21. Secret Admirer
21
SECRET ADMIRER
ANNA
“T ake a deep breath and bend at your waist… Rylie, relax your spine, honey, and—that’s it. Hold and one, two, three… relax .”
I smiled at their flushed, sweaty faces and asked them to take a few deep breaths before moving to cool down.
After ten more minutes, everyone had a glow on their skin. I chatted with the few regulars who had joined my Pilates studio and helped my assistant, June, with the clean-up. I had hired June two months ago so I could spend more time with Aaron and help prepare for his wedding. She was smart and creative with our social media and helped with the group training. Some clients had already consulted her for one-on-one trainings.
“How was the wedding?” June asked, her gray eyes widening with excitement. She had missed the wedding since it clashed with her Hawaii travel with her friends for graduating with honors in business. “I saw Aaron’s Instagram, and you looked so pretty in the pink dress!”
“Thank you, June,” I said with a small smile and checked the reformer machines for any signs of wear and tear. All the straps were perfect, and springs were fine with enough lubricant. “Everything went well, and the cake was delicious.”
Not to mention the almost threesome I had with two men who were both younger than me. One of them was my son’s age who turned out to be his ex-boyfriend from college and the other man is my neighbor and the best part is that after the most amazing sensual night ever—none of them has contacted me.
I tried not to frown, thinking about waking up alone two days ago in my hotel room with a small note from Kyle. He had to leave early morning, and he didn’t wake me up because I was asleep. I didn’t even remember when I had passed out… Jesus, that was a first one. Passing out from too much pleasure at the hands and mouths of two handsome young men.
“Yeah,” I nodded, smiling at her. “It was nice.”
I asked her about Hawaii, and after a few more minutes of small talk, I went to my corner office and tried to work on administrative tasks. Tried because every time I typed out an email or tried to maintain records of my clients, my brain flashed me with the images of the night with Caleb and Kyle. I couldn’t get rid of Caleb’s mischievous smirk and Kyle’s gentle touch as he degraded me.
“Anna.” I looked at June when she hovered by the door, a huge grin on her face. “Come out! You received a surprise!”
“Surprise?” I asked, following her to the main door. She had spring in her steps, making me smile. I loved how young and radiant she was, and clients liked her energy to push them beyond their limits with an infectious smile. She reminded me of myself when I started out being a Pilates trainer and achieved all the certificates.
My steps slowed down when I saw a large bouquet. It was humongous. When June handed it to me, it covered half of my body. The heady smell of sweet roses made my lips curl up in a smile.
“You have a secret admirer!” June said excitedly. “You need to give me all the tea once these classes are over.”
She rushed back to the classes as I took the bouquet back to my office and set it down on the desk. I took a deep breath, ruffling through the roses and finding the white card with the flowery border. It smelled expensive as I flipped it open and saw the smooth, familiar scribble.
I miss you, angel. Do you want to go out for dinner with me? It’s a date if you agree.
P.S. Your snores are cute and would like to hear them often.
Kyle
I was not blushing over a sweet gesture. I was not. Mhmm. I’m sure.
Okay, I’m lying. I was swooning, with warm cheeks and a stupid grin on my face. I had always been a romantic, a sucker for rom-com movies that made me cry. I had never expected to receive flowers from any man (except my son) or being asked out on a date in such a sweet, old-fashioned way.
I should have known. Kyle was a gentleman through and through. He must have already planned the restaurant and even made a reservation.
As I sat down on the chair and mulled over the ‘date,’ I kept fumbling with the card and his handsome handwriting. I could imagine laughing with him on a candlelight dinner, sharing an ice-cream at the park and kissing secretly in front of my house before he walked to his porch and waved me goodnight.
Alice was young and sweet. She’d like me to date as she often tried to set me up with any man who looked like Prince Charming—her words, not mine. And she already liked Kyle. We could make it work despite the ten-year age-gap. But I didn’t know why I needed more time to mull over it.
I swallowed, thinking about the cheap words Timothy had thrown at me days ago. He had never once given me flowers. Felix had given me a rose during Valentine’s Day years ago when we were newly married.
Without thinking, I took my phone and was about to text Kyle when the screen flashed with Alice’s babysitter’s name. I picked it up and asked, “Hi, is everything okay?”
“Hi, Anna. Sorry to disturb you, but there’s a man waiting for you outside the door,” Valeria said. She was a professional babysitter who often took care of Alice when Jem was busy. “Alice told me she knows him from Aaron’s wedding, so I asked him to sit inside, but he said he’ll wait for you.”
Who was it?
I checked the time. It was half-past five in the evening and June had one-on-one classes before she worked on her own set of exercises.
“Okay, thanks for calling, Valeria. I’ll reach home soon!” I ended the call, wondering if it was Kyle. But why would he wait outside my house when he lived right beside me?
Caleb
I whistled, checking for weeds in front of Anna’s porch. She had a small garden with flowers and plants, but her lawn wasn’t kept up.
When the kid’s face popped up in the window, I waved at her and she waved back. We had been playing the waving game for the past ten minutes while I waited patiently for her mom.
I leaned back on my motorcycle, running a hand through my hair. I should have known Anna would be busy, but I had to see her after being MIA for the past couple of days. One of my clients had a serious bug in his trillion-dollar company website and almost faced a security vulnerability in the entire system. Thanks to me, I saved his ass and his customer’s database by applying the same malicious method the group of hackers had tried to use.
Working indoors for the past forty-eight hours and a few hours of sleep, I looked forward to spending time with my childhood crush and one of the most beautiful women I knew.
I saw the lights of her Toyota first and tilted my head as she parked it in the garage. I could feel my heartbeat increasing with anticipation to see her, touch her, taste her.
When she stepped out of the car and towards me, I almost fell out on my knees.
Almost .
“Goddamn pretty,” I whispered to myself, seeing her in tight lavender leggings and some sort of sports top of same color with a white jacket. Her hair was in a sleek ponytail, with a few wisps of hair framing her structured face.
She looked fucking beautiful.
I swallowed, hoping my palms weren’t clammy.
“You wear this all day?” I asked as a way of greeting, checking her out again and trying not to get jealous of her clients who get to see her in such fuckable clothes. They were her workout gear, but even if she wore a trash bag, she’d make it fuckable. She was too sexy.
“Hello to you too, Caleb,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “What are you doing here?”
She looked over at my bike and raised her brows.
“I wanted to see you,” I said and remembered why I drove up to her house. I was glad she didn’t ask me how I knew where she lived. “I’m taking you out on a date.”
Her arms went lax as she looked up at me with conflicting eyes. Of course, she would not dump her priorities and come out with me. If it was anyone but her, they might have hopped on my bike, ready to come with me anywhere. But this was Anna. Anna Martinez, my crush and… my ex’s mom.
“I can get on my knees right here and beg if that’d please you,” I said in a deeper voice, leaning closer to her. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and kiss her, but not when her kid was watching us with wide eyes… and obviously not without her consent.
Anna pressed her teeth on her bottom lip, making me take a sharp breath.
Hold still Caleb. Don’t fuck this up .
“I need to?—”
“I already paid the babysitter for the night,” I said.
“Caleb, you didn’t have to do that.” I shrugged when she shook her head. “What if I said no and had dinner with Alice?”
“Good thing I also brought groceries so I can cook with you.” I winked.
She parted her lips, blinking at me. “You’re crazy.”
“Come on, mama, come out with me. You know I’ll show you a good time.”
“Behave,” she said with a small smile that didn’t match her tone.
I raised my brow and waited patiently. As patiently as I could with a thundering heartbeat and finally, finally, she sighed.
“I can’t go out with you, Caleb.”
This time, her tone matched her soft voice, making me frown.