Chapter 61
While the alarm is the sound of peaceful spa music, I want to chuck his phone against the wall. Who willingly gets up at this time? I groan, and he taps the phone, ending the noise.
“Ready for the best networking in Chicago?” he asks, his husky morning voice far too chipper.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I grumble. “You couldn’t have had a late start date on a holiday?”
“No,” he growls. “Routines are very important to me.”
I sigh.
“Let me get the coffee going.” He kisses my hair and leaps out of bed with too much enthusiasm for the time of day.
After slipping into yoga pants and a tank top, I brush my teeth and pull my hair up as the smell of freshly ground coffee fills the condo.
This is life with Gideon: early mornings, small pleasures, and team activities.
But we can’t play house like this all the time. It’s too soon.
“You’re going to like Tyler,” he says from the kitchen. “But don’t think he is going to go easy on you.”
“You don’t know how competitive I am.” I swagger toward him, looping my arms around his waist. “You don’t even know how elite of an endurance swimmer I used to be.”
He smiles and presses a small peck on my lips.
Coffees in hand, we walk to a private gym I’ve passed hundreds of times but never noticed. While East Bank Club is known for its high-profile members, I’ve never even heard of?—
“What’s this place even called?” I ask, sneaking glances at Gideon in his too-short shorts, which show off his ridiculously toned thighs. My boyfriend is too hot in a hoodie and these shorts.
“Alpha Fitness,” he says, smiling at me. “It’s an interesting business model. They only sell memberships to trainers, and then trainers and their clients can use all the equipment and facilities.”
“Do I even want to know how much a session with your trainer costs?”
“Everything is relative. I pay for him to work around my schedule. And if I worked out this hard on my own, I’d end up hurting myself, and that injury would cost more than any savings from going a lower budget route.”
“So methodical.” I nudge him.
“G,” a guy who could pass for Chris Hemsworth’s stunt double greets us. “You must be Dani.”
“Hi.” I extend my hand, and he shakes it.
“Thanks for filling out the questionnaire. It’s great to see you are already regularly doing a combination of yoga and running. With your swimmer past, you’re going to crush strength training.”
“We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves,” I say with a polite smile.
“Let’s get started.” He motions us to a large square of green turf, and G tosses off his hoodie. I check out his muscles in just a tank top. Maybe I could be motivated to be a morning person …
Sweating and panting, I look at the clock. How are we only twenty minutes into this session?
“You’re doing great, baby,” Gideon encourages.
“I am not going to be able to walk tomorrow.”
G flashes me a look like he could make that happen if I wanted it. I bite my lip, then go back to my kettlebell swings.
“See those guys over there?” G points as we take a water break. “They own the largest real estate firm in Chicago. Want me to introduce you to them when we’re done?”
“Like this?” I look at myself.
“No one cares. Plus,” he whispers, “your ass looks fucking great.”
We end the grueling session with sprints on the treadmill. Pure fucking torture. Bent over and trying to catch my breath, I look up and lock eyes with Declan Kruk. Agh! Of course, he works out here at this time of day.
“Declan!” G greets him. “Nice to see you. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat at Adam’s party. This is my girlfriend, Dani.”
Declan does a terrible fucking job of hiding how stunned he is. “Girlfriend,” he repeats, brows furrowing. His tone is unreadable, but something about it catches me off guard.
“We know each other. I did a project for Cryptoball last summer,” I say to G and smile at Declan. “Nice to see you,” I say cheerily, not wanting to let on the depth of our past and holding back a fucking quip about him wearing a headband.
A muscle shirt. I am not staring at his tatted rib cage. I am not staring at his sleeve tattoos. He has so many more tattoos since the last time I saw him shirtless.
“Small town, Chicago.” G wraps his arm around my waist. Declan’s eyes land on his hand, and then they rake back up to meet mine.
I wish I knew what he was thinking. There’s so much Declan doesn’t know.
Like how his “nice driving” text was the catalyst to the end of Adam.
I can’t believe I fucking booty-called him.
I’m still embarrassed, especially since he denied me.
I hope he doesn’t think Gideon is me filling a void.
Our relationship is so much more than that.
We hold an intense moment of eye contact before Declan asks, “Did you hear we are buying Dubois’s firm?” It’s almost rhetorical.
G nods, but I haven’t heard about this. “Seriously?” escapes my mouth in a gasp.
“It’s going to be a ten-billion-dollar acquisition.”
“Only ten?” I retort with a smirk. Oh my God. That was flirty. Fucking check yourself. “Is that why you hired Brandon?”
Declan chuckles. “The deal was going to happen either way. You know …” He pauses, and I break his gaze, stuffing down how the only other blond I’ve ever been attracted to, his brother, also loved muscle shirts. Their bodies look too fucking similar right now.
“Dubois has this old-school PR firm that he insists we work with,” he says, and my eyes meet his blue ones.
“Would you be interested in some consulting?” He takes a sip from his water bottle.
“Like a couple calls a week for the next month or so. I want to have someone that has my best interests in mind in the conversation.”
“I don’t know.”
Gideon looks at me, surprised.
I don’t want to get into my past with Declan right now. Gideon and I have to talk about that—all of that but not here and not now. Soon though. I’ll have to find the right time.
“Sure, I can hop on some calls,” I say, knowing that if I said no to client work, it would raise a bunch of questions I do not want to answer.
“The lawyers are charging a few thousand an hour, so how about a thousand per hour?”
Gideon raises his brows, also understanding that the rate is far above market for PR consulting.
“That’s too much.” I laugh.
“You’re worth more.” Declan smirks, sending my heart rate back up. “Oh, and I’m having a dinner party on Thursday. You both should come.”