Jay’s Boy Toy (Winter Sun #4)

Chapter 1

Chase

Frigid air blew into the room as the sliding door opened.

A small man walked in and paused by the reception desk, craning his neck to look around. I recognized him immediately. The omega was a regular, but he usually came in late afternoon on weekdays, wearing scrubs under his winter clothes.

Tonight, he wore an open black coat over a white shirt and very nice charcoal slacks. The glistening drops on his shoulders and in his dark hair suggested it was still snowing outside.

At least I hoped it was snowing, not raining, or my walk home through all that slush would be hell.

He was short, slight, and cute with clever eyes and a sarcastic, crooked smile. There were many reasons why I’d noticed him before, and most of them weren’t very professional. I’d never had a chance to talk to him before because I’d always been busy during rush hours. But today…

Feeling all giddy, I marched up to the desk and twirled around the edge to stop right before him.

“Evening, sir. How can I help you?” I gave him my best smile.

His eyes twinkled with humor when he assessed me and leaned in to read my name tag. I caught a hint of a scent, sweet and flowery, before the persistent stink of alpha sweat and damp carpet smothered it.

“Good evening…Chase. I need shorts and a shirt.” He pointed to the nearest rack, where we had a few pieces of clothing with the gym’s logo for sale on-site.

“Okay.” I eyed him up and down. “Extra small, right?”

“You don’t have to rub it in my face,” he said, his lips twitching.

“Oh. Sorry.” I felt my ears heat. And here I had thought I’d be charming toward the handsome customer. I must have been blushing like mad. “I meant…”

“Just kidding. I know what you meant. Yes, size extra small.” He smoothed his hands down his slim torso under the coat, encased in the thin white button-down, and put his hands in his pockets.

The move was nowhere near sexy, more like a resigned this-is-all-I-got, but I could see his nipples outlined under the thin material of his shirt, and…

My face in flames, I flipped through the T-shirts.

“I’m afraid the only thing we have in your size is the singlet.”

I wanted to see him in the sleeveless cut-out top. And shit, I really shouldn’t be having such thoughts about a customer, dammit. I never did! But this guy was my exception.

“Whatever,” he said. “I just need something other than this.” He gestured down his outfit, complete with polished boots.

“Forgot your gym bag?” I asked as I plucked a pair of black shorts and a singlet from the rack and brought them to the register.

“Something like that. When do you close?”

“Midnight. You’re fine for a couple more hours.”

“Great. Thanks. It’s quiet here. I might come late more often.”

“After ten, it usually empties out, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.”

Ziggy showed up just then, smelling faintly of vape. “Oh, sorry! I was just…” He pointed behind himself. “I can finish this.” He moved to the register, but I waved him off.

“Almost done.”

I took the payment and turned to grab a bag from the shelves along the wall.

“I don’t need a bag. I’m going to change right into it,” the omega said. He’d already taken off his coat and held it over his arm.

“But you’ll need something for later.”

I handed him one black canvas bag, then added a rolled-up towel and a water bottle.

“Oh. Good thinking, let me.” He began fishing for his phone again, presumably to pay for the added items.

“On the house,” I said.

“That’s not…”

“You’re a longtime member, aren’t you?”

He blinked. “I guess. A couple of years.”

“On the house,” I repeated.

He smirked, quirking one eyebrow, and damn, he was pretty.

Judging by the faint lines around his mouth and large dark eyes, he must have been over thirty, but his playful smile looked youthful and boyish.

There was something about this guy that made my pulse race whenever I spotted him.

And now that I was actually talking to him?

It was all butterflies and fireworks in my rib cage. Damn.

He was so tiny that I could fit him in my pocket, but he exuded strength and something else… Experience? Just walking, talking sex appeal. Seriously, everything about this guy was like catnip to me.

Today, with how quiet it was in here, maybe I could grab a moment with him. Not that I should be hitting on customers. But if I merely suggested that I was interested and one thing led to another…

Was I seriously considering flirting with him? How unprofessional would that be?

“Thank you,” the omega said.

Then he gathered his purchases and swiped his membership card by the turnstile. For a second, his name popped up on the monitor.

Jay Urban.

He nodded at Ziggy and took off toward the dressing rooms. And yes, I did check out his ass in his slacks. I couldn’t help it. Perfect palmfuls.

“Chase’s chasing cougars,” Ziggy sang quietly next to me.

I punched his arm. “Fuck off.”

I kept one eye on him during his workout. He looked sinfully good in that singlet. His defined shoulders and the lean muscles on his arms rippled as he went through sets on the pulley machine.

Jay. I had a silly urge to try the name on my tongue.

Then he approached the benches by the mirrors, and I was racing toward him.

“Do you need me to spot you?”

He whipped his head around. “Huh?”

“I can spot you.”

“Oh. I don’t want to take up your time.”

“Seriously?” I gestured around.

There was one man on the treadmill in the opposite corner, and one older alpha was puffing and grunting in the weights room. The third and last customer had just disappeared into the showers. Ziggy sat by the reception desk, his feet up, watching something on his phone with his earbuds in.

The omega took in the almost empty gym and let out a chuckle. “You don’t seem overly busy.”

“It’s nothing but tumbleweeds here, and I’m bored out of my mind.”

“Okay, then.”

I spotted him during bench presses, then showed him a few dumbbell exercises he didn’t know.

“You’re good. I might consider paying for a private lesson next time.”

I gestured to myself with both hands and bowed like a circus artist. It made him chuckle.

“Now I need a minute, though.” With a groan, he lowered himself onto a nearby bench and took a swig from his water bottle.

I sat facing him. A sense of urgency came over me, as if I needed to grab this chance because there might not be another. It was now or never.

“What are you hiding from?” I asked.

His eyebrows flew up. “I’m not hiding.”

“You came to the gym on a Saturday night without your bag, dressed like you were headed for a hot date. You’re killing time in here. Why?”

He drank some more, then pressed the cap back on. “You’re observant. Okay, I’ll tell you.”

I waited.

“I’m hiding from my big brother,” he said, winking conspiratorially.

“You have a villainous older brother?”

He snorted at that. And I’d made him laugh twice in under a minute. Another point for me, ka-ching!

“He and his husband are staying at home with my kid while I’m out, and they always make a big deal out of me…” He flipped his wrist and grimaced. “Dating.”

“So you were on a date.”

He sighed. “Yes. And I cut it short, but I couldn’t go home right away because then I’d have to face the love-life police.”

It was my turn to chuckle. “The love-life police?”

“Mostly my brother, Hugh. His husband is not that bad. I’m hiding here until it’s reasonably late, so I can come home, say that the date was great, and go to bed.”

“It wasn’t great, huh?”

He set the water bottle on the floor and stretched his arms above his head. “It was abysmal.”

“Was he a creep?”

“No. Just boring, full of himself, and sexist.” He sounded so weary when he said it.

An irrational urge to hold his hand or hug him had me gripping the edge of the bench under my ass and pushing my feet into the carpeted floor. “I’m sorry. You deserve better.”

At that, he rolled his eyes. “How would you know what I deserve, Chase?”

I looked him up and down, trying not to make it seem too suggestive. “I have eyes and ears.”

“Oh, do you?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “You’re hot, intelligent, and funny. And you passed the vibe check with flying colors.”

“Vibe check?”

“Yup. You’d be surprised how fast you can learn to spot an asswipe when working in service.”

He laughed. “Not that surprised, no. I’m a nurse.”

I knew that. I’d seen him in those scrubs. “So you must have an asswipe sensor too.”

“Pretty quick one, yes. Hence, the date was one hour. It could’ve been under forty minutes, but the lasagna was good. It would’ve been a shame not to finish it.”

“Well. His loss, someone else’s gain.”

His lips curved into a knowing smile. “Is it?”

I tried not to squirm as I smiled back. “You’re obviously a catch.”

Shaking his head, he pointed a finger at me. “Are you even allowed to flirt with customers? Isn’t it, like, against the personal trainer code or something?”

“I’m not flirting.” I lifted my hands, palms up. “Just stating empirical facts.”

“Sure you are. How old are you? Twenty-two?”

“Twenty-five,” I said, trying to sound self-assured, but it came out a little petulant.

Looking up at the ceiling, he blew out a breath. “Oh God.”

Of course, he thought I was too young for him. Dammit.

“I’m sorry you had a shitty evening, Jay.”

He squinted at me. “I haven’t told you my name.”

“Oh. Um. I noticed it when you swiped your card at the turnstile. Sorry.” Oops. Would he think I was a stalker?

But he was still smiling. “Smooth, Chase. Real smooth.”

“That date, was it the first one?”

“First date number five in a row.”

“You’re chopping them like trees, aren’t you?”

His rich scent lingered where we sat, and it felt as if it created a cloud around me. It was fucking powerful. I worked at a gym, and an intense omega scent wasn’t uncommon when people of all ages, at various phases of their cycle, sweated in here. But I rarely reacted to anyone this strongly.

I prayed my dick would remain limp in my track pants.