To be honest, I wished I could spend my whole life in that lighting, where it was too dark to see my pores but not so dark I couldn’t appreciate the cut of Alex’s jaw as he spoke to me from across the small table.
“See something you like?” he asked, his eyes on his menu.
I used the break in his attention to take a deep breath, my gaze falling to his strong hands before following his forearms up to his broad shoulders.
He looked up suddenly, catching me checking him out.
“Yes,” I confessed, dropping my eyes to the crème-colored paper in my hands. I skimmed each line again, my mouth watering as I read the cursive descriptions of the yummy items on offer. “Of course.”
The waitress returned with our drink order and set a glass of red in front of me and a pale ale named after a Chicago “L” station in front of Alex.
“Are you ready to order?” Alex asked me. “Or do you need a few more minutes?”
“I’m ready,” I said, smiling at the waitress.
“I’m so sorry to be rude,” she said, clutching her notepad to her chest. “But you aren’t the lady that has the YouTube channel with the workout videos, are you?”
My stomach fell through my seat, and I could tell Alex’s ears had perked up without even looking at him.
“I’m only asking ’cause my sister is obsessed with you,” she said, talking faster all the time. “She used your seven-minute arm series to get in shape for her wedding.”
I smiled and felt my cheeks begin to burn.
The waitress pulled her phone out of her short apron and swiped through to a picture of her and a woman in a wedding dress. “It was just this past weekend,” she said, handing me her phone.
“She looks beautiful,” I said, handing it back to her. “Please pass on my congratulations.”
“I will, of course!” she said, before scrunching her face. “Would it be hideous of me to ask for a picture with you?”
My face fell as I turned towards Alex. “This has never happened.”
He put his hand out and held up the girl’s phone while she crouched down beside me.
“Smile,” he said, obviously amused.
“Thank you so much,” she said, checking the photo out on the spot. “My sister is going to be so jealous!”
“What did you say your name was?” I asked.
“Lisa.”
I shook her hand. “The pleasure’s mine, Lisa.”
She smoothed her hair down and shimmied her shoulders as if to reground herself. “Okay, what can I get you guys to eat?”
“I’ll have the salmon en croute, please.”
“Great choice,” she said, back in work mode. “And for you, sir?”
“I’ll have the house burger with spicy buffalo sauce, Lisa. Thanks.”
“Anything else?” she asked, scribbling away.
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes pinging around the menu. “We’ll share a goat cheese tart and an order of crab cakes to start.”
“Sure thing,” she said, nodding definitively.
I smiled at him after she scurried away. “That was kinda awesome how you slipped those appetizers in like that.”
“Anything to impress a YouTube star like yourself.”
“It’s not like that.” I reached for my wine. “I swear that’s never happened before.”
He raised his glass. “In that case, congratulations are in order.”
I dropped my chin. “Please don’t make a big deal about this.”
He clinked his glass against mine. “I’ll leave that to Lisa.” He took a long sip of beer and licked his lips. “But I am dying to know more.”
“There’s nothing to know.”
“Don’t make me do my own research,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“Oh God, okay.” I threw my hands up. “Just put the phone away.”
He did as I asked before leaning back. “You were saying.”
“Sometimes I post short workout videos on YouTube.”
“I figured that much out myself, thanks. What I don’t know is, why?”
I shrugged.
He crossed his arms.
“I thought they might be useful to somebody.” I curled an ankle around the leg of my chair. “It’s not a vanity project or anything.”
“I didn’t think for a moment that it was.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, I spent all week with you,” he said. “And you clearly have no idea how good you look in spandex.”
“Please don’t watch the videos.”
He laughed.
“Promise me.”
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I’d be lying through my teeth.”
I threw my hands over my face and stayed like that for some time.
“I’m not sure what you’re so embarrassed about.”
I dropped my hands to my lap. “I don’t do it so people will recognize me in the street.”
“I can tell that by the color of your cheeks,” he said. “But I’d still love to understand your motivation better.”
I bit the inside of my lip.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
I sighed. “I know what it’s like to be an unhappy fat girl.”
His eyes narrowed, like he only half believed me.
“I know how scary going to the gym can be when you’re dreadfully out of shape, and I know how intimidating dumbbells can be, for example, if no one has ever told you what the heck to do with them.”
He nodded.
“So I made a few videos and put them up to help that specific group get some momentum…and I suppose I also did it to keep myself accountable to my own goals.”
“I think that’s great.”
“You do?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Makes perfect sense to me.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or just trying to spare my feelings.
“When I got my first gym job as a scrawny teenager, I used to use the weight room after hours because I was too intimidated to lift around other people.”
“Really?”
“No, not really. I’m saying that to impress you.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I think you might like me better if I brag about what a spindly wuss I used to be.”
“You weren’t a spindly wuss.”
“I broke my arm throwing a football in fourth grade.”
I looked at his arms in disbelief. They looked stronger than my thighs. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”
He flashed his eyebrows. “Impressed?”
“Very.”
“Where do you want it to go?”
“Excuse me?”
“What’s the dream?” he asked, laying his napkin across his lap.
“What makes you think I want something to come out of it?”
He took a sip of his drink like he had all night.
I groaned internally. “You�
�re going to think it’s stupid.”
“Try me.”
“I want to lead my own class.”
“Sounds like you’re already doing that with some success.”
“No, I mean a live class,” I said. “For beginners.”
“That doesn’t sound stupid.”
“It’s so intimidating to go to the gym when you’re out of shape,” I said. “I think there’s a market for classes where only newbies are allowed.”
“Have you tried it?”
“I mentioned it to Mary once.”
“And?”
“She didn’t see any value in it,” I said. “That, or she didn’t want me spread any thinner than I already am.”
“Mmm.”
“Not that I don’t think Cindy does a great job, but the classes she runs are way too advanced for someone who’s never broken a sweat before.”
“When do you record your videos?” he asked. “I was under the impression that you barely had time to eat and sleep outside of work.”
I laughed. “Oh, I make time to eat, don’t you worry. And I don’t know. Sometimes I get up early and other times I record them at the gym after everyone else has gone home.”
“Wow.”
“Wow, what?”
His smiling eyes warmed me from across the table. “Turns out I really am a super fan.”
E L E V E N
- Alex -
I was completely enchanted by her in a way I never could’ve predicted.
Sure, I’d lusted after women before on a physical level, and I’d met many I admired for their fierce intelligence, but my attraction to Gemma was unprecedented.
At one point she was telling a story, her blue eyes sparkling as her graceful hands turned in the air, and the thought crossed my mind that I’d like to marry a woman like her.
It was shocking, really. Not only because I was quite outspoken about how uninterested I was in marriage, but because the last thing I expected to feel on our date was something so terrifying.
Yet here she was, batting her real eyelashes at me and making me wonder ridiculous things like whether she enjoyed foot rubs, whether she slept naked or in pajamas, and where, exactly, she made a habit of spraying her perfume. Inappropriate thoughts aside, though, the bottom line was that I hadn’t enjoyed a woman’s company this much since…and then I remembered.
