5 - Andy Jacobs
5
Andy Jacobs
I’d now officially decided I hated Mondays. Hated them. Hated everyone’s sunshine disposition as they came to the gym at the start of a new week, even if I’d always loved it and somewhat sadistically enjoyed seeing the long faces of the people who hated it. Hated coming in to the gym I’d always loved, and seeing my employees, even if pride had always filled me whenever I saw them.
And obviously, this had nothing to do with the fact that after I’d introduced a certain accountant to them, they had all but thrown themselves at him like wolves, and the one I’d dubbed ‘the grumpiest and most stuck-up guy in this world’ was now making quick work of becoming the gym’s darling in less than a whole morning of being here.
I was certainly not glaring in his direction, watching his every move, and stupidly catching his amused smirks as he caught sight of me brooding, before looking away and going back to his conversation as if I was so far beneath his notice.
Dan was just so fucking self-satisfied, and I wanted nothing more than to wipe the smile off his face.
With my mouth.
With my hands on his body.
With my body pressed against his–
“Did the roles suddenly reverse?” Travis, my best friend, asked, walking up to me, brushing his dark hair away from his sharp gray eyes after his first class of the day, and staring toward the guy taking over my brain.
Travis and I were co-owners of this gym, but since the thought of managing things and being stuck in an office made him retch, I was more than happy to let him take care of classes and stuff, while I took care of everything else. We’d both been lucky that the gym had had a lot of growth in the past year and a half, thanks in part to Travis’s (and my) success as college-level-boxers, and also to our old coach, who put in a good word about us to anyone that would listen.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” I said, even as I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched one of my trainers, Leonard, who was six fucking five and all muscle, slap good-naturedly at Dan in the back with his big fucking hand, probably saying how nice it was to meet such a lovely man in the workplace.
He was probably thinking of all the ways he could strip Dan out of his prim little shirt, how and when he could manage to ask for his number and get him alone in a much nicer, more intimate situation.
Travis hummed. “And you wouldn’t know anything about my best asshole friend going out with Dan on Saturday night, would you?”
My head suddenly snapped toward him. “Who the fuck told you?”
My best friend sent me a smug grin. “Kelly. She messaged me almost as soon as you two walked into the bar and asked me if you two were fucking.”
Of fucking course.
She was in one of Travis's classes, the first one on Mondays, since she worked afternoons as a nurse.
I was going to have words with her for being a snitch.
Except I couldn’t, unless I wanted it to look like I was trying to hide something.
I tried my best to ignore the tightening of my stomach at her assumption.
Travis sat on one of the nearby workout benches. “I heard it was kind of wild. Anything to comment?”
“No.”
Nothing at all.
It wasn't like it was still messing with me. Nor like I hadn't been able to get out of my mind the vision of Dan, looking all daring and wicked, leaning into me, and sucking a lime out of my mouth with a hint of his tongue on my lips, the scent of his cologne surrounding me like the most dangerous aphrodisiac, one I’d wanted to leave on my bedsheets for days.
It hadn’t left an impression on me at all.
But fuck , the sight of him. I’d been going through memories of him all weekend. The way he had looked so nervous in the beginning before starting to loosen up. Then he’d quickly started becoming more daring, until he’d called me out for not doing as I’d promised, and then, after our not -kiss, looking so smug and proud of himself, all I’d been able to think was of taking the damn lime out of his mouth and slamming my lips against his. Once we were home, I’d had to physically force myself not to try to listen in for movements while he was having a shower so I could know whether he’d decided to relieve himself after a good night’s hard work thwarting me.
Dan James was officially fucking me up, and I was not up for it.
I was supposed to be the one in charge, the one doing the daring, enjoying seeing him squirm and pushing his buttons, making him regret he’d ever asked me to help him let loose.
Instead, I was the one under his thrall.
I would not stand for it.
“We just had a couple of drinks and I introduced him to everyone, nothing special,” I told Travis, trying to sound a little less defensive.
Only worse than going through this would be Travis knowing the full depth of what was going inside me right now, or about Dan’s lessons , and in any case, it wasn't even relevant.
I was going to put an end to this infatuation.
I was going to stop imagining what Dan would look like, pressed to the bar, my whole body against him, eyes dark with lust right before I devoured his mouth.
I was stronger than this.
Travis stared at me like he didn’t believe me, an amused expression on his face, but instead of fighting me on it, he just got up from the bench and started going to where his next students were gathering up.
“It’s just going to be two months, right? Then he’ll be out of your hair. Nothing you can’t deal with.”
Two months. Only a few weeks, and my life would go back to normal again. I wouldn’t have to worry about Dan flirting with my employees and vice versa. Nor would I have to think about all of the secrets he still wasn’t telling me.
He wouldn’t be my problem anymore.
It would be like he’d never been here at all.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to look away from Dan.
It was time to get to work for real.
***
“This is my office?” Dan asked, looking around at the well-furnished space, the large table in the middle, the big windows that looked into the training area on one side, and the large shelves on the other.
I was supposed to be showing him where he would be working, which meant that this was the first time all morning that I finally had him alone, out of sight from hungry people wanting a taste of fresh meat, and which meant that there was no one to stop me now from my own stupidity and caveman-like impulses.
Which meant that in two seconds flat, Dan had his ass against my desk and I was crowding him against it.
I didn’t know if the fact that he wasn’t trying to escape me at all, with an uncharacteristic smile stretching his lips, should be worrying or not.
Time to reestablish dominance.
“If you're done having fun and flirting with everyone, it's time we got to work.” I gestured around me with a hand. “This is your loaned space, my space, but since I don't really spend that much time here, I'll be gracious and let you use it. Unless you want to be working alongside the smell of sweat and the grunts from our athletes?” I asked, eyes glued to him.
“If by flirting you mean being nice , then yes, I was definitely having fun,” he said, like this happened every other day to him.“I assume being nice to other people is probably a new concept to someone like you, or can you actually bear to be sweet with the people you're going to be sleeping with?” he asked, eyebrow raised, ignoring my comment about the office.
A bitter smile stretched my lips. “There's nothing ever sweet about me, Dan, you should know better, though I can afford to be very charming when I want to be. You'd know all about it, right? Since it seems like I'm the only person to bear the full brunt of your grumpy moods. Should I be offended?”
“You should be. I save it all for you,” he said, eyes firmly looking into mine.
My jaw ticked. There was a fluttering sensation in my stomach.
I brushed it off. “In any case, you should tone down the niceness, you wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea, would you? Or are you back in the market for a new relationship?
Now that made Dan scowl.“I’m not. And I'm not flirting.”
“You could always just tell me all the secrets you refuse to air out and we could be done with this sham. You could flirt as much as you wanted.”
Dan narrowed his eyes at me. “You lost. Now you have to teach me. Or are you the one who's too much of a coward to do what you promised to do?”
“I promised, and I'll do it, but let's not lie to ourselves. How long do you think you're going to last? One week? Two weeks, tops?” I gave him a condescending look. “It's not too late to back down.”
“Is that supposed to be a dare?”
“It's just the truth. You can't handle what I have to dish out, but it's fine, it's not for everyone. We can keep going out like normal.” I brushed a strand of hair away from his face. “I wouldn't even tease you if you ever want to go to bed early.”
Dan bit his lip. “Someone needs to put you in your place.”
“And you think it's going to be you?” I asked, then added. “Usually, it's me manhandling other people around.”
Fuck. I didn’t know why I’d said that.
It could obviously be interpreted as me being the one who fights as a boxer, but the dirty undertone was there anyway. And I thought that Dan must have noticed because his eyes suddenly flitted to my lips.
My cock twitched.
I was fucking tired of this infatuation.
Especially at times like this, when it looked like Dan wanted something, or my mind was trying to convince me that there was something hungry in his eyes when there definitely wasn't. There couldn't be. It had to be wishful thinking.
Dan looked back up.
“Don't go easy on me.”
My hands clenched and I pushed myself back.
It would be two months at the most.
Then it would be over.